Jul29

Systems

Science Scope Cover
The solar system, the metric system, the circulatory system, the system of checks and balances, transportation systems, broadcasting systems, information systems, the Dewey Decimal system – we see the word "system" every day in a variety of contexts.

The word "system" refers to a group of interrelated objects that form an integrated whole or that work together to achieve a desired result. The concept of systems is an underlying theme or "big idea" in the sciences. And yet often we concentrate exclusively on the components such that students don't see how they are connected or affect and influence each other. For example, students learn about the body systems but may not realize how these systems of cells, tissues, organs, and functions are interrelated.

Some people can intuitively see and understand these relationships; others may need guidance and modeling to do so. This month's Science Scope has several articles with activities that can help students understand this concept. So why should we bother with the concept of systems when there's so much else to "cover?" Is it all that important? The National Science Education Standards include systems as one of the Unifying Concepts and Processes in science. In Pennsylvania (the state I'm most familiar with), the first science standard category is "Unifying Themes" and the first standard deals with understanding systems! Check your state's standards in science to see if the concept of systems is mentioned.

The concept lends itself to interdisciplinary studies, too. The article Farm to Table and Beyond describes activities to "help students make sense of the global food system" and integrate their knowledge of biology, geography, economics, and nutrition. And who doesn't like to think about food! This would be an eye-opening discussion for students who do not live close to the sources of their food.

Log into Scilinks and use the code SS070801 for web resources on the topic of systems theory and examples of more activities. If you'd like more background on systems theory, here are some places to start: General Systems Theory, Systems Theory, System Theory, Systems Thinking, and Introduction to Systems Theory.

Here's a pop quiz: Our classrooms and schools are examples of systems, too. Are they "open" systems or "closed" ones?
Published: Jul-29-08 | 0 Comments | 0 Links to this post

Jul22

Summer Reading

The Science Teacher Cover
I'm getting ready for a two-week camping trip to upstate New York for a family reunion, sightseeing, and hiking/birdwatching. I'm also looking forward to propping up my feet and reading in the fresh air. As I add to my bag of reading materials, I'm referring to the summer issues of all three NSTA journals for ideas.

The Science Teacher article Take a Voyage of Discovery has suggestions for reading that will take us to special places on Earth, take us through time, and help us reflect on our own classrooms. Keep Up With a Good Book in this month's Science Scope has even more suggestions, ranging from physical and evolutionary science to biographies of scientists. And Science and Children's Science Books for Professional Pleasure Reading has lists organized by subjects (biology, earth and space, etc.). I like this list because of the suggested titles are all content-related. Regardless of the grade level you teach, be sure to check out all three articles!

In all three articles, the titles are annotated with a brief description. I downloaded the articles and highlighted the books that look interesting and checked off the ones I've already read. I'll keep the lists in my briefcase all year to refer to. Reading professional and content-related books is an excellent form of professional development. One summer, my district bought several copies of books and gave them to interested teachers. We read the books over the summer, and during the August inservice time, we met and shared what we had read. We fixed up the library to look like a coffee shop, including pastries, and spent a wonderful morning sharing and recommending these professional resources.

Although I have downloaded articles to my laptop (legally of course!) or listened to books on tape on long drives, I'm an old-fashioned dinosaur (or Readasaurus as a student once said). I prefer the real thing when it come to books. I like the feel of the pages and being able to stop and reflect and to page back and forth. My local library is small, but it belongs to a statewide network of libraries so that I can get materials from anywhere! Of course, there's always the online book sellers, the big book stores, and the NSTA bookstore for getting personal copies!
Published: Jul-22-08 | 0 Comments | 0 Links to this post

Jul14

The Resourceful Teacher

Science and Children Cover
In the ideal world, every school would have whatever materials it takes to provide quality learning experiences. But our world is not ideal and we teachers have learned to be quite ingenious.

Although the activity in the article Discovery Bottles is written for K-2, this could be adapted into a neat idea for the first day of school at other grade levels, including secondary. The author even gives us lists of themes and what to put in the bottles as well as some questions to focus the students' observations. I was at a workshop where the presenter used these bottles as an icebreaker. Can you visualize a room full of adults shaking the bottles and trying to identify the 20 objects she had hidden in the bottles? These were ordinary water bottles filled with birdseed instead of sand. The website Discovery Bottles also has suggestions for themes for these bottles. I could see having older students create these for younger ones, too. The article Materials Repurposed also has suggestions for using ordinary materials in making manipulatives for science activities.

The author of You Can Get What You Want describes strategies for securing donations of materials and talent from the community. In addition to the sources mentioned in the article, I'd suggest the warehouses of government agencies or colleges/universities. Many of them have periodic sales of surplus or gently used equipment. I live close to our state capital, and a few of us department chairs would go on a shopping spree every summer to the warehouse. One time we really lucked out. The state had closed a medical facility, and we were able to get several cases of unused test tubes, graduated cylinders, Petri dishes, and other glassware for a total of a few dollars! We also snagged some gently used file cabinets for $5 each. However, I'd be cautious about accepting donations of used technology (I learned this the hard way). Check with you tech coordinator for any district or school guidelines.

Everybody Loves PRISM has another view of science fairs. This topic was also the theme of the December issue of Science and Children and the associated SciLinks blog.

In the February 18 SciLinks blog entry, I mentioned Project BudBurst. And in this month's issue of S&C, the article Project BudBurst: Analyzing Data has a wonderful idea for integrating this project into classroom activities with the question "How does geography affect plant life cycles?" The article has suggestions for adapting the activity for younger students, but this could be "kicked up a notch" for secondary students, too.

As we can see in these articles every month, one of the best resources we science teachers have is each other!
Published: Jul-14-08 | 0 Comments | 138 Links to this post

Jul07

It's Elemental

It's always amazing to me that there is just about anything you'd want to know (and even things you didn't know you wanted to know) on the Internet. Just a few clicks in your favorite browser and you're off on a flight of serendipitous discovery.

While on such a flight the other day, I came across a site that caught my attention: the Poetic Table of the Elements. I did a double take – yes, it's "poetic" not "periodic." This intrigued me.

The site has a traditional-looking periodic table, and for each element there are poems about it. Some are factual, others are whimsical, and a few could use some editing. But it's really fun to see what people came up with.

I continued poking around and found the Periodic Table Printmaking Project, in which artists created blocks for each of the elements. The descriptions of each element include some of its physical properties, but the interesting part is how and why the artists chose their designs.

But then I started thinking. How many of our students have been assigned the traditional "element report"? In the BI times (Before Internet), the main goal of this activity was to get students to find information about a particular element. This was usually accomplished in the library, using text resources. But today, with a few clicks in a browser (or better yet, a search in SciLinks ) students can get pictures and lots of information about the characteristics and properties of any element. Many websites on the periodic table have summary pages for each element. So finding the information is not the exercise it used to be. Why would we ask students to copy facts about an element when the information is already and readily available?

Perhaps another approach might be to ask students to do something with the information – to look for patterns, to create multimedia materials for younger students, to rename an element based on its properties (my favorite was a student who renamed helium after herself - chelsium - because people jokingly called her an airhead), or to create a picture or write a poem.

By the way, I just had to know what the writers came up with to rhyme with Ytterbium!
Published: Jul-07-08 | 0 Comments | 1 Link to this post