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Peggy
Nov24
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
Nov22
In an effort to assess students' thinking about who does, or who can do, science, teachers often begin the school year by asking students to draw their idea of what a scientist looks like to them.
Here is a photo of what science teachers at the 2008 Portland NSTA conference looked like while having a wonderful time observing the Foucault pendulum at the Oregon Convention Center.
and here is what they saw:
Nov21
My reading matter for the trip to the NSTA Portland conference is How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School, Expanded Edition, ( National Academy Press, 2000) and a fantasy novel, Dragonsbane by by Barbara Hambly (Del Rey, 1987). Both works relate how students (people) have preconceptions about how the world is supposed to be, and that incorrect ones get in the way of building correct understanding. This idea is important to teachers who want to introduce new concepts and information...and to witches who want to convince a court noble that dragonslayers may not resemble their description in an epic song.
How People Learn emphasizes that teachers need to be aware of their students' existing understanding of a topic and give them ways to challenge that understanding to build an expanded understanding or be able to replace any incorrect preconceptions. As an early childhood educator I need this book to help me avoid creating or supporting misconceptions in children's ideas about science.
Good reads, both!
Peggy
Nov21
Collaboration is key for many scientific endeavors, and an opportunity for growth for teachers. Here's how two preschool teachers, both with a science outlook but from opposite coasts, came to present a workshop together.
A writer of The Early Years column in Science and Children, I (Peggy) yearn for a larger community of like-minded early childhood educators. Many of the classroom teachers I get to work with have so many duties that they are very happy to "leave the science to someone else" most of the time. When teachers contribute to the Teacher's Picks section of the column, I get a glimpse into another teacher's classroom and the broadening experience of collaboration as I look at resources from another's viewpoint.
Marie Faust Evitt contributed a "Teacher's Picks" list of resources and in our discussions we found out that we are living parallel lives, teaching preschool, excited about doing science with young children, and writing about it. A year of email conversation later we decided to learn more from each other by presenting together.
What I've learned from Marie:
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West coast children also love to explore varied materials.
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Plastic rain gutters are indispensable classroom equipment.
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Playing "air soccer" by waving cardboard sheets to blow packing peanuts across a table is learning through play.
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Doing science activities in a BIG way is meaningful to children and worth teachers' time and effort.
Join one of the NSTA lists, group e-mail discussions that allow members to exchange information in a peer-to-peer forum, to benefit from being part of a science-teaching interested community. Newbies asking questions are welcomed, gentle direction is offered to veteran teachers and beginners alike as we try out our ideas and refine our science and education thinking within the community.
Peggy
Nov19
Today I visited the Rainbow Preschool, a half-day preschool with extended care in the Laurelhurst neighborhood of NE Portland. Teachers Nicki and Amanda and their students welcomed me into their world where science activities include caring for two guinea pigs, digging and pouring sand, building with dominoes,
and many opportunities to use symbols to represent actions (name cards into a cup when you take your snack, job board, and daily schedule using photos).
I was reminded of an article in the September 2008 NAEYC journal Young Children, What Do Children Learn by Trying to Produce the Domino Effect? by Kyoko Ozaki, Naoko Yamamoto, Constance Kamii.
Visiting other classrooms always invigorates me and I appreciate the welcome to investigate at Rainbow Preschool. Reading journals such as, Young Children and Science and Children is another way to find out what's happening in other programs. The article on children using dominoes particularly interested me and I hope to add them to the science room rotation of blocks soon.
Peggy
Nov08
“Why is corn used as a decoration in the fall in the United States?” asked a student’s grandmother. She is originally from Estonia where she said seasonal decorative include straw weavings, hung as symbols to bring a good harvest in the next year. I don’t know when it became popular to hang ears of multicolored corn (Zea mays) as decoration in the United States but it may come from the harvesting of dried corn in the fall. Whatever the origin of this decoration, as symbols of a good harvest, or wishes for such in the coming year, by decorating with varieties that don’t usually appear on our plates we expose children to a variety of corn ears. The variety in corn is interesting to children and prepares them to study genetics when they are older. Worldwide, the word “corn” can refer to any local grain.
Photo by Keith Weller, in the photo gallery on the Agricultural Research Service website.
Young children love to ‘dissect’ ears of fresh or dried corn and can learn new words while learning plant structure—first the husk, then the silk, then the harder job of picking the kernels off the cob. Place a variety of dried corn cobs in a bin or sensory table and allow children to take them apart. See the November issue of Science and Children to read about examining and measuring corn ears in The Early Years column.
Maybe in the spring you'll plant Zea mays with your class.
Peggy
Nov04
If you could have the science lab of your dreams for preK through 2 students, what would it include? What are the minimum required materials, what are the commonly found materials, and what is on your wish list? Would it be in your classroom or a separate lab in the school? Would you have group tables or individual desks? Does your state have offer guidelines? (Thanks to the NSTA elementary level list serve for these questions. The list serves are wonderful vehicles for information exchange.)
Peggy
 
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