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!