Some Feedback on ReSET

From Principal Michael Cunningham of Columbia Elementary, a new ReSET school in Annandale, VA:

I also want to let you know that I discussed the work you all do at our pyramid principal meeting last week and some of my colleagues are interested in learning more about the program.  I sat in on the session with Dianne Post and was amazed with the level of thinking and engagement the students had in the concept of “waves”!  It was exceptional!  If you don’t mind, I will pass your contact information and website on to two of my colleagues…currently North Springfield and Poe are interested in looking at the program.

 From Volunteer Cheryl Banks:

This past week I have decided to sell my condo, and I will be leaving the Maryland area. I am reluctant to begin the school year with the children, and have to leave them within a short time. I was very attached to the children and Mrs. Bradley and enjoyed the program immensely. I am indebted to ReSET for the wonderful experience of teaching the children. I am thinking of relocating to the NJ area. If ReSET is ever expanded to that state I would love to continue the program. It is with a heavy heart that I bid you farewell. I hope the program has continued success. Thank you for the experience of touching the lives of those special children, and an awesome teacher as Mrs. Bradley

Thanks Cheryl, we'll miss you!

Exploding Molecules (and Stereotypes)

 We’ve become accustomed to assuming boys do better in science and math, while girls dominate in language and history. But it’s high time these stereotypes became a thing of the past. In Google’s first annual science competition in 2011, all three of the finalists were girls, and they beat out 10,000 other students from 90 countries, demonstrating both female and U.S. prominence in science. One winner discovered a way to make ovarian cancer treatments more effective. Another wants to revise the Clean Air Act using her model, quantifying air pollution among asthmatics. And the third winning project could lead to a barbeque meat marinade that reduces carcinogens.

Girls ruled again in 2012, with Brittany Wenger, a 17-year-old from Lakewood Ranch, FL taking home the grand prize for creating a Global Neural Network Cloud Service for Breast Cancer Detection. Across the country science-loving girls are doing amazing things, and not just in competitions. In February, Clara Lazen, a 10-year-old from Kansas City, MO, accidentally discovered a potentially explosive molecule in her fifth-grade science class. Clara’s assignment was to build a molecule using a modeling kit with colorful balls and plastic connectors. Clara randomly pieced together a combination of oxygen, nitrogen and carbon atoms to create a molecule her chemistry teacher, Kenneth Boehr, had never seen before. “I just saw that these go together more,” Clara told a Fox News local affiliate in Kansas City. “Like they fit more together. And they look better. And all the holes have to be filled in for it to be stable.”  

        

More on Clara’s discovery.

http://www.care2.com/causes/10-year-old-girl-discovers-new-molecule-in-science-class.html

More on ReSET’s work to further science career interest in girls. See July 2012 ReSET Report.

http://resetonline.org/reset-media/newsletter-archives

From the archives of ReSET volunteer and raconteur David McInnis

This week…  microscopes!

ReSET has a handful of well-made student microscopes, called “My First Lab Microscope Ultimate” (MFL-85)  by NYscopes.com and look similar to this: 

They are rechargeable, though the batteries on half of them have died (I don’t know how old these are and suspect they were stored without being charged).  They can still be lit with the AC adapter.  Currently they run a about $120 each.   The optics, for this price range, are excellent as is the general build quality.  The base, turret, stage, and eyepiece tube are all metal.  The intensity of the white LED  can be varied.  There is only a coarse focus, which is fine (pun) for this level of use.  The objective lenses are parafocal, or very nearly so.  The stage is translationally fixed.  It’s very nice for the money.
Anyway…

The real point of this lesson is to introduce the students to making careful observations.

We talked about parts of the microscope and went over how we would use them, before passing them out.  We also talked about how we would take turns, a serious concern with only 4 scopes and 20 students. I then explained magnification and gave some examples.

There was often trouble in trying to focus, sometimes the turret would be set between lenses, sometimes the light wasn’t on, sometimes the student would say that theirs was in focus but upon checking there would be nothing but a blur.  Odd that they were just as excited with the blur, I’m sure this should tell me something.   The rest of the class was spent looking and sketching, with Ms. Haynes and myself running around helping and settling disputes about whose turn it was.

Specimens:  I brought pond water, getting lots of really dirty gunk, baker’s yeast that I had started that morning (a tiny amount of dry yeast, a pinch of sugar, in about 1 oz of water), a flower, a leaf, a bug found on the front of my car, and a collection of bought prepared slides.

The prepared slides, the yeast, and the bug were great.  The pond water took too much care for 3rd grade.  Sketching went great too.  We were sure to label them with basic data; specimen, date, observer’s name, etc.   Trying to label the magnification used was too much.   Also, it was carefully explained that they should draw exactly what they see.

I wish I had removed the highest power objective lens from each scope.  We avoided crashing into slides pretty well, but the additional, difficult to focus (for them) lens was distracting.  With a 10x eyepiece having just a 4x and a 10x objective would have been plenty.  The scope did come with a usb camera eyepiece, but I really wanted the students to have ‘real’ experience, rather than something semi-virtual.  The camera, as is expected, is basic; 640×480, high noise.  The refresh rate isn’t too bad, focusing is tolerable.  I don’t know what magnification is on the camera-piece.  I had some issues with the included software and usedMicam instead.  Here is a sample of a “mouth smear” prepared slide using the 10x objective:Again, it ain’t research grade, but it’s pretty amazing for the money.

I have wondered if a cheap ‘pocket microscope’ would be better at this grade level.  I have bought a couple of all plastic (including the lenese) 60-100x scopes that cost around 7 dollars (yes, seven) and believe they would be ok.  A slightly better scope of the same ‘pocket’ design but with glass lenses would be great.   For fourth graders it would probably depend on the class, but by 5th grade the microscope we used would be the way to go.  Of course if you are helping just 1 or 2 students then it would be good for any grade.

ReSET Panels: June 21 and 24

I always learn new things and get more inspiration from ReSET Panels of Volunteers and Educators, and the thought-provoking follow-up discussions.  

Before the new school year starts, it is well worth your time check out the video of the June 21 panel (with volunteers Peter Mehrevari, Juan Valentin, Ed Rock and ReSET Board member John Newby) at www.youtube.com/user/resetonlinevideo

ReSET also had a very interesting panel on June 24, with Nsombi Brown (K-5 science teacher in MD), Charity Felser (DC Public Schools Central Office) and Terry Dade (Elementary School Principal in VA).   The big take-away for me is the need to provide children with inquiry-based (also called "problem-based") teaching instead of content-driven teaching. Rather than have students memorize an answer, this approach would have students think about how one would get to that answer. And getting it wrong the first time is okay - it's part of learning.  If students are building a structure with straws and marshmallows to support a weight, the most important thing is not that the first attempt succeed, but the subsequent process of discussing why it failed, what changes to make to the structure, and trying again. The focus is on questions that lead to getting "an answer," not always questions that have a single "correct" answer.  The panel discussed that this can be discomforting to students trained to raise their hands when they have THE correct answer, and that younger students seem to be more open to the inquiry-based approach than older students. When students learn this way they are better prepared for today's workplace, where the "right answer" is accessible to all in a digital flash and analytical thinking is a highly valued attribute.    

 Students today are also taught how to work collaboratively in finding answers, another requisite in many professions today.  A technique that ReSET Volunteer Ken Brown uses, which the panel endorses, is opening the class with a statement like "I don't know what we're going to learn today- we'll find out together." Not only does this emphasize collaborative learning, I think it’s spot-on for science experiments with ReSET students, since things can always take an unexpected turn in the classroom. Such an approach can also put teachers at ease, who might not have a science background and feel hesitant about having a STEM "expert" in the classroom.   

ReSET has been expanding to reach younger students – early grades in elementary schools and pre-Kindergarten.  There was discussion of how to present science to younger students; for example, in observing the distance rolling objects travel from ramps of differing slopes, students don’t measure the distance from the toe of the slope, but instead mark the spots the objects stop with masking tape to compare results.     

Another message from the panel is the movement toward "portfolio-based" learning; for example, science is not only addressed in the classroom block of time so designated, but is reinforced in lessons for writing, reading, and math. When I meet my teacher for this fall's program, I'm going to ask if I can help with connecting my experiments to other disciplines.  

ReSET Chosen for 2012-13 Catalogue for Philanthropy: Greater Washington

The Catalogue for Philanthropy: Greater Washington is proud to announce that ReSET has been selected to be featured in the 2012-13 Catalogue. A panel of over 100 expert reviewers from area foundations, corporate giving programs, and peer non-profit organizations evaluated 220 applications; ReSET is one of 74 outstanding nonprofits to be featured this year.

Now in its tenth year, the Catalogue’s mission is to connect caring citizens with worthy community causes. According to Barbara Harman, President and Editor of the Catalogue for Philanthropy: Greater Washington, "Many nonprofits continue to suffer during the slow economic recovery, and the search for support has been intensified by the loss of government (and sometimes of foundation) funding. Individual donors can continue to make a real difference, keeping great organizations afloat during these challenging times.”

The Catalogue tracked $2,792,000 in 2010-11 donations, $1,335,000 to date in 2011-12 (and counting), and $17,667,000 since its inception in 2003. This year the Catalogue celebrates its 10th Anniversary.

From traditional, direct mail catalogues, to innovative online portals, to special events and social media, the Catalogue's goal is to build networks of engaged donors and great nonprofits who will make a difference in new ways, on their terms. It also provides charities with a stamp of approval that tells donors they can invest with confidence because the Catalogue vets its family of nonprofits with great care. 

25,000 individuals and hundreds of family foundations will receive copies of the print Catalogue in November, and others will visit the Catalogue website (cfp-dc.org), or access the Catalogue's customized portal at work. The online Catalogue also connects donors with volunteer opportunities, events, news, videos, and more.

"Charities were selected for excellence, cost-effectiveness, and impact" Harman said. “These are certainly among the best community-based nonprofits in the Washington region.”

The Younger Set

ReSET Volunteer Bob Hauptman reports on his program this term:


I want to tell you of my wonderful experience teaching science to kindergarden children.  First, you should know that it would not have been possible without the participation of two great people - Nsombi Brown, the Georgian Forest science teacher, and Harold Williams, the planetarium coordinator and professor of astronomy at Montgomery College, Takoma Park.  I have been guided by ReSET's key consideration: "To what extent does this activity spark an interest in learning more about science?"  I have long wanted to try kindergarten instead of fourth grade.  My rationale for this is that I believe the window in the brain for learning science is probably still open for six year olds, whereas it may have already closed for ten year olds.  In this regard, I also believe that this window may already be open for children younger than six.  I really need inputs from learning specialists to tell me.  Anyhow, the results exceeded my wildest expectations.  One of the main reasons is that six year olds are more pleasant than ten year olds.  They simply have not learned how to be sassy!  Additionally, they absorb information at least as well as older children, although it remains to be seen how well they retain it.  I did modify my approach slightly; so that although the activities are basically the same, I tried to present them at a simpler level.  My approach, to get them to perform on their own and then to try to get them to explain what is going on, remains basically the same.  Examples of what I did are: can/string phones, fossils, balloons for statics and Newton's reaction law, magnets, the solar system (including a visit to the planetarium, that they loved), the earth and rocks, and simple electric circuits.  I am sure much of what I do duplicates or adds to what Nsombi does, but I am not sure that matters.  I am still in a learning curve; so that, as time goes on, I will make some modifications.  For example, I will explain how plants nourish through their roots by demonstrating the rise of colored water through the fibers of a celery stalk.  I may also drop electric circuits.  I do intend to stay at this school (Will you have me, Nsombi?!) and to maintain contact with these children as they progress through grades.  It is also my intent to continue doing kindergarden and maybe even transition to pre-K.

Aerospace Engineer Stephen Leete  reports on his first classroom session as a ReSET volunteer at a school near his workplace, the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center:

I started my volunteer activity at the nearby Catherine T. Reed Elementary School today. I spent about an hour in the classroom of Mr. Pitts and his 26 fifth grade students. I used the AstroCappella Nine Planets song, powerpoint, and scale model activity. I gave out HST lithographs about the planets. I also talked about the formation of the solar system, detecting exo-planets using the Doppler effect and Kepler’s partial occultations, how Pluto came to be demoted from planet status, and a few other things. It went very well! I had been thinking of showing different satellite orbits, but didn’t get to it.

I’ll be visiting the school’s other fifth grade class with Ms. Mauldin next week, and alternating for a total of six visits (three per teacher), on consecutive Friday afternoons. I am planning on a Sun activity next (AstroCappella’s Sun Song, materials from SOHO, SDO, etc.). Not sure yet what will come after that.