Developing Scientifically-Literate and Caring Students through the Focus of Natural Disasters

It is of utmost importance to expose students to the current happenings in the world around us in an appropriate manner.  The students that I teach live in Fort Walton Beach, FL, so we are inherently familiar with the destruction that can be caused by hurricanes. In fact, Hurricane Ivan created mass destruction in our immediate area and it was a great opportunity to investigate the power of hurricanes in general.  The year that Ivan struck in 2004, we studied hurricanes intensely as a school to learn how a natural disaster happens and what can be done in the future to help prepare for the storm itself and the after effects. We learned together that it is very hard to bounce back from a hurricane, but that if everyone cooperates, it is a much easier process.  This was important because that next year, Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast.  Luckily, our area was not in the direct storm path, but the students at my school were well educated and aware of how this natural law of science could intensely impact lives.  Our school instantly wanted to help with the relief efforts, especially since we could relate so well due to our much smaller experience with Hurricane Ivan. 

We had a community connection to one of the elementary schools in Mississippi and the students really wanted to help.  At that same time, my mother, who teaches 4^th grade in Pennsylvania, contacted me and wanted to know if there was anything that could be done from her school.  We decided to team up with our two schools and raise money to take to the school for supplies.  Through working together, we raised over $3000 and collected a ton of books to give to the school in Mississippi. I was privileged enough to personally deliver it to the elementary school along with my principal and guidance counselor.  The people there were extremely gracious and the money was very much needed.  During my time there, I made a film documentary to bring back to the two schools to show the students how they had helped others.  It was not a very uplifting film to start since the devastation shown was so great.  However, the video ended with the money being delivered to the school and some interviews with the students, teachers, and principal there.  The kids were learning about the great sense of being partners in our community and in the United States.  It was rewarding for all that participated.

This past year, we had a similar experience. I had just finished teaching about tornadoes and the effects that can happen to the environment and people as a result.  We also have been doing many character lessons on being generous and caring through our school’s participation in the Civil Air Patrol Program. This was right before the devastating string of tornadoes that ravaged Alabama. When the students came to school the next day, they were determined to figure out how we could help the victims of the tornadoes, who were also our neighbors. We were about to engage in Penny Wars, a fundraiser to raise money for supplies for the teachers.  One of the teachers remembered that a former faculty member was currently teaching in Tuscaloosa. She contacted her and asked about the devastation of the tornado.  She learned that the school that she taught at in Tuscaloosa had been destroyed and that the teacher could only find and talk to two of her twenty students. The tornadoes had displaced the entire community.  The teacher that initially called to check on our former employee immediately returned to school and suggested that we use the Penny Wars funds to help the relief efforts in Alabama.  Once proposed to the faculty, it was unanimous!  We were going to dedicate this fundraiser to the students on Tuscaloosa. 

Our students were super excited to be helping others, especially having the background knowledge of the devastation that tornadoes can cause as well as what it takes to be a compassionate person.  They cleaned out their piggy banks, checked under the sofa, and did all the chores that they could to raise money towards this devastated school. As a school, we raised just over $1900 to send to the elementary school in Tuscaloosa. The experience was an awesome lesson in the power of being selfless and helping others.  Our students and faculty benefited, as well as the students and faculty in Alabama.  It was another win-win situation.

The key to developing scientifically-literate and caring students is to relate the lessons to real-life situations.  If the students can really understand the science first and how it relates to their world, they will be more inclined to help others.  We need to be sure to use the teachable moments in the face of tragedy and to encourage students to continue to find ways that they can help others, even if they are not sitting in the classroom next to them.  These real world experiences are how we help to create the next generation of a compassionate society.

Finally an Answer....See My Ask a Scientist Response!

Megan, thank you for submitting the following question to the
Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Ask a Scientist website:


How do stem cells decide what type of cell they are going to turn into and what type of cell is the initial one that we start out with in life? As an extension to this question: When a person is given stem cells, do the doctors decide what kind of cells they turn into in advance or does the body of the individual make that decision when the cells enter the human body system based on where there is a need?

Here is a response provided by one of our volunteer scientists:


This is a fabulous question and one that many great minds continue to investigate, because we do not yet know the complete answer. There are three general areas of biology that dictate a cell's fate. The first and most obvious is the DNA. All the information is encoded in the DNA, not only what cell type but how the cell can respond to signals it receives. The second are those signals. Signaling might be something as simple as 'inside' or 'outside'. Those first few divisions of identical cells in a developing embryo produce a ball of cells, with some facing the outside, and some completely surrounded by other cells. That difference triggers a whole new pattern of gene expression in the cells. The outside cells are now destined to become a different tissue than those inside the ball of cells. So, a simple external signal operates an incredibly complicated signal cascade that determines cell fate. The third contribution has only been appreciated recently, and that is that there are molecules carried in the fertilized egg that direct development also. These may be RNA molecules, proteins and enzymes that can alter which genes may be switched on or off, another level of regulation of cell fate.

Stem cell therapy will likely involve replacing or supplementing cells that have already undergone a certain amount of specialization. For example, our skin has many stem cells that for much of our life can constantly replace worn out cells. These skin stem cells are less differentiated than other skin cells, but are different from blood stem cells that replenish the blood. In the laboratory it is possible to take skin stem cells and revert them to an earlier developmental stage. When these stem cells are placed into the right environment they can then form many different types of cells, but not all.
Now, in the healthy person, our own tissues provide cues and support to our own stem cells naturally. The trouble is, that stem therapy is treating something that went wrong. So, the disease could be because the stem cells are all gone (attacked by the own body, they die too soon, or because of damage), the signals are not being sent to the stem cells, or the stem cells can no longer respond properly to the signals. As you can imagine, the stem cell therapy has to be carefully tailored to the specific disease so that any stem cells get to the right place, become the right cell type, they survive and start working properly. This is why to date, stem cell therapy is still only experimental. For more information try the NIH website:
http://stemcells.nih.gov/info/basics/defaultpage.asp


We welcome feedback from you about this answer to your question and
appreciate your interest in Ask a Scientist.


Ask a Scientist Coordinator

Ask a Scientist Question....but No Answer.....

My question for the Ask a Scientist website was: “How do stem cells decide what type of cell they are going to turn into and what type of cell is the initial one that we start out with in life?” As an extension to this question, “When a person is given stem cells, do the doctors decide what kind of cells they turn into in advance or does the body of the individual make that decision when the cells enter the human body system based on where there is a need?”

Unfortunately, I did not hear back from the Ask a Scientist website, so I conducted a Google Search for more information.  I did read on the website http://stemcells.nih.gov/info/basics/basics1.asp that under experimental conditions, they can be induced to become specific tissue or organ cells.  It also mentioned that in other cases, the cells actually know where to go to repair and replace worn out tissue. This answers the second part of my question and tells me that doctors have a limited capability to decide what type of cell it should turn into, as well as the body making that decision.  I have a feeling that in the future doctors will develop more of a control over the decision of what type of cell it needs to turn  into.  I base this on the fact that we are advancing so far in genetic research.

As far as how stem cells decide what type of cell to turn into and when, I could not find a clear answer and am still searching.  This is also the case for the part about which type of cell we start out as.  I am assuming an embryonic stem cell, but I would love to know what they develops into eventually.

I am disappointed that I did not get the answers that I wanted from Ask a Scientist.  I would not use this particular website in my classroom because I think that my students would get frustrated and impatient waiting for answers.  I do however think that a website like this would be useful if the questions were addressed in a timely manner.  As a teacher, it would be great to have access to experts at our fingertips.  I am hoping that I will discover other websites that could be used for this purpose.  If you know of any, please send me their links.

Evaluating Web 2.0 Presentation Tools

When previewing tools to use for my presentation, there were three that really stuck out to me as quality choices.  Prezi 2.0, 280 Slide, and SlideShare all seem like they would be easy to use and beneficial to helping me to publicize my endangered species presentation to the web for others to view and learn from.

Prezi 2.0 seemed extremely easy to use, especially after viewing the tutorial.  I really like that it is a free account.  It also seemed that you had artistic freedom to create an original PowerPoint presentation unlike other that were created from Microsoft PowerPoint.  I like that it had one large canvas to work on and that the tools were located in easy to use places.  I especially liked the editing wheel and how you could use it with text, frames and graphics.  It was also nice that to add text you just had to double-click and a text box appeared.  It seems very user friendly and fun to work with.  I am slightly concerned with the reliability because I have read posts regarding the fact that work was lost or that the professor could not open the presentation.  This does make me rather nervous about choosing this Web 2.0 tool for my presentation. 

It does seem to have tutorials available which would be necessary to get the full benefit of the program. There is a set of videos available to learn more. The equipment required seems to be nothing more than access to the Internet.  You do not need to have PowerPoint already on your computer.  I like that you can upload it for file sharing with others and that you can embed it into a blog. Like mentioned above, it is a free service and I could access it from wherever the Internet is available.  My file could be worked on from home or school and I would not have to worry about a USB drive to transfer the work. The nonlinear format is also very captivating to the audience and you have more creative freedom to design an animated show.  I know that you can embed videos and pictures into the presentation as well.  Using Prezi 2.0 sounds like it would be fun and motivating to the audience, I am just nervous about the comments that I read from our instructor regarding the reliability issues.  I will not be using it for this presentation, but plan on using it for other purposes where the projects are not as extensive.

The second presentation tool that I explored was 280 Slides.  This is also a free service and seems very easy to use.  It is comparable to PowerPoint and lets you create a slide show on the Internet.  There are themes and templates all ready for you to use. I really like that it has a centering line for when you are moving around text and graphics.  It really helps to line things up.  It also is very easy to download videos and pictures directly from the Internet.  I did not found sound options with this program, and I was disappointed because it has so many other bonuses.  The final thing that I really liked about 280 Slides was that you could download your final presentation to a PowerPoint like file.  This makes an easy way to save your slide show, especially if you are going to present it in a place that might not have Internet access. You can also use SlideShare with 280 Slides to allow your presentation to be edited by others.  Finally, you can email your presentation or even get an embedding link to put it directly on your personal website or blog.  This tool has a lot of possibilities.  The only thing that it seems to be lacking is sound capabilities and the fact that in order to share it, you have to use another tool like SlideShare.

The final presentation tool and the one that I like the best is SlideShare.  This Web 2.0 tool allows you to upload your already created PowerPoints to the website.  You can then share them with others, where they can  view your work or you can choose to keep them private. After you upload your PowerPoint, you will also be given a link to embed your presentation into blogs, websites, and social networks.  It is a free service that does not even require a download.  Once you have uploaded your PowerPoint, you can add audio to match your slides, video like YouTube videos or notes.  It seems like the best way to get a PowerPoint onto the web and into the viewing eyes of others.  People can leave you comments and you can even work to make your slide shows better based on real feedback.

Another comforting fact about SlideShare is that it was recently voted one of the World's Top 10 tools for education and elearning. It is regularly used by the Whitehouse and other US government agencies.  If that isn't enough, it is among  the 250 most visited websites in the world.  This really makes me feel good about the reliability.  The kicker for me isthat the CEO of SlideShow is a female and she was named one of the top 10 Women Influencers in Web 2.0.  This credibility makes me trust this presentation tool to the fullest degree.

I really feel that using PowerPoint to start my presentation and then uploading it to SlideShare to add audio, video and notes will be my best option.  I really like the sharing capabilities and the fact that I can use it easily with the PowerPoint that I already utilize in my classroom.  It is easy to use, free and dependable.  The ratings and feedback from the use of this presentation tool are very positive.  I am excited to use it to enhance my presentation.  SlideShare gets my vote for the best Web 2.0 tool!

21 Century Topics and Tools: Physical vs. Chemical Changes in Matter

The topic that I chose to investigate is the difference between a physical and chemical changes.  Students are constantly exposed to these types of changes in matter in their everyday lives.  It is important that they learn to be aware of how these changes differ as well as how these changes can benefit us in the real world.

There are many 21st century learning tools that we as teachers need to be sure to expose our students to using. Perhaps one of the most pertinent tools is the effective use of a computer.  Through my searching, I have found numerous websites that engage the students in the inquiry process, as well as enhance the understanding of the difference between a physical and chemical change.  These websites can be used in a whole class setting or on an individual basis.  Either way, the sites are created to empower the students to solve a problem or answer questions related to changes in matter.  The interactive features are important for that instant feedback and are necessary to motivate the students to want to explore more.

The first website that I found to enhance the 21st Century skills is   Physical and chemical changes. It includes a lesson plan with a link to a very informative PowerPoint that can be displayed to the students on a SMARTBoard. The PowerPoint focuses on the difference between physical and chemical changes and then poses examples at the end for students to distinguish between the real world things that are happening. By going beyond the textbook and involving technology, the students' interests will be piqued and they will be encouraged to synthesize happenings that occur all around them.

Another really good website is Chem4Kids.com: Matter: Chemical vs. Physical Changes. This website contains information on chemical and physical changes and it is presented in a magazine like format.  It would be a great way to give the kids some background on these two types of changes before the formal lesson is taught.  It would support the understanding as well as add to the students' technology skills.  You could have the students type in the web address and read about changes in matter.  To further develop their technology skills, you could have them open a Microsoft Word document and make a bulleted list of five things that were learned while reading.  This would help them to relate when the actual lesson is taught.     
  
As far as a follow-up activity to the topic of chemical and physical changes, I found a terrific interactive website that the students could explore individually.  It includes a quick review of the types of changes, as well as a practice quiz where the students click on the type of change that is occurring.  The site is  Physical and Chemical Changes. There is also a writing activity at the end where the students put the difference between a physical and chemical change into their own words. This tool will allow the students to analyze their own thinking and make connections to the experiences that they have personally had with chemical and physical changes.  Also, the students will be looking at common changes and will be able to relate to these happenings in a safe and structured environment of a computer-generated question.

Finally, the best website that I found for the enhancement of scientific literacy and 21st century skills was BBC - Schools Science Clips - Reversible and irreversible changes. This is a virtual laboratory where the students are able to investigate and discover how different changes are reversible, as well as which changes cannot be undone. This tool encompasses all that 21st century skills demand.  It requires them to have the basic technology skills to operate a computer, as well as to have the scientific method basis that is needed to successfully discover if a change is chemical or physical.  The items that are tested are everyday household items and the situations are relevant to the students' lives. By allowing the students to design their own experiment in order to construct personal meaning of the two types of changes, they will be more prepared for future scientific inquiry activities.

In my classroom, we investigate the difference between chemical and physical changes.  I definitely plan on using the virtual laboratory tool described above. Using this tool aids understanding of the concept in many ways.  First, there is not a dangerous experiment that I need to be worried about. Some of the setups featured on this website involve heating and cooling of different items.  This can be a safety concern in the elementary classroom.  Second, the students have many more opportunities to explore with different situations. It would not be feasible to set up all of these discovery stations in an hour science lab. The students can quickly pose questions and answer them using this virtual laboratory. Time is a huge factor and many of the investigations featured on this website would take a long period of time to conduct in real life.  Due to the power of the digital world, changes can be sped up.  This allows the students to explore many more types of changes in a shorter period of time.  The benefits of using this website are plentiful. The students will be thoroughly engaged due to the fact that they are controlling their own personal learning.

The main challenge that I think I would face in integrating this tool is that there is only one computer lab in my school.  I would have to make sure to schedule the use of that lab in advance to ensure that I could have access to a computer for each of my students.  If I was really in a pinch, I could use the SMARTBoard and conduct this as a whole class activity, however it would not be near as meaningful because the students would not be given the freedom to explore to their individual curiosities.

Science is best taught and learned when meaningful connections can be made. All of the sites listed above foster an engaging and motivating presentation of chemical versus physical changes. This physical science concept can seem very abstract if the students are not given a way to synthesize the information and construct meaning that it relevant to their personal lives. Using 21st century tools helps to bridge the gap between conveying information and challenging the students. With the Internet, the possibilities abound!

The Heat Is On!

For this week's experiment with heat transfer, I chose the following four materials to investigate as insulators: paper (paper towel), plastic (baggie), cloth (cotton dishrag), and aluminum foil. These materials were selected because of their different makeup of particles.  For example, the paper towel and cloth had tiny holes where air and heat could have escaped during the experiment.  The plastic had a very solid particle makeup, along with the aluminum foil.  I thought that the plastic would be the best insulator because it seemed to be able to create the tightest seal over the hot water. Upon conducting this experiment, I found that the aluminum foil worked as the best insulator to keep the water the warmest.  My hypothesis, the plastic baggie, came in second place.  The experiment's results made perfect sense because the whole purpose behind using aluminum foil is to keep hot foods warm and cold foods cool.

If I were to conduct this experiment again, I think that I would like to test out saran wrap as an insulator.  I think that it would be a good choice because it is used along the same lines as aluminum foil.  I also think that it would help to trap the heat and keep the water warm.  Another material that would be interesting to test would be rubber.  I have a rubber glove that I use to do dishes.  I wonder if the rubber would be a better insulator than the aluminum foil.  My hypothesis would be that the rubber is the thickest of the other insulators and would have more material to help insulate the hot water.  This would be an interesting extension to this lesson.

If I were to set this experiment up in my classroom, I would gather a bunch of materials that could potentially be used to test as insulators. I would set up the parameters the same, however I would introduce the experiment the day before and show the students the materials that I planned on providing.  To make this activity a little more fun and exciting, I would turn it into a competition telling the students that the group that can keep the water the hottest after thirty minutes will receive a prize.  Also, to engage them further, I would allow the students to bring in any insulating material that they have at home to use for the experiment.  This would provide the opportunity for those that are especially intrigued to go home and hunt for additional materials to test out.  Another way that I would make this relevant to the students' lives would be to set a purpose for the experiment.  I would type up a scenario that explains that reason for wanted to keep this water hot as long as possible.  A real world reason could include the delivery of soup to a sick person's house or even the delivery of a top secret liquid to a special science laboratory that is thirty minutes away.  As the liquid cools, it loses important enzymes and the students would need to deliver it as warm as possible.  These would be two possible situations that would give the students a purpose in this activity that has meaning.

From doing this activity, the students would learn what materials make good insulators, as well as the different ways that heat transfer occurs. More specifically, I would hope that the students would be able to apply this knowledge to their personal lives when needing to keep something hot. I also want to provide the students with hands on experiences that they can draw from when they are confronted with questions about conduction, convection current, radiation, insulators and conductors.  If the students can form these mental connections, the chances are greater that they will internalize the material and perform better on tests. We are just finishing up a study on heat transfer and I really think that my students have learned a lot because of the experiments and inquiry that have been done in the classroom.  For example, we checked different materials of hats to find the best insulator for your head.  This is a great extension to the above activity, especially to see if the material that insulates a mug the best is the same material that insulates your head most effectively.

In conclusion, this experiment taught me first-hand the insulating potential of different material.  It also intrigued me to ask questions and to make further extensions based on the initial inquiry.  Finally, it was easier for me to make connections when reading the definitions of conduction, convection current and radiation because I had seen some of the heat transfers in this experiment, especially conduction and the convection current. What a simple activity to produce so many additional discoveries and questions!

Guided Inquiry: Which pendulum will come to rest more quickly?

This week I investigated the question of what size pendulum will come to rest more quickly.  To perform this experiment, I collected all of the materials.  This included two different sized washers (one small and one large), string, a ruler, a desk, a timer, and a pencil.  The setup included measuring out 30 centimeters of string and tying one end onto a pencil that is taped off of the edge of a desk.  The other end of the string was tied to a paperclip that was engineered into a hook.  This initial setup made it very easy to attach the different washers without having to worry about the length of the string varying.

During the experiment, I tested each different size by timing how long the pendulum took to stop swinging.  Each time I would make the string taut and raise the washer to the edge of the desk.  I would then let the string go and start the timer to see how long it would take to stop moving.  I repeated this test with each size washer three times.  After I collected all of my data, I averaged the results to find the answer to the question of if a large or small washer would come to rest more quickly.  My results were that the smaller washer came to rest a lot faster than the larger washer.  This was my initial hypothesis based on my knowledge of momentum and that fact that the larger washer had more mass.  I know that momentum is the product of velocity and mass, so with more mass there would have to be more momentum.  My hypothesis was supported in that the smaller washer stopped swinging faster than the larger washer.

While I was conducting the experiment, everything went well and it was easy to conduct and record my results.  I initially had two different pendulums, one with the smaller washer and a different one with the larger washer.  It was very hard to make sure that the string was the same length.  That was when I decided to use one string and a paperclip to help keep that variable the same.  It was frustrating when I was trying to tie on the separate washers.  I had the same length of string measured out, but my knots were not identical.  When I revamped my initial setup, I had on problems during the experiment.  Also, I was going to use a ruler to see how high to drop the pendulum, but I decided to simplify that by going from the edge of the desk.  This was a great choice because I know that not having to measure to a certain height each time would be easier for my fourth graders. All they have to do is pull the string tight and raise it to the desk and let go.  The simpler the better.

Based on my past experience with scientific inquiry, a modification to get a different result could be to focus on the length of the string.  If I were to stay with the same size washer and just change the string length, we could investigate if the length of the string affects the amount of time that the pendulum swings.  This would be a different variable to test.  We could also keep the length and the washer the same and change the height from which we start the pendulum.  That would also produce different results.  The children would find out the at the greater the potential energy stored, the more kinetic energy will be released.  That would be a great connection between momentum and potential versus kinetic energy.

I would set this experiment up in my classroom in the exact manner that I did the experiment.  I had my students in mind when I designed the guided inquiry activity because I always like to make things relevant to the fourth graders that I teach.  I think that it would be fun to try three different washers:  small, medium and large, and collect data on all three.  I also think that it would be fun for the kids to measure the mass of the washers using a triple beam balance before they conduct the experiment.  This way they would also get practice manipulating this very important scientific tool.  After answering the initial question, it would be really neat to propose to the student the challenge of creating a pendulum that will swing the longest and having a class competition.  They love to be challenged and really like working towards a goal.  I would set it up as if they were designing a new amusement park ride and the people that were hiring them wanted to get the longest ride possible from the initial drop.  All of the students have schema related to an amusement park and this would engage them.  The only catch would be that the experiment would have to be able to be replicated numerous times in front of the class.  This would encourage them to record their data.  I plan on using this activity when we do our lesson on forces in the spring.

Specifically, I would like the students to understand that the more mass an object has the more momentum it will produce.  I would also like them to see that energy can be stored and released.  I achieved this goal through my discovery during the experiment.  I am certain that my students will see the results as well.  I especially would encourage the use of a balance to measure the mass of the washers prior to the experiment.  I know that the students can see that one has more mass, but I really would like to reinforce the use of the triple beam balance as well.  Hopefully, upon completion of this activity, the students will bring momentum to life and will be reminded of the science behind rides the next time they get on a pirate ship at an amusement park.