My middle school would like to host a science night for the district. Do you have any ideas? —S., Illinois

Concentrate on activities that are safe. inexpensive, quick to set up and take down, and easy to clean up. Your students can learn a lot as the guides and demonstrators at the activities, while relieving you and your colleagues of some of the burden. Create passports that get stamped at different stations to promote participation.

Many quick engineering activities use only straws and tape: towers, cantilevers, bridges, and so on.

Astronomy is always a big hit (if the weather cooperates). Contact the local amateur astronomical society for help and equipment. Display images of the moon, planets, star clusters, and constellations students take with night photography apps on cell phones.

A “Science Mystery Show” in which students demonstrate and explain a variety of discrepant events will be a hit. There are many ideas for these on the web.

Hunting for pond micro- and macro-organisms under microscopes is another captivating activity. Students could create “wanted” posters that will describe certain species to find. The “reward” could correlate with the rarity or difficulty of finding that organism.

Extracting DNA from strawberries or other fruit can be really fun, inexpensive, and easy. Do a quick search of NSTA’s Learning Center or the web to find out how.

Messy but always fun is to make ooblek, slime, or gak as a chemistry activity. There are tons of recipes and different formulations online.

Most of all, HAVE FUN!

Hope this helps!

Photo credit:  National Science Foundation [Public Domain}

This week in education news, Trump presents FY 2019 budget to Congress; new study finds student learning gains in schools where teacher mentor their colleagues; Aurora science teacher like collaborating with students; new study finds online lessons can enhance students’ understanding of science; Idaho Senate Education Committee delays vote on proposed science standards; Wyoming Senate Education Committee passes computer science standards bill; and for experiential learning programs to flourish, they must bridge K-12, higher education, and the workforce.

Opinion: Banish ‘Just A Theory’ Dunces With Sound Science Education

“Evolution is just a theory.” When someone utters that phrase, there is no clearer signal that the speaker has failed to grasp one of the most basic of science concepts. In science, a theory is not a guess. The term used by scientists to indicate a well-substantiated explanation of some aspect of the natural world. You’re unlikely to hear “gravity is just a theory” or “germs causing disease is just a theory.” And yet “evolution is just a theory” is suddenly popping up in conversations across Florida. Read the article featured in the Tallahassee Democrat.

Trump Budget Request Prioritizes STEM And Apprenticeships. But Is There a Catch?

The Trump Administration’s budget request for 2019 eyes a strong push for high school-based apprenticeships and career and technical education focused on the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields. The proposals, however, would revamp the Carl T. Perkins Act, the federal law that governs how this federal funding flows. Among other things, the budget request says it would “promote strategies that allow students to work and learn at the same time,” and prioritize “offerings to STEM fields and other high-demand fields.” Read the article featured in Education Week.

Analysis: New Study Finds Huge Student Learning Gains In Schools Where Teachers Mentor Their Colleagues As Multi-Classroom Leaders

In survey after survey, teachers report dissatisfaction with the professional development they receive. Many aren’t satisfied with their professional learning communities or coaching opportunities. Teachers say they want more on-the-job development, career advancement while teaching, and collaboration time. Some teachers are getting what they want. But is that good news for students? Do their students learn more? According to a new study released through the CALDER Center, the answer is yes — a lot more. Read the article featured in The 74.

Science Education Funding Still In Trump’s Crosshairs, Despite Being Saved By Congress

Days after Congress passed a budget that mostly preserves funding for science education, President Donald Trump released a new budget proposal for 2019 that would eliminate many of those same programs. It calls for a $26 billion increase in defense spending next year, but $5 billion in cuts to non-defense programs, including a 10.5 percent cut to the Department of Education. Read the article featured in EdSource.

Granger Science Teacher Likes Collaborating With Students

Brian Klaft started teaching in 1991 in Chicago Public Schools and has been teaching science at Indian Prairie Unit District 204’s Granger Middle School in Aurora for 19 years, the past 11 in eighth grade. Last year, he began serving as a curator with the National Science Teachers Association, helping teachers around the country locate appropriate resources for teaching science core ideas. Read the article featured in The Daily Herald.

Highlighting the ‘E’ In STEM Education

If you’ve ever searched the internet, shopped online, gotten a medical image, used a smart phone, or played a video game, among many other things, you’ve benefited from the C++ programming language. Most people have never heard of the C++ programming they interact with everyday. Most don’t know the engineering behind how our increasingly technologically-dependent world works. When creating something is the question, engineering is the answer. Read the article featured in The Hill.

Online Learning Wins Out Over Textbooks In Boosting Science Scores

Online lessons can enhance students’ understanding of science and help underachieving students close the gap with their peers, according to a new study. Students who took web-based units made significantly more progress than those who relied on textbooks, while the improvement was particularly marked for students with lower prior achievement. Read the article featured in Forbes magazine.

Senate Drills Down Into Nitty Gritty Of Science Standards

The third year — and possibly final year — of the Legislature’s science standards debate could come to closure next week. The Senate Education Committee spent an hour taking public testimony on science standards Wednesday afternoon. As expected, the committee took no action. There is no date set for a vote, but it appears likely that the committee will vote next week. Read the article featured in the Idaho Ed News.

Wyoming Legislative Panel Endorses Computer Science Classes

A measure that would require Wyoming K-12 schools to provide all students with computer science instruction has been endorsed by a state Senate committee. The Senate Education Committee unanimously approved Senate File 29 Wednesday. Read the article by the Associated Press.

Rethinking Grade Levels And School Design For Personalized Learning

Personalized learning, an amorphous term that means different things to different people, generally refers to a more customized learning experience for students, based on their strengths, weaknesses and interests. Students are given the space to move through content more flexibly, at their own pace, often aided by technology. Nontraditional grade groupings are another way to address students’ individual learning needs. Read the article featured in The Hechinger Report.

For Experiential Learning Programs To Thrive, They Must Bridge K-12 And Higher Ed (And the Workforce)

In a strong job market that values both experience and educational credentials, interest is growing in experiential learning models that fuse traditional academic study with real-world projects and work experiences. In K-12, that has meant increasing popularity for project-based learning, or PBL, accelerated by various innovation initiatives, grants and start-ups. And beyond project-based instructional efforts, a growing number of K-12 educators and schools are now focused on broader notions of experiential learning that include collaboration with outside employers and industry partners. Read the article featured in EdSurge.

Stay tuned for next week’s top education news stories.

The Communication, Legislative & Public Affairs (CLPA) team strives to keep NSTA members, teachers, science education leaders, and the general public informed about NSTA programs, products, and services and key science education issues and legislation. In the association’s role as the national voice for science education, its CLPA team actively promotes NSTA’s positions on science education issues and communicates key NSTA messages to essential audiences.

The mission of NSTA is to promote excellence and innovation in science teaching and learning for all.

Follow NSTA

President Trump released his budget for FY2019 programs on Monday, February 12, and, as expected, has requested significant cuts to key grant programs in the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA).

The Administration is requesting $63.2 billion in discretionary funding for the U.S.  Education Department FY2019 programs which will begin on October 1. This is approximately a 5.3 percent cut from current levels.  

The budget also “streamlines and refocuses”  the Federal investment in K-12 education by eliminating funding for 17 programs totaling $4.4 billion the Administration believes to be “duplicative, ineffective, or more appropriately supported through State, local, or private funds.”

Programs on the chopping block include the Title IV-A, Student Support and Academic Achievement Grants; Title II grants for teacher training; and afterschool programs.

Title IV-A Student Support and Academic Achievement Grants. The President is calling to completely eliminate the SSAE grant program in its third year of existence. The SSAE grant program under Title IV-A of ESSA is a flexible block grant that is designed to provide support for much needed health and safety programs, well-rounded education programs, including Science and STEM, and the effective use of education technology. Districts can use Title IVA funding to increase access to STEM for underserved and at risk student populations; support the participation of students in STEM nonprofit competitions; providing hands-on learning opportunities in STEM; integrate other academic subjects, including the arts, into STEM subject programs; create or enhance STEM specialty schools; and integrate classroom based and afterschool and informal STEM instruction.

Title II A:  The President is calling for elimination of this $2 billion program that funds teacher training and class-size reduction efforts.

Title V, Afterschool Programs (21st Century Community Learning Centers): The President proposes eliminating this $1.2 billion grant for after-school programs.  These programs fund high-quality STEM programming in afterschool and summer learning programs.

And now the good news: As a follow up to the Presidential memorandum to provide $200m for STEM education and computer science, the budget is calling for “$180 million in funding for the Education Innovation and Research program, as well as $20 million in new STEM grants.

The competitive Education Innovation and Research grants would support “evidence-based strategies and interventions to improve student achievement in STEM fields, including computer science.”  $20 million would go for awards to “create innovative career and technical education programs in STEM fields, including computer science, that are aligned with regional workforce and labor market needs.”

Keep in mind that the Administration’s budget is simply a suggestion to Congress, and Congress has the final power to determine funding levels for these programs.  However, it is important to note that the budget does signal the President’s priorities, and this year one of the six major themes listed in the President’s FY 2019 Budget was “promoting innovation and reform around STEM education”

Also complicating matters is the fact that appropriators have still not completed their work for the FY2018 budget year, which started Oct. 1 2018.  Last week legislators lifted the budget caps on domestic programs, including education, and federal agencies will be open until March 23, allowing legislators time to finalize an omnibus spending bill for FY2018.  More here on that.

President’s FY2019 budget also maintains support for Title I funding ($15.5B) and provides about $12.8 billion for special education funding .  The Administration is also seeking  $43 million for School Climate Transformation grants specifically to help states and local districts address the impact of opioids on students and schools.

The Budget maintains $1.1 billion in funding for career and technical education. The White House plan calls for sending the majority of this funding to high schools “to promote strategies such as apprenticeship, work-based learning and dual-enrollment.” It also calls for an increase in STEM offerings and for authorizing funding for “fast-track programs that prepare high-school graduates for jobs rebuilding America’s infrastructure.”

The President also wants to invest $1.1 billion in school choice programs.

Read more here and here.

Jodi Peterson is the Assistant Executive Director of Communication, Legislative & Public Affairs for the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) and Chair of the STEM Education Coalition. Reach her via e-mail at jpeterson@nsta.org or via Twitter at @stemedadvocate.

The mission of NSTA is to promote excellence and innovation in science teaching and learning for all.

Follow NSTA

Regardless of what grade level or subject are you teach, as you skim through the article titles, you may find ideas for lessons that would be interesting your students or the inspiration to adapt/create your own.

All three journals include Outstanding Science Trade Books for Students K–12: 2018. The books are organized by a relevant NGSS Disciplinary Core Idea, with additional correlations to Crosscutting Concepts and Science and Engineering Practices. The reviewers include a grade level range, so you can choose books for students at various reading and interest levels.

The Science Teacher – Maker Movement

This month’s Editor’s Corner: “Making” a Difference has several points about the Maker Movement. It’s worth a read if you need to convince others of the value.

• Maker education involves problem- and project-based learning through open-ended, collaborative fabrication. Like engineers, makers use an iterative design cycle as they strive to create better solutions. Students solve authentic, personally relevant problems.
• Making has the potential to develop students’ 21st-century skills, such as creativity, critical thinking, innovation, collaboration, and more.
• While maker projects provide students with authentic experiences of science and engineering practices, it can be a challenge to clearly align them with important disciplinary core ideas.

The maker-related lessons described in the articles include connections with the NGSS (including DCIs) and many include classroom resources and illustrations of student work.

• Just as play is important in early learning, Elements of Making discusses how to bring creative experiences to older students. The authors include six elements of making and a related matrix to help us incorporate making into science teaching.
• Grouping Minerals by Their Formulas takes students beyond simply identifying minerals with a 5E lesson in using “mineral formulas to help Earth Science wonder about the connection between elements, compounds, mixtures, minerals, and mineral formulas.” The author includes example of student work in connecting the Periodic Table to mineral properties.
• Not all making involves physical materials. Our Watershed describes a project in which students “use field exploration and online software to design virtual solutions to improve the hydrology of their schoolyard.” Many photographs are used to illustrate the process and the product.
• The author of Going Beyond the X shows how students can probe more deeply into DNA replication through modeling. She includes photos of the partner and group activities.
• Arguing Over Life and Death provides a real-life context (endangered species) for helping students learn, practice, and use a Claim-Evidence-Reasoning framework.
• Career of the Month: Additive Engineer: Who knew that “making” could turn into a career?
• This month’s Library of Congress resource–Right to the Source: Making Old New Again—has a story of students during WWII making model airplanes to aid in training. So… check out the photos–“making” is not necessarily a new thing!

These monthly columns continue to provide background knowledge and classroom ideas:

• Focus on Physics: Electromagnetic Waves and the Speed of Light
• Science 2.0: Drones for the Science Classroom

For more on the content that provides a context for projects and strategies described in this issue, see the SciLinks topics Chromosomes, Conservation of Energy, DNA Replication, Electromagnetic Induction, Electromagnetic Waves, Endangered Species, Mineral Identification, Mineral Properties, Mitosis, River Systems, Watersheds

Keep reading for Science Scope and  Science and Children.

Science Scope – Project, Problem, and Phenomenon-Based Learning

 If you’re new to PBL or mentoring someone who is, From the Editor’s Desk: Tips for Project-Based Learning has many tried-and-true suggestions based in the editor’s actual middle school experiences!

Articles in this issue that describe lessons include a helpful sidebar (“At a Glance”) documenting the big idea, essential pre-knowledge, time, and cost; many follow a 5E format. The lessons also include connections with the NGSS, and many include examples of student work, assessments, and classroom materials.

Composting: A Problem, Place, or Project? Using the PBL Trifecta (PBL3) in the Classroom illustrates how a traditional activity can become a powerful experience in combining place-based, problem-based, and project-based learning.

The 5E lesson in Disequilibrium: The Advantages of Biodegradable Products addresses the environmental impact of non-compostable materials.

• Good news! Teachers don’t necessarily have to develop brand-new units to incorporate PBL. The authors of The NGSS-ification of Too Slow to Notice: How to Turn Any Unit into a Phenomena-Based, Student-Driven Investigation provide a planning template and an illustrated “road map” example from their own experience. “Go on, get your hands dirty and do science!”
• Students apply A Framework for Integrating Science, Engineering, and Literacy, using solar ovens and marshmallows.
• Why Do Fishermen Need Forests? Developing a Project-Based Learning Unit With an Engaging Driving Question shows the value of driving question to stimulate curiosity and anchoring phenomena to provide a context. Although the example focuses on aquatic ecosystems, the process could apply to a variety of topics.
• How Can We Provide Water for Developing Countries? 5E Unit Empowers Students to Solve the Global Water Crisis has for getting students to think about and create solutions for a global problem and present their findings.
• Commentary: Codesigning Science Projects With Students discusses how to incorporate “student voice” into PBL as the roles of students and teachers change.
• Add a new dimension to a stream study investigation with Citizen Science: Take a Stream Selfie for Science. Students upload photographs to a monitoring projects sponsored by the Izaak Walton League of America.
• PBL often involves teams of students working together. Science For All: Managing Group Work has ideas for managing groups of students to work cooperatively and productively.
• Making ice cream changes from a cookbook lab to a phenomenon-based lesson, as described in Teacher To Teacher: Teaching With Everyday Phenomena

These monthly columns continue to provide background knowledge and classroom ideas:

• Scope on the Skies: Storms From the Skies
• Listserv Roundup: Note-Taking Strategies in the Science Classroom

For more on the content that provides a context for projects and strategies described in this issue, see the SciLinks topics Biodegradable, Changes of State, Composting, Desalination, Drinking Water Standards, Ecosystems, Heat Transfer, Marine Ecosystems, Meteors, Phases of Matter, Properties of Matter, Water Quality

Science & Children – Heredity: Inheritance and Variation of Traits

Editor’s Note: Observing Heredity “Heredity is one of the topics of the greatest interest to elementary children. In many cases, it is a topic that focuses on them. They have likely heard from a very young age that they look like their mother or have their father’s eyes…Simple observations are a good way to start on the pathway of understanding heredity. The Next Generation Science Standards begin the progression of learning about heredity at grade 3. It’s here where students begin to recognize that we have some traits that are not inherited; they are a result of the environment.”

The lessons described in the articles have a chart showing connections with the NGSS and many include classroom materials and illustrations of student work.

With observing live crickets and other activities as a context in Jumping Into Natural Selection, students “tell the story” of changes in populations and develop background knowledge to support a progression toward understanding the process in later grades.

• An Introduction to Heredity: Part 1 has students inventory observable traits and variations in traits, creating graphs and a summary “tree of traits.” An Introduction to Heredity: Part 2 extends the lesson with a focus on how traits are passed from parents to offspring. Both lesson included take-home activities that were also available in Spanish.
• The lesson in A Dazzling Journey to an Aquarium Ecosystem combines hands-on building of small aquariums with digital microscopy (an app on tablets) to observe the inhabitants up close.
• “Put away those paper plates divided into four sections to represent the life cycle of a butterfly, and together with your students, represent the life cycle of the butterfly through writing, drawing, dance, and math and Dance Like a Butterfly.
• Our youngest scientists can begin their study of living things by exploring animals and their offspring. The Early Years: Teaching Life Cycles Throughout the Year has suggestions for doing this.
• Formative Assessment Probes: Uncovering Students’ Ideas About Inherited Traits could be used to discover misconceptions and guide instruction.
• Teaching Through Trade Books: Investigating Heredity has two 5E lessons (K-2 and 3-5) in which students observe and identify physical traits passed from parents to offspring.
• Similarities and differences between lions and house cats are the focus of The Poetry of Science: Comparing Cats

These monthly columns continue to provide background knowledge and classroom ideas:

• Science 101: If Evolution Is Based on “Survival of the Fittest,” Why Do Diseases Such as Cancer and Alzheimer’s Disease Persist in the Human Population?
• Science 102: Tricky Numbers
• Engineering Encounters: Goldilocks and the Engineers
• Methods and Strategies: Drawing for Meaning

For more on the content that provides a context for projects and strategies described in this issue, see the SciLinks topics Aquatic Plants and Animals, Butterflies, Ecosystems, Food Chains, Genetics, Heredity, Insects, Life Cycles, Natural Selection, Traits

What do you typically do after administering a test or a midterm to help students make necessary corrections and, thereby, reinforce the concepts that were not understood?
– J., New York

Tests and exams, which are assessments of learning, should also be a basis for learning. When I returned a test, the corrections automatically became an assignment. When I gave students points on their tests for their corrections, I sensed that they didn’t put as much effort into preparing for tests. To offset that tendency, I gave assignments the same weight, regardless of how many [or few] corrections were needed. To prevent the students from copying from others, they had to refer directly to their notes or textbook and write a little citation. They could append a photograph of their notes to their test. This technique also ensures that students will have complete notes to study from on midterms or final exams.

In my experience, people tend to repeat the same mistake on multiple choice questions if they take it again. Attempt to circumvent this by having students write out the question and the correct answer in full. You may need to give students more than one attempt at essay, long answer or conjectural questions for them to arrive at the correct answers.

I usually kept corrected tests on file until exam review, primarily so students didn’t lose them!
Hope this helps!

Photo Credit: Alison Wood (Own Work)

Figure 1 — Pie chart showing estimated proportions of different groups of organisms on Earth today, by numbers of species.

If you were asked to name 10 animals, would an insect be one of them? Many of us, including young children, think of insects as “bugs” that are not really animals. Looking at a pie chart showing estimated proportions of different groups of organisms on Earth today we see  a great diversity and how the number of species of insects is many times larger than other groups of organisms (Slater, 2014, Figure 1).

Diversity of animal life doesn’t only mean the amazing number of different species of living animal organisms in the world, counted by scientists thus far. Diversity can be observed within a species and the words we use when talking about animals with children can help them understand this. If children are matching toy animal parents with babies based on color, begin a conversation about the other attributes of the animals. “Which animal models have horns?” “What are their tails shaped like?” “What about this animal makes it look like a cow?” Provide children with photos and other media examples of animal groups where the parents and babies are not exactly alike. Families in your program or class may be good examples of how young animals “are like, but not exactly like, their parents” (NGSS 1-LS3-1). Use resources that describe the many ways families come together to affirm all family structures and be aware that not all children are biologically related to their adult family members. The book Anti-bias Education for Young Children and Ourselves by Louise Derman-Sparks and Julie Olsen Edwards has helpful chapters on family structures, culture and language, racial identity, and many other areas where prejudice, misinformation, and bias may exist.

Two Disciplinary Core Ideas for Life Science, LS3.A and LS3.B, in the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), are concepts preschool children can think about when learning about where our food comes from. Preschool lesson plans can do more than present a mythical farm where there is one family group of each animal species and each baby animal looks like a miniature version of the adult parent.

LS3.A Inheritance of traits. Young organisms are very much, but not exactly, like their parents

LS3.B Variation of traits. Individuals of the same kind of plant or animal are recognizable as similar but can also vary in many ways.

These two DCI’s support the first grade Performance Expectation 1-LS3-1 Heredity: Inheritance and Variation of Traits. This standard states “Students who demonstrate understanding can: Make observations to construct an evidence-based account that young plants and animals are like, but not exactly like, their parents.” Children might observe that the baby chickens that were hatched in the classroom have a variety of feather colors, and that their own hair is different in texture or color than their father’s and mother’s hair, or that the leaves on a tiny Redbud tree are smaller than those of the parent tree.

Consider what you want children to do and what you want them to learn. What will help children learn about the world beyond their immediate experience? What do you want them to know first—the species’ names for the mother, father, and baby of common farm animals (e.g, mare, stallion, and foal), the sounds they make, their relationships to one another, or what kinds of products we use made from farm animals? Providing labels for objects helps shape children’s conceptual development as well as knowledge (Institute of Medicine and National Research Council page 99).

While reading a book about animals to children, naming the species and imitating their sounds will be the first way I introduce very young children to animals. Pointing out the baby-parent relationship and introducing words such as “foal,” “calf,” and “kid” can come later. Unless those words will be used on a regular basis—if your children often see parent and baby horses or other animals—new vocabulary words won’t be remembered and that is okay. 

Having two words for a single animal may be confusing. Some baby animals look very different from their parents—caterpillars and butterflies, and tadpoles and frogs. We can emphasize the connection by frequent labeling when we talk about these animals, saying, “The caterpillar is a baby butterfly,” and “The baby butterfly is eating the leaf.” Even when pictured side by side children may easily identify a frog but say its tadpole is a snake. First-hand experiences observing baby animals maturing into their adult form can link dissimilar baby and adult forms as one species in children’s understanding.

In the February 2018 issue of Science and Children I wrote about observing animal life cycles. Children who live close to animals, pets or farm livestock, become knowledgable through first-hand observations as well as learning about other animals through fiction and non-fiction books. Learning about animals of all kinds expands children’s understanding of animal diversity. When looking for books to teach children about animals be aware of the limitations of learning through media rather than by direct experience. Look for books and video with images that show adult and baby animals in proportional sizes, or in relationship to a human, such as Actual Size by Steve Jenkins (2004) and National Geographic Children’s Books Explore My World Baby Animals (2015) by Marfé Ferguson Delano.  View images of animals on commercial farms, available on the FarmFood360 website by Farm & Food Care Ontario.

Institute of Medicine and National Research Council. 2015. Transforming the Workforce for Children Birth Through Age 8: A Unifying Foundation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https://www.nap.edu/read/19401/chapter/1 

Slater, B. J. 2014. Fossil Focus: Arthropod–plant interactions. Palaeontology Online, Volume 4, Article 5, 1-17. http://www.palaeontologyonline.com/articles/2014/fossil-focus-arthropod-plant-interactions/