How Teacher Professional Development Influences Student Learning: Force and Motion by Eileen Hynes

Research in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Math) learning has a lot to say about what makes for effective, engaging STEM education. Among the key factors: it capitalizes on students’ early interests and experiences, identifies and builds on what they know, and provides opportunities to engage in the practices of science and mathematics to sustain their interest. In other words, throughout their schooling, students should learn to investigate questions about the world that they come across in daily life, in much the same way that scientists and mathematicians do. (successfulSTEMeducatgion.org)

The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) Framework goes on to emphasize that: “…learning about science and engineering involves integration of the knowledge of scientific explanations (i.e., content knowledge) and the practices needed to engage in scientific inquiry and engineering design. Thus the framework seeks to illustrate how knowledge and practice must be intertwined in designing learning experiences in K–12 science education.”

A Teacher's Perspective

What was your favorite study this year at school?  For me it has to be the classic answer, “The one we are in right now”.  Isn’t that the truth?  As teachers there is so much to enjoy in our thematic approach at Lake and Park. It allows for creativity, collaboration, thoughtful study and personal expression.  It is important for us to embrace flexibility and be responsive to children’s needs and interests.  In many ways we never feel finished, though it is exciting to begin again and watch the momentum build as each child engages in a new topic in their own way.  I admire the courage I witness every day as children take the risk and delve into answering an open-ended exploration. “Is water alive?” or “What might happen when we roll two different size balls down the same track?”

Teachers at Lake and Park are asked to take risks also.  We delve into subjects that may not be an area of expertise and we learn alongside the children.  We are asked to try new things; we challenge ourselves and support each other.  Our study of physics and the evolution of scientific thought is an example of learning by doing for all of us.

Meaningful Professional Enrichment

In the summer of 2015 Quynh Cao and I were by the National Science Teachers Association  to participate in a weeklong training program, The National Teachers Academy.   We flew to Nw Jersey in late July and spent a week at the Liberty Science Center with teachers from forty-eight states, working through ideas about best practices in teaching science as they relate to the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS).  The focus of our week was Newton’s Laws of Force and Motion.  It was an engaging week of hands-on exploration and we knew the children at Lake and Park would learn so much during a study centered around this topic.

Laying the Groundwork

When Quynh and I sat down to begin planning the study for Lake and Park we thought about Newton in a historical context:  Newton was born in 1642. Who were the scientists that influenced him and how has scientific thought continued to develop since then?  We knew literature groups could engage in learning about the lives and contributions of scientists.  Are there any universal character traits of scientists?
    As we posed these questions in our various classrooms:  What do scientists do?  How are they alike?.   Initial responses were long.   Details were added as knowledge grew.  Students began to identify when they were taking on some of these traits themselves.

Data collection 

Structure for Exploration

 Quynh took the lead running the Physics Lab.   Each day she set up different experiences and materials for students to explore.  Teacher led group discussions guided inquiry. Quynh was careful to ask questions, rather than telling the "why",  thereby not revealing too much, making sure that the vital discovery piece, so pivotal to deeper understanding was reserved for each child. Students observed, collected data, made hypotheses, and experimented while working collaboratively in small groups. This approach was student driven, based on an individual’s curiosity and experience.  Room--time and space-- was provided for student-led discoveries.

Scientific Sharing

While Quynh worked with classes throughout the school,  her homeroom students worked with me to create demonstrations that illustrated a principle or explored a law or conducted an experiment.   Projects were developed and tested in class.   As the oldest students were asked to present their work to others, the opportunities for peer teaching and  for guiding younger students brought social skills into play.  

Developing Historical Context

Quynh’s class also read and discussed the evolution of scientific thinking with Camille Hayward, reading several books on Galileo, Newton and Einstein as a means of learning about the history of scientific thought. This was a wonderful opportunity for Camille to work directly with the Intermediate students.  Across the grades, students read biographies of the scientists mentioned above and  many others  The study contained many highlights as well as collective and individual “Aha” moments.

Physics on Wheels Comes to Lake and Park

As a part of this unit, The Pacific Science Center Physics on Wheels program came to school for a day.  The visit included individual classroom workshops and a lab space filled with demonstrations and experiments.    

Newton's Rainbow Made More Evident

The Hawking Family worked at home to master Newton’s rainbow, and then demonstrated the experiment they had created to small groups of children. This inspired further investigation into light and color and optics.

"Tinker Lab"

Maudie James and I developed a space for the whole student population to "tinker in".  Equipped with tape and tubes and pulleys and hooks, marbles and velcro, The Tinker Lab remains busy most days with children creating inventions, and working on challenges involving force, motion, and velocity. Thank you to everyone for making it possible by cleaning out closets and garages and sharing your treasures and purchasing tape.  After making an invention or machine, children draw a model of it and tell a teacher about it so that ideas are written down.  Often the project is named. Those who can write, describe it in their own terms.

Gaining Background on Dr. Hawking

When we came together to share and celebrate our common learning, George told us about Hawking's current work to which George had been introduced to this spring.  He graciously answered questions.

 Asking a Scientist

As the study was coming to a close we had one more amazing opportunity.  As each class learned about working scientist Dr.  Stephen Hawking we were invited to submit some questions to him directly for his consideration.  He will respond back to our specific queries.

We will gather as a school in the fall to hear his replies to such thoughts as:  What would happen if the earth stopped spinning?  Do black holes benefit earth in anyway?  If you could explore anywhere, where would you go?
  

                                                     Timeline of Scientific Thinking

The Upper Primary students each researched a specific scientist, from Archimedes to Hawking, creating a timeline of scientific thinking which they presented at an All School Meeting. By this point, everyone was working as a scientist. It was exciting to take a moment to look around the room and wonder who might possibly make the next major scientific breakthrough at some point in the future. 

Science Fair

On the same day as the Timeline Presentation students visited the Science Fair as presented by Quynh’s class. 

Big Ball Play

The day ended with children rolling very big balls out in the grassy meadow of Mt. Baker Park and riding bikes, perhaps with a greater understanding of how that bicycle stays upright when in motion and why that ball might come to a stop.

As for this summer?  I know teachers are planning on more professional development experiences, exploration and reflection.   

We shall not cease from exploration

And the end of all our exploring

Will be to arrive where we started

And know the place for the first time.

Through the unknown, remembered gate

When the last of earth left to discover

Is that which was the beginning;

At the source of the longest river

The voice of the hidden waterfall

And the children in the apple-tree

Not known, because not looked for

But heard, half-heard, in the stillness

Between two waves of the sea.

T.S. Eliot from Four Quartets

The Globally Competent Child - An Educator's role in Fostering Tomorrow's Global Steward by Eileen Hynes

Curiosity Cabinet ready to begin a new unit of study.

In Educating for Global Competence, Veronica Boix-Mansilla, and Anthony Jackson define global competence as “the capacity and disposition to understand and act on issues of global significance.” The Asia Society website goes on to explain: In this context, the word "global" refers not just to different places on the planet, but to the great variety of interconnected people, cultures, ideas, problems, and opportunities that constitute all human experience. The globally competent student learns how to synthesize information and ideas from many sources and perspectives, and makes well-informed decisions to act on what is learned. It is this constellation of knowledge, disposition, and action that characterizes Global Leadership.

 

At what age can a child begin to practice this awareness? At Lake and Park School, we focus on a child-centered approach, anchoring a child’s investigation of the world with interactive and concrete materials, while at the same time encouraging them to follow their curiosity.  Children naturally seek out fairness and justice within the classroom community, but we do not feel they should take on the problems of the adult world. Our concern is that the complex realities of a difficult world may upset the safe learning environment that is essential to maintaining a place where every child can thrive.  A sense of security comes from the physical environment and also from the social-emotional realm.  As we learn to practice empathy within our community, there are times when the need to act within the larger world comes to the surface.  Our work this spring raising funds to build a well at KM 48 Primary School in Paksong, Laos was one of these times. What made it irresistible was the certainty that the Lake and Park students would be instrumental in forming a solution to a problem that had become meaningful to them.

Easel painting of the well in Laos.

This spring several different opportunities came together to create a powerful learning experience for everyone in the Lake and Park Community.  What began as a study of immigration blossomed into an investigation of identity, refugees, and access to clean water - a basic human need. We connected with local resources; the World Affairs Council of Seattle and The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and Jhai Coffee House in Laos.  We had planned a study of Ireland and the history of Irish immigration to the United States the previous summer.  As usual, the responsiveness and collaboration of the teaching team, the involvement of our parent community, and an awareness of global issues came together to influence the evolution of this multilayered study.

Primary Class brainstorming about identity.

Early in the study, the focus was on identity. How do we define who we are?  Where did we come from? How did we get here? Family Trees were created in many different ways throughout the school.  Students used a variety of art materials; paints, crayons, collage and photos to compile personal family trees.  There was a lot of discussion about why people move from place to place. Both positive reasons like opportunity and education or adventure and difficult reasons like war, hunger, and a search for a safe place to raise a family arose and were considered. As we created a shared vocabulary to talk about our personal stories we also established a means to talk respectfully about another person’s situation with compassion.

Parents and friends came to tell their family stories.

We asked, what might we do to ease the transition for someone coming to Seattle today?
"Invite the person to play," answered Marjerie Lamarre after sharing her story of
moving from Haiti to New York as a young person..

Children in the Beginning Class share a potato snack while
learning about Ireland.

Using the Irish immigration to the United States in the late 1800’s as a focus, many fiction, and non-fiction picture books were shared.  Chapter books about Ellis Island and immigration were read, and students wrote their fictional stories inspired by historical photographs.  A visit to the Wing Luke Museum of Asian American Identity leads to thinking about Seattle’s position on the world map and reasons it was a gateway for Asian immigration to the United States.

Role playing life in the New York tenemants
 at the Nordic Heritage Museum 

Sketching in the market at the Wing Luke Museum

An invitation to visit the Gates Foundation came at the perfect time to further investigate people’s access to clean water. When basic human needs are not met, people have to leave their homes, often becoming refugees. The World Affairs Council Citizen Essay topic for 2016, asking students to think critically as global citizens by addressing one of the most critical issues of our time: the worldwide water crisis, directly related to our visit and the research students could do at the Gates Foundation.

On the Seattle Monorail traveling to the Gates Foundation.

Students took notes for their speeches while working
 at the Gates Foundation.

Feeling the weight of a bucket of water brings deeper
understanding.

Sharing water crisis solutions with the whole school.

Each student researched and wrote a speech.

Students in the upper grades all wrote speeches in response to the proposed topic,"Worldwide water crises are among the most critical  concerns of this century. You have successfully applied for a large grant from the Gates Foundation to address a pressing global water issue. What is the main issue that you will address with the grant and why?" .  Their speeches were shared with the entire school creating a meaningful opportunity to practice public speaking skills.  Everyone across the grades began to think about the importance of water.

Earth Day collage created by a student in the Primary Class.

Collages, poetry, and paintings were created expressing individual understanding about the necessity for clean water.  

Posters were created to remind classmates about the Read-a-Thon.

It was about this time that we learned about the philanthropic work Tyson Adams was doing in Laos through his business, Jhai Coffee House.  He was using the profits from his coffee sales to build wells in schoolyards across Laos.  Once a well is in place, Tyson goes to the school and teaches the children the importance of good sanitation to prevent illness.  The students at Lake and Park already had learned that diarrhea and other diseases caused by unclean water were the major cause of illness and death for children under five around the world.  If we could raise $2000, we could pay for a well.  We could make a positive difference in the world.

Students used Nat Geo's Mapmaker Interactive
 to learn more about Laos.

Classes began to learn about the country of Laos, through map exploration, websites, books, and video. Everyone became more curious about this faraway place we had never really thought about before.  We exchanged videos with Tyson; classes recorded questions they had and Tyson answered them on a video we shared at school.

Students keep track of books read for the read-a-thon.

We set parameters for a read-a-thon that would raise the money we needed while helping families establish a positive reading routine at home. Students were challenged to read for thirty minutes a day and to read longer chapter books with a global focus.  Children asked family and neighbors to sponsor their reading during the month of April.  Everyone at school was talking about the books they were reading, and the shared purpose of building a well added meaningful incentive for even the most reluctant readers.  By the time May 1 rolled around students had raised a total of $8505.  The first well was dug by mid-May.  Just this last week Tyson visited us at school in Seattle. It was a warm meeting and a great moment, when the children felt the empowerment of helping to make something real that begins to solve a problem that is so complex.

Tyson receives a warm, musical welcome and a giant check from Lake and Park.

"A Well" by Jordi

"Life of Water" by Elan