Greetings … Interested in learning more about NRC’s Framework for K-12 Science Education and the Next Generation Science Standards now in development, catch one of the many sessions slated for the Hartford Regional Conference.
Featured Panel: Stephen Pruitt, Achieve, and Francis Eberle, NSTA
Thursday, October 27
12:30–1:30 PM
Connecticut Convention Center, Ballroom A
A Framework for K-12 Science Education: Helen Quinn, NRC Study Director
Friday, October 28
12:30–1:30 PM
Connecticut Convention Center, Ballroom A
Exploring the Science Framework; Harold Pratt and Francis Eberle, NSTA
FRIDAY, October 28 (CORRECTION)
2:00–3:00 PM
Connecticut Convention Center, Ballroom A
If you need more information on the conference, click here.

I recently became the science department chairperson. My meetings are a disaster! People arrive late and complain when I try to discuss issues. I don’t think we accomplish anything.  What can I do to make meetings more productive?
—Irene from Wisconsin
As a new chairperson, you may run into some resistance from teachers used to an existing format (or lack of one) for faculty meetings. Their resistance often results in off-task behaviors that interfere with your goals. We teachers complain there’s little opportunity to collaborate, yet without any structure, faculty meetings often become gripe and gossip sessions. If meetings in previous years were seen as a waste of time, you may have to be persistent to let people know that things are going to be different—and then make sure they are different.
Send out an agenda a few days in advance and send a copy to the principal. Use e-mail or an attachment to the agenda to communicate information items so the meeting time can be spent more productively. Rather than a bulleted list of agenda items, phrase them in the form of a question for your colleagues to consider. For example, instead of “Safety,” ask, “What do you do to ensure that students work safely in your lab?”
Be respectful of people’s time. For afterschool meetings, give your colleagues a few minutes to tidy up their classrooms, but start and end the meeting at the designated times. Follow the agenda (unless the discussion becomes really interesting or productive). Set aside a few minutes to recognize new issues or other concerns but use the “parking lot” idea for those that could or should be addressed at another time. Celebrate any of your colleague’s successes or accomplishments, too. (One of my principals would give out posters, tote bags, or other goodies he picked up at conferences as door prizes at meetings. Some thought it was trivial, but most of us appreciated his efforts). Some treats at the end of a long day may sweeten the meeting atmosphere.

Rather than giving advice or mandates as the department chair, ask questions to start discussions: “What happens when…? Have you ever tried…? Did you notice that…?” Get to know the curriculum and standards for areas of science in addition to your own so you can ask meaningful questions and help others make connections among subjects. The cooperative learning strategies you use in class (e.g., jigsaw or think-pair-share) could be modified for small-group discussions at your meetings. And listen to your colleagues. Sometimes they just need to think out loud. However, if someone tries to sidetrack the meeting, return to the agenda.
It may be helpful if the meetings have a theme or purpose. Perhaps the teachers would be willing to use meeting time for tasks such as developing a safety contract, creating rubrics for student work, or establishing guidelines for notebooks or science projects. These activities may take more than one meeting to accomplish and can be standing items on the agenda. Introducing new technology or applications and providing time for teachers to work together with them can also be productive. But you don’t have to do this all yourself. Are any of your colleagues willing to demonstrate technology or share instructional strategies with the rest of the group.
At the end of the meeting, ask each participant to submit an exit slip with any comments, commendations, or recommendations. Send meeting minutes to all members of the department and to the principal to keep him/her in the loop.
It may take a while for teachers to adapt to a new format outside of their comfort zone, so give yourself (and them) some time.
Photo:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikecogh/3479000511/sizes/s/in/photostream/
 

The topic of motion and forces would be in my Top 10 list of topics in which students benefit from hands-on investigations, simulations, and videos. Students of any age (K–12 and even college) enjoy rolling, sliding, dropping, and flying things. It’s one thing to focus on mathematical formulas in physics (as my college physics courses did) but I might have learned more if I had the chance in earlier grades to manipulate and visualize the processes.
The articles in this issue have many suggestions for manipulations and visualizations. Although designed for younger students, the activities can certainly be used with older students who are unfamiliar with the topics or kicked up a notch or two for experienced students. Pushes and Pulls includes a probe you can use to assess students’ (mis)conceptions on the topic.
With all of the electronic pastimes available today, children are unfamiliar with some classic toys that illustrate motion and forces. Objects in Motion describes how spinning tops can engage students in conversations about movement. (Am I showing my age by remembering Slinky, yo-yos, and hula hoops as ways of experimenting with motion?)  [SciLinks: What Are Forces?]

Why don’t rolling objects reach the bottom of an incline at the same time? sounds like a question tailor-made for investigations with a few different kinds of balls and a desk chair that spins. Or the investigation that connects play and science in Let It Roll. How many ways are there to move? is another question worth discussing, using the 5E activity describe in this article. [SciLinks: Friction]
Becoming Science “Experi-mentors” describes a professional development project in which teachers worked together in learning communities to investigate moving objects. I’ve been involved in similar projects, and it is exciting to see teachers become more confident in their own inquiry skills and share their learning with their students. The project used simple materials and focused on developing a sense of collegial curiosity on the part of the teachers. [SciLinks: Forces and Motion]
Interdisciplinary activities can be used to make connections with the theme, too. The Art and Science of Notebooks ties into some of the ideas in this month’s Science Scope and its theme of Science and Art. Inquiry Science and Active Reading caught my eye, because reading in science has been a professional interest of mine since my grad school days. The authors describe how to use a modification of the cloze procedure in which students work in teams to develop and use skills in comprehension, inference, and interpretation of science text.
A Balancing Act contains activities for primary and upper elementary students on the topics of balance and center of gravity. The authors of May the Force Be With You describe a 5E lesson in which students make and use a simple tool to investigate net forces.  [SciLinks: Balanced and Unbalanced Forces]
The classrooms described in this issue appear to be busy places with engaged students. Isn’t it a shame that more students are not encouraged to explore their world through play?
And check out more Connections for this issue (October 2011). Even if the article does not quite fit with your lesson agenda, there are ideas for handouts, background information sheets, data sheets, rubrics, and other resources.