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Instructional Strategies
Inquiry Based Learning
Technology
Integration Research, Journal Keeping and Writing
Information Sources, Resources and Assessment Science
Fair and Other Programs Differentiation
Technology Integration
CD-ROM Technology (many are available)
Science Court by Tom Snyder is one effective example of programs availabe. Science Court is a CD-ROM series that mixes courtroom drama, hands-on activities and humor to teach students fundamental science concepts, and to model good scientific practice.
With Science Court students:
- Analyze and discuss scientific concepts
- Perform hands-on experiments
- Overcome common misconceptions
- Work cooperatively in groups
Science Court Titles:
- Third Grade: Work and Simple Machines, Living Things
- Fourth Grade: Water Cycle, Fossils, Soil
- Fifth Grade: Electric Current, Particles in Motion
- Sixth Grade: Gravity, Inertia, Statistics
Tom Snyder Software information can be found at the following internet site:
http://www.tomsnyder.com/
Microscopes
Microscopes are an essential part of many hands-on experiences for the 6th grade core. They can open up new worlds revealing life and structures of matter. Microscopes with high magnification are quite expensive. Fortunately, cheaper and more student friendly microscopes are widely available. Some of the activities in the TRB call for microscopes. It will be necessary to begin a purchasing program in your school, probably a few at a time, until a classroom set of microscopes can be collected. If you are having difficulty locating, purchasing or otherwise procuring microscopes, contact your district personnel. They may be able to help with an inter-school loan or your district might start a program to have sets available to share.
ScalerScope
The ScalerScope is a portable, hand-held device (held like a telephone) used to observe things that would be hard to place under a microscope. When placed on an object, the ScalerScope will magnify about 30X. You can see the fibers in clothing and carpet, hair and hair follicles on your skin, a live insect close up, the parts of a flower, and many other things for scientific investigations. The cord of the ScalerScope is connected into a computer port. Whatever you are looking at can be seen on the computer screen. If you want the whole class to see what is on the computer screen, the computer can be connected to a projection unit to be viewed on a big screen. The ScalerScope has a snapshot system to take pictures that can be saved on your computer. It has a stand that makes it stable so it can be programmed to take time-lapse pictures of things as often as you want. It can even be programmed to take pictures rapidly for a few seconds to make a small movie. The possibilities are endless.
Student Cam/Flex Cam
It has always been hard for teachers to show experiments on a desktop. Instead of having the students gather around a table to observe the teacher's experiments, the Student Cam can be used to show, on a big screen, what the teacher is doing. The Student Cam has a small camera connected to the end of a flexible neck that is connected to a sturdy base. The Student Cam can be brought as close to or as far away from the experiments as desired, depending on what you want students to view. It even has a microphone near the camera, so the teacher doesn't have to keep looking up at the class for his/her voice to be heard. The cords at the base of the Student Cam can be connected either to a projection unit or a computer for viewing. Lenses can be changed where objects can be magnified to be viewed on the screen. The camera end can be placed over a microscope eyepiece so everyone can see and discuss what is on the microscope lens.
Digital Camera
The digital camera is a technology tool that can document and collect data for student projects in science. The digital camera can help students record science adventures, identify and classify seasons, compare and contrast the weather, and create science multimedia presentations.
Science Internet Resources
Science Internet Resources can assist teachers and students in finding and exploring current science information at their fingertips. Below are a few ideas where to begin:
- Utah Science Home Page
Go to grade level links and find internet resources that support the Utah Science Core Curriculum. - Exploritorium
Take a virtual field trip to the Exploritorium in San Francisco that creates a culture of learning through innovative environments, programs, and tools that help people to nurture their curiosity about the world around them. - BrainPOP
This is an educational site for animated movies on science concepts for teachers and students to view on demand. - Frank Potter's Science Gems
Over 14,000 great links to great science resources covering physical science, life science, and earth science. Links are sorted by category, subcategory, and grade level.
AppleWorks Student Projects
Through integrated science lessons, students can gain content, apply critical thinking, and use technology tools to develop student projects. Students can gather information and organize their thoughts and communicate those thoughts through their projects. Examples of student project ideas and templates such as posters, brochures, newspapers, postcards, mini books, trading cards, time lines and vocabulary cards can be found at: http://t4.jordan.k12.ut.us/teacher_resources/project_templates/index.html
Scoring Rubrics for Student Projects
A scoring rubric can be a helpful tool for teachers to score a student science project. So a rubric for a multimedia project will list the things the student must have included to receive a certain score or rating. The following internet site is a quick on-line tool for teachers to create rubrics.
http://rubistar.4teachers.org/
http://www.uen.org/rubric/
Magnification Technology
The first word in the first objective in the Microorganism Benchmark is the word "observe." Since most individual microorganisms can only be seen with the aid of magnification, modes of magnification are an important consideration in exploring these organisms.
The concept of magnification can be taught with things as simple as a drop of water. Placing a transparency sheet over print and then placing a drop of water over a letter will demonstrate magnification through a simple lens. A few drops of water in a small metal washer (sealed with petroleum jelly) on a microscope slide become a portable lens for enlarging objects. Using measurement of actual and magnified images students can even calculate the magnification power of drops of water.
Commercial simple magnifiers are readily available and inexpensive (from less than a dollar to $20 lighted models). Because they are available to every student they can be used very effectively for exploring magnification. Magnification powers usually vary from 2x to 20x although those in the lower range are most common. Again, students can use measurements to determine the power of their lenses. They can also explore the effect of using two or more lenses at the same time. What is the mathematical relationship between the power of each lens and the cumulative power of additional lenses?
The technology of simple magnifiers has been enhanced in such devices as the Discoveryscope, a hand held magnifier with a lens, focus tube, and chamber or slide holder for examining live specimens. These 10x devices cost about $35 and are excellent for observing small macroorganisms and borderline microorganisms.
Although handmade and commercial simple magnifiers are useful in teaching the concept of magnification, they do not have the magnification power necessary to make good observations about microorganisms. Compound microscopes are necessary to observe any details of living microbes. Compound scopes are constructed with two lenses in series. The eyepiece lens is usually 10x and the adjustable objective lenses (there are usually three) are usually 10x, 20x, and 40x. Therefore, the resulting possible powers are usually 100x, 200x, and 400x. More advanced compound scopes may have a 100x objective lens, giving a high power of 1000x. The standard three objective lens scope will suffice in the sixth grade classroom. The 1000x scopes are primarily for bacteria. However, with some rather difficult staining techniques little can be seen about bacteria except their shape and arrangement, observations of bacteria are best done with colonies, (i.e., petri plates), etc.
Compound scopes vary in price from $100 to $1,000 and up. In scopes you usually do get what you pay for, so most intermediate scopes will be $ 300 and up. There are several features to look for when purchasing compound scopes. Many classroom scopes are monocular (observer uses only one eye), but binocular (observer sees the image with both eyes) scopes are available. Teaching scopes, those with a traditional slanted eyepiece for the student and a vertical eyepiece for another observer, can be very useful. Many microorganisms are mobile and when a student is waving "come see" and wants to share his/her find, microbes often are out of view by the time another can see them. These dual-viewing heads greatly facilitate asking and answering questions. Another feature that is very helpful is a built-in light source rather than a mirror for directing some accessory light source. Light is a very important element in viewing microorganisms.
Microscopes like the Brock Magiscope and the Wolfe Wonderscope are durable, user-friendly compound scopes. They have only one eyepiece and objective lens and focus easily by sliding the lens tube up and down. Built-in ambient light collectors (no cords) make these scopes easy to use anywhere, both inside and out. Although they do not have the higher power of traditional compound scopes, by changing the eyepiece and/or objective lenses, magnifications of 20x (basic), 50x, 100x, and 200x are possible. These scopes ($90-$150) are about one-third the cost of traditional compound scopes.
It is probably accurate to say that efforts to observe microorganisms in the typical classroom are not limited by the technology but by the cost of the technology. What do you do if you do not have a classroom set of microscopes?
- Set up a single compound microscope in a learning center.
- Use a single compound microscope to explore with small groups while others are exploring some other aspects of microorganisms, research, etc.
- Although video microscopy systems are quite costly ($600-$2000 for camera to accessories including microscope, etc.), they can be very effective in the sixth grade classroom. These systems consist of a special video camera that mounts to a microscope and projects anything that is on the scope to a television screen. Although not quite as hands-on as student scopes, these systems have the advantage of everyone seeing everything. The teacher can touch the cilia of a Paramecium on the screen rather than trying to adjust the view for every scope in the room. The images can be recorded and saved for student presentations, review, or as a future teaching source. As with traditional compound scopes, a dual-headed teaching model scope is useful in that the teacher can look through the scope while the camera is attached.
- Another versatile whole class technology is the desktop microvideo camera. Reminiscent of a gooseneck lamp, these consist of a base with a video camera on a flexible arm. As a "point and aim" instrument they can be used to show macro objects, or they can be placed over a microscope eyepiece to display microbes on a television screen. These cameras cost from $600 up. They do not include a microscope, but packages are available.
- Self-contained digital microscopes enable the teacher to display microscope images on either a television screen, a computer monitor, or both simultaneously. These range in price from $800 to over $1,500.
- Although viewing living microorganisms is certainly the most exciting and educationally sound way of observing microorganisms, some alternative technologies can be very effective. These include videos, CDs, and the Internet. These technologies have captured images that many students or teachers might never see with such clarity. Even if microscopes are used, these sources can provide excellent pre- and post viewing support.
Audio-Visual Resources and Computer Software
This listing is intended to inform teachers of materials that are available statewide. Audio-visual materials and computer software programs are often available through school districts and local media centers. If such materials are available locally, individual distribution centers are encouraged to use this opportunity to correlate their materials to the ESCC and distribute this compolation to the teachers they serve.
For each title, provide the following information:
Recommended Grade Level:
Core Topic:
Title:
Author:
Production Date:
Price: Purchase: Rental:
Local Supplier:
(This is particularly important if it is available through the public library system.)
Summarize content: (25-50 words)