COU RT ESY O F LY N N HO GU E/T ER R IF IC SCIEN CE
EDUCATI ON
KIDS’ BOOKS EASE PATH TO SCIENCE ACS MEETING NEWS: When linked with children’s literature, science grows less intimidating for elementary school teachers SOPHIE L. ROVNER, C&EN WASHINGTON
“ELEMENTARY SCHOOL teachers are very
continue to teach comfortable teaching reading and language the course through arts skills, but they are not very comfortable Terrific Science, a with science,” according to Lynn M. Hogue, Cincinnati-based an educational consultant who recently business they run that retired from her position as associate direcprovides professional tor of the Center for Chemistry Education development for teach(CCE) at Miami University, in Ohio. ers throughout the U.S. The solution? Use children’s books to The company’s bridge the gap between the two subjects. website features links to The idea is to draw on teachers’ strengths several resources, includin literature instruction “and then bridge ing “Teaching Physical over to science experiments that go with Science through Children’s the literature,” according to Hogue. ElLiterature.” Written by Sarquis and ementary teachers who are interested in two colleagues, the book offers 20 lessons the technique attend training sessions for teaching hands-on, discovery-oriented held around the country, during which physical science using children’s fiction and they carry out experiments that their stunonfiction books as an integral part of the dents will later perform. In instruction. learning how to teach the The Terrific Science webexperiments to students, site also offers an extensive the teachers get past their list of children’s books that own fear of science and can be linked to specific scieven experience some of its ence activities and topics. pleasures. One example is “Seven Blind Hogue described the sciMice,” which Hogue deence-literature method durscribed as an adaptation of ing a symposium on teachthe classic tale about blind ing science to elementary men trying to identify an teachers, which was part of elephant by touch. the Division of Chemical In the associated exTOUCHY-FEELY “Seven Education’s program at last Blind Mice,” a book in which periment, known as “Feely month’s American Chemical mice use touch to identify Balloons,” the teacher fills an elephant. Society national meeting in balloons—out of sight of the Boston. students—with substances The sci-lit method was desuch as dry beans, rice, or veloped in the early 1990s by CCE staff and corn starch and then ties them off. “The chilclassroom teachers; the project was funded dren then have to manipulate the balloons by the Ohio Board of Regents and the Naand use their sense of touch to decide what is tional Science Foundation. Hogue and forin each of the balloons,” Hogue said. The exmer CCE director Arlyne (Mickey) Sarquis perience accustoms children to making ob-
The idea is to draw on teachers’ strengths in literature instruction “and then bridge over to science experiments.” WWW.CEN-ONLINE.ORG
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SEPTEMBER 20, 2010
SCENTED SCIENCE “Is Your Mama
a Llama?” describes a young llama’s search for its mother by sense of smell. In an associated experiment, kids take a whiff of balloons filled with various aroma compounds.
servations and comparisons, which are key skills needed in science. In the experiment “Scent of a Mystery,” a couple of drops of extracts such as peppermint or vanilla are placed in balloons that are then blown up and tied off. Children pass the balloons around and try to recognize the scent. In the related book, “Is Your Mama a Llama?” a young llama searches for its mother—a task that depends on the sense of smell for many animals. IN ANOTHER EXPERIMENT, kids tie two
pieces of string to a wire hanger, put the ends of the strings in their ears, and then bang the hanger on a table. The resulting vibrations make the apparatus sound like Big Ben when it chimes. During a training session in Conroe, Texas, the teachers enjoyed devising testable questions associated with the various experiments, Hogue said. In the Big Ben experiment, for instance, they tested the effects of padding the hanger, changing the length of the string, and using plastic bottles attached to the ends of the string as amplifiers. Upon returning to their own classrooms, the teachers encouraged their students to come up with similar testable questions. They also incorporated writing instruction into the lessons by teaching the students to record their observations. Hogue and Sarquis evaluated children before and after the kids went through the program. Initially, when asked to sketch a scientist, they drew a stereotypical mad scientist. “But after the program,” Hogue said, “a lot of them drew themselves.” ■
