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Hmmm...when I see that title I think of one random activity that isn't really connected to a big idea.  Maybe it's because I spent many years teaching science that way...finding cookie cutter activities that were "cute" or "fun".  Things that kept the kids attention, but maybe didn't truly build their knowledge or understanding.  As I become more of an inquiry teacher, I am trying very hard to get away from this idea. So instead...I'll talk about my next investigation that we will start on Monday.  We will be building terrariums to bring a school yard ecosystem into the classroom.  It will be a model of what happens outside.  On Monday the teachers will bring in: 4 glad ware containers (approx 6"x4") grass seeds potting soil rocks worms Each table group will build a terrarium with rocks, soil, and grass seeds.  Then we will put in a few worms.  Over the next few days we will watch it grow as a team and notice the changes in our terrariums. 

If you go to  my site with Teachers Pay Teachers you can get three FREEBIES! http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Beach-Artifacts-Science-Spot Science Rubric for Science Notebooks. Beach Artifacts How do animals adapt - structurally and behaviorally?  Mentos Experiment - today only! But...if you want to buy a brand new unit...that is available too!  Check out my brand new unit: Ecosystems in the Schoolyard. It is available for $3.50. 

Gosh...don't you love good websites?  When thinking about this post, I decided to group the posts into websites for teachers (professional growth) and websites for students.  That way you can find what you are interested in quickly. Teacher Sites: http://www.fossweb.com/   I know I speak of this like I'm a groupie for the company (okay, I kinda am....) but this site is the BEST.  This has so much research based information on it that will, hands-down, make you a better teacher....not only in science, but in all subjects. That being said:  the second one is http://www.scienceandliteracy.org/ .  This website has a ton of information on integrating literacy with science content.  I have used all of the strategy guides from this program and I love, love, love them.  The books, the philosophy, the questioning, the ideas for oral language....amazing to say the least. Now, I will also share a few other sites that I go to from time to time to get information on science inquiry: http:/

In keeping with Science Week...I thought I'd post a few of my favorite science books as well.  Here are a few of my favorite books to start off the year -   Monday with a Mad Genius by Mary Pope Osburn is a Jack and Annie tale where they travel back in time to meet Leonardo Da Vinci.  That in itself is a cool idea - but what makes this book special is that they follow him throughout his day and see his ups and downs.  The book shows that even Leonardo made mistakes and yet he kept on investigating and learning.  The book also talks about combining drawing with science and even talks about his SCIENCE NOTEBOOKS.  It is a wonderful story and a great start to the year. Boy Were We Wrong About Dinosaurs:  This is another great book for the start of the year because it talks about how scientists have changed their thinking over the years.  It talks about theories that were once univerally accepted that are no longer true! Great book! I love just about any book from Seeds of Science Root

Last weekend, I co-organized Princeton's American Studies Graduate Conference. Our topic was "Science and Religion in America," and we had twelve papers, four panels, two keynote addresses, and one great Cheselden print: Our chronology ranged over three centuries, and participants' disciplinary identities spanned history, religion, anthropology, political science, and integrated science studies programs at a variety of American institutions. As you might be able to guess, given this range of interests and the broad nature of the theme itself, there was lots in the air over our day and half together – too much for one blog post (even if that blog post's written by me). Rather than try to tie everything together, what I'll do here is just point out two of the major themes that emerged over the course of the conversation, and highlight a thematic arc connecting the two keynote addresses. Authority – in many ways the ur-theme of the study of the relationship betwe

So...I know I'm a Science Gal...but I'm also a mom like so many of you out there.  This weekend has been crazy with running between baseball pictures and soccer games.  Who has time to think about dinner for the week?  I just found some blogs that I am loving and thought I would share.   Mommy's Kitchen blog is all about making yummy, kid friendly comfort foods. Now, some of them are not easy...but they sure look delicious. I am attempting to make her Spaghetti and Meatballs as well as the Pork Chops from the September menu this week.  http://www.mommyskitchen.net/ Well, now that I found that one...I searched for more. So the next one I found is right up my ally - Busy Moms!  Yes that is definitely me. She has recipes and links to other busy mom blogs. Besides...if I'm honest...I like her logo!  www.BusyMomRecipes.com She also has a second blog called BusyMomTips which is great for the organizationally challenged as I am...She lays out all the things I never think of. W

I know this is probably a personal choice for many of you...but I think the answer should be YES!  If we are expecting to see true scientific thinking in their notebooks then wouldn't it be the perfect place for a piece into their minds?  Granted...when I think of assessments I think of it in a standards based format.  My school division uses a rubric based report card for grades K-5. Therefore everything we do is assessed on the 4 point scale and science notebooking falls into that perfectly. Today I have included my rubric for FREE at Teachers Pay Teachers .  I use this to help me assess the writing, data and reflection pieces of our notebooks.  For me this is not about neatness, grammar or spelling - this is about science thinking and content.          http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Science-Notebook-Rubric If you do grade on a traditional A,B,C scale...I think you could still use the rubric to help you as a formative assessment piece.  It usually gives me an indicati

Kubrick and Clarke working on 2001 This weekend, I had the pleasure of watching Stanley Kubrick’s 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey in the company of a bevy of historians of Cold War science. One of them, a specialist, as he puts it, in "the human experience in the milieu of space," pointed out the way in which Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke – the author of the book that formed the basis for the movie – worked closely with engineers at NASA to shape such visions. It seems fair to say that 2001 played an important role in stoking support for the Apollo Program that led astronaut Neil Armstrong to take his momentous “small step” on July 20, 1969. Why I am telling you this? There could be a thousand reasons. But the one I want to highlight in this short post is about scientists as technical advisers to filmmakers. I’m particularly interested in the role that claims to technical accuracy (not to be confused with T/truth) play in mediating science and fiction.

Boys Vs. Girls I wanted to share with you some work samples from the variables/constant lesson:   Here you see one of my students drawing of the reaction with the mountain dew and the root beer with mentos. You may notice that he draws a slightly smaller "eruption" than we got with the diet coke...no where near as tall as Mr. Curtin, my colleague. The second journal shows about the same in the drawing, yet you can also see a writing sample recording what was the same and what was different. Both of these samples are from some of my boys.   I wanted to share them today because they may lack color and may not be as pretty as my girls drawings - but they still include the important information and details.    As a mother of two young boys, I have often observed that most boys simply do not have the same fine motor as our girls.  And sometimes...teachers judge them on this.  Make sure that when you are assessing a student notebook entry you are assessing the content, the process

I am also contributing to this Linky Party on the Clutter-Free Classroom blog!  Looks like fun!

Have you ever noticed how hard it is for students to understand the difference between observations and inference?  Heck...I'll be even you have trouble telling the difference sometimes.... Last week we spent several days observing the interactions between mentos and sodas. Next we wanted to teach them the difference between what we observe and what we infer.    I went to one of my favorite units "Earthlets" from Picture Perfect Science Units.    We read the story Dr. Xargles Earthlets.   This story is about a professor from another planet (I usually say planet X) who has spent several year researching and observing earthlets.  Earthlets are babies...and Dr. Xargle is way off!  He tells how the parents of earthlets must dry the earthlets off in order to stop them from shrinking!  Hmmm....is that true?  No!  We tell them that he is making an inference which is a guess based on what he knows.  Picture Perfect then has sentence cards to sort based on observation and inferen

Hi!  I am actually in a rush to run to my son Jack's baseball game...but before I do, I wanted to share with you this info: I don't know anymore than you do...but I thought I'd post it on my blog! REALLY...gotta run!

Thanks to all the participants in our  Sketchy Science contest at the Secret Science Club's  Kickstarter party. The challenge was to draw the “Future of Science,” and sketchers envisioned oversexed computers, jellyfish-powered vehicles, scientists wet-wired to their iPads, and scary robot monsters. Congratulations to our winner , Aaron Lampell!

I've touched on the relationship between history, philosophy, and science too many times to hyperlink (key posts: here , here , and (hesitatingly) here ). It's both an important topic for the discipline and the subject of my own research, and today I'll try to bring those two things together. My dissertation is about the scientific method. Specifically, it's about meta-scientific arguments between psychologists, philosophers, and scientists in the United States around 1900. I show why these folks felt so much was at stake in debates about methods in the sciences—and why they were right. Part of what's interesting is that the vocational categories I just listed–psychologists, philosophers, and scientists–were only then coming into their modern forms. The result is a boon and a bother: contexts and terms blinked in and out of existence as these debates about science unfolded. It turns out that changes in the cultural authority of science a century ago link up with the

I opened my blog this morning (with a cup of hot coffee no doubt) only to see I had been nominated for a Versitile Blogger award by Life is Better Messy Anyway!  blogger Jordon (the Messy girl!)  Wow...what an honor and surprise.  Thank you Messy Girl! Here are the next steps: 1) Link back to those that nominated you and thank them. 2) Share 7 things about yourself . 3) Pass the award on to 15 other blogs that you know and love. Here are 7 things about me:  1.  I love to read....fluff books! Especially books about shopping and silly, hot-mess women in England.  2.  I am secretly a "slummy mummy" - my husband is the true "wife" of our family! 3.  I love to laugh and look at things from the bright side. 4.  I think that comes from having a son with Aspbergers..living with a high-functioning child with autism can be challenging at times...so it is good to take a break and laugh! 5.  I love coffee - especially pumpkin spice latte! 6.  I have an adorable puppy named

Do you use exit cards?  I do  and I love them.  They are quick, easy formative assessments that can give you a quick snapshot into what your students are taking away from your lesson.  But just as with any good strategy:  Don't forget to model! Last week, during our mentos experiment the students had a chance to present their wonderings for us to choose the next day's experiment.  We always collect the cards to see - who wants to try a different soda, different candy or different number of mentos?  This is our introduction to the terms variables and constants .  After the kids leave, my colleagues and I will sort them out and "choose" the best one to try the next day.  This year we tried it with White Lightening Mountain Dew and also Root Beer.  The Root Beer was cool because it made a lot of bubbles! But the white lightening was a dud - too much sugar I'm guessing.... Anyway...when it was time for the exit card I wrote on a model: I wonder what will happen if...

Some of you have asked...where is the new FOSS science-centered language folio.  I'll admit...it is hard to find, until you know where to look.  So today...your homework is to find it! :) 1. Go to http://www.fossweb.com/ 2. Click on the third edition section 3.  You may have to register as a guest - it only asks you if you are a teacher, from what state and what grade. 4.  Then...once you are in...go to any module that is completed.  For example under 3-6 you can go to Measuring Matter.  5. Once there...scroll down to Teacher Resources. 6.  Viola! It is there - click on Science-Centered Language and you will see the PDF.  You can not save it at this time...but you can read it and print it! Have fun exploring!

Today was our first day of the Mentos Experiment (which you can find at my TPT store - I'll put the link at the bottom just in case you want to check it out)!  I thought I would show you some examples of my teacher journal: You can see that I wrote the focus question, the Prediction (P in the triangle) sentence frame, and then drew an example of my observation. Now, let's look at what the students did. I hope you can read this...I am currently having a love/hate relationship with my scanner and the Internet.  She copied the focus question and then wrote her own prediction: "I think that the mento will sink and dissolve over a few days.  When a teacher drops the mento in the diet coke I think it will fizz then sink." She had obviously seen the experiment before! Next look at her observations.  First you can tell she put a lot more detail in the pictures than I did.  The man next to the soda is my colleague who is about six feet something and the kids used him as our m

We can use as many structures and routines laid out by the experts to facilitate group discussions, but if your students don't have the language background...the discussions may be futile. I know from which I speak.  My school is a wonderful school, but over the years we have increased in our low socio-economic population.  With this population, comes deficits - most notably in language acquisition.   Now, don't get me wrong...I absolutely adore this population of students in my classroom! I learn as much from them as they do (hopefully) from me.  One of the things that I have learned from them is that best practices do work - but they need scaffolding.   From my work with FOSS and SEEDS of Science I have learned just how important language scaffolding can be to truly understanding science vocabulary.  We know this is true and so we model when we write in our notebooks using sentence frames such as "I noticed...."  BUT have you ever thought about using sentence frame

   Think about this:  If your students aren't talking in science, chances are they aren't fully processing what they are learning either...hmmmm.... Good science instruction should start with a discussion - not a lecture.  Teacher pose a question to review a concept or vocabulary word presented in a previous lesson or simply introduce the focus question for the new lesson.  The conversation begins... Let's talk about whole class discussion protocols: Think-pair-share:   when I want the whole class engaged (and not zoning off) I will pose a question for them to answer. First, give them a minute or two to think - then they share their answer with a partner. This can be as simple as turn to your neighbor or visiting a clock buddy (cooperative grouping strategy).  Why I like this :  I have noticed that this allows my quiet, less outgoing students a chance to express what they are thinking in a safe and meaningful way.  Many of our students need to talk through their thinking f