Those of you who have attended my Science Through and Inquiry Lens Series (and even those who haven’t)…materials including draft “4 pagers” (topic summaries with lots of teaching suggestions and links) are now posted on line. Please take a look and give me some feedback on what you think and suggestions for what to add.  Find it under the workshop tab above or a quicklink here.

Get Outside!

As spring comes, more and more of us want to get outside.  I’ve put together a list of PLANTS and ANIMALS to KNOW IN BURNABY …can you and your students find them all?  Some dedicated Burnaby teachers who are members of the Environmental Educators PSA have put together a blog about Place Based Learning.  You will find a lot of tips, tricks and ideas to getting outside.

Drop me an e-mail at Donna.Morgan@burnabyschools.ca if you want some advice, resources or a trained biologist (me) to come outside with you.

If you are looking for some science workshops on District Day, we have several workshops that still have space.

If you are a K-7 teacher interested in pursuing inquiry, David Barnum is offering a Hands-On/Minds-On science workshop in the afternoon.  Let’s Talk Science is a program out of SFU that offers field trips and support for science teaching–they will be showcasing their many curriculum related activities.

On the Gr 7-12 curriculum, GeneSkool is a program of Genome BC that offers workshops and kits for classrooms around the province.

Some of our colleagues are also putting on great workshops. Kent Lui, Burnaby South Department Head, is presenting a workshop on CER (Claim, Evidence and Reasoning) as used to guide classroom discussions and inquiry.  Burnaby Central Science Department Head Tara Cordy-Simpson is presenting about using social media to further your own professional growth.

Get engaged in these wonderful offerings.

How do you set your students up for inquiry learning? There are a lot of resources available, but when it comes to science topics, it is often hard to know exactly where to start.

One good resource with lots of real-world, thought provoking questions is Predict, Observe and Explain from the NSTA press.  A sample of the forces and motion section of the book is available here.  

Another way to start is to get your students generating questions about their environment.  In fact, the First Nations Education Steering Committee has included in its Science First People’s resource a new learning cycle–the 7 E’s (which adds Environment and Elder to the previous 5 E’s of science learning). Take students for walks and stimulate their science thinking by asking thought provoking questions:

• Where is there evidence of heating and cooling?
• How is water travelling around our neighbourhood?
• Where do we see chemical reactions?
• Why did the leaves fall? What happens to them? What service do they provide to the ecosystem?
• Where is the sun in the sky today? How is that different than in September? Can we see the moon today? Why or why not?
• What is the impact of our school on the land?
• What is the impact of the land on our school?

Stay tuned to this blog and the staff development calendar–after the winter break, I will be holding some workshops focused around inquiry and the big ideas of elementary science.