I’m mentoring a new science teacher. I’ve never done this before, so I’m asking teachers, “What’s the best advice your mentor ever gave you?”
-Frank, Clarksville, Tennessee
I’m remembering myself as a novice teacher years ago, in a junior high school with some challenging students. I had a good background in the physical sciences I was teaching, but I really struggled with classroom management. There were days I felt like I was on the Titanic with no room in the lifeboats. We did not have official mentors then, so I was on my own. But my principal must have recognized my potential. He observed some classes and threw me a lifeline.
He suggested I establish routines and procedures for the beginning and end of class and for transitioning to and from lab activities. Since these are times most likely for disruptions, it is important for students to be engaged and to know what is expected of them. Having set routines frees time for more important topics and activities rather than dealing with discipline or logistic issues.
My principal also distinguished between routines and regimentation. Regimentation is when the teacher (acting like a drill sergeant) continually tells students exactly what to do and when to do it. In a classroom with routines, however, the students know what to do even if the teacher is not in the room.
Many of his suggestions became part of my repertoire:

• Greet students by name at the door.
• Establish a routine for getting ready for class, such as posting an agenda on the board with what students need for class (notebooks, textbook, pencil, assignments to turn in, etc.) so they can get ready while they chitchat,.
• Use a “bell-ringer” activity to focus students’ attention.
• Have a tray for each lab group to make it easier to organize and count the materials and to make sure everything is in place for the next class.
• Have assigned seats, assigned lab groups, and assigned roles for lab group members. These, of course, can be changed periodically.
• Designate and label places to turn in assignments and equipment.
• Put labels on shelves or tables to organize materials students may need during class.
• Conclude each class with a summary and a “preview of coming attractions”.

Some of these suggestions would be second nature to a veteran teacher, but to a novice such as myself they were life (and career) savers. It took a while that first year to get the routines in place. But in the following years, the students would quickly adapt from the start of the year. I think they appreciated the structure and the expectations (I know the substitute teachers did). Eventually, students can (and should) collaborate with the teacher to suggest or develop routines.
My principal was ahead of his time! Recent work of educators such as Robert Marzano notes the importance of routines and procedures. I would recommend Marzano’s book, Classroom Management That Works (published by the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development)for additional suggestions. Even experienced teachers can learn a few new techniques!

Children often do not think of invertebrates as animals. If we can train ourselves to talk about insects and other invertebrates not as “bugs” but as “small animals” we’ll help children make that connection. Visiting small animals, such as isopods (aka roly-polies or pill bugs) and slugs, allow observations to build into a body of knowledge.
Shrieks of delight let me know that a slug is on the move, and hearing excited consultation with the classroom’s confident “wrangler” tells me that the children have it under control.
Peggy

Playing with magnets is a useful science activity in early childhood classrooms because it fosters conversation, exploration of materials, and learning to make predictions. Making a prediction means focusing on what you think will happen next based on your prior knowledge. We can help children develop this the skill of predicting (or guessing if there is no prior knowledge) what might happen any time we read to them, by asking them to predict what will happen next in the story. (See the discussion about the words “prediction” and “hypothesis”, in When a Hypothesis is NOT an Educated Guess by Louise M. Baxter and Martha J. Kurtz in Science & Children, April 2001, pg 18-20.)
Preschool teacher Ms. Kim reads a book aloud to her class and they respond with their predictions.
She encourages participation by making it clear that she wants the children to make the predictions and that she will respect and accept all answers (and not provide any). Any book will do but Fortunately by Remy Charlip, is a great book for getting children started thinking about what will happen next, noticing patterns and asking questions. After reading Ms. Kim followed up by asking the children if things turned out the way they thought it would (spoiler alert—it has a happy ending).
Prior experience informs learning, so I try to expose children to many materials and the opportunity to manipulate them. While examining all the objects and testing their attraction to a magnet the children are talking, gaining language and social skills while doing science. (Click on the photo to see a larger view.)
This week I’ve seen children building with the objects, creating a microphone with the ubiquitous preschool magnets with a handle,  and delighting in possessing key or coin—objects of power so I include enough for every child. Using magnets in many shapes and sizes helps children understand that the property of magnetism is in the material, not a size, shape, or color. In the small science groups it is easier to note what is said and what happens, and assess each child’s understanding.
After experiencing the force of magnetism using a variety of magnets and materials, children are ready to predict which objects will be attracted to a magnet.
Children can represent their understanding using a small set of new objects (at first without a magnet) and photocopies of those objects. The children represented their predictions by putting photocopied pictures of the objects either on the magnet picture (“magnet will attract the object”) or on the dish picture (“magnet will not attract the object”). Then they each tested an object using a magnet.
There is often disagreement among the children about whether or not an object will be attracted to the magnet. I use this as an opportunity to tell them that scientists don’t always agree on what they think will happen.
Even though they had experience with a magnet and a variety of metal objects, many children were still surprised when a brass key was not attracted to the magnet. This is a common misconception among the teachers as well, that magnets will attract all metals. Through experience the students learn that a magnet will never attract certain materials, and always attract others—metals but not all metals. Understanding why that is will have to wait until they are older, but by repeating the activity children come to know that each object reacts to the magnet the same way each time, and that this is part of the nature of the material. Magnet Man, offers much more on this subject on his website.
After testing the actual objects with a magnet, the children changed their arrangement of the photocopies of the objects as needed to represent the results rather than their predictions.
Peggy

It’s one thing to get students to recite definitions for the states of matter. But what do they really understand? For instance, the word “gas” is confusing. My students had to stop and think whether the word was referring to a state of matter or to the liquid that is pumped into the fuel tank of a car. Likewise, when the textbook definition of “liquid” mentioned that it was a substance that could be poured and took the shape of its container, they wondered why sugar and salt weren’t considered liquids.
This Science Scope issue has lessons, background information, and teaching suggestions and SciLinks has many online resources for helping young students learn about matter. Just use the keyword matter and your grade level to see several categories of websites related to matter. Here is a sample of some that are geared to elementary grades:

• Science: Materials from the BBC is an interactive animation that could be used with a class or as a small group activity.
• Water and Ice is a three-part lesson plan from Science NetLinks
• Substances and Chemical Reactions is a lesson plan on chemical changes from Teachers Domain that also includes video clips.
• In Case of the Mystery Matter, a teacher-created Webquest, students play the role of investigators to identify and classify matter.
• Two sites, Four States of Matter and States of Matter provide information in a student-friendly style.

I was once observing a class in which the 4th-grade students were making “oobleck.” The teacher was well-organized, but she missed an opportunity to go beyond simply having the students make the substance and play with it. The article Concept-Focused Teaching describes how activities can help students learn and understand big ideas or concepts. The activity Oobleck from the Jefferson National Laboratory has some ideas for focusing students on the states of matter as they make (and play with) oobleck.
If you teach middle school, scan the table of contents in this issue for articles with some good teaching ideas for helping students who may not have a strong science background.

Setup day for NSTA staff here in Cincinnati and all is going smoothly. We’re looking forward to thousands of attendees engaging in outstanding professional development and returning to their classrooms full of ideas and energy!
Not-to-miss events include the New Teacher/Preservice Teacher Luncheon (Ticketed Event M-4 at the Millennium Hotel, Colonnade Room A/B on Friday at noon), the Science Store, and the NSTA booth on the exhibit floor.
Recommendations for food include The Wah Mee, a very nice Chinese Restaurant (Yes the owner likes the word “The” in the name) and Cinci’s two authentic chili parlors: The Skyline and Goldstar franchises, which is where I’m headed for lunch.
—Howard

One of the many rich workshops I attended at the NSTA Portland Area Conference was the Family Science Day Session presented by the Foundation for Family Science. The specific goals of Family Science include:

To get parents more involved in their children’s science education by encouraging:

• participation in informal learning activities which supplement children’s formal school science experiences.
• parental interest and involvement with school science curriculum.
• families to do science activities at home using inexpensive and readily available materials.
• adults and children to be partners in learning.

After the presentation, families who have participated in Family Science events joined us and demonstrated the Family Science activities. Here’s one father and his children exploring what happens when air is blown under a folded index card. They talked about what they thought would happen, then tried it and talked about why. Then they graciously allowed this participant to try it.

All around the room children were eager to show conference attendees how to do and learn from the activities, such as this one about vibration and sound where after stretching a rubber band around a mug (across the opening) you hold the bottom of the mug against your ear and pluck the rubber band.
After trying this with your class, ask your children “What would you do to the rubber bands if you wanted to change their sounds?”
Then think about how you can get families involved … maybe with a Family Science Event.
Peggy

With the emphasis on literacy since the onset of No Child Left Behind, there seems to be two schools of thought. One emphasizes instruction in reading and math to the point that instruction in science, social studies, and the arts, especially in the primary grades, is greatly reduced. The other looks at ways to integrate these subjects, so that students see that reading and writing are part of learning in all subjects. There are many resources that can help teachers to incorporate science and literacy skills, and this issue of Science and Children has many of them.
Two articles address writing in science. The authors of The P.O.E.T.R.Y of Science use the acronym (predict, observe, explain, think, reflect, yearn to learn more) to describe the processes used in student “journals.” What they describe as a journal is the same as newer definitions of science notebooks. Whether you call it a notebook or journal, if you require more than just a collection of assignments or a log of events, the rubric in this article can be helpful. In Scientific Journals: A Creative Assessment Tool the authors describe how guide students through the process of integrating science and writing skills. If you’re a secondary teacher, these articles are great resources, especially if you have students who are new to the idea of writing in science. Other resources related to science notebooks can be found in a SciLinks blog entry from June 2008.
As you’re reading the articles, don’t forget to check SciLinks for more resources, using the keyword “reading”. One that I like in particular is Connecting Elementary Science and Literacy. For each step of the inquiry process, this page has suggested resources for incorporating communications skills. With the increasing demands on classroom time, the author of Reading and Writing in the Science Classroom describes how to work “smarter” by integrating reading and writing with content areas such as science. There is a table showing how these three areas are connected. Reading in the Sciences is a collection of resources, including a summary of the research on the topic, a matrix showing the correlation between reading and science skills, and links to a collection of K-8 lessons that illustrate how science and reading are connected. Reading Across the Curriculum has resources that help students make sense of their reading: anticipation guides, vocabulary instruction, KWL charts, text analysis, questioning, predicting, and summarizing.
The November 2007 issue of Science and Children was also themed around literacy with great ideas and suggestions.
Note: If you’re looking for SciLinks resources on spiders related to the article Becoming a Spider Scientist, use the keyword “arachnid”

I am a new teacher, and my supervisor asked me to write a letter recommending a student for an award. I don’t think he is qualified. What should I do?
Nancy, No City Please
Teachers are often asked to recommend students for awards, scholarships, or job applications. Sometimes we know the student well, and our remarks could span several pages detailing accomplishments and credentials. Other times, we don’t know the student well enough to write an enthusiastic recommendation. Finally, we may have very compelling reasons, based on our experiences, not to recommend a student at all. Without knowing the requirements of the award or the details of your relationship with the student or your supervisor, I’ve compiled some suggestions to help you think through this.
First, there are some general factors you should consider:

• What is the relative value of this award?
• Is student being judged on his potential for future achievement or on his past
• performance?
• How well and under what circumstances do you know the student?
• Is the student a protégé of your supervisor?
• What happens if the student is denied the award?
• What happens if the student wins the award?
• Are other nominees more deserving?
• Do you have a student you would rather recommend?

One option is brutal honesty. You could tell your supervisor you decline to write the letter and specify the reasons. Do this respectfully and professionally, and you would most likely leave the meeting feeling positive about your personal integrity. However, I can’t guess how your supervisor would react;,the fact you are writing for advice suggests that as a new teacher you might be a little nervous about this. Of course, if there are compelling reasons for not recommending the student (e.g., dishonesty, bullying) this is your only choice.
Another option would be to meet with your supervisor and tactfully mention that you are having some difficulty organizing your thoughts. Ask for some help to think through the particular qualities or potential of this student so that you can choose which to emphasize. Be sure to ask questions for clarification. Perhaps your supervisor knows this student from other contexts beyond your class and can help you to develop different perspectives on the student’s qualifications, at least enough to craft a letter.
There is also the time-honored tradition of damning with faint praise. You could choose to write the letter with well-worded honesty. Keep it brief, emphasize the positives of this student from your experiences, and avoid any direct negatives. Provide contact information if the award committee requires further (verbal only) information. Savvy members of the award committee will see through this and base their decision as much on what you don’t say as on what you actually say.
Then there is the “oops” approach. As a new teacher you are surely busy beyond belief. Some things naturally slip off the table for all of us. No one will ever know that the delay in completing your letter was intentional. There are some potential negatives for this approach, especially in that you may seem disorganized or undependable.
In the end, only you can decide how much emotional and intellectual energy to invest in this situation, and only you can make the final decision as to what to do.

Visiting the city of Portland, Oregon and the waterfalls of the Columbia River Gorge invigorated my thinking about taking classes outside. Hiking part-way up the Eagle Creek trail reminded me that being comfortable in a natural area can take practice. As I held onto a cable while rounding a bend in the path high above the creek, I was feeling something between anxiety and acute awareness of the consequences of tripping on the rocky path. Now when I take a group of city teachers and children into a nearby city natural area, I will be more understanding of teachers who caution children not to step off the paved path or those who flinch when insects whiz by. And I resolve to get outside with the classes more often.
Here is Latourelle Falls, seen from the base at a distance and then up close to show the columnar jointing of the basalt volcanic rock. It is a short walk down a paved path from a stop along the Columbia River Scenic Highway.

(Click on the photos to see a larger view.)
Peggy

It was exciting to be in the midst of so many people who care about teaching and learning science, and a pleasure to anticipate being on the receiving end of lesson planning. I’m looking forward to using what other educators thought was important enough to share.  More on this later, in the comments …
Peggy