Most Popular NSTA Press Books

1. Science the “Write” Way
2. Doing Good Science in Middle School: A Practical Guide to Inquiry-Based Instruction
3. Picture-Perfect Science Lessons, Expanded 2nd Edition: Using Children’s Books to Guide Inquiry, 3-6
4. STEM Student Research Handbook
5. Science Stories: Using Case Studies to Teach Critical Thinking

Most Popular NSTA Press e-Books and e-Chapters

1. The NSTA Reader’s Guide to A Framework for K–12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas (e-book)
2. The Nature of Science and Science Inquiry (e-chapter)
3. BSCS 5E Instructional Model (e-chapter)
4. Why Read Pictures Books in Science Class? (e-book)
5. The Virus Debate (e-chapter)

Most Popular NSTA Journal Articles

1. A Sun-Earth-Moon Activity to Develop Student Understanding of Lunar Phases and Frames of Reference
2. Bringing Antarctica Home
3. Springing Into Inquiry: Using Student Ideas to Investigate Seasons
4. Designing Design Challenges: Getting the Details Right
5. Mendel’s Modern Legacy

The launch of a formal, deliberate, across the board attempt to produce digital textbooks has arrived. Not just digital version of paper texts. Not just .pdf pages mimicking textbooks. Not just webpages trying to walk like a textbook. No, this is a sincere attempt to redefine the concept and use of a textbook firmly planted in the spirit of the digital. This means the strengths of a digital text are maximized while the weaknesses of such a thing are minimized.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The digital textbook has been around for as long as our digital imagination, which for me has been several decades. The list of challenges to making functional digital texts is lengthy, and by no means have all the items on the list been crossed out. But today we are closer than ever especially now that some serious weight, money and most importantly commitment has been thrown behind the effort.

On January 19^th, Apple launched several products designed to make digital textbooks not only a physical reality, but also a reality across multiple dimensions. First, there is iBooks 2, the primary vehicle for serving up the content to student eyeballs and ears. Second, there is iBooks Author, a free Mac desktop computer application for designing digital texts. Third, the bookstore in iTunes has a dedicated virtual shelf for digital textbooks. And finally, a formidable trio of major textbook publishers has jumped into the Apple digital textbook ecosystem with both feet.

While the iBookstore textbook shelves are pretty thin right now, the content that is available is promising, and will no doubt cause a conceptual redefinition of what a textbook actually is, as well as the expectations student will hold when they arrive to class. A Volume Purchase Program is also in the works so some of the current paradigms of buying digital content will shift as well.

One free digital textbook example that is available is E. O. Wilson’s Life on Earth. At the moment only the first few chapters have been created, but within those pages exist a magical expression of what textbooks could become, well, maybe are in this case. Life on Earth on an iPad held in the portrait position (vertical) produces more of a book-like presentation with 2/3 of the screen in text-heavy scrolling. Simply rotating the device 90 degrees to landscape completely changes the relationship between the words and visuals. Instantly graphics, pictures, videos, and JavaScript or HTML widgets take precedence with the text wrapping around the objects. Using a two-finger pinch-out gesture fills the screen with the imagery. A simple two-finger pinch-in shrinks the visual back to a conventional size. Landscape view also makes the movement through content in a page-turning simulation rather than the scrolling of portrait.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The free application program used to make digital books that play well in iBooks is called simply iBook Author. It has the look of a word processor and the buttons of a website building tool. Taking the software for a spin around the block, I couldn’t help but wonder how long it will take before schools, districts, or even organizations like NSTA collaborate on a grand scale to produce a textbook in a fraction of the time normally afforded to such tasks. Imagine 10 or 50 or 500 teachers each contributing a small but stunningly high quality slice of a digital text. Almost over night, a book perfect for the task goes from a floating light bulb above someone’s head to a complete and completely downloadable textbook. And should an error be found in the book, it can be fixed with an update just like we do almost daily with our other software.

As with many tech-driven changes in the educational ecosystem, digital textbooks will likely have as many unintended outcomes as intended ones. The entry of real digital (oxymoron?) textbooks will be a fun transition to watch, and as a teacher, even more fun to be a participant.

I recently talked with a high school senior who wants to become an elementary teacher. “Working with younger students, one thing I won’t have to think about is technology,” she said. She certainly has some misconceptions about elementary students! I thought about her as I read this issue of Science and Children and the examples of young students using technology for many tasks and in many contexts.

Space and technology seem to go hand in hand. To the Moon and Back show how students in Grades 2 and 3 used the Starry Night resource to gather data on phases of the moon and look for patterns and develop questions. The article includes a rubric, an example of a student journal entry, and a discussion of other technology application on the topic, including iPad/iPhone apps and online simulations. [SciLinks: Moon Phases]

The authors of Caught on Video use videos to document student projects. Students were both the subjects and the videographers as they demonstrated their work. The article has suggestions for incorporating more local videos in instruction. [SciLinks: Engineering Structures]

“No child left inside” could be the subtitle for Trail Blazers. The article describes a project in which 4^th-graders created field guides (on iPods) for the school’s nature trail. Starting with a site study, they also created kits for teachers to use with students to study weather on the trail. [SciLinks: Identifying Trees, Nature]

What technology (if any) is appropriate for primary students? Harness Your Tech Side includes resources from the NAEYC on technology integration in the younger grades and a lesson plan on using technology to create a class book. Smart Boards Rock has pictures of students (not the teacher) at the board, manipulating objects and words. [SciLinks: Rocks]

Virtual Inquiry Experiences incorporated technology into a study of pond insects. Students shared their specimens with scientists who shared (through videoconferencing) the use of an electron microscope—quite an experience for these young students. Another option for younger students as described in Time for Slime, is a digital microscope connected to a projector. The pictures of students show the benefits of  the large projected images. The formative assessment probe Representing Microscopic Life looks at student conceptions and misconceptions about microscope pond organisms. [SciLinks: Microscopes, Insects, Protozoa]

Classroom communications is changing, too. Not an Unfeasible “Extra” shows how students in 4^th grade are blogging about their science learning. The teacher-author offers suggestions for starting a blogging project and a rubric to assess the blog content. In Turtles and Technology, other 4^th graders took on a challenge to protect and advocate for an endangered species. They raised turtles to release in the wild used a variety of technology (blogging, producing videos, creating webpages, and even developing an online game) to inform the community of threats to the turtles.

After reading and reflecting on these articles, future elementary teachers have a lot to look forward to, with students who are very comfortable with technology. Secondary teachers have a lot to look forward to, also, as younger students become more familiar with technology as a tool for learning, communicating, and creating.

Several other articles have SciLinks connections: One Hungry Dinosaur  [SciLinks: Dinosaurs] and Simple Machines [SciLinks: Simple Machines] And check out more Connections for this issue (December 2011). Even if the article does not quite fit with your lesson agenda, there are ideas for handouts, background information sheets, data sheets, rubrics, and other resources.

What science and engineering practices will he use to solve this problem?

With any profession, including teaching, experience helps the practitioner be better at the job. Not every part of teaching gets easier with years of experience (unbending my knees) but I no longer have to remind myself to use clear phrases to set limits or further children’s thinking, to plan some next steps in the science inquiry, and to make statements about the practice of science. Learning from research as well as our own practice improves our teaching effectiveness. Researchers are finding better ways to describe the process of learning both the concepts and practice of science and they are calling it “practices of science.” This term does not describe a new whole new way of teaching but a new way of describing this complex process. The new work from the National Academies Press,  A Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas, uses the word “practices” to “stress that engaging in scientific inquiry requires coordination both of knowledge and skill simultaneously.” Even young children can learn science content knowledge, such as “water can exist as a gas, a liquid and a solid”, and science skills, such as making observations to find out.

When reading the Framework, it is interesting to reflect on the science activities that the children are currently engaged in. Yes, they are learning about the needs of living organisms by caring for and observing roly-polies, but  are they also learning that scientists make observations and record this data to gain understanding of biological systems, and that engineers make observations to be able to design environments (terrariums) to meet the needs of living organisms? To apply this new Framework to my work in the classroom I found guidance in Robert Bybee’s article, Scientific and Engineering Practices in K-12 Classrooms, in the December 2011 Science  & Children. He describes the relationship between science and engineering as written in the Framework and his explanations helped me understand, and hopefully apply, the science and engineering practices he restates from the Framework.

To help bring understanding of engineering practices into your classroom, consider using these resources, and add your own suggestions to this list by commenting below:

• I love to visit other classrooms to see what is working well and think about how to do the same in my  work. Join Margaret Berry Wilson, author of What Every Kindergarten Teacher Needs To Know and the Responsive Classroom approach blog, and take a peek into a classroom where the teacher’s “careful selection of age-appropriate tasks…, along with her careful set-up, cheerful reinforcement, and  appropriate challenges, made all students feel safe and significant.”
• Engineering Is Elementary (EiE) has several videos of children in grades 2 and up learning about engineering through the EiE storybooks and hands-on explorations. At the end of the videos, the teachers offer tips to implement the lessons.
• Engineering for All: Strategies for helping all students succeed in the design process by Pamela S. Lottero-Perdue, Sarah Lovelidge, and Erin Bowling, describes how “the core practice of engineering, the engineering design process, was taught in a third-grade inclusive classroom in which students used this process to design windmill blades” using the EiE unit, Catching the Wind: Designing Windmills (Science and Children March 2010).
• Family Engineering, developed by the Foundation for Family Science and Engineering, with Michigan Tech and the American Society for Engineering Education, is a program for providing informal engineering learning experiences to elementary age children and their families.
•  Engineering, Go For It! (eGFI) sponsored by the American Society for Engineering Education.

What engineering practices do you do in your classroom?

Peggy

Children observe and document seasonal changes as they begin to learn how living organisms respond to their environment.

Do you have resources for early childhood teachers who are struggling to teach earth science or life science concepts? Especially for teachers who understand that young children need to be physically involved with their learning but not simply making a craft project to take home? Teachers who responded to this NSTA members’ email list request suggested:

•Young children really do well with observation techniques. Get them talking and discussing what they see using their senses. Make a chart with the senses and document verbiage they use in short words/phrases about an object/topic. Go outside and explore their environment with hand-lens, let them get their hands dirty. Let them bring items from home that would add to the discussion. Let them draw what they observe (this helps with fine motor coordination). Let them use a BROCK microscope, my first graders loved to take them out to recess. They are VERY durable. Make screens with varying grids to shake [sort] out dirt. ASK them what THEY want to learn about. Open the world of science for them and you’ll have life-long learners in no time! Graph [the number of] objects they bring in or find outside. Get them thinking what else could they use the object for. Have them draw/trace an object say, scissors, then have them draw them as something else. Deb Wilson, Retired Primary Teacher, Executive Director for STOM (Science Teachers of Missouri).

• Being able to use the outdoors as your classroom is a real plus. Humans begin to make sense of their world by using their 5 senses, so take advantage of investigating it, especially the tiny minute organisms. Most children are so ready to go outside…running, playing, etc., but how many children go outside to observe and investigate? I take a bag of science tools outside with me: hand lenses, binoculars, small “collection” jars, rulers, identification books, nature journals, pencils, and my camera. Encourage the children to “take in” the textures – tree bark, leaves, rocks, soil; the sights: get on their knees and look for tiny insects and bits of nature that have interesting color, shapes, texture, smells; look up in the trees and the sky; go on a listening walk and identify natural and man-made sounds; plant a small garden so the children can experience plant life cycles and the interdependence of plants and animals. If you have access to a digital microscope, bring some of the nature inside so your children can look even closer (see attachment). Hope this gives you some more ideas. The experiences that I am talking about can be enjoyed by all children. Asking leading inquiry based questions might result in projects. Gail Laubenthal, Pre-K teacher, Austin, Texas

• Here are some life science learning activities. Some may be considered “arts and crafts” because they are required to draw or assemble, but these are legitimate science (and motor) skills that young students need to learn. Describing and depicting what they observe is an early building block to later inquiry. Specific to elementary life science: camouflage as a selective advantage,  animal behavior and observation and recording skills,  studying pollination and seed dispersal adaptations, parts of the plant with a Plant Party and using Hidden Pictures to search for and name animals and plants that live in various habitats around the world. Sheri Amsel Science Coordinator, Exploring Nature Educational Resource, Wild Science Professional Development, www.exploringnature.org

Children plant seeds to begin learning about life cycles.

Here are my two cents about these resources–a few books that I found especially helpful in teaching about life cycles and flower-fruit-seed formation in plants, and a rich discussion and listing of resources on an NSTA Learning Communities forum.

From Seed to Plant (Rookie Read About Science Series) by Alan Fowler. 2001. Childrens Press.

Nature Close-Ups: Seeds and Seedlings by Elaine Pascoe. 1999. Blackbirch Press.

Plant Secrets by Emily Goodman, illustrated by Phyllis L. Tildes. 2009. Charlesbridge.

Seeds by Ken Robbins. 2005. Atheneum Books.

Ten Seeds by Ruth Brown. 2001. Knopf Books.

Examining rocks up close to see small textural features.

And a couple about earth science concept of rock formation:

Materials, Materials, Materials: Rock by Chris Oxlade. 2002. Heinemann.

Rocks: Hard, Soft, Smooth, and Rough by Natalie M. Rosinsky. 2003. Picture Window Books.

See more resources on teaching earth science to young children, at the NSTA Learning Center Elementary Science forum, Earth Science Ideas for Kindergarten 

Rock on! (groan) Peggy

photo courtesy of the Franklin Institute

Teachers and students are heading to science museums around the country to learn about weather events such as hurricanes, tsunamis, and tornadoes. In the photo, for example, these young visitors to Philadelphia’s Franklin Institute are using a shake table to learn about earthquakes and their effects on various structures.

Besides educating students about severe weather, these exhibits offer a look at weather forecasting and the instruments forecasters use, as described in a recent NSTA Reports story. If your school isn’t located near a science museum, not to worry: Many exhibits have online components, such as videos your students can watch.

Have you taken your students to a science museum to explore the weather? Tell us how your trip went and what they learned.

Summer can be a time of rest and renewal and an opportunity for teachers to fit in professional pursuits like reading that new book, taking a workshop, or conducting an in-depth study. In the July 2011 issue of NSTA’s Book Beat, we invite readers to take a step back to reflect and reconnect with a few of the many reasons to love science and science teaching. Click over to read the full July issue, where you can also download this month’s free lessons and chapters.

1. Science Has Stories

Stories can be wonderful teaching tools, and science has stories galore—from children’s books about science to case studies by scientists. Children’s trade books linked to science have the power to draw students in to explore, question, discuss, and investigate. Karen Ansberry and Emily Morgan’s Picture-Perfect Science Lessons (grades 3–6) presents powerful strategies for connecting reading and science in a natural way in the elementary classroom. “Dr. Xargle’s Book of Earthlets” engages students through reading a children’s book that has memorable and sometimes hilarious examples of inferences versus observations. Students then practice those skills through several hands-on activities. For grades K–8, Richard Konicek-Moran’s Everyday Science Mysteries presents students with stories about a mystery from everyday life that science can help them solve. “The Little Tent That Cried” helps students see the water cycle in a natural situation and then suggests activities to give them a deeper understanding of evaporation, condensation, and humidity. Start With a Story: The Case Study Method of Teaching College Science, edited by Clyde Herreid, is chock full of case stories that will engross college students, including “Of Mammoths and Men: A Case Study in Extinction.”

2. Science Has Mysteries

Students of science often start delving into a topic after encountering a puzzling or confusing event. Everyday Science Mysteries books use perplexing everyday events to engage students and invite them to investigate what’s going on in the “story.” The baffling and the unfamiliar can intrigue students and spur them to take on the role of investigators. In “Exploring the Mysteries of Fingerprints” from John Eichinger’s Activities Linking Science With Math, K–4, students use investigative techniques to identify and classify their fingerprints based on shape before they collect and classify fingerprints from classroom surfaces after predicting likely locations. A biology mystery from Thomas O’Brien’s Even More Brain-Powered Science titled “Resurrection Plant: Making Science Come Alive!” has students observing and studying a “resurrection plant” to investigate why these dry-looking, fernlike plants appear to come back to life when placed in water. The discrepant events in all three books of the Brain-Powered Science Series are sure to motivate the sleuths in your class.

3. Science Can Make Us Laugh

Using humor in science teaching can be a good way to lighten up the classroom atmosphere while still keeping the focus on learning goals. Take a cue from NSTA Press author Bill Robertson, who artfully weaves humor and serious science content in his Stop Faking It! Series. You’re always in for a treat with a Stop Faking It! book, and now there are nine to choose from.  From Robertson’s irreverent humor interspersed among the solid science explanations and activities to clever cartoons by illustrator Brian Diskin, you can laugh your way to better understanding of physics from Force and Motion to Chemistry Basics. Check out “Round and Round and Round in the Circle Game” from Force and Motion: Stop Faking It! for text and illustrations sure to give you a chuckle or two. Or explore the ingenious “Metaphysical Illustrations” by award-winning artist Tomas Bunk in Quantoons (grades 9–12), by Arthur Eisenkraft, and Larry Kirkpatrick. The book combines challenging physics questions with intricate drawings in a collection of problems that ran in Quantum magazine. Feast your eyes on the clever text and art in “Fun With Liquid Nitrogen” and “Laser Levitation.” It’s good to laugh while you learn!

4. Science Challenges Us

Science teachers love the challenge that studying science brings, from exploring a nearby stream to pondering the significance of the latest fossil finds from Colorado or China. Crafting just the right lesson for the group of students in your classroom is another challenge that science teachers take on every day. For an inspirational read on how one talented teacher approaches this challenge, read Cary Sneider’s chapter on “Examining Students’ Work” from J Myron Atkin and Janet Coffey’s Everyday Assessment in the Science Classroom. You’ll come away from this thoughtful piece with new insights about course adjustments you could make that will enhance you and your students’ learning experiences.

5. Science Is Everywhere

In her classic teacher resource Ten-Minute Field Trips, Helen Ross Russell writes that “youngsters who learn to ask questions, observe, set up possible answers, experiment, keep records, and think independently will grow up finding life challenging and worthwhile. They will also have the ability to adapt to a changing world.” Science teachers help children see that science is all around them and that even the smallest patch of grass or pavement can reveal volumes about their world. To reconnect with your inner explorer and consider new ways to use the school grounds as a teaching laboratory for young scientists, read Russell’s chapter “Of the Value of Saying ‘I Don’t Know.’” Check out the free sample chapters of Schoolyard Science, Inside-Out, and Outdoor Science for more practical ways you could incorporate brief outdoor treks into your science lessons.

Birds are wild animals that children are quite likely to see and recognize. They live in the city and in the country and in between, all over the world. Why not begin talking about the birds that your students see near school, and have them name all the colors they see? To attract birds for closer observation teachers sometimes put up a feeder where it can be seen from a window for easy viewing and counting. Read about making observations and collecting data in the March 2011 Early Years column in Science and Children.

Here are some of my favorite early childhood resources for learning about birds and bird behavior.

Articles with ideas for classroom activities

Search Science and Children for “bird” to find almost 20 articles on science learning about birds (NSTA membership required).

STEM Comes to Preschool by Sally Moomaw and Jaumall A. Davis. Young Children. September 2010 Vol 65 (5): 12-18. The article relates how they used toy Audubon birds (plush replicas of real birds which have a micochip inside that plays a recorded authentic song of the species) in an inclusive preschool classroom to teach patterning.

Field guides or identification books. No single book fits all needs. Every “birder” has their favorite, but take a look at these two to begin with.

Birds, A Golden Guide by Ira N. Gabrielson, Herbert S. Zim, Chandler S. Robbins (Ed.), illustrated by James Gordon Irving. 2001. St. New York, NY: Martin’s Press. An inexpensive guide for beginning birdwatchers.

Kaufman Field Guide to Birds of North America. Kenn Kaufman. 2005. New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin. A field guide with digitally enhanced photographs and pointers (leader lines) to field marks (distinguishing markings or aspects to note that aid identification), this book is fun for children to use for identification purposes, to browse through, or to read about a particular species.

Trade books

A Place for Birds by Melissa Stewart, illustrated by Higgins Bond. 2009. Atlanta, GA: Peachtree. This book introduces 24 species, includes details in sidebars and describes solutions for problems people create for birds.

Backyard Birds of Winter by Carol Lerner. 1994. New York, NY: HarperCollins. This book targets birds of colder climates and includes feeder information.

Counting Is for the Birds by Frank Mazzola Jr. 1997. Watertown, MA: Charlesbridge. Birds flock to the feeder by one then two and so on, up to 20 (you will have to add the count of zero). Have your students count each species and look for non-birds, a squirrel and cat.

Feathers for Lunch by Lois Elhert. 1996. San Diego, CA: Harcourt. Twelve birds (illustrated with accuracy in Elhert’s appealing cut paper collage style) escape the cat’s pounce. Have your children match birds in this book to birds in a non-fiction bird identification book, and predict the ending of the book. Depicts the real danger to songbirds of allowing pet cats outside.

Fly High, Fly Low by Don Freeman. 2004. New York, NY: Penguin. Now in a 50^th anniversary edition, this classic story follows a pair of nesting pigeons (Rock doves Sid and Midge) in San Francisco. Pair this book with the Project PigeonWatch poster (free download).

How the Robin Got Its Red Breast: A Legend of the Sechelt People by Donna Joe, Sechelt Nation, illustrated by Charlie Craigan. 1993. Roberts Creek, BC: Nightwood Editions. Compelling black-and-white illustrations relate the Sechelt legend of how the robin got its colors. Traditional tales often teach about the natural world while serving as guides for proper conduct.

Internet

BirdWatching online magazine (formerly Birder’s World), see the bird photo of the week.

Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Download a free poster, listen to bird calls and songs, read the All About Birds page “Birding 1-2-3: How to Identify Birds” and see the “PigeonWatch”  section for information about these common birds. Read about the Feeder Watch Project to learn how to count birds at your feeder and submit a tally sheet to participate in this citizen science endeavor.

Exploring Nature. Look for your local birds on this natural history website with a free database describing many North American birds.

Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Sandy Shore & Aviary Web Cam. Look for oystercatchers, curlews and other birds using the webcam in this California aviary, or play bird bingo.

Do you, or does your class, have a favorite book about birds?

Peggy

Happy New Year!

Over the holiday break, I found this blog on a colleague’s Facebook page. Free Technology for Teachers has lots of suggestions for free (yes, free) applications. Today’s entry (January 4) is 11 Science Resources to Try in 2011.

Share yesterday’s entry 11 Math Resources to Try in 2011 with your colleagues!