I teach science to fifth and sixth graders. I have a separate classroom equipped as a lab. It’s an ideal situation, but as a new teacher, I’m struggling to keep up with everything. It may sound trivial, but I am concerned about my bulletin boards. In other classrooms, the teachers have amazing displays. My room looks drab in comparison. Do you have any suggestions for brightening it up?
—Morgan, Charleston, West Virginia
For a new teacher, no concerns are trivial, although some are more important than others. As a departmentalized science teacher, your most important responsibility is to provide inquiry-based learning experiences for your students. These experiences (especially with two grade levels) take time to plan and evaluate. You are also responsible for equipment inventories, lab maintenance, and safety. So you can be forgiven if elaborate bulletin boards have a lower priority.
On the other hand, science is an interesting subject, so your lab does not have to be “drab.” You can set up a table with materials related to your current topics for students to examine (e.g., shell collections, animal bones, rock samples, weather maps, simple machines). Hand lenses and microscopes invite students to explore. A display of science trade books can brighten up a corner and encourage students to browse and learn.
On your bulletin board, post the lab safety rules prominently (and permanently). Set off a small space for “For Your Information” notices (e.g., fire drill evacuation map, the school calendar). Then divide the rest of the bulletin board space between the two grades. Color code the information or use different colored backgrounds for each grade (wrapping paper or wallpaper does not fade, and you can keep the same background all year—or even several years). I found that the most effective bulletin boards were those created with student materials (or by the students themselves) and whose content served an instructional purpose:

• For each grade, you could include a “word wall” with the key vocabulary for the unit. Refer to it often during class discussions or writing assignments. As you introduce a new word, ask a student to create a card with the word and post it on the wall. The cards can be taken down and used during review games, too.
• Save some space to display student work. It should be ungraded, but you can use sticky notes to draw attention to specific look-fors: “Note how Jason organized his data.” “What can we learn from Maria’s graph?” “Is this an observation or an inference?” Throughout the year, try to display work from as many students as possible.
• Post the “big idea” or theme of the unit, outlining the topics and activities. Refer to it often to remind students of how the activities and discussions are connected.
• Include the rubrics for lab reports, science notebooks, or other projects. Ask a few students to illustrate them.
• During a discussion or activity, use a section of a bulletin board for students to post “I wonder….” questions to be addressed at a later date.
• Print magazines and the internet are great sources for pictures related to your current units. In addition to their decorative value, these pictures can be used to stimulate discussions or as part of writing prompts (e.g., compare and contrast, predict, describe) or activities in classification. My school did not have a laminator, so I used plastic sheet protectors to display them. These protectors are less expensive than laminating film, and they are reusable.
• Display some of your own photographs related to the topic and encourage students to share their photos or to bring in related pictures or news articles. Students also enjoy seeing pictures of their teacher in science-related venues and activities.

Some of your colleagues’ bulletin boards are the result of many years of experience—they’ve been collecting resources for a long time. The school may have some parent or community volunteers who assist with bulletin boards.
If you have the opportunity to attend a science conference, the vendors have posters and other materials you can bring back. Take your digital camera with you wherever you go—you never know when you’ll see a photo opportunity (an alternative energy source, an interesting cloud formation, a rock outcrop, or unusual plants). When you have a display that is particularly effective, take a photo. Put the picture and other materials in an envelope and keep it with the unit materials so you can recreate it next year. You’ll soon have your own science-related, amazing displays.
Photograph:   http://www.flickr.com/photos/kissyface/2287122313/

Happy New Year!
Over the holiday break, I found this blog on a colleague’s Facebook page. Free Technology for Teachers has lots of suggestions for free (yes, free) applications. Today’s entry (January 4) is 11 Science Resources to Try in 2011.
Share yesterday’s entry 11 Math Resources to Try in 2011 with your colleagues!

Does your (or your child’s) early childhood program include science inquiry experiences? Here are a few resources to get started, or to expand on, your understanding of science inquiry. These resources are on my list because I have read them (some—not all, yet), or other works by the authors, or read the reviews on NSTA Recommends or another source. I’m sure there are others—use the comment feature below to add your list to this one. Thanks to Nick dePreter, teacher who I met at his session at a NSTA conference, for asking a question which inspired this list. Online community–another great resource!

In print

• Building Structures with Young Children (Young Scientist Series) by Ingrid Chalufour and Karen Worth. 2004. St. Paul, MN: Redleaf Press.
• Growing and Changing by Robert E. Rockwell, E. Sherwood, R. Williams, and D. Winnett. 2001. While Plains, NY: Dale Seymour Publications. Activities for students to make observations and collect data in about themselves and other organisms.
• The Inquiry Matrix by Julie Grady. The Science Teacher, November 2010. Note that NSTA members can access all journals online.
• Investigating Real Data in the Classroom: Expanding Children’s Understanding of Math and Science by Richard Lehrer and Leona Schauble, eds. 2002. New York, NY: Teachers College Press. Education researchers and classroom teachers paired up to describe how children can collect and analyze data as they go about answering questions.
• More Picture Perfect Science Lessons: Using Children’s Books to Guide Inquiry, K-4 by Karen Ansberry and Emily Morgan. 2007. Arlington, VA: NSTA Press.
• The Pillbug Project: A guide to investigation by Robin Burnett. 1999 revised. Arlington, VA: National Science Teachers Association.
• Preschool Pathways to Science: Facilitating Scientific Ways of Thinking, Talking, Doing, and Understanding by Rochel Gelman and Kimberly Brenneman, Gay Macdonald, Moisés Roman. 2009. Baltimore, MD: Paul H Brookes Pub Co.
• Scaffolding Science Inquiry Through Lesson Design by Michael Klentschy and Laurie Thompson. 2008. Portsmoouth, NH: Heinemann. Note: written for teachers of grades 3-5.
• Science in Kindergarten by Ingrid Chalufour and Karen Worth, Reading #56 from the CD accompanying Developmentally Appropriate Practice in Early Childhood Programs Serving Children from Birth through Age 8, Third Edition by Carol Copple and Sue Bredekamp, eds. 2009. Washington, D.C.: National Association for the Education of Young Children.
• Science Is Golden: A Problem-Solving Approach to Doing Science with Children by Ann Finkelstein. 2001. East Lansing, MI: Michigan State University Press. For parents and teachers—how to guide children’s questions toward investigation, including gathering data.
• The Teaching of Science in Primary Schools by Wynne Harlen and Anne Qualter, 2009. London, Great Britain: David Fulton Publishers.
• Worms, Shadows, and Whirlpools: Science in the Early Childhood Classroom by Karen Worth and Sharon Grollman. 2003 Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, Washington D. C.: NAEYC.
• A Head Start on Science: Encouraging a Sense of Wonder: 89 Activities for Children Ages 3-7 by William C. Ritz. 2007. Arlington, VA: NSTA Press.
• Outdoor Inquiries: Taking Science Investigations Outside the Classroom by Patricia McGlashan, Kristen Gasser, Peter Dow, David Hartney, and Bill Rogers. 2007. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. From the staff of First Hand Learning, Inc.
• Squishy, Squashy Sponges by Beverly Kutsunai, Susan Gertz, and Lynn Hogue. 2003. Middletown, OH: Terrific Science Press.

Online

• Annenberg, Learning Science Through Inquiry

http://www.learner.org/workshops/inquiry/videos.html?pop=yes&pid=1452

• The Cat in the Hat Know a Lot about That! Explorer’s Guide, on doing science with young children.

http://www.pbs.org/teachers/includes/content/catinthehat/Teachers_UnitDownloadables/CITH_Teachers_ExplorersGuide.pdf

• Entries from a Staff Developer’s Journal . . .Helping Teachers Develop as Facilitators of Three- to Five-Year-Olds’ Science Inquiry by Robin Moriarty

http://cse.edc.org/products/pdfs/YCMoriarty.pdf

• Foundations, volume 2, Inquiry :Thoughts, Views, and Strategies for the K-5 Classroom

http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2000/nsf99148/start.htm

• Exploratorium, Institute for Inquiry

http://www.exploratorium.edu/IFI/resources/index.html

• Inquiry Science in the Elementary Classroom: A Study Guide, from Educational Development Center, Inc.

http://cse.edc.org/products/inquiryscienceelemclassroom/inquiry.asp

• K2S Bitesize BBC Interpreting Data, site has ‘bitesized’ interactive learning content including on interpreting data using tally charts.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ks2bitesize/maths/data/

• National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), Teaching Young Children, Picturing Good Practice. You Can Count on Math Handout 2: Math-Related Children’s Books, Songs, and Finger Plays for Preschoolers

http://www.naeyc.org/files/tyc/file/BooksSongsandFingerPlays.pdf

• Science News for Kids, an online science news journal—a resource to learn age appropriate vocabulary and new science content.

http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/articles/20101006/Note1.asp

• A Try Science Conversation with Wynne Harlen, author of The Teaching of Science in Primary Schools

http://scienceonline.terc.edu/harlen_conversation/index.html

• Understanding Science website, especially the Understanding Science 101 section

http://undsci.berkeley.edu/

• Young Children’s Inquiry chart by Hubert Dyasi, CCNY; and Karen Worth, Education Development Center, Inc.

http://cse.edc.org/products/inquiryscienceelemclassroom/Inquiry.pdf
What resources can you add to this list? (Authors and publishers: don’t be shy!)
Peggy

December’s Science 2.0 includes a brief example of how Dale Basler (physics teacher and co-host of Lab Out Loud) creates his own videos for use in his physics classroom.  Here are a few examples:
Bobber Meets Roundabout from Dale Basler on Vimeo.
Grocery Store Conveyor Belt Stops from Dale Basler on Vimeo.
See more here.

I was once on a planning committee for a citizen-science  project. Several of the other teachers on the committee remarked that it was a great project but that they probably wouldn’t be able to use it in their own classrooms. “It’s an awesome project, but we have too much content to cover first” was their reason. I can still see the puzzled look on the face of one of the scientists on the committee. “Why is there a need to ‘cover’ content before engaging students in real-world science. Why can’t the students learn content within the context of these projects and experiences?” A good question.
Integrating content and activities/investigations in a planned and purposeful way is a challenge for teachers. The articles in NSTA publications have many examples of how this can be done, including planning tools, rubrics, connections to standards, and assessments. Tools such as SciLinks can provide just-in-time content and background information for both students and teachers.
For example, The Hudson River Plume uses a combination of online and laboratory activities (the authors include a detailed overview) to explore the impact of human activity on watersheds and coastal environments. The content addresses water movement and characteristics beyond a textbook discussion. (SciLinks: Watershed, Water Movement, Eutrophication, Pollution)

A Life-Cycle Assessment of Biofuels focuses on the context of alternative fuels (ethanol in this case): what resources are used to produce them, how they are processed, what does it take to transport them. Students may find it interesting to look at the “life cycle” of other products such as cell phones, pencils, bottled water. (SciLinks: Carbon cycle, Alternative fuels)
Wolves in the Wild incorporates a jigsaw cooperative learning activity with content related to social, economic, and ecological issues.  (SciLinks: Wolves, U.S. National Parks)
Your principal may do a double-take seeing high school students use a sandbox or Rubik’s cubes. but you can reassure her that real learning is taking place.  In Puzzling Science: Using the Rubik’s Cube to Teach Problem Solving, the teacher-author had mastered the cube before designing this problem-solving activity. It might be an interesting action research project to study what happens when the teacher learns along with the students! The Classroom Sandbox shows how a physical model can be used to illustrate concepts, manipulate variables, or test hypotheses. See Deformational Sandbox in the Classroom
You probably have some athletes in your classes. In another real-life connection (using the 5E Learning Cycle) students consider Why Do Athletes Drink Sports Drinks? (SciLinks: Osmosis, Electrolytes, Sports Drinks)
This month’s HealthWise column What’s the difference between an x-ray, a CAT scan, and an MRI? describes these medical processes that students hear about in the news and family discussions. (SciLinks: CAT Scanning Fossils, MRI).
In conversations with teachers and administrators, I’ve often heard these terms used interchangeably: activities, experiments, labs, investigations. Are they the same? How would you explain the differences?