Real World Science

Not all of the students in my chemistry class will be going on to earn a technical degree in college. Although understanding the intricacies of balancing equations, predicting the products of reactions, and carefully following the scientific method is important for these students, they also need to learn to be educated consumers of scientific information. As new technology evolves, I want my students to have the combination of background knowledge and research skills that will allow them to research and understand scientific breakthroughs throughout their adult lives.

Students are constantly searching for ways they will use what they learn in the “real world.” It is what we are preparing them for, after all! Finding real world applications for students as often as possible. It is hard for many students to find the drive and motivation to study and learn about a subject when there is no obvious connection to their immediate lives.

Joann is discussing nanotechnology resources this week on the Gateway. The resources she selected will help students understand how the science of nanotechnology works in products they use every day. These are some great ideas for bringing real world applications of chemistry to your students. Nanotechnology is one example of a cutting-edge use of science in industry, and there are plenty more examples you can relate to all different disciplines of science. What are some ways to incorporate new technology and current scientific events into the science classroom?

A simple way to relate science topics to students’ lives is to begin each unit with a short-term student directed project related to the particular topic of study. Doing this will help students invest a little time on the topic, creating more interest when you start teaching about it. You could also choose to conclude a unit with the same type of project instead. This will allow students to use their knowledge and find their own real world connections.

Much like social studies teachers emphasize the importance of discussing current events, science teachers can set aside time to talk about current events in science. Chemistry is advancing all different kinds of cutting-edge technology that is important in students’ lives. Students might be surprised by the cool things happening in science! Having a time to discuss current scientific events could be a nice addition for many science classrooms.

It is fun to watch movies and television shows that depict technology of the future, and it can be even more fun to find out what types of futuristic technologies are already here. Prime time television is full of “science,” but often it can be hard to decipher between fact and fiction. One neat project idea for a chemistry or biology class would allow students to find examples of science on TV. Some good places to look are in shows about crime, detectives, and the legal system. CSI and Law & Order are a couple that come to mind. Once students find ideas, create a class list of topics they can research. Each student or group of students would be required to pick a topic and research whether or not their chosen technology is used in the real world. If the technology is not yet available, they can present the type of research and testing that is taking place in order to make that technology a reality.

Here are some examples of project ideas that students can choose from:

Create a short documentary about the history of the technology in question.

Stage a debate about the ethics surrounding the technology.

Create a visual comparison of the technology to previous technology.

Design a visual/hands-on/multisensory explanation of the technology.

Direct a commercial touting the benefits of the technology.

Design and carry out an experiment to compare or demonstrate a technology.

Create lesson plans to teach younger students about the topic.

When students present their findings (creatively, of course), they should find ways to connect their research to what they have been learning in class. Aha! This is how they will use science in the real world!

~Peggy's Corner - July 27, 2011~

It’s a Small World After All

In the 1980s, a new branch of science emerged that seemed to be straight out of the pages of a science fiction novel. While the new science didn’t initially garner much attention from the general press or population, scientists and ethicists were all abuzz about nanotechnology. Despite some news items that occasionally crop up in the mainstream media, nanotechnology has quietly continued to evolve and impact our everyday lives. Unbeknownst to most people, the technology is used in many everyday objects, such as sunscreens, cosmetics, fabrics, eyeglass lenses, LCD screens, scratch-resistant car finishes, and much more.

Nanotechnology is the manipulation of matter and the engineering of tiny machines on an atomic and molecular scale. The scale is extraordinarily small: one nanometer (or nanoscale) is one billionth of a meter, which is about 50,000 times small than the width of a human hair. The head of a common pin is about one millimeter in diameter, or the equivalent of one million nanometers, while a single human red blood cell is approximately 2,500 nanometers in size. Reducing objects to the nanoscale is an extremely complex science that offers a wide range of applications and potentially great benefits in the way of medicine, consumer products, and fuels. Many newer sunscreens, for example, contain nanoparticles of zinc or titanium oxide that allows them to spread more easily and reduce whitish residue on the skin. Fabrics that inhibit the penetration of UV rays are coated with thin layers of zinc oxide nanoparticles, while other fabrics contain nanoparticles that help resist stains or repel water. Clothing manufacturer Eddie Bauer, for instance, has used embedded nanoparticles to create stain- and wrinkle-resistant khaki pants. Nanoparticles allow for better absorption of diet and vitamin supplements by the body, and are used to manufacture lighter and stronger tennis rackets and golf clubs. Applications in development currently include edible, antimicrobial films that kill bacteria in packaged foods, and the injection of specially coated nanoparticles into a patient’s bloodstream to target cancerous cells. It’s a brave new world of extremely exciting, cool science.

Nanotechnology is not without its detractors, however. Some scientists and ethicists cite concerns regarding irresponsible molecular manufacturing, fearing possible toxicity, its unknown impact on the environment, and how it may be used by military groups worldwide. The applications and potential drawbacks of nanotechnology make it a ripe subject for many classrooms. While science classes are a natural place for nanotechnology lessons and activities, other subject areas can benefit as well. The nanometer scale can be used in math classes, and the societal implications of molecular manufacturing provides a great topic of discussion for English and social studies classrooms. Nanotechnology issues can also be incorporated into civics, ethics, and character education lessons.

This week, I’ve highlighted three nanotechnology lessons for a range of ages. I’ll be featuring many more lessons, activities, and resources on nanotechnology on our Facebook and Twitter pages throughout the week, so please be sure to check those pages regularly.

Sugar Crystal Challenge

http://www.thegateway.org/browse/dcrecord.2011-07-13.0806998299

Subjects: Physical science, Math

Grade: 3-8

This lesson explores how nanostructures can influence surface area, and how the sugar can be modified to different levels of coarseness without impacting molecular structure. Students work in teams and explore different states of sugar as it relates to surface area and molecular structure. This lesson was created by TryNano.org, a site for students, their parents, their teachers and their school counselors. TryNano was created jointly by IEEE, IBM, and the New York Hall of Science for the benefit of the public.

Introduction to Nanotechnology Lesson Plan http://www.thegateway.org/browse/dcrecord.2011-07-13.7899146141

Grade: 6-8

This lesson plan was created to help middle school science teachers provide an introduction to nanotechnology in a classroom setting. Students learn about nanotechnology, its applications in the real world, and what could possibly happen in the future. This lesson was produced by Hawk's Perch Technical Writing, LLC, which produces books and education materials on engineering topics.

Nanofibers On Your Clothes

http://www.thegateway.org/browse/dcrecord.2011-07-13.6610095856

Subjects: Physical science

Grade: 9-12

The purpose of this activity is to compare the weight, and “feel” of nanofiber treated fabrics to both untreated and Scotchguard treated fabrics, as well as their susceptibility to stains from various sources. This activity is a product of the Center for Affordable Nanoengineering of Polymeric Biomedical Devices at Ohio State University, and develops polymer-based nanomaterials and nanoengineering technology. The Center also offers educational materials on nanotechnology for teachers and the public.

~Joann's Picks - July 27, 2011~

Bright Ideas

The cover of my newest Popular Science announces the 5th annual Inventions of the Year. As I read through some of the ideas, I wonder why I didn’t think of them! The inventions, including a handheld bedbug sniffer, armored stun gloves, and prenatal disease-detecting pens, were mostly developed in peoples’ homes and school laboratories. About half of the featured inventions were created by students, again leading me to wonder how we can inspire students to develop a lifelong drive to create and innovate.

If necessity is the mother of invention, then invention must be the mother of entrepreneurship. If students don’t have the ability to create a product or idea, they won’t have anything to produce, patent, market, and sell. Joann is featuring entrepreneurship resources this week, and I have chosen resources to develop skills for inventing and innovating. We don’t want our students to become smart little drones who are really good at filling in bubbles with number 2 pencils. (Can you tell we are in the middle of standardized testing at our school?) Ensuring the students have the required knowledge is necessary, but we want them to use that knowledge to become the innovators and entrepreneurs who can change the world.

I wrote a blog post on the topic of inventions last August, which can be found here. I still love George Margolin’s idea that all kids are born inventors. We need to find a way to foster kids’ spirit of innovation so they continue to be inventors throughout their lives. I feel like this is an area that we often glaze over due to a lack of time. The following activities will challenge kids’ creativity and give them practice inventing and creating. (Shh…don’t tell your students, though, because they might think you are just letting them have fun.)

One of the hardest part of including something “extra” like inventing or entrepreneurship in students’ education is figuring out how to fit it into subjects that are already jammed with standards to be met. In my search of The Gateway to 21st Century Skills, I found teaching resources for inventing that could find a place in classrooms of all different subject areas. Don’t forget that if you find an activity you like, you can use the Standards Suggestion Tool at the bottom of the description. This will help you determine where the activity fits within your state standards so you can find the best place for that activity in your curriculum.

Here is an resource to get your students thinking about making something new from something old. The activity, “Is It a Thingamajig or Thingamabob?” challenges students to create something new from junk. You can expand this simple idea to create a “creation station” in your classroom, where students are encouraged to come and tinker when they are “bored.” There are plenty of similar creative activity ideas on the Gateway to help get the creative juices flowing at your school, and we will continue to discuss encouraging creativity in future posts.

Once students have an idea and a prototype of a creation or invention, they will need to know how to test it. “Testing 1,2,3” shows students how to test an invention using one of my all-time favorite activities, the egg drop experiment. I like this activity because students come up with so many solutions to one problem.

You can challenge students to solve other simple problems that relate to units in all different subjects. Adding a hands-on component could make the unit more exciting. Check out the following examples for cross-curricular ideas.

If you are working with music or studying the science of sound, a fun creative project for your students is designing their own musical instruments. I did this in middle school, and I loved it. You can take pictures of their final products to display in “The Virtual Museum of Music Inventions.” My soda bottle flutes could have really taken off if I could have shared them like that! In a physical science or physics class, you might want to try the “Inventions Using Simple Machines Project” or the online Levers and Pulleys Rube Goldberg machine building activity.

Inventions and innovations have played a huge role throughout history. The Library of Congress has a fun online game for students to learn about some of these inventions. Try playing the game “What in the World Is That? Ingenious Inventions Throughout History.” I played the game, and trying to figure out what these unusual inventions were was a fun challenge. Make the activity even more meaningful by having each student find and research one unusual invention to create your own game. When you get to the Library of Congress site, click on activities tab at the top, and “What in the World is That” is the last activity listed.

Encouraging our students’ creativity will help improve their problem solving abilities. We want our students to grow up and be able to solve problems, fix things that need fixing, and ultimately make our world a better place to live. I hope the resources above will help you increase the amount of creative activities available to your students.

~Peggy's Corner - 5/19/2011~

Tsunamis

The recent earthquake in Japan has vividly illustrated just how powerful natural disasters can be. Most of the horrific, widespread damage was caused not by the earthquake itself, but by the resulting tsunami. After the earthquake, residents living on the northeastern coast of Japan had only minutes to seek high ground before the waves came crashing in. Many never made it.

Tsunamis are large ocean waves of displaced water generally caused by earthquakes or volcanoes. In order to generate a tsunami, an earthquake must occur near the ocean or beneath the ocean floor. While tsunamis can occur in any ocean, the Pacific is a particularly fertile area for tsunamis because of the geologic volatility of the Ring of Fire zone, which rims the Pacific. The number of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions in this region are caused by the convergence of three tectonic plates, which continuously move and shift against one another. Once a tsunami is triggered, the waves can reach staggering heights – some tsunami wave heights have been recorded in excess of 100 feet. Most deep ocean tsunamis, however, rarely exceed 3 feet in height, but are characterized instead by their length. In such cases, a tsunami can measure hundreds of miles or more from wave crest to wave crest, and can neither be seen from the air nor be felt by ships, despite moving at speeds exceeding 500 miles per hour.

In science classes, the study of tsunamis has applications in geology, earth science, and physics. While students most often learn about tsunamis in science class, the study of this phenomenon can be applied to other subject areas as well. In schools where character education is part of the curriculum, learning about how tsunamis have affected communities in Japan and other areas can generate service learning projects and overall discussion of how people can help those touched by tragedy. In social studies, students can learn about the geographic regions affected by tsunamis, and how the local cultures have adapted to live with the threat of big waves. Students in Language Arts and English classes can write poems or descriptive essays about tsunamis, attempting to capture the power and violence of such force in words. In art classes, students can create artwork similar to tsunami-inspired pieces by artists Katsushika Hokusai and Sandra Hansen. Math classes, too, can use information about tsunamis to calculate wave height, speed, and the local times that various locations could be affected by walls of water.

Below are three resources on tsunamis for various grade ranges. Throughout the week, I’ll be featuring many additional lessons and activities on tsunamis in a variety of subject areas on our Facebook and Twitter pages. Please be sure to give them a look.


Tsunamis
http://www.thegateway.org/browse/dcrecord.2011-03-16.0278696810
Subjects: Earth science, Physical science
Grade: K-2
Young children should understand that earthquakes can cause tsunamis, and if they live near the water, they should be prepared to go inland and uphill to high ground. In this lesson, younger students are introduced to tsunamis, and participate in hands-on activities to demonstrate the characteristics of waves. This lesson was produced by the American Red Cross, the nation’s premier emergency response organization. In addition to providing relief and community services, the Red Cross also offers educational materials on disaster preparedness and response.

Monster Waves
http://www.thegateway.org/browse/dcrecord.2011-03-16.2028916312
Subjects: Geography, Earth science, Math
Grade: 6-8
In this activity, students will build a tabletop fishing village and use it to visualize the relative height and affects of gigantic waves called tsunamis. This lesson is offered by the Houghton Mifflin Education Place, where teachers and families can find K-12 education resources including lesson plans and activities.


Tsunami: Waves of Destruction
http://www.thegateway.org/browse/dcrecord.2011-03-28.3813267750
Subjects: Math, Physical science, Geography, Earth science
Grade: 9-12
In this lesson, students use tsunami time travel maps to predict how long it will take a tsunami to reach the shore. This lesson was produced by The Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS), which conducts interdisciplinary research and provides advisory service to policy makers, industry, and the public. VIMS offers educational resources through The Bridge, a companion web site.

~Joann's Picks - 4/9/2011~

Japan – Earthquakes

Earthquakes are mysterious things. We understand why earthquakes happen, but still lack the ability to predict the magnitude of a quake or when such an event might occur. Once an earthquake begins, current technology can only provide a few seconds’ warning before severe shaking arrives at a specific location. For most people, the first sign of an impending earthquake occurs only once it’s begun.

Severe earthquakes have been mentioned throughout history, with the earliest recorded quake noted in China in 1177 BC. Scientific research into earthquakes didn’t really commence until the 18th century, where one commonly accepted theory held that earthquakes were caused by subterranean air surging out of vast caves beneath the Earth’s surface. It wasn’t until the twentieth century that the notion of plate tectonics began to develop, and for scientists to begin to understand what really caused an earthquake. Earthquakes are nearly always caused by the friction and stress associated with tectonic plate movements; as plates continuously strain and push against each other, a sudden release of energy caused by one plate slipping over another can result in an earthquake.

The 21st century thus far has spawned some massive earthquakes around the globe; as of this writing, Japan alone has seen 19 earthquakes of magnitude 7.0 and above in the last ten years. The island nation is located in the infamous Ring of Fire, a volatile region that rims the Pacific Ocean for roughly 25,000 miles and is notably home to 452 volcanoes and 90% of our planet’s earthquakes. Japan lies on the edge of the junction to three tectonic plates – the Philippine, Pacific, and Eurasian Plates – which continuously shift and grind over and under one another.

Like all disasters, the Japanese earthquake and tsunami have an effect on populations far from the stricken geographic region. Millions of people around the world are moved emotionally by the tragedy, and donate to Japanese relief efforts to signify their support and human solidarity. Traces of radiation were found on planes from Japan at O’Hare Airport in Chicago, docks and vessels were destroyed on the coasts of California and Hawaii due to waves caused by the tsunami, and the destruction from the earthquake and tsunami will have economic repercussions worldwide. And according to NASA, the March 11 earthquake was powerful enough to shift the Earth’s mass so that our planet spins a bit faster, thus reducing the length of each day by 1.6 microseconds. Thus the scope of one event – an earthquake – has created a ripple effect of significant proportions throughout the world.

My picks this week focus on understanding earthquakes and their impact on local and distant communities. Throughout the week, I’ll be featuring many additional lessons and activities on our Facebook and Twitter pages, so please check those pages for lots of ideas.


Table-Top Earthquakes
http://www.thegateway.org/browse/26190
Subjects: Geology, Earth science
Grade: K-12
Using an earthquake machine (materials list is included in the resource), the teacher can demonstrate how the machine’s sliding motion mimics the intermittent fault slippage that characterizes the earthquake fault zones. This demonstration of seismology for teachers and students can be used to expand lessons in earth science, physics, math, social studies, and geography. This activity was produced by the U.S. Geological Survey, a science organization that provides all types of information to scientists, policymakers, and others. Additionally, the USGS helps to help educate the public about natural resources, natural hazards, geospatial data, and other issues through lesson plans, maps, and data.

Building Structure Exercise: Designing Structures To Perform Well During an Earthquake
http://www.thegateway.org/browse/dcrecord.2011-03-23.5175455774
Subjects: Engineering, Geology, Physical science
Grade: 6-12
Did you ever notice that after an earthquake some structures have a lot of damage while others have little? There are different factors that affect how structures perform during an earthquake. In this activity, students will learn about the effect of different variables on building performance during a simulated earthquake. They’ll learn about what physical forces are at work during an earthquake, and brainstorm ways to strengthen the buildings to withstand an earthquake. This activity was produced by MCEER Information Systems, a national center dedicated to the creation and development of new technologies to equip
communities to become more disaster resilient in the face of earthquakes and other extreme events.

You Don’t Need a Seismograph to Study Earthquakes
http://www.thegateway.org/browse/32585
Subjects: Geology, Physical science
Grade: 7-12
Earthquakes are difficult to predict, and most of our scientific investigation occurs after the event. This lesson will help students to understand earthquakes. Students will simulate p waves (longitudinal) & s waves (transverse) using a slinky and rope. They will simulate one of the three types of lithospheric boundaries and investigate plate tectonics at some select web sites. This lesson is aligned to national education standards, and was produced by PBS NewsHour, which covers national and international news. NewsHour also provides educational resources for both teachers and students.

~ Joann's Picks - 4/1/2011~

Physics is Phun! Studying Energy in Your Classroom

Our discussion of Leonardo da Vinci last week started a great dialog about how to create well-rounded students who are willing and motivated to learn in all different subject areas. I think Kelly Tenkely stated it perfectly in her blog, Dreams of Education, “True learners are multidimensional, they are passionately curious about the world around them.” As we shift gears this week to discuss physics resources, we want to be sure the resources we present are in line with this goal of creating passionate, curious learners throughout the grades. The NEED Project fits the bill with their physics resources that look at the subject of energy through many different lenses, including language arts, drama, music, and math.

What do you remember most about your high school physics class? Do you have painful memories of endless equation memorization and pencil-and-paper problem solving, or did you have a teacher that took a more hands-on approach? Now that many of us are in our teacher’s shoes, we are in charge of creating classes that will equip students with the skills they will need to be inquisitive problem solvers throughout their lives. We want students to look back upon our classes with fond memories as they move forward in life with the kind of curiosity that led Leonardo da Vinci to make some amazing discoveries.

Most students won’t come to your class with a natural curiosity about every subject they need to learn. Often, they are not really interested in subjects they can’t connect to the “real world.” It is up to you to inspire this inquisitiveness with activities that challenge them to question things happening in the world around them. This type of curiosity isn’t only required in upper-level science classes. It needs to be fostered from the early grades on.

Where would physics activities fit into your classroom? Students are constantly exposed to the topic of alternate energy sources, energy conservation, and petroleum dependence in the media, so studying energy can be a great way to introduce physics to even the youngest students. For an example of how to do this, look at The NEED Project’s “Energy on Stage,” a set of energy plays you can use with primary and secondary students. These plays are a creative outlet for students and they bring the topics and ideas of energy and its many different sources to students in a unique way. The NEED Project also created an activity called “Transportation Fuels Rock Performances,” where students write and perform rock songs about alternate transportation fuels. Who knows…maybe you’ll find the next American Idol! I especially liked these two resources since they bring some of the fine arts into the classroom that many of our students are missing with cutbacks in programs like music and drama.

The NEED Project also has some groups of activities that can be implemented over a series of lessons. “Fossil Fuels to Products” presents petroleum and natural gas energy sources from their exploration to their final products using hands-on activities with ties to social studies, language arts, and technology. “Wind For Schools” brings in the discussion of alternate energy sources and lets students use actual data from wind turbines, a great real world experience for students and teachers.

These are just four examples that show the diversity of resources you can find on the Project NEED website (www.need.org). I spoke with one physics teacher who is on the Teacher Advisory Board for the project, and she had lots of wonderful things to say about the project and their quality activities. She told me that the NEED Project has been around for 30 years and continues to improve and design activities and curriculum related to energy. Their Teacher Advisory Board heavily influences the project. The activities are designed for teachers, which makes them a great fit for The Gateway to 21st Century Skills.

The NEED Project is hosting summer workshops, including their national workshop in Denver in July. If you apply for this, sponsors could support your participation. If you look at their website, you might even find a workshop closer to home. You can keep track of their events on their Facebook Page as well. (http://www.facebook.com/NEEDProject)

Whether you are a new or seasoned teacher, it is easy to feel alone, especially when you are struggling to present a new topic in a fun and exciting way. Finding new activities like these might be just the support you need to unlock curiosity in some of your hard to reach students and students that display the type of curiosity of da Vinci. Whenever you are looking for new resources to use, be sure to search The Gateway. We will continue the conversation on our Facebook and Twitter pages, so be sure to join us there.

~Peggy's Corner - 2/10/2011~

You Got the Power

Every once in a while, the topic of American dependence on oil rears its head, is hotly discussed and debated by politicians and the media, and then recedes into the background. The current civil unrest in Egypt has once again prompted discussion as to the grave economic, political, and environmental challenges caused by the U.S.’s reliance on oil and other fossil fuels. Despite the warning bells that have been sounding for decades, the U.S. has been slow to rigorously explore and fund alternative sources of energy. Perhaps the recent increased attention to global warming and the high costs of petroleum-based energies will further spur development of other types of fuel sources.

Fortunately, students today are much more environmentally conscious than those even a decade ago, and are keenly interested in alternative technologies to produce energy that could reduce our reliance on fossil fuels. Kids are often introduced to the intricacies of energy and how it works through hands-on activities and well-planned lessons at school. Energy can be a slippery notion for some to grasp – it’s dynamic and fluid, and it can’t be created or destroyed, but instead transforms from one form to another. Nothing can happen without energy, and it’s a concept that is found in every branch of science, from biology to earth science to physics and so forth. Energy is about change and making things happen. It’s often confused with power, which measures the work done, or how quickly energy transformations occur. Once students have grasped the main tenets of energy and how it works, they can be turned loose to plan and perhaps develop their own ideas for energy technologies.

Educating students about energy teaches them about the idea of transformation and change, as energy intrinsically changes from one form to another. But the theme of change by way of energy can be expanded externally as well, as kids explore and brainstorm ways that energy can enact social change in the form of newer, more efficient energy technologies. New types of technology and new ways of applying existing energy technologies are always fun to explore in the classroom, and some products in development may surprise you. For example, I read of a current project to develop roads implanted with solar panels in order to melt snow, which frankly, can’t happen fast enough for me. This type of idea may initially sound far-fetched, but it and other nascent energy technologies are actual products in development with exciting possibilities.

The resources that I’ve selected this week focus on energy and force, two concepts that produce change. Each resource was created by The NEED Project, a nonprofit association dedicated to promoting energy consciousness and education. The NEED Project was launched in 1980 with a physics teacher from New York at its helm, and it works to bring balanced energy programs and curricular materials to U.S. schools. All of The NEED Project’s lessons are aligned to national education standards, and each unit contains a teacher’s guide as well as several labs and hands-on activities for students. I hope you enjoy them. As always, we’ll be featuring additional resources on energy and force throughout the week on our Facebook and Twitter pages, so be sure to check those as well.


Exploring Magnets
http://www.thegateway.org/browse/dcrecord.2011-02-05.5201119282
Subjects: Physical sciences
Grade: 1-4
Students explore the concepts of atoms and magnetic force with a variety of magnets and experiments, making predictions, recording observations and data, and drawing conclusions. The unit includes teacher demonstrations and center-based explorations for students.

Science of Energy
http://www.thegateway.org/browse/dcrecord.2011-02-05.7926741661
Subjects: Physical science
Grade: 5-8
In this unit, students learn about the different forms and sources of energy, how it is stored, transformed, and what it enables us to do. Students will also trace the energy flow of a system.

Secondary Science of Energy
http://www.thegateway.org/browse/dcrecord.2011-02-05.9898676815
Subjects: Physical science
Grade: 9-12
This unit explores the various forms and sources of energy, the main things that energy enables us to do, and how energy is stored. Students will also explain energy transformations and trace the energy flow of a system. The unit includes a teacher demonstration and six lab stations

~Joann's Picks - 2/10/20100~

Classroom Detectives: Bringing the Real World to Your Students

You are sitting at a meeting with other teachers at your school talking about topics you want to cover this year. A couple of biology teachers are trying to figure out a creative way to teach carbon dating. The chemistry teacher is asking around to see if anyone knows of a good method for teaching chromatography. An English teacher is trying to think up an assignment in persuasive writing. The conversation could go on, but the principal steps to the front of the room to start the meeting. Discussions of field trips, state standards, and test score improvement are going on all around you, but your mind is still on the earlier chat. Is there a way to tie all these topics together to make a more meaningful educational experience for our students?

What if you could work together with other teachers to create a cooperative unit teaching all of these topics using a forensic science investigation? If you are not in a setting that allows for this kind of cooperation between teachers, you can do an investigative interdisciplinary CSI unit in your own classroom. It’s especially fun to do something like this as we get into the holiday season and students seem to start losing focus. The most time-consuming part of doing a unit like this is planning and practicing the activities. Luckily, there are lots of quality resources available on the web that have been tested in classrooms like yours.

The forensic science resources catalogued on The Gateway to 21st Century Skills will be very helpful to you whether you are planning to do a few activities or a long unit. To see if any of these activities might work in your class, start your Gateway search here. This list of 24 activities will show you the variety of topics and disciplines you can teach in a forensic science unit. There are resources available for many different grades, but most resources seem to be aimed for junior high and high school investigations.

One activity that interested me was Ernies Exit: Blood Typing Lab from Science Spot. I really like how the activity is designed for teachers who aren’t able to order specialty supplies from scientific suppliers. It is designed with everyday materials, and there are lecture notes and nicely designed worksheets and directions. If you like this lab idea, look through the entire 8th grade quarter-long unit here. There are some great ideas you might be able to adapt for your classroom, and they all include tips and worksheets.

Another well-designed lab about Ink Chromatography led me to a different set of forensic science lessons designed for 5th through 12th grade students. These activities from the Shodor Education Foundation are also nice since they can be done mainly with household materials. One that I am very interested to try with younger students is a lab for extracting DNA from yellow onions. You can access their list of forensic science activities here. This page also has links to some really neat online mysteries that you can use in a class with computers or in a computer lab. Check out these mysteries from Access Excellence created by the National Health Museum. Activities like this can add an element of fun and mystery-solving to your classroom without a whole lot of extra preparation.

Forensic science investigations aren’t only for science classrooms. The online mysteries above could be used in many different subject areas. An English classroom could include reading a mystery and writing a persuasive essay trying to convince the reader of a particular character’s guilt or innocence. A teacher could even hold a debate in class about the mystery. The Forensic Sketch Artist combines visual art and technology in an investigation, showing students that there is a lot more involved than chemistry and biology in forensics.

Teaching is a challenging job. You are constantly trying to hook your students so that they will be engaged in their learning. Tapping into online resources like these can help you bring quality activities into your class while still getting sleep at night! If we each try to implement one or two high-quality units like these each year, soon you will have a class that students won’t want to miss.

~Peggy's Corner - 11/12/2010~

Forensic Files

Two summers ago, our local school department offered a one-week forensic science summer camp for older elementary students. Most of the kids were not there by choice, having been enrolled by their parents who thought that the course sounded “fun.” The teacher, having taught this course a few times before, was used to the student foot-dragging and wistful stares out the window at their unencumbered brethren playing outside, blissfully free from the tyranny of overly ambitious parents. The course focused on the investigation of an environmental crisis where local fish were killed by toxins in the water. The course, based on an actual event, asked students to analyze water quality, fish anatomy, business practices, town relationships, and environmental events in order to determine who – or what – was responsible for releasing the toxins into the water supply. Within 30 minutes on the first day, all the students were hooked.

Much credit must be given, of course, to the teacher. She was engaging, thoroughly prepared, knew her science inside and out, and was a gifted storyteller. The kids were captivated. What also captured their interest was the sheer mystery of the case, and how they had to create and recreate various scenarios in order to solve the puzzle of the dead fish. The course offered them hands-on detective work (testing water samples and dissecting perch) coupled with basic research such as reading through police reports, witness accounts, weather reports, and other data. By the third day of the course, all the students fairly blew by their peers on the playground outside in their haste to get to the classroom. That’s what I call success!

Forensic science has garnered much attention recently. It plays a prominent role in TV shows like The Forensic Files, Law & Order, CSI, and Dexter. Forensics is an incredibly diverse scientific field: there are forensic dentists, forensic veterinarians, pathology, and other specialties. At its most basic level, forensic science is a rich melding of modern technology and good old-fashioned storytelling. There’s something appealing about methodically working backwards on a problem – taking the evidence left at the scene of the crime or event – and attempting to retrace and recreate the events in order to figure out what really transpired. As the students discovered in the summer course, forensics also involves presenting or supplying scientific evidence in court cases. It’s possible to include some aspect of forensic science in a multitude of subjects, then, and not just in science class.

My picks this week all focus on some aspect of forensic science. While the resources below are appropriate for upper elementary through high school students, I will be featuring age-appropriate resources for all ages on our our Facebook and Twitter pages throughout the week.

Ink Chromatography
Subjects: Physical science
Grade: 5-12
Who wrote the ransom note? This ink chromatography lab uses common household materials to determine which pen actually wrote the note. This activity was created by the Shodor Educational Foundation, a non-profit research and education organization dedicated to the advancement of science and math education, specifically through the use of modeling and simulations.

CSI Podcasts
Subjects: Writing, Physical science, Technology
Grade: 6-8
Everyone loves an (imaginary) crime scene! In this lesson, students create a series of podcasts to help them solve crime scenes, and later review the material for tests. They’ll learn about mammals and ecology for a poaching scenario, microscopes, bacteria, fungi, and protists for an epidemiological-type scenario, and genetics for blood typing. This lesson is a product of DigitalWish, a non-profit whose mission is to modernize K-12 classrooms and prepare students for tomorrow's workforce. Teachers create wish lists of technology products for their classroom, and donors then connect with their favorite schools and grant classroom wishes through online cash or product donations.

Crash Scene Investigation
Subjects: Math, Algebra, Functions, Patterns, Physical science
Grade: 9-12
In this online simulation, students virtually help the highway patrol recreate a deadly crash by examining the evidence and calculating the forces. The simulation includes supporting materials, such as real crash scene photos (no gore), a glossary of terms, and a teacher’s guide. This resource is offered by Edheads, a non-profit organization that creates educational web experiences that are free to teachers, students and parents. This simulation is aligned to national and Ohio state standards.

~Joann's Picks - 11/13/2010~

A Classroom Disaster

Some things in the world…okay a lot of things in the world…are difficult subjects to tackle with students. When bad things happen in the world, especially close to home, how do we help our students understand what’s going on and what they are feeling? There are textbooks, lesson plans, and best practices in place to teach the core academic subjects, but the there is no clear-cut procedure for handling unexplainable disasters. Whether it’s a natural disaster or a man-made one, students are witnessing situations in real time and in more detail than ever. The unfolding events can be very scary for students and teachers. Discovering the scientific basis of these disasters and how to cope may alleviate this fear and give a feeling of control over the situation.

Depending on the age of your students, these explorations of catastrophic events can include historical comparisons, political discussions, service projects, and hands-on experiments. There are many different types of resources catalogued on the Gateway and other sites to help you introduce and study just about any type of natural disaster with your students. Joann will be posting a variety of examples of these resources daily on our Facebook and Twitter pages.

Where you live and the specific time of year influence the types of natural disasters you may need to teach about in your classroom. If you live in an area commonly hit with certain types of disasters, like earthquakes or tornadoes, it might be helpful to begin introducing the topic before a disaster strikes. No matter which type of disaster you need to learn more about, you should find some activities to start with on The Gateway to 21st Century Skills. Through different keyword searches on The Gateway, I found a lot of very creative and challenging activities to help you deal with all different types of disasters. One of the best parts about starting with these catalogued resources is that you can use the standards selection tool to determine how the activities will fit within your state standards.

There are quite a few other lessons and activities online that can complement the lessons you find on The Gateway. The following links are a sample of the variety of resources you might find useful. The FEMA site has a good overview of many types of natural disasters. National Geographic’s Forces of Nature activity allows you to pick a force (tornado, hurricane, earthquake, or volcano) to see pictures, maps, and case studies related to that force of nature. How Stuff Works, a Discovery site, has articles, pictures, and videos to help better explain disasters to your students. The link takes you to the wildfire page, but there are explanations and activities for other disasters as well.

The information and resources in those sites are all very helpful, but there is no replacement for hands-on experimentation of the forces at work in these disasters. This year we have discussed 2 specific types of disasters in our posts: hurricanes and oil spills.
In the study of hurricanes, students saw air pressure demonstrated in a really fun and memorable way as they witnessed an egg “magically” being sucked into a glass bottle. I have seen kids and adults alike watch this demonstration in awe. Once they can explain the scientific principles behind “trick,” they will have a much deeper understanding of how weather systems like hurricanes are formed. Students from kindergarten through junior high tried out the inquiry-based oil spill experiment introduced in our oil spill posts. There are hands-on experiments like this available on the Gateway for other disasters, too. For example, you can build your own tornado with soda bottles here. Finding and implementing activities like this can make your investigation into disasters much more effective and useful for your students. If you know of any activities to use in teaching about disasters, please share. Thanks!

~Peggy's Corner - 10/21/2010~

Scorched Earth

A few weeks ago in Hungary, a reservoir ruptured, flooding several towns with 185 million gallons of toxic red sludge. The 12-foot high river of sludge killed nine people, with scores more hospitalized with chemical burns and other injuries. The effect on the environment and the people there is still unknown, and the scope of any lasting damage is likely to be unknown for many years. The sludge is a byproduct of refining bauxite into alumina, and is contained in numerous reservoirs in communities surrounding the aluminum plant. A few days after the disaster, a report surfaced that the plant had appeared on a short list of potential environmental disasters several years ago, while photographs taken of the Hungarian reservoirs months before the rupture clearly show degraded and leaking reservoir walls. As of this writing, the manager of the aluminum plant is the target of an official investigation, and the plant’s assets have been frozen. In the meantime, the people in the villages surrounding the plant are trying to put their lives back together in a devastated landscape.

Disasters, whether man-made or naturally-occurring, are an unfortunate fact of life. Pliny the Younger wrote vivid descriptions of the devastation caused by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 AD, while today, haunting images of toxic mud-splashed houses and flooded buildings in Hungary flash across our TV and computer screens. Disasters are a common thread in human history, binding past to present in a very real, dramatic way. The ability to stream live images or publish real-time descriptions of disasters has made such occurrences more personal regardless of where they occur: as fellow human beings, we are able to truly empathize with the afflicted communities, even as we experience it secondhand.

Students typically begin learning about disasters that occur in the natural world, such as earthquakes, hurricanes, and volcanic eruptions. Older students are able to delve more deeply into the topic, perhaps studying human-induced disasters, including their causes, their effect, and what preparations can be created to help prevent against a reoccurrence in the future.

My picks this week all focus on some aspect of disasters, including how stress from experiencing a disaster affects the human body, and how communities can plan for economic recovery after a disaster has affected their community. Throughout the week I’ll be featuring all types of disaster-related lessons and resources for all grade levels on our Facebook and Twitter pages, so please be sure to check those pages frequently.

Are You Prepared?
Subjects: Science, Language Arts
Grade: 3
Natural disasters come in many different forms. In this lesson, students conduct research into the different types of disasters and create brochures that highlight an event and feature ways to protect themselves. What I like about this lesson is that the focus is on safety preparations, which helps to reduce some of the “scare factor” of disasters for younger students. This lesson is a product of the Alabama Learning Exchange (ALEX), which offers lesson plans and educational best practices, as well as Alabama professional development opportunities. The lesson is aligned to Alabama Content standards.


Rebuild Your Community
Subjects: Economics
Grade: 9-12
This lesson focuses on priorities for a community's post-disaster economic recovery. It specifically examines the importance of the revival of the cultural, educational, and religious institutions in the Gulf Coast in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Students examine the concepts of scarce resources, cost-benefit analysis, opportunity costs, and economic incentives in determining how to rebuild and revitalize a neighborhood. This is vital information that gets students to think more broadly about the aftermath of a disaster, and is a topic that is often overlooked in discussing disasters. This lesson is a product of Thirteen Ed Online, the educational online outlet of WNET, PBS’s flagship station in New York. The lesson is aligned to McREL standards.


Mental Health and Disasters: How Your Body Reacts During and After a Tragedy
Subjects: Health, Psychology
Grade: 7-12
In this lesson, students learn about how the body reacts physically to stress, and evaluate the long-term affects of stress on those whose lives have been impacted by disasters. Students evaluate and discuss the Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, and apply this concept to situations in their own lives. This lesson was produced by PBS Newshour, which offers news for students and teacher resources. This lesson is aligned to national standards.

~Joann's Picks - 10/21/2010~

Rock me like a Hurricane

As a recent transplant from the Gulf Coast of Mississippi to Northern California, I am fascinated by the science surrounding hurricanes. I suppose this interest in natural disasters will soon grow to include earthquakes and wild fires…more on that in a future post. Living in southern Mississippi, I saw the lingering aftermath of the powerful storms that can make landfall and devastate entire regions. The most interesting thing about hurricanes to me is the science behind the predictions of where the storm will make landfall and how strong it will be. Unlike many other weather events, people have a lot of warning before a hurricane reaches land. Meteorologists use all kinds of different skills and tools to make these predictions as accurate as possible. No matter where you live, you can harness your students’ interest in these weather phenomenons to teach many aspects of science and math. Let them become amateur meteorologists to really gain an understanding of these storms.

There is some great information available on the web for teachers wanting to explore hurricanes in the classroom. The Weather Wise Kids site has a good overview of hurricanes and the science behind them. It uses kid-friendly language and graphics, so it shouldn’t be too overwhelming for younger kids. I also really liked the lesson plans she included at the end, many of which are already catalogued on The Gateway as well. These activities, including an online hurricane creation simulation, a tool to “aim” a hurricane using weather conditions, and a reading comprehension activity would work great along with the activities Joann suggested in her post. My favorite science demonstration they suggested can help you introduce the concept of air pressure to your students. If you can get your hands on a glass bottle with an opening big enough for a hard boiled egg to almost fit in, you are all set. You HAVE to try this one, its fun! If you haven’t seen the experiment before, you can get a basic idea by watching this news clip from TeacherTube.

A lot of the science behind tracking hurricanes and predicting their paths comes from the data collected by the Hurricane Hunters , an Air Force Reserve squadron based at Keesler Air Force Base in Mississippi. Their website is very informative for kids and adults interested in how they fly into hurricanes and other storms to collect important weather readings. One of my favorite parts of the site is their Hurricane Hunters Cyberflight, where you can see what happens during a typical mission into a storm.

If you are looking for other links and information about hurricanes, Weather Underground is a great place to start. I spent a fair amount of time on the site during the hurricane seasons, tracking tropical storms and hurricanes as they made their way across the ocean. They have a huge collection of online links including storm footage, blogs, historical storm data, and much more. If you do one of the storm surge activities Joann recommended in her post, I highly recommend that you show your students what a storm surge has done in past hurricanes. This is a really complete blog on Weather Underground that details the storm surge destruction all along the gulf coast during Katrina. I choose this particular post because the author includes some video footage of the storm surge during Katrina and lots of pictures of the destruction.

Last but not least, search for the keyword hurricane on The Gateway. If you haven’t found a hurricane activity that will work for you in Joann’s or my post, you should be able to find one that meets your needs with a simple search of the site. Don’t forget that we have a new state standards suggestion tool. Once you find a lesson you like, click on the green “View, share, comment” button below the description of the activity. At the bottom of the detailed description, you will be prompted to enter your state, subject, and grade level. When you click on the “Suggest Standards” button, you will get a list of standards that you can cover with that activity. It’s that easy! After you try the tool, we would love if you would take the short survey to see how we can make it more useful for teachers.

Let a fun and educational hurricane activity push your students out of a rut in their science and math studies this month! I hope you are able to spark some new interest in the science of weather. It’s going on all around us.

~Peggy's Corner - 9/25/2010~

A Mighty Wind

A confession: I’m sort of a weather junkie.

Much to the annoyance of my children, I can happily watch The Weather Channel for hours on end.

“It’s the same thing over and over,” says my son. “It’s boring.”

“They’re not even showing our weather!” my daughter splutters. I tell her that even though we’re not presently in Barcelona, I still care about their weather.

I’m not exactly sure why I like watching weather-related events so much, but I do. Maybe it’s a reminder that, even in the 21st century where we’ve bent so many aspects of the natural world to our collective human will, the forces of nature remain a power that can’t always be controlled despite our best efforts. It truly is bigger than us.

It’s currently hurricane season, which in the Atlantic lasts from June 1 through November 30. In the Eastern Pacific, the season starts a bit earlier, on May 15. The term “hurricane” is actually a regional term given to tropical cyclones that occur in the Atlantic, the Northeast Pacific, and the Southeast Pacific oceans. The term “typhoon” is given to those tropical cyclones that occur in the Northwest Pacific, while “tropical cyclone” is used for just about everywhere else. They are mighty storms, born from a recipe of warm ocean water, warm moist air, and areas of low air pressure. To be classified as a hurricane, the storm must have winds of at least 74 miles per hour, while the strongest storms – Category 5 hurricanes – have winds that reach 156 miles per hour and above.

Hurricanes can obviously wreak terrible destruction; New Orleans and other areas affected by Hurricane Katrina five years ago are still struggling to recover from the devastation. Fortunately, most hurricanes are more benign storms, and understanding the science behind them is a fascinating melding of earth science and physics. My picks this week all focus on hurricane resources, and we’ll be featuring many more lessons, activities, and information during the week on our Facebook and Twitter pages.

The Surge of the Storm
Subjects: Earth Science, Measurement, Meteorology, Physical sciences
Grade: 5-12
In this hands-on activity, students investigate how a hurricane’s storm surge affects the low-lying areas of coastal regions. Students determine the distance inland that the storm surge will reach and simulate the destructive force of a storm surge. This lesson was created by SEACOORA (Southeast Coastal Ocean Observing Regional Association), which gathers coastal and ocean observing data and information in the Southeast United States. They offer lesson plans and activities, as well as tons of information about coastal areas and the ocean. Lessons are aligned to national education standards.

Researching Hurricanes with Technology
Subjects: Earth science, Meteorology, Physical sciences
Grade: 9-12
In this lesson, students learn about the formation, power, and history of hurricanes. The lesson also integrates Internet research and the use of several different types of technology. This lesson is offered by ALEX, a project of the Alabama Learning Exchange, an award-winning education portal that provides lesson plans, education-related podcasts, best practices, and Alabama professional development activities. Lessons are aligned to Alabama Content Standards.

Hurricane!
Subjects: Earth science, Meteorology
Grade: 6-8
Students in this hands-on activity discover the effects of wind speed and water depth on the height of waves during a hurricane. The activity includes adaptations for older students, discussion questions, suggested readings and extension activities, a grading rubric, and more. This lesson is offered by Discovery Education, which provides digital resources to schools and homes with the goal of making educators more effective, increasing student achievement, and connecting classrooms and families to a world of learning. The activity is aligned to McREL standards.


~Joann's Picks - 9/25/2010~

The Impossible Field Trip

In light of the Perseid meteor showers this month, Joann featured a variety of resources about meteors and meteor showers in her post this week. My goal each week is to help you, the educator, successfully bring these resources into your classroom. As I thought about how to creatively teach about this topic, I was stumped for a little while. When I was in third grade, we were able to take a night field trip to an observatory to see a meteor shower. It was such a wonderful and memorable experience, and I know that many teachers would love to do this today. How can we do something like this when time and budget constraints will hardly allow it?

This is a dilemma that we come across more often these days as educators. Since we can’t afford the kinds of field trips we once could, we need to use our imaginations and bring fun and exciting “virtual field trips” into the classroom. If you make a big deal about the field trip ahead of time and make sure you have plenty of different kinds of activities for the students, it can be a successful in-class field trip experience. This can work for all different types of topics, and I put together a list of different ideas for meteors and meteor showers. Feel free to adapt any of these ideas to create the field trip of your choice, without ever leaving the classroom!

Since your class probably meets during the day, it might be hard to take the students outside to see a meteor shower. The internet has many different ways to expose your students to subjects they might not get to experience first hand. Check out sites like the NASA Images site to find wonderful close up pictures of asteroids. If you search for meteor shower images and videos in Google, you’ll find a lot of neat images and videos you can use as well. Depending on the age of your students, you might want to create an Animoto show with music or have your students create one. As an educator, you can get a free account. You just need to sign up here ahead of time so it can be activated before you use it. The shows are easy to create, and fun to watch with music your students select. You can also use podcasts in your virtual field trip. There are some good ones about the Perseids meteor shower on Astronomy.com.

It’s neat to see the meteors streaking through the skies, but for me, it was absolutely awe-inspiring to see a crater created in the earth by a meteor strike. You could take your class on a trip to Arizona to see the Barringer Meteor Crater, but if you don’t have the time or money to do that, you can explore it virtually, too. First, you can let your students take a virtual tour of the meteor crater visitor center to discover the history of the crater. NASA has a 360 degree tour of the crater and you can even zoom in so you can feel like you are right there exploring it. Do you want to see what it looked like when the meteor hit the earth, creating the crater? Let your students watch this video from the Meteor Crater visitor center. There is also a really neat interactive map of an impact crater, which will allow your students to explore the terrain of an impact crater.

Students always seem to enjoy hands-on activities and learn a lot, too, so I try to include them as often as possible. This impact crater lab allows students to create their own miniature impact craters so they can better understand how these craters are formed and how their features change with different speeds and angles of impact. Here is another example of a lab from NASA that includes more advanced calculations.

There are many different kinds of tools we can use to bring world events like this into the classroom. A neat way to do this might be to blend some of these ideas into different centers in your classroom on a day you deem the “field trip” day. Let’s not let a small budget get us down. With a little imagination, we can make a fun field trip for our students without ever leaving our schools. If you really hype it up and get the kids excited about what they are doing, it can be an exciting and memorable learning experience for everyone.

~Peggy's Corner - 8/19/2010~

Starry Starry Night

You’ve seen the pictures. Maybe you’ve even been lucky enough to see it for yourself. The gloriously colored, amazing annual light show that is the Perseid meteor shower is going on right now, showing at a location near you until August 24.

Divine in appearance, meteor showers happen when planets – like Earth – move through streams of debris left by a comet. The Perseids are the debris field from the Swift-Tuttle comet, which is one of the oldest known comets, with sightings dating back 2,000 years. The Swift-Tuttle comet is also the largest object known to make repeated passes near Earth.

Comets, meteors, and asteroids have long fascinated kids and adults alike. The Chicxulub asteroid is credited by many scientists as being THE asteroid that caused the extinction of the dinosaurs; its impact crater is located beneath the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico. A new asteroid was just detected in a region of the planet Neptune’s orbit, in a gravitational “dead zone” where no objects were previously thought to exist. Halley’s Comet, arguably the most well-known comet, is most famous for appearing right before the Battle of Hastings in 1066. It’s only visible about every 75 years or so, and it won’t appear again until mid-2061. If you miss the Perseids this year, the Leonid meteor showers will be visible in November this year, with peak viewing dates of November 17-18.

Most students, regardless of age, like studying space science and astronomy. My picks this week all focus on meteors, comets, and asteroids – those small pieces of rock or ice that make a big impact on our imaginations. The three resources below are all from the Lunar and Planetary Institute, a NASA-funded institute in Houston, Texas that is devoted to studying the solar system and sharing the wonder of space exploration with the public. The educational division develops education and public outreach programs, as well as producing materials such as newsletters, lesson plans, image atlases, and other educational resources. All lessons are aligned to national science standards. As always, please be sure to check our Facebook and Twitter pages throughout the week, where we will post links to more resources on asteroids, meteors, and comets for a variety of ages.


A Tale of Trails
Subjects: Astronomy, Earth science
Grade: 4-9
In this activity, students create an “Earth” box containing some of Earth’s biomes, such as desert, forest, tundra, ocean, or mountains, along with Earth’s atmosphere. They then simulate Earth’s encounter with a comet trail and the resulting meteor shower. Students discover that most meteoroids burn up in Earth’s atmosphere and that only a small percentage land on Earth as meteorites. And even though meteorites are evenly distributed across Earth’s surface, some are more easily found than others.

Dry Ice Comet
Subjects: Astronomy
Grade: 3-8
In this activity, students use dry ice and other materials to construct a demonstration model of a comet. Students learn about the structure of comets, such as the nucleus, coma, and tails. They also learn about the interactions between comets and the Sun. While the activity is primarily aimed at kids aged 10-13, it can also be used for younger students aged 8-9.

Space Rocks! A Meteorite Board Game
Subjects: Astronomy
Grade: 4-9
Students play a meteorite board game that reinforces their understanding of the origins of meteors, meteoroids, and meteorites. They also learn about the characteristics and importance of these space rocks, while tackling some common misconceptions.

~Joann's Picks - 8/19/2010~

Kid-Ventors

According to "Curious George" Margolin, “an ‘inventor’ is almost any child under the age of about 9. He…lives partly in the ‘real’ world and ‘much’ in a world of possibilities and make-believe.” This is great news if you are teaching kids 9 and under, but how do we keep this curiosity alive in our older students? The following sites and resources can help maintain this intrinsic sense of curiosity that blossoms during the younger years. Please browse through these resources and search for more that will suit your needs on The Gateway. Good luck, and may you and your students be inspired and innovative this year!

Thinking about young inventors brings back memories of my fourth grade invention convention. I spent many evenings pondering problems in the world around me and how I could fix them. My classmates did the same thing, and on the day of our convention, I was amazed by the variety of ideas in the projects. The inventions ranged from an aluminum can crusher, a pet-hair removing glove, an alarm to alert you when your mail comes in, and even a burglar alarm that turned on lights and flushed the toilet. Although most of the ideas might not have been particularly practical, the invention process taught a group of fourth graders to solve real-world problems around them.

Inventor Ed’s Kids Inventor Resources has some good information for young inventors that can help you bring inventing into the classroom. MIT also has a wonderful collection of resources and links related to inventing and teaching innovation and engineering in the classroom. Don’t forget to check out the PBS Design Squad Trash to Treasure competition for a really neat contest for kids ages 5-19. That contest ends September 5th, though, so you’d have to act fast! Speaking of competitions, check out The Idea Locker from By Kids For Kids, which has links to all kinds of different competitions for young inventors, innovators, and scientists.

We spend our days teaching our students the things they need to learn to move on to the next grade, and eventually, succeed in the world. Teachers also have the important job of keeping the inquisitiveness and wonder of the world alive, and rekindling it when paradigms start to set in. Read this inspiring article by Mr. Margolin about inventing, and think about how you can help change the world by encouraging your students to become young inventors.

In celebration of National Inventor’s Month, I urge you to look at how you challenge your students’ curiosity, problem-solving, and creativity in your classroom. As school begins around the country, it’s the perfect time to step back and look at the big picture of what you are planning to teach your students this year. Can you teach your students to be more inventive and creative while still covering all the standards you are required to teach for your subject and grade? Remember that you can use the standards suggestion tool on The Gateway to discover how the activities you choose will fit in to your curriculum.

Whew! That should give you plenty of starting material to create lots of little inventors in your classroom. I hope you all find at least some small way to encourage this problem solving and creativity in your classrooms some time this year.

~Peggy's Corner - 8/14/2010~

Eureka!

When I was in second grade, our teacher assigned us a project on inventors. It was to be our first research project, where we had to use the school and public libraries to collect information about our chosen inventors.

“I already have my book,” I told Mrs. Flanagan on the day the project was assigned.

Mrs. Flanagan was duly impressed by my efficiency, until she found out that my book was Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and that my chosen inventor was Willy Wonka.

“He’s not a real person, dear,” she said. “Your report has to be on an actual inventor.”

I don’t remember which inventor I eventually settled on, but I do remember feeling fairly crushed that I couldn’t write a report on Willy Wonka. To me, he represented the gold standard of inventors – eccentric, solitary, creative. Most importantly, he made candy, which pretty much made him the embodiment of awesomeness. And isn’t that ultimately what inventors do – enhance our lives and make them better?

August is National Inventors Month, which was established in 1998 by the United Inventors Association of the USA, the Academy of Applied Science, and Inventors’ Digest magazine. It’s a month-long event that honors the pioneering spirit and creative vision of inventors worldwide – those men and women who have helped to shape the modern world as we currently know it, and in the future to come. Despite setbacks and numerous failures, they have persevered in the face of adversity and defied the odds to create inventions – some heralded, some unnoticed by the general public but used in everyday life – to make our existence just that much better.

My picks this week feature fun hands-on lessons where students get to be inventors and create their own machines. As always, please be sure to check our Facebook and Twitter pages throughout the week, where we will post links to more resources on inventions, inventors, and hands-on activities for a variety of ages.

Design Squad: Invent It, Build It
Subjects: Engineering, Physical sciences
Grade: 4-8
This unit presents five hands-on challenges designed to inspire kids to think like inventors and engineers. Additionally, the activities highlight how invention improves people’s lives. The unit is available in both English and Spanish, and is aligned to national and Massachusetts state standards. If you need to translate these standards to your state standards, no problem – use our ASN standards suggestion tool that appears at the bottom of The Gateway page for each resource. This resource was developed by PBS’s Peabody Award-winning reality competition series Design Squad, where teenage contestants tackle engineering challenges for actual clients.

Go-Go Gadget: Invent a Machine
Subjects: Engineering, Physical sciences
Grade: 3-5
In this unit, students study the concepts of force, motion, and work as they analyze simple machines (and simple machines found in complex machines). There’s also a design challenge where students become inventors, identify work they want to perform, and they invent labor-saving machines to do the jobs. There’s a strong focus on the design steps in the process of invention - the planning, drafting, construction, troubleshooting, and reliability testing. The unit is also aligned to national standards. This unit was created by Intel Education, which works with schools and communities worldwide to help advance education. They offer free professional development, tools, and resources to help K-12 teachers effectively use technology to educate students.

Designing a Rube Goldberg Machine
Subjects: Engineering, Physical sciences
Grade: 9-12
In this lesson, students apply their knowledge of complex and simple machines to designing a Rube Goldberg Machine. Students calculate the mechanical advantage of 3 of the simple machines in their design and also relate Newton's 3 Laws of Motion to their machine. This lesson was produced by ALEX (Alabama Learning Exchange), an award-winning education portal that provides lesson plans, education-related podcasts, best practices, and Alabama professional development activities. The lesson is aligned to Alabama Content Standards.

~Joann's Picks - 8/14/10~

Science for All the PEEPS

Many preschool and primary teachers tend to feel intimidated by science. They are responsible for being experts in all different areas, and many of them don’t consider themselves “science people.” Our state standards mandate that we teach science, but they don’t show us how to make it fun. The National Science Education Standards explain the importance of inquiry-based learning as the basis of science education with the following statement: “Inquiry into authentic questions generated from student experiences is the central strategy for teaching science.” So we are supposed to let them figure out the answers to their own questions? That sounds good to me! Not only is this a very effective way to teach science, it allows teachers who might not be as comfortable with some of the topics to learn right along with their students!

Most people, even those who are not “science people” have fun learning new things about how the world around them works. It can be scary to bring an activity into the classroom when you are not sure of all possible outcomes or how you will explain the results that students find. The beauty of inquiry-based science activities is that you and your students can research unexpected findings together to figure out why they happened. In one kindergarten water activity, the students were trying all different objects in the classroom to see if they could float in a tub of water. When certain items sunk, the kids decided to use a plastic lid as a “boat” to help the items float. When that worked, they tried out other objects to see if they would work as boats (some did and some didn’t). This was their own kind of research to figure out what makes things float or sink. After they got some ideas, some of them even started building boats out of aluminum foil on their own. These discoveries were only minimally directed by me, and students were learning all different science concepts though their own experimentation.

The PEEP and the Big Wide World Explorer's Guide from WGBH and PBS shows us how we can do inquiry-based science lessons in classrooms as early as preschool. The activities and printable worksheets can make bringing science into even the youngest groups much less intimidating. The resource, which is a full unit plan of science activities, could be a useful tool for older classrooms, too. They might not want to admit it, but even my high school chemistry students would have enjoyed some of these science activities as an introduction to a new topic. Many of the topics cover basic physical science knowledge that is the basis of what they need to know to understand much of chemistry and physics.

To make the most of students learning, I think it is very important for them to keep their own science notebooks. These can be as simple as a spiral notebook or some pages of paper folded and stapled together. Each time we do a science activity in class, students can write down their discoveries. Students who can’t write can practice drawing their observations and explaining what they learned to their teacher. Looking back through a science notebook can show students how much they discovered and learned on their own. The importance of this discovery learning was summed up in a statement by Carl Sagan, “When you make the finding yourself - even if you're the last person on Earth to see the light - you'll never forget it.”

Simple things like letting your students figure out which what happens when you mix oil and water, or how far they can fly a paper airplane, or how they can change the size and shape of shadows can lead to authentic learning, and a desire to continue that learning and investigation at home. Keeping their ideas together in a science notebook can help them remember all the questions and ideas they came up with during class.

Are you having a hard time figuring out what kinds of science units you can use in your class? I went to The Gateway and brought up all the science resources available. When I refined my search to only include units of instruction, I was given a list of over 500. That should be a good start! There are so many ideas and units out there to help encourage all educators to be “science people” and to include science as a fun and engaging part of their curriculum. Search for yourself to see what you can use with your students. After all, according to Albert Einstein, "The only source of knowledge is experience."…A quote students and teachers alike need to take to heart. We’ll never be “science people” if we don’t make science an enjoyable part of our classroom.

~Peggy's Corner - 7/10/2010~

Word to the PEEPs

As most educators and parents know, finding quality TV shows for young children can be quite a challenge. While there are a number of engaging and even educational shows for kids on cable TV, the numerous commercials are often inappropriate for young viewers. This is one of the reasons why I’m a big fan of PBS Kids. It’s a safe haven where children can watch educational television without being exhorted to buy the latest toy or being subjected to trailers for TV shows or films aimed at a much older audience.

PEEP and the Big Wide World, produced by leading public TV station WGBH in Boston, is a show that focuses on science concepts for the preschool through kindergarten set. In my experience, kids always appreciate the humor in the show, as well as the fact that the questions posed by the show’s characters are ones they’d ask themselves. I especially like that the show includes live segments where kids try out different science experiments that are easily replicated at home or in a school setting.

My picks this week are all science-based resources from The PEEP and the Big Wide World Explorer's Guide, a downloadable guide comprised of six units that offer hands-on activities. Each unit features an animated PEEP story and accompanying live action film clips that discuss various science-related methods and concepts. The units also offer Family Science Letters that include additional activity ideas, as well as Web site and book recommendations to further explore the science topic at hand. Another nice feature is that all materials – curriculum units, videos, and Family Science Letters – are available in both English and Spanish.


Shadow Exploration for Young Children
Subjects: Science
Ages: 4-6
This unit is chock full of activities for children to examine and explore shadows in the world around them. There is a variety of animated and live action video clips that offer activities to further explore shadows, from making shadows indoors with flashlights to creating shadow puppets for a performance. One of my favorites is where kids trace their shadows with chalk outdoors, and then note how their shadows “move” throughout the day – a great way to help illustrate the earth’s rotation in relation to the sun.

Ramps and Rolling: Explorations with Young Children
Subjects: Physical science
Ages: 4-6
This unit offers plenty of hands-on activities for kids to learn about motion via ramps and rolling. Outside, kids can explore various types of inclines such as hills and slides, and discover the best surfaces for rolling. Indoors, kids can build ramps to test the movement of objects that roll and slide.

Water Explorations for Young Children
Subjects: Science
Ages: 4-6
In this unit, young children learn about the basic properties of water by engaging in both indoor and outdoor activities. Here, kids can explore objects that float and sink, make boats out of everyday materials, build dams, and learn about evaporation and water currents. These are fun, low-cost activities that effectively illustrate general and physical science properties such as buoyancy and force. Great ideas for those hot summer days!

~Joann's Picks - 7/10/2010~

Teachable Moment: The Gulf of Mexico oil spill

I read a tweet the other day that really got me thinking about what we do as teachers and how we make learning relevant to students’ lives. It was short and to the point. “Gulf Oil Spill…a teachable moment.” It can be a teachable moment, so how are we going to make the most of it? There are important things like this happening in our world every day that shape and mold our students. With a little creativity, we can use these events to make learning more relevant and authentic. There is just something special when we can anchor our teaching to things happening around us right now. Students will see footage on TV, articles in newspapers, and discussions on the Internet as the problems surrounding fishermen who are completely out of work during the crisis and the amount of money it will take to fix the leak. Math teachers can create all different kinds of problems with the numbers in the news about things like the rate of they are learning about it in class. It’s real.

There are many issues surrounding the Deepwater Horizon oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico. Social Studies teachers might want to focus on the history of oil transport and spills, or the history and politics of offshore drilling. Science teachers have lots of options for biology and chemistry activities related to oil, wildlife, and oil-related problems in the ocean and on shore. Economics teachers can explore the leak, the size of the slick, and the amount of time it takes to clean each animal.

Joann discussed some excellent resources available on The Gateway on the topic of oil spills. Although most of them are intended for students in 6th-12th grades, I worked with a creative kindergarten teacher who used some of them to create a very fun and meaningful day of learning about oil spills for his class. I was amazed at the interest level in these young kids and how they truly rose to a challenge when they were given the chance. They were having so much fun making their own oil slicks and experimenting with different tools to clean them, I think most of them forgot they were learning! Between Joann’s resources and some other online tools, you should be able to easily take advantage of this teachable moment like he did.

To truly understand the impact of this oil leak, students need to be able to see what is happening in the Gulf of Mexico. There is a huge amount of pictures and videos you can find on the web. There is a very nice set of pictures from the Boston Globe with detailed captions. I am working on using online photos and videos to create an Animoto movie that you can use as an introduction to an oil spill lesson. I will post the link on our Facebook and Twitter pages. There is also a nice video on CNN that shows the speed of the leaking oil with an underwater camera. Kudos to Mr. Kruckewitt for leading me to so many great pictures! Here is the link to the Animoto movie.

Now that the students have seen pictures of the disaster, how to we get them to understand the sheer size of the mess it is creating? Paul Radamacher created a tool with Google Earth that compares the spill to different metropolitan areas. You can even type in your own city, and it will superimpose an outline of the spill over it. I thought it was a really neat tool, since students can relate the size to an area they know.

The kindergarteners were especially excited to learn that hair was being used to aid in the cleanup by absorbing the oil. They experimented by cleaning up their own oil slicks with wool, and it worked really well. They are collecting pet in their classroom to send to a company that uses the hair to sop up excess oil. Some of the kids are even holding a bake sale to raise money for the cleanup, and to collect more pet hair. I love the social action in these little kids. Look at LearningToGive.org for more ideas for including social action lessons in world topics like this.

I know some of you are finishing up your school year already, and some of us have a little time left. We are just finishing some standardized testing, so hands-on activities like this are a very welcome addition to the classroom. I hope some of these resources will be useful to you. As always, please let us know what you think as we continue the discussion on our Facebook and Twitter pages.

~Peggy's Corner - 5/22/2010~