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How to launch STEM investigations that build on student and community interests and expertise : StemTeachingTools (en-US)

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Practice Brief 3 -- Topics: Practices Instruction Background

Practices should not stand alone: How to sequence practices in a cascade to support student investigations

Teachers should intertwine and sequence multiple scientific practices in their teaching in ways that integrate the conceptual ideas of science.

District staff and PD providers should highlight to teachers that students' productive engagement in scientific practices can overlap and seem messy.

School leaders should understand that a "cascade of practices" approach looks different from the "scientific method" instruction that administrators may be more familiar with.

What is the Issue?

Science and engineering practices should strongly shape instruction-and be integrated with disciplinary core ideas and cross-cutting concepts. Some people might treat the practices as "stand alone" activities to engage students, but research shows that it is more effective to think about designing instruction as a cascade of practices. Practices should be sequenced and intertwined in different ways to support students in unfolding investigations.

Authors:

PHILIP BELL AND KATIE VAN HORNE

Things to Think About

How satisfied are you with your current way of teaching science and engineering? How well does it engage students in extended experiences where they learn and apply concepts while engaging in the science and engineering practices?

It is productive to take up a small manageable investigation "cascade style" that can be integrated, repeated and refined throughout your teaching. What practices and core ideas would you want to start with?

Things to Consider

It is important to realize that scientists engage in complicated cascades of practices that are "messy" rather than follow some strict scientific method. This video highlights how science works.

The performance expectations (PEs) in many new science education standards integrate practices with core ideas and cross cutting concepts. The PEs don't frequently identify multiple practices, but that is not meant to imply that instruction should only engage students in one practice. The PEs are not curriculum. Rather, they highlight the kinds of student performances that are the learning targets of instruction.

In a cascade of practices instructional approach, multiple practices may be combined and sequenced with one or more core ideas and crosscutting concepts to make up extended investigations. A cascade approach allows for a great variety of science and engineering investigations and supports students in making sense of the natural and built world. Depending on learning goals for a unit, it may be useful to highlight some practices more than others.

There is no set sequence for how science and engineering practices make up investigations. Investigations might start with posing testable questions, analyzing information, or interrogating a scientific model. They might culminate with creating explanations, models, arguments, or new testable questions for investigation.

Engaging in students in investigations of this kind takes more instructional time than typical science instruction, but students can develop a deeper understanding of scientific concepts and more readily appreciate the creative endeavor of scientific work.

Resist turning investigative sequences of science practices into new, fixed procedures that students are marched through-similar to how the scientific method has often been used instructionally.

Attending to Equity

The cascade of practices approach implies shifting agency for learning to students who should be supported in designing, carrying out, and building knowledge about the natural and built world. This makes the learning process more active and inclusive of all students. Inclusive instructional models should be used to provide multiple entry points to support more students in engaging in practices.

Recommended Actions You Can Take

Study the diagram at the right showing a project-based instructional sequence involving multiple practices. Notice how the selected cascade helps students accomplish an authentic investigation.

Learn about and implement instructional models that focus on engaging students in cascades of practices. Think about how specific models can help inform instruction in your classroom.

ALSO SEE STEM TEACHING TOOLS

STEM Teaching Tools content copyright 2014-22 UW Institute for Science + Math Education. All rights reserved.
This site is primarily funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) through Award #1920249 (previously through Awards #1238253 and #1854059). Opinions expressed are not those of any funding agency.

Work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 Unported License. Others may adapt with attribution. Funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). Opinions expressed are not those of any funding agency.

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Practices should not stand alone: How to sequence practices in a cascade to support student investigations : StemTeachingTools (en-US)

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Practice Brief 3 -- Topics: Practices Instruction Background Teachers should intertwine and sequence multiple scientific practices in their teaching in ways that integrate the conceptual ideas of science. District staff and PD providers should highlight to teachers that students' productive engagement in scientific practices can overlap and seem messy.

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Why should students investigate contemporary science topics—and not just “settled” science? : StemTeachingTools (en-US)

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We are a collaborative network of educators, families, and community partners working to cultivate equitable, culturally thriving, socio-ecological systems learning and ethical decision-making using field-based science education in outdoor places, including gardens, for children in pre-kindergarten to 3rd grade and their families.

We are more aware than ever of the need to build learning environments that strive for just, sustainable, and culturally thriving communities. Learning in Places is more than a curriculum-it is a model of pedagogy that centers racial equity, ethical, evidence-based decision-making, and just relations with the natural world. We offer materials for professional development, classroom learning, outdoor learning, and family engagement. If you are a teacher, family member, teacher educator, and/or researcher, you may find something that will deepen your practice, reflection, and learning.

Our materials are free to use!
We only ask that you properly cite all materials using the suggested citations at the end of each document that you download.

Or, if you find any of the graphics or sections of the website useful for your work, please cite them using the following format: Learning in Places Collaborative (2021). [Title of page that you got the graphic or information from]. Learning in Places website. [url of the page]

The University of Washington Bothell Goodlad Institute for Educational Renewal, Northwestern University, Tilth Alliance and Seattle Public Schools have partnered for this project. Funded by a 2.9 million dollar grant from the National Science Foundation, the project builds outdoor learning spaces and draws upon local communities and green spaces at several Seattle schools while developing a robust model of equitable field-based learning for preK-3 educators to engage students and their families in complex socio-ecological reasoning and decision-making.

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We are a collaborative network of educators, families, and community partners working to cultivate equitable, culturally thriving, socio-ecological systems learning and ethical decision-making using field-based science education in outdoor places, including gardens, for children in pre-kindergarten to 3rd grade and their families.

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Learning Science from Home- How to Bring Cultural Equity to Science Education

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Crossing Linguistic and Cultural Borders
Three ways to engage emergent bilingual families through science

It is a Wednesday morning in Ms. Zimmerman's second-grade virtual classroom. Our computer screens show the familiar grid of boisterous students taking out their science journals, plastic cups, and soap samples. We invite students' families to join this part of the lesson. Older brothers, mothers, and other family members sit with the students as we predict whether different soaps sink or float as part of a longer investigation about soap properties. One student's older brother asks a question, which we write down to test next week. Another student's mother demonstrates how to observe the soap using smell, touch, and sight. A student's mother speaks to her child in Spanish. The child describes the soap as "soft." When we ask the student if she knows how to say "soft" in Spanish, she looks to her mother, who teaches her the word suave. We briefly discuss how learning to read in one's home language builds strong literacy skills in English. This is what family-school connection through science looks like in Ms. Zimmerman's class during the pandemic.

We know that teachers are the critical component of students' success in the classroom ( NRC 2001), but families are the critical component of student success at home. When families and teachers develop strong relationships and build trust with each other, students benefit ( Henderson and Mapp 2002). This is especially true in communities where home culture is significantly different from school culture, such as Lori's new immigrant, largely Spanish-speaking classroom community. Over the course of the past three years, as coteachers we have been building connections with families through science sensemaking. We have found science to be an effective way to connect with families across linguistic and cultural differences. This article shares examples and suggestions for how to engage more meaningfully with families during in-person interactions, as well as our more nascent explorations of family engagement during the pandemic. Although everything, including engaging with families, may feel more challenging during virtual learning, we share how we have leveraged the affordances of remote and asynchronous learning to invite families into our virtual learning spaces.

Successful Family Engagement

We have found that the most important consideration in engaging effectively with families, particularly those from different cultures, is to explore who we think the families are, the values they have, and our own goals for engaging with them. Similar to building personal relationships, engaging with families requires mutual trust and respect. Remote learning creates a space where teachers and families can see and hear each other-sometimes more than we would like. Although this can make both parties feel vulnerable, it also can break down barriers between home and school, opening up possibilities for routine communication. However, barriers are only broken down if we are open-minded when home and school cultures clash. We often implicitly assign meaning to the actions we "see" from families. When students show up late, do not have their homework, or are working in places that seem distracting, we may think families don't care about their children's education. When we take into consideration how different families are experiencing the pandemic in very different ways, with some being able to work from home and support their children's online learning, while others are working 10 to 12 hour days, we can better interrupt our instinct to judge them. When we approach families with an assumption that they do care, but that we might have different cultural understandings about what care looks like or do not fully understand their reality, we can have more productive interactions. For example, when a student in Lori's remote class does not have their materials, she resists the impulse to make assumptions and construct a deficit narrative about their family and instead focuses on the problem and tries to find a solution. Seeing students' families as resources rather than obstacles means holding an asset perspective. An asset perspective shifts our goals for family engagement. Interactions where families attend events, bring in items, or volunteer have less impact on student achievement than those where families and teachers continually and actively communicate with the shared goal of supporting students.

Science as a Powerful Engagement Tool

Science is an instrumental way to engage with families across linguistic and cultural boundaries. We know that young children are naturally curious about the world around them. Science phenomena provide students with engaging experiences to talk and write about, and the use of realia creates a more equal playing field for students without assuming specific background knowledge. These engaging anchoring activities can help families and teachers come together. During the pandemic, families from Lori's class routinely pick up science materials that allow them to explore realia at home. This allows families to join in the discussions, sharing their own experiences and questions across languages and cultures. Science phenomenon can also level hierarchies between families and teachers. If teachers are not "science experts," engaging in science activities together can make all groups: teachers, students, and their families, equal learners. When families share connections between the science phenomenon and their own lived experiences, teachers can better make connections between lessons and students' funds of knowledge. Funds of knowledge, a term coined by Luis Moll and his colleagues (1992), refer to the often-underutilized resources students bring to school from their home and community experiences. Science explorations provide an engaging space for teachers to build bridges between home and school.

Three Ways to Engage Families Through Science

There is no one right way to engage with families, and engagement is valuable on large and small scales. Here we present three different ways we have engaged with families before and during the pandemic: individual collaboration, classroomwide interactions, and schoolwide or community engagements.

Engaging Individual Caretakers: Weekly Collaboration

Valuable collaboration around science can occur in small, continuous ways. For example, before the pandemic we sent home science activities we had done in the classroom to allow students to share their experiences with families and return with stories of how science happens in their homes. This entails providing all necessary materials for the activity, directions (ideally written by students themselves), and an invitation for families to share their experiences at home. Families report enjoying these take-home science activities because it allows them to explore science with their children, often in very different ways from their own school science experiences. Activities do not need to impress but instead can be a variation of something that was done in class. Teachers can consider implementing storylines such as those found on the NextGenStoryline website ( www.nextgenstorylines.org/elementary) or find resources from STEM Teaching Tools ( http://stemteachingtools.org). Storylines from our collaboration will also be available on the Science 20/20 website ( www.science2020k-5.com).

Another way we engaged with caretakers on an individual level was to invite them to explore phenomena with us in the classroom. We reached out to families who expressed interest in collaborating during our open house, using their preferred contact method and language. An important aspect of this collaboration was our intention: our goal in inviting caretakers into the classroom was not to fulfill a specific need of ours but rather to build a relationship and collaborate with them around student learning. For example, one student's mother was able to investigate Oobleck with her son and other students, deciding whether it was a liquid or solid. Spanish-speaking students were able to explain their learning in their home language to the mother, and her presence amplified the message that all languages and cultures are welcome in the classroom. In return, the mother was able to see that the majority of the students in the class can communicate in Spanish. This realization seems to relieve anxiety for caretakers who have felt intimidated about being part of the classroom when they are not fluent in English. As we engage with individual caretakers routinely, we are able to better understand cultural disconnects and work together to build meaningful bridges between home and school. For example, the initial partnership with the mother described here has led to an ongoing relationship that allows us to understand one family's experiences during the pandemic. In addition, as caretakers gain comfort and trust with us, they can begin to share their own questions and needs. It is important to recognize that cultural connections are local and contextualized-understanding the culture of one family does not equate to understanding the values of a larger group of students from the same background.

This type of engagement is beneficial because it allows the teacher and an individual caretaker to build a meaningful partnership, particularly when one-on-one time to collaborate and reflect is possible. These partnerships are especially powerful when they cross cultural and linguistic boundaries, in that they allow the teacher to better leverage students' lived experiences at home. Also, they provide a space for caretakers to have agency and share their own values and vision.

Individual Collaborations During the Pandemic

We have continued to engage with families during the pandemic through asynchronous science lessons and listening to families' stories about supporting their children during remote and hybrid learning. Providing families with materials to conduct science investigations at home allows families to stay involved in their student's learning. For example, when beginning an investigation about the properties of matter (2-PS1-1), we tasked students and their families to explore what happens when you microwave Ivory Soap. We explicitly asked students to explore the phenomenon and discuss their observations with a family member throughout the investigation and provided instructions in languages spoken at home. We also provided space for families to share what they would like us to know about their child. Given the constraints many families have during the pandemic, we provided a seven-day window of time for families to do this investigation. We also provided videos of the investigation for students who could not do this with family, or who did not have access to a microwave. As we continued to explore the properties of soap, we sent home materials and invited families to participate in explorations.

We also interviewed families about their experiences during the pandemic to better understand their lived realities of supporting their children's learning remotely. Hearing stories about the challenges they face allows us to better respond to their needs. Families have shared stories about the struggles of keeping their students focused, what communication methods work best, and the sacrifices they have made to best support their children. From our conversations, we have understood that some families may need support in creating effective routines and systems so that their children can successfully navigate their online learning independently. We also have understood the great sacrifices and difficulties families are enduring, including working long hours and depending on multiple childcare sources, which helps us teach with compassion. We continually try to interrupt our tendency to generalize family experiences, recognizing that those families whom we could not speak with may have very different stories. Although taking time to connect with families individually takes time, it helps us better understand the realities families are facing and builds stronger connections between school and home.

Classroomwide Engagement: Science at the Open House

In the fall before the pandemic, Lori Zimmerman hosted an open house that was quite different from the typical experience of coming to the room, looking, and leaving. Even before families arrived, it was clear that this would be a different event. Students wrote invitations to their families that made it clear that all were welcome and showed a photo of the activity they would do together. Snacks and treats to take home were placed near the classroom door, and there was an area for younger children to play with Legos or color. Long tables had been moved together to create space for an activity where families could sit, stay, and talk while engaging in science. When families entered the classroom, they were greeted by the teacher and the family liaison. Students led their families on a scavenger hunt, highlighting important places in their classroom and sharing work they were proud of. Families then moved to the large table where there were supplies to make Settling Jars (see Supplemental Resources): bottles filled with warm water, clear Elmer's glue, and glitter. The ratio of glue and water determines whether the glitter settles slowly or quickly. Students had been learning about liquids through noticing and wondering about settling jars, had experimented with what goes into a jar, and had made their own; they were settling jar experts, able to teach their families.

As families gathered around the table, it felt less like a formal open house, and more like a family dinner. People were laughing, talking, and sharing stories in English and Spanish around the table. Families got to know each other better, and Lori was able to have conversations with caretakers, including discussing literacy strategies and making sure a family understood how to access reading resources from home. We also invited families to come into the classroom to participate in future science lessons. This type of engagement was beneficial because it allowed families and teachers to get to know each other and build trust.

Classroomwide Engagement During the Pandemic

One way we can encourage community building between families and the teacher during the pandemic is to host after-school virtual events. For example, a colleague hosts monthly game-nights where families are provided with game boards, dice, and timers to practice math and reading skills. A family liaison is present to help translate between Spanish and English, and after the teacher explains the activity, families play games together in a virtual space. Laughter, chatting, and informal conversations emerge, families connect, and the teacher is able to get to know families informally, similar to our in-person open house event. We are also planning to host a virtual family science night where families will be provided with materials to make Settling Jars. These informal virtual spaces provide an opportunity for us to better listen and understand the needs of families who can participate, and to share suggestions for how to support student learning, as understood through past interviews with families.

Engaging the Community: A Schoolwide Family Science Night

Another way to engage the community is through a school-wide family science night. Before the pandemic, we hosted successful schoolwide events where all families and community members were invited to celebrate and engage in science investigations the students had done. Various K-2 teachers set up stations along the perimeter of the cafeteria highlighting student investigations, samples of their science writing, and demonstrations of the investigations. For example, families could read books second-grade students had written about the water cycle and explore stations about evaporation and condensation. The event had food, drinks, giveaways, a place for younger children to play and color, and many science investigations to explore. All families were provided with a goody bag full of science investigations they could try at home, with directions in Spanish and English. The science activities were economical (totaling around $2 per bag) and fun, including materials to make "magic" bubbles, Kool-Aid Playdough, towers out of marshmallows and toothpicks, slime, optical illusions, and more. This type of engagement is beneficial because it allows teachers, families, and community members to see science learning across a continuum, and to meet potential future teachers and families. It also allows families to build a wider community with each other, and provides opportunities for outside community members to build relationships with families and the school.

Communitywide Engagement During the Pandemic

Although communitywide events are no longer safe during the pandemic, we can still engage community members by inviting them to join our remote learning space. Community members include those who live and work in the local neighborhood, as well as other networks of community, such as friends and family, or across disciplines. For example, we plan on inviting professionals related to our storyline to share stories about their careers, and to highlight how aspects of their work align with their own characteristics and preferences. Michelle's collaboration with a first-grade teacher around an Earth and Sun storyline includes an opportunity for students to welcome family and friends from other parts of the world to class to provide evidence about where the Sun is in their location. Making sure that the professionals and families invited to join our remote space represent a diversity of genders, races, ethnicities, languages spoken, and other qualities, we can help disrupt stereotypes about who belongs in which careers.

Conclusion

Building partnerships with families is hard-it takes time, self-reflection, and patience, but it is vital to the success of children, particularly for those whose cultures and languages are often excluded from such alliances. Although the pandemic has created many challenges and obstacles, it has also created new ways for us to invite families and community members to join us as we engage in learning with their children. Science provides a productive starting point to engage families and communities in meaningful ways, from community-wide connections, to one-on-one interactions. ●

Strategies for Engaging Families in a Science Event

Scheduling the event. Consider families' schedules for the event. You may want to survey families ahead of time to see when best times are for them to attend. If possible, consider having multiple times for them to attend. When surveying families, consider language and literacy needs-having translations in home languages along with pictures to indicate as much information as possible, and consider reaching out in different ways: through a phone call, text, email, and paper invitation.

The invitation: Kids write their own invitation. Research shows that when students write their own invitations rather than sending a generic one, families are more likely to notice and attend the event. Consider including pictures of students with the activity to spark a discussion between the student and family. Also, make sure the invitation clearly indicates what, who, where, and when, and is written in the home language(s) (or both in English and the home languages), and provide pictures to accommodate literacy needs. Make sure to send the invitation home with enough advance notice for a family member to make plans to attend. Explicitly invite ALL family-this way younger children, and aunts, uncles, and other family members know they are welcome. You may want to also mention if you will have food, drinks, and child care services. Consider sending out a video that communicates details of the event as well, both in home and English languages. When advertising the activity, use language that is not threatening. For example, we mentioned doing a "fun activity" rather than "science investigation" to reduce the potential for intimidation.

Reach out multiple times. Some families may have negative experiences with school in the past, or feel unwelcome in the school or community due to cultural and language barriers. Research shows that it often requires multiple invitations before a family member may attend an event. Consider multiple attempts to invite families (e.g., sending out a video, invitation, voice mail), and even verbally during parent pickup and drop-off or outside events.

Make it meaningful for families AND students to attend. When students really want to attend an event, their families are more likely to go. For example, we handed out t-shirts that students had decorated at one event, and let them take home their settling jars at another event. Families often are motivated by their student's enthusiasm to attend.

Make something! Center your event around a making activity that ties to students' learning and that is fun and engaging (and not intimidating). See the settling jar activity description. When students have already explored the concepts behind the activity, they can act as teachers and teach their families how to do the activity. This not only allows families to see what their children have been learning, but positions students as knowers.

Make families feel welcome from the moment they enter the school or join an online event. Consider the small ways you can make families feel welcome both for the event and throughout the year. Do you have a welcome sign in the front office? Is it in languages of the families who attend the school? Smile when families enter the school, classroom, or online space. Consider learning how to say welcome or hello in families' home languages. Ensure there is a family liaison or translator who can help translate across languages.

Consider a mix of schoolwide and classroom family engagement events. When school engagement events include both schoolwide and classroom events, families can feel more comfortable with the whole school, in addition to your classroom. Consider hosting larger events where families can meet multiple teachers across grade levels and see what learning is occurring. This also allows families to meet potential future teachers, and connect with a wider range of families. Also, it can allow families to have a better understanding of the wider school community. This can encourage PTA membership and other networks and resources for families. But don't forget meaningful, individual or small-group interactions that allow you to work more collaboratively with families.

Supplemental Resources

Instructions for making a settling jar, and send-home cards for exploring bubbles and play dough (in English and Spanish) are available at https://bit.ly/3bD4I1v.

Lori Zimmerman ( Zimmermanl@hasdk12.org) is a second-grade teacher at Arthur Street Elementary School in Hazleton, Pennsylvania. Michelle Brown ( mnb17@psu.edu) is a PhD candidate at Penn State University in State College, Pennsylvania.

References

Henderson, A.T., and K.L. Mapp. 2002. A new wave of evidence: The impact of school, family, and community connections on student achievement. Austin, TX: Southwest Educational Development Library.

Moll, L.C., C. Amanti, D. Neff, and N. Gonzalez. 1992. Funds of knowledge for teaching: Using a qualitative approach to connect homes and classrooms. Theory Into Practice 31 (2): 132-141. https://doi.org/10.1080/00405849209543534

National Research Council (NRC). 2001. Educating teachers of science, mathematics, and technology: New practices for the new millennium. Washington, DC: National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/9832

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Crossing Linguistic and Cultural Borders

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feature Three ways to engage emergent bilingual families through science It is a Wednesday morning in Ms. Zimmerman's second-grade virtual classroom. Our computer screens show the familiar grid of boisterous students taking out their science journals, plastic cups, and soap samples. We invite students' families to join this part of the lesson.

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Practice Brief 27 -- Topics:Equity Instruction Implementation ESPAÑOL Culture
Engaging English Learners in the Science and Engineering Practices

Teachers should know NGSS practices are heavily language-dependent-and teach accordingly to make experiences inclusive for multilingual students.

District staff and PD providers should learn about local approaches for supporting disciplinary language use with English Learners and help science teachers apply these.

School leaders should develop teachers' collective expertise to ensure approaches to developing language are coherent across subject matter instruction.

What is the Issue?

Authors:

KERRI WINGERT AND TIM PODKUL

Reflection Questions

Consider how science learning supports language development. Does language development also support science learning?

How can you remove the language barriers to accessing science in your setting? How can you support comprehension by connecting new content to the prior knowledge of students?

How can you build a community of learners that includes students with varied language skills?

Things to Consider

School science has a language all its own. Its vocabulary and sentence structure is complex-and aspects of argumentation and reasoning in science are different than in other disciplines. This can be troublesome for language learners if teachers do not make these differences apparent and explicit (e.g., compare and contrast argumentation in science and in other parts of students' lives).

Students often continue to think in their first languages for years after they begin to learn a second language. Help students build on their first language skills to gain deeper science understanding. For example, students can look up content online using their native language, or keep a bilingual vocabulary journal of new words.

Practice-linked instruction is a powerful motivator for engaging students. Students should be encouraged to investigate phenomena of interest whenever possible. After a large-group inquiry, the process can be reconstructed in written or verbal language-in developmentally appropriate ways and using scientific language.

The four language-intensive NGSS practices-Argumentation, Communication, Explanation, and Questioning-can be taught using language practices that are both receptive (listening and reading) and productive (speaking and writing). (See the list on the right.)

Language Practices in STEM Receptive Practices

Listening: Use a poster, slide, or picture to support student listening in science (e.g., the GLAD Pictorial Input Chart).

Reading: Preview science texts with students, discussing salient text features such as tables, graphs, and photographs before they read it. Provide summaries and include native language texts.

Productive Practices

Speaking: Provide sentence stems for all students to use, especially to support complex verbal practices like argumentation, explanation, and communication.

Writing: Engage ELs in authentic vocabulary exploration as they try to make their thoughts meaningful to others through writing. Provide dictionaries or Google Translate. Look beyond grammar and spelling to understand student ideas.

Attending to Equity

NGSS instruction is largely dependent on language, and it may inadvertently exclude English Learners from full participation if steps aren't taken. Multilingual students have important insights to contribute to learning, and scientific communities greatly benefit from the diversity of thought and experience these students bring.

Second language learners often have rich family and community practices and histories that can be leveraged to more deeply engage these students in STEM learning. Keep "big ideas" in science grounded in everyday examples that are accessible to all learners.

Recommended Actions You Can Take

ALSO SEE STEM TEACHING TOOLS

STEM Teaching Tools content copyright 2014-22 UW Institute for Science + Math Education. All rights reserved.
This site is primarily funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) through Award #1920249 (previously through Awards #1238253 and #1854059). Opinions expressed are not those of any funding agency.

Work is licensed under aCreative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 Unported License. Others may adapt with attribution. Funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). Opinions expressed are not those of any funding agency.

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Engaging English Learners in the Science and Engineering Practices : StemTeachingTools (en-US)

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Practice Brief 27 -- Topics:Equity Instruction Implementation ESPAÑOL Culture Teachers should know NGSS practices are heavily language-dependent-and teach accordingly to make experiences inclusive for multilingual students. District staff and PD providers should learn about local approaches for supporting disciplinary language use with English Learners and help science teachers apply these.

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Implementing Meaningful STEM Education with Indigenous Students & Families : StemTeachingTools (en-US)

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Practice Brief 15 -- Topics:Background Equity InformalEd Practices Culture ESPAÑOL
Overview: How can we promote equity in science education?

Teachers should work with colleagues to implement instructional strategies to make science learning experiences more inclusive for all students.

District staff and PD providers should integrate a focus on equity and social justice into every teacher learning experience in relevant ways-and not treat diversity as a segregated topic.

School leaders should promote a sustained focus on inclusive science instruction. Efforts should be made to resource and monitor equitable opportunities to learn science.

What is the Issue?

Equity should be prioritized as a central component in all educational improvement efforts. All students can and should learn complex science. However, achieving equity and social justice in science education is an ongoing challenge. Students from non-dominant communities often face "opportunity gaps" in their educational experience. Inclusive approaches to science instruction can reposition youth as meaningful participants in science learning and recognize their science-related assets and those of their communities.

Authors:

PHILIP BELL AND MEGAN BANG

Reflection Questions

What are your short- and longterm goals in promoting equity and social justice in science? What are possible next steps?

Think about the scientific phenomena you teach and the concepts you want students to understand. How do they relate to the interests and practices of your students' communities? How can you overlap instruction with the lives of students?

Relate the teaching principles listed under "Attending to Equity" to your own practice.

Do you involve those you serve (youth, families, communities) in your teaching decisions?

Things to Consider

"Equity in science education requires that all students are provided with equitable opportunities to learn science and become engaged in science and engineering practices; with access to quality space, equipment, and teachers to support and motivate that learning and engagement; and adequate time spent on science. In addition, the issue of connecting to students' interests and experiences is particularly important for broadening participation in science."

- NRC Framework, p. 28

Attending to Equity

(: Bang, Brown, Calabrese Barton, Rosebery & Warren, Toward more equitable learning in science, In Helping students make sense of the world using next generation science and engineering practices, NSTA.)

Notice sensemaking repertoires. Consider students' diverse sensemaking as connecting to science practices.

Support sensemaking. Support students to use their sensemaking repertoires and experiences as critical tools in engaging with science practices.

Engage diverse sense-making. Students' scientific practices and knowledge are always developing and their community histories, values, and practices contribute to scientific understanding and problem solving.

Recommended Actions You Can Take

ALSO SEE STEM TEACHING TOOLS

STEM Teaching Tools content copyright 2014-22 UW Institute for Science + Math Education. All rights reserved.
This site is primarily funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) through Award #1920249 (previously through Awards #1238253 and #1854059). Opinions expressed are not those of any funding agency.

Work is licensed under aCreative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 Unported License. Others may adapt with attribution. Funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). Opinions expressed are not those of any funding agency.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Overview: How can we promote equity in science education? : StemTeachingTools (en-US)

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Practice Brief 15 -- Topics:Background Equity InformalEd Practices Culture ESPAÑOL Teachers should work with colleagues to implement instructional strategies to make science learning experiences more inclusive for all students. District staff and PD providers should integrate a focus on equity and social justice into every teacher learning experience in relevant ways-and not treat diversity as a segregated topic.

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The attached links address the culture of science in the classroom and bringing equity to the way all students experience science.

I think that upsetting power and privilege in science education means changing the traditional biases in the definition of what science looks like. Students need to understand that scientific thinking is used all the time to address the issues and problems that impact their lives. It is not just the big world changing problems, but the issues that impact the local community and individual families. Science happens on a daily basis and the way students view science can vary from family to family. Promoting cultural equity in science education means bringing the students views on what science is into the classroom. At most basic level, we need to broaden the traditional definition of what science is, what it looks like in our everyday lives and what it can be.

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Supporting Equity in the Science Classroom

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The following links are resources that I found interesting while looking into building a science classroom community:

Equitable Learning Communities

Building Classroom Communities with NGS S

Sense making in Science

Mathematics & Science Classrooms: Building a Community of Learners

Focusing on Science in the Transition Back to the Classroom

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The COVID-19 pandemic poses unique challenges for educators. From ensuring students are safe in classroom settings to adjusting content delivery methods and finding ways for learners to effectively participate - even when they're socially distant - 2020 is breaking new operational ground in schools across the country.

Despite best efforts by teachers and administrators, frustrations remain around field trips. Given the increased need for space and health security, most schools have taken field trips off the table. This is especially difficult for science educators who often leverage the hands-on nature of in-person activities to spark student interest and create new mental connections.

Technology offers an alternative, providing classes the opportunity to glean substantial value from virtual science experiences. Not sure where to start? Here's a look at 10 educational websites to help teachers deliver on the potential of socially distant science.

Project Noah

Bird is the word! Also bugs, mammals, plants, fish and reptiles. While it may not be possible to take K-12 classrooms out exploring as in years past, Project Noah offers the opportunity for kids to learn about the vast array of species that populate our world. A combination of citizen wildlife photography paired with critical creature data, Project Noah makes it possible for students to discover the world around them without ever leaving the classroom
New for 2020: Nature School from Project Noah that includes video lessons, interactive activities and related classwork.
Take a tour of the country's leading nuclear research facility at the Idaho National Laboratory. Kids get the chance to step inside a nuclear reactor, explore potential STEM careers, and discover how radiation and radioactive isotopes are used to make our world a better place.

UPM Forest Life takes students across international borders to forests of Finland. The site features an interactive map that includes details about forest-dwelling species, information about the current efforts of forestry workers, and how these forests are used responsibly in Finland for recreation. Students and teachers can explore the map at their own pace or discover specific learning opportunities throughout the virtual landscape.

The Red Planet has once again captured human interest as NASA looks to the not-so-distant future of a manned mission to Mars. Students can discover how current technologies are helping prepare for the journey, what travel technologies are in development to enable the trip, and where innovation is needed to help the mission crews survive in the Martian environment.

Science happens everywhere - and that includes the NASCAR racetracks. Spark! Online Education features STEAM-driven activities to help students see the real-world applications of science on the speedway. Students can learn about subjects ranging from creating aerodynamic car models, to discovering how energy types impact race outcomes, and understanding the role of sound in NASCAR racing. Start your engines - it's science time!

The Internet of Things is everywhere, but how exactly does it work? More importantly, how can it be used to improve life on Earth? This virtual field trip explores how IoT technology can be used to manage two critical resources - energy and water - and create safe, sustainable communities. Plus, teachers can download the companion Educator Guide to build their own lessons around IoT.

How well do you really know the solar system? Most of us can name the eight planets (poor Pluto!) and have a reasonably solid grasp on the structure of our solar neighborhood. The Solar System Scope takes things a step farther with an interactive map of our local cosmic community. Kids can use the map to see where each planet is located relative to the sun, click on it for more information about its surface and internal structure, and see how these planets appear in our night sky.

Here fishy, fishy, fishy! The National Aquarium's virtual tour lets students explore this fantastic aquatic resource from the comfort of their own classrooms. Here students discover more about the diverse sea life that makes our world so unique.

Who wants to go on a mission? That's the mandate of e-Mission virtual experiences from Wheeling Jesuit University. Classes can apply for interactive undertakings such as responding to the real-life explosion of the Montserrat volcano. Using climate and seismic data, kids and teachers will prepare for their mission over the course of three weeks, then put their skills to the test by attempting to save the residents of Montserrat from this fiery monster.

Offered by the Nature Conservatory, the Nature Lab offers a four-week virtual program designed to help students better understand how nature works and how humans can help our planet prosper. Week One focuses on Food and Water Sustainability, Week 2 on Climate Change, Week 3 on Building Healthy Cities, and Week 4 on Protecting Land and Water.

While COVID-19 means classrooms are anything but normal, virtual field trips and digital science experiences can help kids discover the wonder of our world - even at a distance.

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Virtual Science Field Trips for Students | Resilient Educator

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The COVID-19 pandemic poses unique challenges for educators. From ensuring students are safe in classroom settings to adjusting content delivery methods and finding ways for learners to effectively participate - even when they're socially distant - 2020 is breaking new operational ground in schools across the country.

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College for Youth Program Offers New Classes in Science, Computers, Music, Acting and more
Registration now open; over 200 summer classes available
WHAT: Registration for the summer 2019 College for Youth program is now open at Cerritos College. Classes begin June 17 and continue through August 9. This summer, the College will offer more fun, new science classes, including: Marvel vs. DC with Legos, Dinosaurs: Monsters from the Past, Minecraft-Utilizing Math to Create!, Rocket Science & Astronomy, Digital Designs, Kids Acting Workshop, American Sign Language, and Violin. The College for Youth program offers affordable classes for kids grades 1st through 12th in reading and writing, math, science computers, college prep, career exploration, enrichment, music, art, athletics, and swimming.

Educational classes offered through this program will get children excited about learning and familiar with a college campus. There are four, two-week sessions that run through the summer, Monday - Friday, and all classes are age appropriate. Classes begin at 8 a.m., 10 a.m., 1 p.m. or 3 p.m. Students can attend one or two classes, or stay all day and enjoy four different classes each session. A free, supervised lunch break is offered, and extended child care is available.
View class schedule
For more information about classes, or to register, go to www.cerritoscommunityed.com or call (562) 467-5050.

Popular classes fill up quickly; enroll now to ensure your spot.

WHEN: June 17 - August 9, 2019

WHERE: Cerritos College Community Education
11110 Alondra Blvd.
Norwalk, CA 90650

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College for Youth Program Offers New Classes in Science, Computers, Music, Acting and more

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Registration now open; over 200 summer classes available WHAT: Registration for the summer 2019 College for Youth program is now open at Cerritos College. Classes begin June 17 and continue through August 9. This summer, the College will offer more fun, new science classes, including: Marvel vs.

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Norwalk Library started out in July, 1913 as the 17th branch of the Los Angeles County Free Library through the efforts of a committee of the Commercial Club. The collection of 500 books was housed in a second floor room of the Stiffler Building at 537 E. Front Street.

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For more information on available programming and specific safety modifications, please follow us on social media:

Instagram @recnorwalk

Facebook @Norwalk Arts and Sports Complex
Twitter @RecNorwalk
Description of Activities

The Recreation and Park Services Department provides the residents of Norwalk an opportunity to Create, Play, and Educate themselves through a variety of programs, activities, and events. Service programs include community services, youth and adult services, center and park activities, and citywide special events. Community services include extensive special interest classes and workshops, recreation for the physically challenged, and a vast array of community information and resource assistance. The youth and adult services are provided through excursions, sports and aquatics programs, athletic leagues, day camps, holiday events, and a variety of special activities.

SCHEDULE OF ACTIVITIES

GENERAL INFORMATION:

Recreation and Park Services Department
13000 Clarkdale Ave.
Norwalk, CA 90650
(562) 929-5702
(562) 929-5757 Fax
E-MAIL - recreation@norwalkca.gov

RECREATION ADMINISTRATION OFFICE HOURS OF OPERATION:

8:00 a.m.-6:00 p.m. Monday - Thursday
8:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. on alternating Fridays

NORWALK ARTS & SPORTS COMPLEX:

13000 Clarkdale Avenue
Norwalk, CA 90650
(562) 929-5566
(562) 651-1075 Fax
For information regarding Facility Rentals, click here

NORWALK ARTS & SPORTS COMPLEX HOURS OF OPERATION:

8:00 a.m.-7:00 p.m. Monday - Friday
9:00 a.m.-6:00 p.m. Saturday

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For more information on available programming and specific safety modifications, please follow us on social media: Instagram @recnorwalk Facebook @Norwalk Arts and Sports Complex Twitter @RecNorwalk The Recreation and Park Services Department provides the residents of Norwalk an opportunity to Create, Play, and Educate themselves through a variety of programs, activities, and events.

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thoughts

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Looking for a bit of nature in the middle of the city? Nestled between the San Gabriel River and the 605 Freeway, El Dorado Nature Center is an oasis of natural habitat, offering visitors the chance to escape the hustle and bustle of the urban environment. The 105 acres that make up the…

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Map of Norwalk, California area
These related posts link to organizations, city activities and programs that could be used for exploring science topics in our neighborhood.

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Why we need to teach scientific thought, not just scientific facts

Adapted from Pixabay

I started my time in the teaching profession as a science teacher. Every day, I focused on trying to help my students remember facts: that a nucleus has DNA inside it, that each element has only one kind of atom, and that a force is a push or a pull on...

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I Was a Successful Science Teacher, But I Failed My Students

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Why we need to teach scientific thought, not just scientific facts I started my time in the teaching profession as a science teacher. Every day, I focused on trying to help my students remember facts: that a nucleus has DNA inside it, that each element has only one kind of atom, and that a force is a push or a pull on...

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This was another article that I found was a good reference for setting up expected behaviors in the classroom for primary students.

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Realistic classroom management strategies for first grade are paramount to each student's ability to learn and become socialized in elementary school classrooms. No teacher wants to be the one who stands at the front of the classroom barking out orders to a class of rambunctious six- and seven-year-olds. Yet, without an organized plan for classroom management, this is exactly what happens in the first grade classroom.

Despite the limited attention span of most children at this age, this grade level is of particular importance in establishing the educational, behavioral, social and group work foundational skills required at all subsequent levels of schooling. A solid collection of first grade classroom management ideas can help prevent this problem for teachers, helping them and their young students enjoy their time together.

A brief history of classroom management strategies

At one time in American educational history, this article would have been unnecessary. Learning was performed by rote memorization with additional work expected to be completed at home. Instruction in expected courtesies, classroom deportment, group work skills and anticipated behavior was usually provided during the first day of class. Subsequent infractions were swiftly dealt with in the classroom through punishments designed to make the offender the center of embarrassment. More serious or continued breaches in the teacher's code of conduct were dealt with in the principal's office where corporal punishment was often utilized to help eliminate the misbehavior.

How to: 5 effective first grade classroom management strategies

Modern management strategies for first grade generally focus on four areas: maintaining limited attention spans, teaching expected classroom behavior, introducing task-focused group work and types of "discipline" enforced for behavior infractions. A number of techniques addressing each of these areas follows.

1. Maintaining limited attention spans

Children at this age naturally have somewhat limited attention spans. A steady diet of television and games that provide near-constant stimulation have also led them to anticipate the same rate and degree of change during classroom lessons. The development of educational computer software that mimics "gaming" has helped students study particular subjects they may halfheartedly attempted on paper, but does nothing to help maintain group attention spans where one child's boredom can quickly spread to others. A master's degree in teaching offers a number of ways to maintain classroom management:

Keep your attitude fresh and interested in the lesson.

Promote and maintain excitement regarding anticipated lessons by "Coming Soon!" posters or other visuals of future lessons.

Especially for children at this age, use visual props to catch and maintain their attention. For instance, a story about the Wild West can be introduced while wearing a cowboy hat.

Vary the type of material used during the lesson to maintain the students' attentions and meet the needs of children with different learning styles.

Use different colored chalk or markers when writing words for students.

Don't ask a question and wait for the outgoing children to raise their hands. Instead, ask the question and identify a student at random to provide the answer. This method helps children maintain their focus and be more attentive.

Ensure that all eyes are on you during the lesson. If one or more children are looking away, stop your lesson and silently wait for their attentions to return to you.

Ask your classroom to collectively recount the series or steps in directions you may have provided for a lesson. Write each task out when they properly identify the order.

As research has indicated that longer periods of written-work assignment time can lead to discipline issues, so schedule these types of lessons to 20 minutes or less.

2. Using attention-getting signals

Sometimes, first-graders get out of hand, and they don't even realize it is happening. Attention-getting signals can be verbal cues, body cues and even sounds, like a bell, to get the children's attention when needed.

These signals make the children stop what they are doing and think long enough to realize what they need to do or change. For example, a teacher may sing a little song that indicates it is time to put materials away and line up at the door. That simple action is far more effective than barking out an order. Teachers can use attention getting signals most effectively by changing them routinely so students do not get bored with them.

3. Teaching expected classroom behavior

Teaching children of different social, cultural, economic and religious backgrounds the somewhat standardized expectations of classroom behavior is the most difficult of all the lessons taught in first grade. There is often no time set aside for formal lessons on classroom courtesies, so this information has to be imparted during lessons on other academic subjects. Your failure to teach one child this lesson doesn't stop at that single student. Instead, you will be forced to deal with the consequences of his or her misbehavior for the entire school year, including interrupted lessons, frustrated students and an overall decrease in the quality of your teaching and your class's learning.

4. Visually displaying students' positive and negative behaviors

Children in first grade need a visual, even tactile way to show how they are behaving. One classroom management technique that works quite well is a color-coded chart with clothespins. Each child has a clothespin clipped to the chart. All children start the day on green, which means a good day. If the teacher sees a student do something particularly good, that student can move the clip up to blue, which means excellent.

If the student is caught doing something against a posted classroom rule, they move the clip down to yellow, which is a warning. Further infractions move down to orange, which brings a small consequence, then red, which causes a note sent home. Finally, if the student continues to break the classroom rules, they move to black, which involves a conference with the principal. Because the students always have the ability to move back up on the chart, they remain motivated to behave well, even if they have to move down at some point.

This is just one example of a tactile and visual behavior monitoring system to use in the classroom. To make them effective, these systems need to be connected to clearly stated and posted classroom rules. This prevents the teacher from handing out consequences on a whim and ensures the students know what is expected.

5. Maximizing proximity control

The teacher's body is a powerful tool in the classroom, especially in first grade when many students still have a strong desire to please their teacher. Proximity control can be highly effective, when used carefully. This should be part of an effective classroom management strategy.

When a teacher notices a child or group of students starting to get wiggly or talking out of turn, simply walking to the area where that student or group is working can stop the unwanted behavior. If the teacher's presence does not stop the behavior, a hand on the child's desk or back can get the student's attention and stop the actions. No negative consequence is required with proper use of proximity control.

Look on the Web for other resources

The Teaching Channel or Tch is a website designed to provide quick but effective lessons to teachers on how to improve aspects of their instruction. Although there are longer videos for the subjects that require the time, most videos are two minutes in length. At the time of this article, they offered 26 videos on "classroom culture" for grades K-5. This resource helps provide you with ideas on dealing with the other two major tasks of first grade: that of task-focused group work and how "discipline" is enforced. Many successful and experienced teachers have also established Pinterest sites specifically on the subject of first grade classroom management.

Effective classroom management makes the first grade classroom run smoothly, and these classroom management ideas for first graders help teachers maintain a positive, supportive environment in his or her classroom. This helps all students grow to their full potential in this vital year of school.

Learn More: Click to view related resources.

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Tags: Early Childhood and Elementary (Grades: PreK-5)

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First Grade Classroom Management Strategies: Effective Examples | Resilient Educator

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Realistic classroom management strategies for first grade are paramount to each student's ability to learn and become socialized in elementary school classrooms. No teacher wants to be the one who stands at the front of the classroom barking out orders to a class of rambunctious six- and seven-year-olds.

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This article is a good resource that looks at classroom management strategies that allow the teacher to use the rules/expectations effectively.

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There are few careers as challenging and rewarding as teaching, and as with any profession, there are tools of the trade that must be honed so teachers can perform effective classroom management. Classroom management is a necessary skill. Without it, a teacher will have difficulty conveying what needs to be covered.

Set guidelines and stick to them

Every teacher has rules for their class, but teachers who stick to the rules they set are the most effective in managing their classrooms. The key to making class rules is ensuring teachers are not setting students up for failure by creating rules that are too rigid or impossible to abide by consistently.

For example, if a teacher has a "show up for class late, and you'll receive a tardy" rule, a teacher will want to ensure students have enough time to get from their last class to the next class in a timely manner. If there are students who do have to trek across campus to get to class, a teacher will need to either relax the rule for those students or give them a specific time in which they need to arrive to avoid getting the tardy.

Another key to setting classroom guidelines is making rules that a teacher is willing to enforce. Students need to see the end result of what happens when the rules are either followed or not followed, and this needs to be consistent.

Once students figure out that a teacher won't enforce a set rule, they will constantly push the boundaries and hinder a teacher's ability to manage the classroom. So, whatever guidelines are set, make sure they can be lived with and enforced.

Engage a class in as many ways as possible

It used to be that a teacher stood in front of a class and talked, and students dutifully sat in their seats, listened and took notes. Although this method is still used to some extent, its use as a primary teaching method has gone the way of the overhead projector and film strip.

An effective classroom manager engages all students. It's more difficult for students to act out or be disruptive if they are busy planning their next project or creating questions to ask other students when they give presentations. The more involved students are in the learning process, the more they will learn and the easier it will be to manage them.

Get parents involved from the start

Parents who are involved in their children's education can help you enforce your rules. However, not every parent is going to show up a parent-teacher conference night ready and willing to help. This is why it is important for you to reach out to the parents of all your students on a regular basis.

Also, if you approach a parent of a student for whom you have concerns, the parent will be more willing to work with you to find a solution to the concern before it becomes a problem. A good teacher-parent relationship can also alert a teacher to any problems at home that might carry over into the classroom.

Managing a classroom is always a challenge, but laying a good foundation of objectives and goals, and applying tools to forward the objective and sticking to the plan will ensure the classroom environment is conducive to both teaching and learning.

Tags: Engaging Activities, Teacher-Parent Relationships

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Examples of Effective Classroom Management | Resilient Educator

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There are few careers as challenging and rewarding as teaching, and as with any profession, there are tools of the trade that must be honed so teachers can perform effective classroom management. Classroom management is a necessary skill. Without it, a teacher will have difficulty conveying what needs to be covered.

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Characteristics of Highly Able Science Students

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Characteristics of Highly Able Science Students

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Check e-mail ePayStub español | 中文 | français | tiếng Việt | 한국어 | አማርኛ

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5 Traits of Highly Successful Science Students - MEK Review

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Read on to learn what traits successful science students have!

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5 Traits of Highly Successful Science Students

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Excellence in science has always been a hallmark of the United States, resulting in inventions from the cotton gin to GPS technology. But with the rest of the world working hard to overtake us, the need for science education has never been more urgent. President Obama highlighted this sentiment during a radio address: "Today, more than ever before, science holds the key to our survival as a planet and our security and prosperity as a nation."

So how can your student do his best in science? Maria Caryotakis has taught high school science for twenty years, from introductory courses to Honors Chemistry and Physics. The following is a list of strategies that she recommends for students who want to do well in her class:

Participate 100% in Class

Students think they can save time by using one class's lecture time to prepare for a different class. For example, many students tune out during a science lesson so they can study the vocabulary for next period's English quiz. But there's never a better time to learn something than when a teacher is presents it; it takes twice as long to learn it at home on your own. When you're following a lecture, it's easy to stop and ask a question before you get lost. Plus, you'll make a better impression on the teacher if she calls on you.

Accept That There Isn't Always a Right Answer

Schools today teach that there's always a right answer, one correct bubble to fill in on the scantron sheet. But in science, we don't yet have all the answers. Sometimes the best we can do is to develop theories, so it's important to be comfortable with complicated answers. During a lab, don't be overly focused on getting the "expected" results; in science, any experiment that yields data is a viable experiment. In fact, some of the greatest discoveries of our time were born from "mistakes."

Speak Up in Your Group

Much of science is done in the company of others, from lab work to group projects. It's important to be heard within the group. If there's a problem, staying quiet is the worst thing you can do. Make sure you understand what others are saying by rephrasing what you've heard. Don't ignore problems with group dynamics: the group works too quickly, someone takes over as the de-facto leader, or a member doesn't help at all. Try working it out, but if it doesn't help, go to the teacher to voice your concerns. A good teacher will intervene in the group to improve the dynamics, or if that can't work, should move you to a more compatible group.

Take Good Notes

Science books cover vast amounts of information, and it can be hard to know where to focus. But each teacher has a specific subset of information that he feels is most important. The notes you take in class indicate what the teacher wants to emphasize, and what you should expect to see covered on tests and quizzes.

Investigate Multiple Sources

After a lecture that's interesting (or confusing), it's enlightening to seek out further information at home. The Internet is an incredible source of cutting-edge information and images. You can easily supplement your understanding with a couple of Yahoo searches.

Collect Visual Aids

A lot of science involves memorization, and it's helpful to see visual prompts at home. From shower curtains with the periodic table of the elements to placemats that show the solar system, placing study aids around the house can be a huge help. You can also customize your studying by making a poster that highlights the facts you'll need for your next test.

Figure Out "Why"

The human brain can only memorize so much. To facilitate understanding, it's important to see how things fit together and to think of concrete examples. For instance, picturing the firing of a cannon can help us remember Newton's Third Law (Whenever one object exerts a force on a second object, the second object exerts an equal and opposite force on the first.) A cannon is bigger than a cannonball, so the firing pushes the ball far away. But the ball exerts its own force on the cannon, making the cannon recoil a few inches.

Hone Your Math Skills

Science class depends on a solid understanding of how to do word problems: when to add or subtract, multiply or divide. Most students are able to collect numbers from their experiments, but have a harder time knowing what to do with those numbers. You should never try to waive the prerequisite math class for any given science course. Specifically, advanced science classes rely heavily on a solid understanding of algebra.

Be Familiar with the Metric System

Science uses metric measurements, which can be confusing for American students. Families can help by talking about metric units together. When you're driving, convert from miles per hour to kilometers per hour (it's in the dashboard.) Talk about centimeters and millimeters in addition to inches, and how much you'd all weigh in kilograms instead of pounds. When you go to the market, compare the size of liter bottles with gallons.

Have the Right Tools

Science relies on having good equipment. Buy whatever supplies the teacher requires. If there's no list, a basic science supply list should include: colored pencils, a non-programmable calculator, metric ruler, and a small pair of scissors.

Understanding science is critical in our technology-driven world. By following these tips, your student can maximize his chances of not only getting a good grade, but of understanding the concepts that will give him a better understanding of the natural world.

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Excellence in science has always been a hallmark of the United States, resulting in inventions from the cotton gin to GPS technology. But with the rest of the world working hard to overtake us, the need for science education has never been more urgent.

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I know what being a good science student is not. It's not memorizing a whole textbook worth of science facts or being the quickest student to complete and fill in the blank worksheet. After all our class discussions, readings and some research of my own I have settled on a couple of key characteristics that I think make a good science student:

1. Be curious/inquisitive - students that are curious and interested will ask questions, think of issues and problems related to the topic that they want to find answers to.

2. Making connections/background knowledge - students that can make connections between their background knowledge and the topic will have a deeper understanding of the topic. Students that use their background knowledge may have a unique view of the topic that allows them to offer different insight to the topic/issue.

3. Collaboration - science activities can be a very collaborative. Students need to be able to work with each other effectively to plan out roles, responsibilities, and come to an agreement on topics, methods, research, results, conclusion, etc.

4. The big picture - when engaging in scientific inquiries, projects and activities students need to keep in mind their initial question, problem or issue. Figure out the question you are answering and stick to it.

5. Thinking critically - Students need to think critically about what methods, skills, resources and tools can be used most effectively to complete their current task or solve a specific problem.

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Classroom Management vs. Learning Community

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Classroom Management vs. Learning Community

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This article was a good starting point in reflecting on the type of classroom atmosphere I wanted to create and the type of interactions I would be expecting between myself and my students and their interactions with their peers. This would influence the type of rules and expectations I would be creating for the class.

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What is the best way to boost student engagement in the classroom? While some studies have shown that a classroom with more student engagement can be more productive, it doesn't eliminate the need for teachers to spend time with individual students who need extra help. In short, teachers need to find ways to engage all their students.

Most teachers already know that they must direct and guide the classroom with a positive learning environment. But the methods that they should use are not always clearly defined.

Classroom management vs. learning communities

Learning often falls into two broad categories: instruction and classroom management. The term "classroom management" refers to the structure and control of the classroom. It is rooted in an industrial model of education consisting of rigid schedules with classroom bells and large class sizes. Some school leaders and advocates now wonder if this is the best approach. In recent years the "classroom management" term has been dropped in some educational circles in favor of a term that's thought to suggest a more positive relationship with students-a learning community.

What are some of the differences between a learning community and classroom management?

Classroom management: Are rules mandated or negotiated?

Power: Should power be unquestioned or given with respect?

Effectiveness: Is an effective classroom passive and quiet or lively and with student engagement?

Classroom control: Should the teacher provide feedback when it is punitive in nature or positive reinforcement?

Teacher's role: Should the teacher demand absolute attention or be a source of encouragement?

A brief look at the differences between classroom management and learning communities can make things more clear. Could it be a matter of nurturing relationships over institutionalization and indoctrination of our students? Teachers must create a learning climate that exhibits respect to the student with high-quality personal relationships with both adults and peers.

Creating a learning environment

While it's important to study and continue education in regards to student engagement, students should lead the way in the strategies teachers use. Students often share what they like about learning, but teachers, administration, and college professors don't always hear it.

The growth of our students requires their ability to interact with others in the classroom. Talking should be encouraged. But for some students, one-on-one personal interactions are not easy because they have been heavily influenced by personal technology. Teachers should acknowledge those students' interests in technology and encourage them to share it by interacting with other students.

Also, students often wonder how school lessons are relevant to real life. If a teacher can apply the lesson to a function outside of the classroom such as a career, student engagement increases.

The classroom environment should also be comfortable on a physical level. Adjust the room temperature so students can concentrate. Lighting should not be intrusive. Make the classroom inviting. As student comfort increases, so does learning.

As the need to increase student engagement is addressed, teachers are challenged to define what student engagement means to their students. Today, no clear set standards or rules are provided on this subject, but teachers and students intuitively know what it feels like to be in a classroom that connects. Listen to your students and follow your instincts and you will create an engaging learning environment where students can thrive.

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Tags: Engaging Activities, Leadership and Administration

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Classroom Atmosphere for Better Student Engagement | Resilient Educator

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What is the best way to boost student engagement in the classroom? While some studies have shown that a classroom with more student engagement can be more productive, it doesn't eliminate the need for teachers to spend time with individual students who need extra help.

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I thought this was a good resource for creating classroom rules. They made a good point about stating the rules or expectations in positive terms.

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Without proper guidance, children will inadvertently self-sabotage their future. Developing the principles that lead to success doesn't often come independently. That's why it's critical to put rules in place at home and school to empower children to succeed.

In the classroom, rules help control student behavior and set the tone for effective learning.

Plus, they guide children's actions and promote consistency making the learning environment predictable. This gives children the safety they need to get ahead in their physical, emotional, and social development.

However, when the rules negatively focus on what not to do and emphasize punishment, they do the opposite of providing a safe space for children to learn and grow. This usually leads to student behavior taking a turn for the worse.

That's why creating positive classroom rules carries the day when it comes to controlling behaviors, managing expectations, and fostering mutual respect between the teacher and students.

Let's explore some positive classroom rules to position your students for success in 2023.

What Are Positive Classroom Rules?

Positive classroom rules are principles that govern children's behavior through positive means. The rules are often agreed upon by the teacher and learners.

Positive rules differ from traditional rules in that they're not based on what children shouldn't do, but rather on the actions they should take to produce positive outcomes.

Moreover, unlike traditional rules, they don't encourage punishment, which often sets children up for failure.

For example, instead of, "Stop talking out of turn or you'll be punished," positive rules say, "Raise your hand and ask your turn to speak so we can all listen to each other's views."

In most cases, positive classroom rules don't just apply to the students; they govern the educators as well. By doing so, the teacher becomes the role model for the learners.

Keys for Setting Positive Classroom Rules

When it comes to setting rules there's no one-size-fits-all approach. Each classroom needs a unique set of rules depending on the learners in your class and the school environment.

However, here are some basic guidelines you need to follow when setting your class rules:

They should be clear and easy to understand

Keep them brief and easy to remember

Set a positive tone and ensure the rules aren't stifling

They should be broad enough to cover as many misbehaviors as possible

Have a clear plan for what happens when someone breaks the rules

With these guidelines in mind, you can create a set of rules that suits your specific situation.

It's extremely important to include the students in establishing these classroom rules. If the students don't accept the rules, they won't be bothered to follow them, which will undermine any desired positive results.

Here are a few of the main overarching rules you can implement in your classroom.

Rule 1: Maintain Your Work Ethic and Always Try Your Best

Building a strong work ethic in your students right from the beginning can help them increase their focus.

This rule is about developing a positive work ethic in everything from how students participate in class to how they approach their assignments.

Specifically, this rule encompasses:

Completing all work

Keeping a positive attitude even when the work is hard

Being organized

Working on good behavior

Participating in all class activities

Not cheating on homework and tests

How you frame this rule will depend on your learners. For example, in a first-grade class, you might say, "We always do our best."

For middle school children, you might frame the rule to read, "We complete all our work on time and always do the very best we can."

Rule 2: Listen and Follow Instructions

This rule emphasizes the importance of respecting authority and always being responsive to instructions quickly.

It'll govern how learners stick to established routines and follow the teachers' expectations.

The rule on listening covers a range of behaviors that have to do with:

Safety protocols

Classwork

Schedules

Assignments

Interactions with the teacher

Rule 3: Respect the Teacher and Other Students

Respect is an essential ingredient in all communications. Establishing respect towards other people sets the tone for how students interact with the teacher and other learners.

Specifically, the rule entails:

Listening to teachers and all other staff

Listening to the views and opinions of other learners

Being kind and using positive words

Using a respectful tone

Being courteous

Not damaging class materials

Respecting other people's personal space

Rule 4: Safety First: Keep Hands, Feet, and Objects to Yourself

Instead of making rules that focus on what not to do, like "don't hit others" and "don't fight," this rule focuses on what students can do to make sure everyone is safe.

This broad rule prevents a lot of the issues that arise in the classroom like:

It promotes a safe classroom environment where everyone can learn and work together in peace.

Using Positive Classroom Rules for Student Success

Positive rules allow for a positive classroom environment. Students learn to respect the teacher and each other. The classroom becomes a safe place where all students can learn and try their best, leading to more successful educational outcomes.

Most importantly, positive rules set the platform for the holistic transformation of students. They develop a positive outlook towards life and challenges, setting them up to be well-adjusted individuals.

Imagine if positive rules didn't belong only in the classroom?

If the whole school implemented a program that focused on positive discipline and a positive curriculum, the result would be a phenomenal improvement in discipline and grades.
With Positive Action, the dream of a positive and successful learning environment is a reality. "This is what school should be for all children everywhere: a place where people want to be; a place where they are safe to learn and grow."
This is what Dorothy Solomon (former Artist in Residence for the Arts in Education program in Utah) had to say when she came across schools that had implemented the Positive Action curriculum.

It's more than just a theory; the Positive Action curriculum has brought transformation to schools for many years. With Positive Action, the school becomes a launchpad of dreams.

Children grow a new found love for learning, teachers are happy-not overwhelmed, and the administrators can do their job and not spend hours handling disciplinary issues.

"Over a 12-year period, as I conducted writing residencies throughout the region, I learned to recognize Positive Action schools when I walked through the door. At a Positive Action school, I could count on receiving respect and attention from students, teachers and administrators; I knew that the students would do their best in their writing and their behavior. Our results were always amazing, our performance programs inspiring. So many students produced stellar work that I began to track the difference between "ordinary" schools and Positive Action schools." Dorothy Solomon.

Positive Action's curriculum is not all talk. It's been tried and tested and has been proven to improve behavioral challenges and academic success.

The numbers don't lie. Statistics show the transformative power of the Positive Action curriculum in several outcomes ranging from absenteeism to mental health and drug use.

By implementing Positive Action in your school, you foster a positive sense of self-concept in your students that'll be a stepping stone for their success in every sphere of life.

Schedule a webinar today to learn more about the Positive Action curriculum and discuss how best to implement the program in your school.

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4 Positive Classroom Rules to Achieve Student Success in 2023

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Without proper guidance, children will inadvertently self-sabotage their future. Developing the principles that lead to success doesn't often come independently. That's why it's critical to put rules in place at home and school to empower children to succeed.

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The 5 expectations/rules I have created here are what I envision that my class will have. It may be slightly different, as I would like my students to co-construct the classroom community expectations. They may find slightly different expectations that fit them better, but these are the basics that I think would work well for any class.

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This was a great resource in considering the students' involvement in creating the classroom community and deciding on values and rules that they could agree would benefit their learning and the classroom.

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When making classroom policies, rules, or guidelines, it's essential to be able to answer the question: what's the bottom line? When we go beyond our content, curriculum, or instructional methods: what is truly important about this space and this community as a place of learning?

The bottom line can be framed in a few different ways:

Classroom mission statement. With your students, examine the mission statements of popular companies, nonprofits, and even your school. Invite small groups to propose a mission statement and then combine or take a vote.

Shared values. In my classroom, we used a values cloud worksheet (PDF) to consider which qualities we each valued in school and then shared with one another so we could find some common ground. Some examples: cooperation, trust, honesty, leadership. We took a "fist of five" tally to see how strongly each person felt about each value (holding up one finger meant not very strongly, all five meant "this is so important!").

The values cloud worksheet can be used in other ways: students can circle the characteristics they value, cross out the ones they don't, and highlight/star/underline for varying degrees of importance. The worksheet can also help with conflict resolution. Two students independently mark up what they value and then a facilitator helps them to trade sheets and recognize the places where they actually agree on the "big stuff," which helps guide resolution about the small things.

Just the essentials. In the absence of a more collaborative process, you can identify for yourself as the teacher/facilitator what the true essentials of your classroom are for you. For me, my two essentials are safety and respect. We can always add to these or elaborate upon them, but I know at the end of the day I will feel good if I've fostered those two things.

Once you've identified your bottom line, now it's time to communicate it. Invite students to craft signage or art for your classroom that proclaim these values visibly in your space.

Classroom management is complicated when you reactively create rules and consequences based on particular behavior that comes up. Which consequence did I set for which behavior, and why, and what happens if a behavior falls outside my specific rule? When, instead, we take the time to identify the bottom line, our decision-making streamlines. Instead of blanket "no cell phones," "no gum," or "no side conversations" rules, I create a "yes respect" and "yes safety" environment. When students clearly know and agree that safety and respect are the bottom line, any behavior can be contextualized against what's important, rather than a seemingly arbitrary set of rules.

For example, if a student is on her cell phone playing a game while another student is giving a presentation, we can decide as a class that this doesn't constitute respect and develop a plan for what we think would better show our respect to the presenter. However, another student might let the class know at the beginning of the period that she will be texting her mom about halfway through class to check on how her dog's vet procedure went, and we might all agree that this type of cell phone use, paired with the student's proactivity, does indeed constitute respect to our class.

When we involve students in identifying what's important, communicate these values clearly, and invite students into the process of upholding these values, we democratize what can otherwise turn into a power struggle. We make students carriers of a positive culture. We teach them how to be in community.

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Identify the Essential in Classroom Management

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When making classroom policies, rules, or guidelines, it's essential to be able to answer the question: what's the bottom line? When we go beyond our content, curriculum, or instructional methods: what is truly important about this space and this community as a place of learning?

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The Science of Classroom Design Infograph

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Ideas on classroom layout and designing an effective classroom for focusing student attention

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The Science of Classroom Design Infographic - e-Learning Infographics

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The Science of Classroom Design Infographic helps teachers, parents and school administrators understand the power of brain-friendly learning environments.

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Giving student choice in seating. Supporting different kinds of learning in different working areas around the classroom.

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K-8 educators from across the country give you a peek at their classrooms-and explain how they managed the transformations.

Courtesy of Ashley Rice Broomfield

In March, with the end of the school year rounding into view, we asked our Facebook community to show us their flexible seating arrangements. Photos and comments poured in from hundreds of teachers across the country. We sifted through the submissions, identified educators with outstanding flexible classrooms from kindergarten through eighth grade, and asked for tips, classroom features, and plenty of visuals. We feature seven of those classrooms below.

A few clear trends emerged. While many K-8 teachers in our Facebook discussion expressed doubt that flexible seating would work in their small classrooms, our respondents were making flexible seating work in classrooms as small as 432 square feet. The number of students in these flexible classrooms ranged from 12 to over 50 (in a music class), with most teachers reporting head counts in the 20s.

Funding came from a wide variety of sources; most teachers mixed friend and family requests with visits to garage sales and thrift shops, low-price retailers like Walmart and Amazon, and online crowdfunding campaigns on sites like DonorsChoose. Low-cost seating options like rugs, crates, and yoga balls with braces were ubiquitous in the classrooms we reviewed.

Almost all of our K-8 teachers have dropped seating charts but devote time to modeling appropriate behaviors in their new classrooms. Many require that all students try each seating option several times; it's critical for students to understand the full range of learning modalities that flexible seating supports. Several teachers use seating contracts to formalize the expectations- you can see a typical contract here.

We've organized our classrooms sequentially, from kindergarten to eighth grade. For examples of flexible seating in high school, see " High School Flexible Seating Done Right."

Benita Kay Moyers

Grade: Kindergarten Inclusion
School: Mount Carmel Elementary, Huntsville, Alabama
Students/Room Dimensions: 18-19 students; room is 750 square feet, about 30 feet by 25 feet

Setting It Up: The furniture includes chairs from Scholastic Book Club points, balance ball seats with support legs and small plastic chairs from Amazon, eight crate seats, some scoop rockers and wooden stools, and six standard student chairs that I plan to change out for stackable stools soon. I also have four small teardrop-shaped tables from Hobby Lobby. I am piloting multisensory cursive handwriting in kindergarten for the Madison County School System, so all of the students also have plastic desk trays from Hobby Lobby to give them a solid writing surface when we are at the carpet during cursive time.

Tips: I don't have a particular system for choosing seats; students pick a seat in the morning and it's theirs for the day. I modeled explicitly how each type of chair could be used at the beginning of the year. We reviewed the rules, expectations, and consequences multiple times to ensure the students understood them. Clear expectations are a must.

Ashley Rice Broomfield

Grade: First Grade
School: Friendship Christian School, Lebanon, Tennessee
Students/Room Dimensions: 12-15 students; room is 432 square feet, about 24 feet by 18 feet

Setting It Up: I've included a lot of different options for my students. I have three round tables of different heights, with seating that ranges from simple mats to wobble stools. I also have a couch, a few rockers and stools, and several rugs where children can sprawl and work using clipboards. How did I fund it? I purchased floor mats and rockers at Walmart, funded some of my furniture using Scholastic Book Club points, acquired a few things at garage sales, and was given the couch and the chevron rug by a former parent. The last school year was my 13th year teaching, and my first with flexible seating. It made a huge difference.

Tips: My students take more responsibility and are more engaged with their assignments because they feel a sense of pride and comfort working in "their" area. At the beginning of the year, I had each student try out all the different spots to see which ones they liked the best. A lot of people worry about managing the spots fairly, but it wasn't an issue in my classroom. I'll never go back to traditional seating.

Jessica Dudley

Grade: Third- and Fourth-Grade Science
School: West Sabine Elementary School, Pineland, Texas
Students/Room Dimensions: 18-20 students; room is 720 square feet, about 30 feet by 24 feet

Setting It Up: I wanted to create a flexible seating environment that allowed my students to choose seats that are comfortable, something better than a basic plastic seat and desk. I brought in recliners, which are the most popular choice, and I've got a unique option in a chair that looks like a high-heeled shoe, which was the gift of a co-worker. There are tables of different heights and shapes-one of the tables I shortened by cutting off the legs-and there are stools, bucket seats with cushions, and more traditional chairs.

Tips: Setting expectations in the beginning for each seat choice is crucial, and you should have a plan for choosing seats. I randomly draw student names, and each student signs up for a new seat each week. Flexible seating has made an amazing difference in my classroom-it creates a student-centered environment and promotes responsibility.

Kenita Sutherland, Jackie Curts, and Anna Maziarka

Grade: Third Through Fifth Grades
School: South Marshall Elementary School, Benton, Kentucky
Students/Room Dimensions: 61 students; three and a half classrooms have been converted into one large room

Setting It Up: Our goal was to provide students with a flexible, comfortable learning environment. We incorporated tables, booths, futons, laptop bars, and even church pews. One of our biggest purchases, a favorite of students and adults, was the Hokki stools.

Tips: We spent the first month of school learning how to function in our flexible space. Students took "learning walks" through the room in order to identify "what learning might look like in a particular space." Students worked together to come up with expectations for the different areas and for the different seating options in each area.

Amy Mileham

Grade: Fourth Grade
School: Grace Hill Elementary, Rogers, Arkansas
Students/Room Dimensions: 28 students; room is 816 square feet, about 34 feet by 24 feet

Setting It Up: My flexible seating room was a DIY effort by my husband and me. My principal is very supportive, but there was no money in the budget. And we are a Title 1 school with high poverty levels, so asking parents for donations was out of the question. I wanted this for my students, so I began to scour yard sales and flea markets. I bought three tables and repainted them, and I removed sections of the legs from one of my traditional tables to make it suitable for kids. There are also beanbag chairs, stability balls, tall chairs, crate seats I fashioned, a bench with cushions, and various tables. Often students work on the carpet with clipboards.

Tips: The first few weeks of school, my students rotated through all of the seating options. Sometimes students don't work best in the places they think they will. I spent time teaching my students the proper way to use each seating option, and we made a list of expectations and strategies for success. My students know they're in control, so they need to sit in a place where they can be successful. Also, I assign "home base" seats for my students; they sit there when there is a substitute teacher, or if they happen to be having a difficult day.

Kate Roscioli

Grade: Sixth Grade
School: Virginia Run Elementary School, Centreville, Virginia
Students/Room Dimensions: 21-25 students; room is 900 square feet, about 30 feet by 30 feet

Setting It Up: There are a variety of seats: yoga ball chairs, pillows, and bouncy bands on the bottom of chairs. I have two standing desks that were purchased, and I have a long table on bed risers to create more space for students who want to stand. Last year was my second year doing flexible seating, and my biggest takeaway is that each group is different, and that's OK. It's a work in progress, and this year I added some stools to one of the standing tables.

Tips: I keep some desks in my classroom for students who need their own defined space. I also assign spots at the beginning of the year, so all students have a chance to try out the different options. Each day the kids get a new seat, so they can try out the different options before deciding on which one they like the best.

Laura Bradley

Grade: Eighth-Grade English and Digital Media
School: Kenilworth Junior High School, Petaluma, California
Students/Room Dimensions: 32 students; room is 900 square feet, about 30 feet by 30 feet

Setting It Up: I kind of half-stumbled into flexible seating-I still have 32 desks in my room! Students sit at assigned desks for attendance and direct instruction, but during long work periods they have some freedom to move around and get comfortable. I made simple adjustments to make it happen: I brought 35 carpet squares into my classroom and stacked them at the back of the room. Students figured out the rest, sitting in corners with their backs against the wall, lying under desks with rugs under them, working outside on squares on sunny days. Later, I transformed bookshelves into standing desks by making sure the tops were always clutter-free. I also let students flip desks and move furniture to create semi-private working spaces (students call them forts).

Tips: Making radical changes to the furniture didn't turn out to be critical for me; I found that given choices, students can find ways to work that support their individual needs. I start the school year by setting clear expectations with students: Can they really sit anywhere they want? Does that include under tables? Do behavioral expectations change with seating options? I also encourage teachers to have seating charts for the beginning of class: If you're not there, the charts are a lifeline for your substitute, and they reduce the social anxiety of kids entering a room and not knowing where their friends are-or the location of the kid who keeps teasing them.

This article would not have been possible without the contributions and/or photography of the following educators: Sarah Boyles, Laura Bradley, Ashley Rice Broomfield, Jackie Curts, Tom Deris, Jessica Dudley, Kristina Herbster, Anna Maziarka, Amy Mileham, Benita Kay Moyers, Shawna Noller, Stephanie Novotny, Charity Peetz, Charlena Perrell, Amy Rever, Mary Rodger, Kate Roscioli, and Kenita Sutherland. Their classrooms are amazing, and we're grateful they shared them with us.

The author of this article is the chief content officer at Edutopia. You can follow him on Twitter @smerrill777.

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K-8 educators from across the country give you a peek at their classrooms-and explain how they managed the transformations. Courtesy of Ashley Rice Broomfield In March, with the end of the school year rounding into view, we asked our Facebook community to show us their flexible seating arrangements.

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Science Learning Spaces in the Classroom

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Science Learning Spaces in the Classroom

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Resource for creating spaces for science

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I wish I had the advice then of Dr. Sandra West from Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas. She was a top-notch high school science teacher and now she is an associate professor of biology. Dr. West is one of the co-authors of the National Science Teacher Association Guide to Planning School Science Facilities. I asked her to share some of her wisdom about science learning spaces to help teachers and administrators to plan for adequate science learning from the ground up. And also, how to fix inadequate spaces so that science learning can continue unimpeded.
Edutopia: When it comes to science learning spaces, what is the biggest mistake schools and teachers make?
Dr. West: Schools do not have enough science classroom/labs. For some strange reason the number of science rooms is typically based on an enrollment that almost never incorporates an adequate number of science rooms. For example, a recent conversation with a school architect revealed that the typical plan submitted to a school district for a high school for 2,000 students, where 17 science teachers are needed to teach the three-year science requirement that only 12 science rooms are planned. So, architects and schools plan for only 12 rooms and the first year the school opens with five teachers who have no rooms and have to "float" from room to room on carts. This immediately creates safety and instruction quality problems. The National Science Teacher Association (NSTA) recommends there be a science classroom/lab for each science teacher.

It's neither safe nor effective science instruction when science teachers have to move from room to room (float) on a cart. The carts must hold the lab materials, equipment, and chemicals to conduct the activities or investigations through crowded hallways during passing periods. There is no time to set up the room for the activities or labs so instructional time is lost and the teacher has to struggle with setting up in a different and unfamiliar room each period.
What are the requirements for an elementary science learning space, middle school science learning space, and high school science learning space?
Dr. West: One problem is that most of the current science classroom/labs are too small. The NSTA Guide to Planning School Science Facilities recommends 60 square feet per student for grades 6 to 12. For grades PK to 5, NSTA recommends 45 square feet per student. This means that if the science room is built for 24 students, then no more than 24 students will occupy that room in any one period. There are also state fire codes for "room occupancy" that allows only a limited number of students in a science lab based on the size of the room (check your local requirements). Safe egress during a fire is a requirement.
With limited time and money, what are a couple of things that a typical science teacher could do to create more space for science learning?
Dr. West: One thing science teachers can do is to clean up and organize the science materials already in the science room and science storerooms. Free up space by clearing out the shelves and drawers of items that can be collected from students each year such as plastic jugs, toilet paper rolls, etc. Another thing would be to schedule an appointment with your principal for a tour of your room and science storerooms.

Then, demonstrate to your principal (not just tell) the storage needs and ask for his/her input of how those needs can be met to enable safe and effective science instruction for your students. An easily accommodated request could be something as simple as some extra shelves for the shelving units. It typically comes with only five shelves per unit, but seven are really needed so glassware is not stored higher than eye-level or stacked on cardboard on top of a layer of glassware.
What do you think about dedicating a room for science learning so all teachers can rotate in using it?
Dr. West: Students need to "do" science regularly and students need to be able to move seamlessly back and forth from lab group investigations to whole class discussion sense-making. This is best done in a combination lab/classroom, not a room with only lab benches. Elementary students should use 80 percent of their science time "doing" science in "hands-on" lab or field activities. Grades 6 to 8 should use 60 percent and grades 9 to12 should use at least 40 percent of the time in hands-on lab or field activities.
Aside from assigning contiguous rooms, what other space considerations should math and science teachers have?
Dr. West: Following the best-practice format of concrete to pictorial to abstract in both math and science instruction requires having "stuff" to teach/learn with, such as math manipulatives or simply grocery store items. So, adequate storage and adequate work surface areas are as important in math as they are in science. However, the storage must also be specifically designed for storage of the materials, manipulatives, and equipment for each discipline. Physics uses equipment such as bicycle wheels, six-foot air tracks and other equipment that doesn't fit in typical shelving or cabinets. Chemistry needs obviously needs safe, secure, properly ventilated chemical storage not in the preparation room, glassware, ring-stands, etc. Biology needs microscopes, specimens, glassware, chemicals, etc. Earth Science needs stream tables, rock and mineral samples, glassware, rainfall gauges, etc. Grades PK to 8 teach all sciences and need equipment from all of the disciplines.

In Summary

Well-designed science learning spaces must include enough room to perform laboratory experiments, investigations, and sense making, but they also must include enough room to safely store all of the laboratory equipment and consumables. As Dr. West reminded me, "Form must follow function. The design of the science facilities can either enhance or impede effective science instruction." De-cluttering and increasing storage can increase the science learning space to some extent, but ultimately designing the science classrooms/labs according to NSTA standards in the first place is the best way to go.

What tips can you share to for improving science learning spaces? Please share in the comments section below.

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Design Tips for Science Learning Spaces | Edutopia

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I wish I had the advice then of Dr. Sandra West from Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas. She was a top-notch high school science teacher and now she is an associate professor of biology. Dr. West is one of the co-authors of the National Science Teacher Association Guide to Planning School Science Facilities.

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I was very taken by the idea giving students choice in flexible seating in the classroom. I know that I have favorite ways to sit, work and be more productive and I feel that students should have the same options available to them. There are 5 main tables that students may choose to sit at for independent and group work. Whole class lessons and discussions can take place on the carpet area where students may sit on the carpet or on the benches. Floor and lap desks are available if writing is happening in this area. The teacher will have access to a tv screen for presenting digital material, as well as a smaller whiteboard on the wall and an easel if writing on chart paper. The teacher also has a  teacher's chair to sit in and the shelf top to use as a surface for whatever is needed.

When designing the classroom, I thought about accessibility to supplies and materials. I tried to make the student tables central to most of the student supply shelves. This way they can easily access the materials they need to start their tasks in a timely manner.

I thought it was very important to include different spaces for different purposes while students were doing various activities. There is a small group area, a classroom library area, a discovery center and also 2 designated areas for alone time if a student just needs a moment by themselves to calm down, relax, reflect or whatever their need may be.