Highlights from the readings...

Chapter 5 touches upon green science. Green science involves teaching students about conservation , alternative and renewable energy, and sustainable practices that reduce each individual's environment footprint (Koch, p.144). Students today are very technology focused and spend much time indoors playing video games and working on the computer, which in turn can cause serious health problems. It is important for the teacher to recognize this issue and encourage students to go outside and get excited about nature. Gardner in 1999 even added another intelligence called "naturalistic intelligence" or "nature smart" because a large body of evidence suggests that immersing students in the local environment enhances their understanding of the natural world and develops an appreciation for nature. Two great pieces of literature to inspire green science are the Giving Tree and The Lorax. Electronic resources for a green science programs are: The Green Guide, and The Green Schools Initiative. A great way to get kids excited about nature is to take them on a field trip :)

Chapter 4 discusses science circuses. Koch describes science circuses as several stations at which visitors perform certain tasks and record their results or reactions. For our science circus we did not have students record results or reactions but I wish we had. We could have provided students with like a mini passport that had each station highlighted on a different page. If the student completed the station they could get a stamp on their passport. The page would have space for the student to draw or write what happened and about the science that was involved in the experiment. The science circus is great way for students to practice scientific process skills. Students are able to make an observation, an inference, create a hypothesis, measure, record, predict, compare/contrast, and investigate. Each station can offer all or some of these scientific process skills.

Chapter 14 discusses ideas for professional development in teaching science. One idea is to do research on science topics that you wish to know more about. Another idea is to keep a science journal yourself for in-class and outside of class activities. Join a science teacher chat room, trust your own judgment if an investigation is interesting for students or not, and use exemplary science instructional materials (Koch, p.399). I loved the poem at the end of chapter about inquiry science and I want to share it with you....

Investigate and you will find,
New information of some kind,
Question all your observations,
Understand through your explanations,
Integrate what you have discovered,
Reflect and share what you have uncovered.
You are doing science!

Science Circus

On Wednesday night my class put on a science circus night for Linda Vista Elementary school. The night was a success! Each student group had their own table set up around the room and each table focused on a different science concept. Students and parents could walk around the room and visit the different stations. Some of my favorite stations were the "Magic Flower" "Lava Lamp" "Pepper Star" and the "Magic Goo." The magic flower is a flower made from paper, and the students can fold the petals into the center, and when placed in water the petals open up. The Lava lamp was cool because it was just water and vegetable oil and then an alka seltzer was put into the picture and it made a cool reaction. The pepper star showed that when your finger was soapy it repelled the pepper. Click the link to read more about the pepper star: http://io9.com/5668221/an-experiment-with-soap-water-pepper-and-surface-tension. The magic goo was made from water and corn starch. It is a great way to teach kids about solids and liquids.

Our station was on Foil boats. The students had to make a boat out of foil and see how many pennies they could put on the boat before it sank. The students were able to re-do their boat to try and fit more pennies on it. Our booth was a success! Our booth was always busy and it had a line for most of the night :) The kids totally got competitive with each other over how many pennies they could fit on their boats. We put the high score on the board and many students could come back to try and beat the high score. Our station was appropriate for all age ranges of children. For the older children we encouraged them to think about denisty and buoyancy when creating their boat as well as surface area. And for the young children they were able to see how bigger boats shaped as rafts were able to hold more pennies than small boats. Parents would sometimes help the student make the boat as well. Parents were also getting competitive with each other! If students were having a difficult time creating the boat we would refer them to the poster:

I think a science circus is a great way to get parents and students involved and excited about learning science. I think it would be a great event to take to my next student placement or school where I get my first job. Teachers could pair up with other teachers from their grade level and do a fun experiment highlighting a science standard in their grade. It would be a chance for teachers to interact with parents and for students to see parent involvement with the school. It is so important for the student to feel both support from the teacher and the parent for the student's learning process.