Now that we are back in school somewhere between a week and a month depending on where you live and what schedule your district adheres to, I thought it might be a great opportunity for all of us to step back and consider how we set the stage for science learning in our classrooms this year. The Leaders Letter that came out right as the Labor Day holiday hit and school started may still be sitting in your in-boxes and had as its theme Science Engagement on All Levels.  Resources included information on the current Ebola outbreak, resources for parents related to the Next Generation Science Standards, a report titled The Progress of Education Reform: Science in the Early Years, which examines the benefits associated with science education in early learning and includes recommendations for state policymakers. It also provided safety resources and a variety of announcements. Hopefully something was interesting to and engaged the readership of the eNewsletter. So engagement was the topic of the newsletter and of this blog post that will hopefully generate conversation and a sharing of ideas.

How we engage people – whether it be students, peers, or parents requires strategy and thought. A popular commercial for a credit card has various character’s asking “What’s in Your Pocket?” in a whimsical way connects (at least in my mind) to the idea of engagement and ultimately “setting the stage for science.” Considering how we set the stage for science is a way of encouraging educators to consider how we engage students in science or how do we make science engaging.

Within the newsletter, the section of resource for professional development providers offers several websites related to the strategies to engage learners and create an atmosphere for your classroom. It is understandable that a classroom environment to include décor, structure, and management policies is sometimes controlled or limited by administrative policies.  It is also understandable that approaches are often influenced by what a teacher feels comfortable doing.  For example, I am NOT a person who can pull off the criss, cross applesauce and other clapping strategies with any sincerity at all – even when attempting to model them for my pre-service teachers.

Making students feel welcomed to the classroom is part of the role of the classroom teacher as one of the first steps in engaging the learner. The need to develop a classroom culture which represents a community of learners is an important task for the start of the school year, as is the need to begin to model expectations for student work and engagement. Some of the resources included in the leader’s letter provide suggestions and ideas for these tasks. You can continue the conversation by explaining what one strategy you utilize to welcome your students or staff back to the new school year by posting to this blog!

   So, to start the conversation, I’d like to share an activity that I have conducted with upper elementary, middle school and high school students as well as most recently with my college pre-service education majors as shown in the photographs. The idea of creating a science notebook that will serve as a central location for classroom work such as making observations, developing procedures, illustrating two dimensional sketches, completing computations or drawing conclusions is a great way to set the stage for science learning while at the same time getting to know some of your students.

Depending on the age level of your students, this may need to be adapted to providing magazines to find pictures within class time, however having older students allows for some transfer of responsibility. I ask students to bring the following materials to class the first day (and always have extras for those who don’t accept the responsibility even at the college level)

• Bound composition notebook (fully described so they know it is not the spiral type notebook)
• Clear contact paper (again depending on your school district policies this may need to be provided)
• Pictures from magazines or the newspaper that represent the answer of “What does science look like or mean to you?”

The first part of the class asks students to cover their notebook in a collage type format with the pictures they have brought in and then how to cover the notebook with contact paper is modeled. While students are figuring out the arrangement of their pictures, it provides an opportunity for me to walk around and engage individually with students – asking them why they selected a picture; ask table groups if there is any common theme to the pictures selected; or when I have done this at the K-12 level, simply assist students who may need a bit more individual help which often puts them more at ease in the classroom environment. I find it absolutely amazing to see the pictures that represent science – it often demonstrates an interest area students have as well as sometimes providing insight into potential misconceptions based on the type of picture or article title they have chosen. Furthermore having students help students with the covering of the notebook begins to build collaboration within the classroom.  

The second part of the class has students initially engage with the notebook idea. Information about the heading, date etc. is explained and modeled and then students are asked to complete one of several prompts which change based on the level I’m working with. These prompts can be:

• Draw a scientist (check out Barman’s work in the Science and Children archives)
• Explain their definition of what science is and how scientists go about engaging in science
• Provide a paragraph about their absolutely favorite experience in learning something about science and what made them remember it.

Students were asked to design and explain a Rube Goldberg

type of machine after watching the Honda Car Parts Commercial

Any prompt that asks students to draw on their own experiences of science will be helpful for setting the stage for science learning and particularly learning more about the student’s interest in and motivation towards science.

That is just one idea that I have utilized at the beginning of the year to set the stage for science. So my question to you is why not share “what’s in your pocket” and post yours?

Christine Royce

Sample Notebook Covers