Go2Science Blog
  • About Us
  • Get In Touch
  • Go2Science Main Page

1/29/2020

Mission Groundwater! Week 5 Vote

0 Comments

Read Now
 

A juicy conversation!

Picture
This week we're asking students to think critically about animals and water needs.  There is no "right" answer here.  However, there is ample opportunity to dive into debate.  We provided a few talking points but there are many, many, more.  As students discuss the vote, encourage them to give evidence to support their point of view.  When your class makes its decision, cast your vote!  We'd love to hear more about their thinking so please share their process and the evidence they site.  You can post it on our Publish It page.  We respond to EVERY post!  Or push it out on your regular social media channels.  Please tag us!  You can even leave a comment on this post.  We LOVE hearing about your students!
click to download your discussion guide

Share

0 Comments

1/29/2020

Groundwater Week 5 DCIs

0 Comments

Read Now
 

Check out this week's Disciplinary Core Ideas! 

One of the reasons I post these DCIs for you each week is to help you become more familiar with the standards and language.  To be honest, you can address many of them without doing much of anything to "science-y" at all!  Knowing these standards helps you maximize teachable moments.  If a student shares about a trip to an amusement park or you find a crocus sprouting through the snow you can take a moment to ask questions that push your students to become scientific thinkers which has far reaching benefits!
Picture
Day 9: Thirsty Wildebeests This game based lesson is an active way to spend time with the following K-2 DCIs.  An added bonus is that game playing build other important skills!
  • K-LS1-1. Use observations to describe patterns of what plants and animals (including humans) need to survive. Examples of patterns could include that animals need to take in food but plants do not; the different kinds of food needed by different types of animals; the requirement of plants to have light; and, that all living things need water.
  • K-ESS3-1. Use a model to represent the relationship between the needs of different plants and animals (including humans) and the places they live. Examples of relationships could include that deer eat buds and leaves, therefore, they usually live in forested areas; and, grasses need sunlight so they often grow in meadows. Plants, animals, and their surroundings make up a system.
  • 1-LS1-2. Read texts and use media to determine patterns in behavior of parents and offspring that help offspring survive. Examples of patterns of behaviors could include the signals that offspring make (such as crying, cheeping, and other vocalizations) and the responses of the parents (such as feeding, comforting, and protecting the offspring).
  • 1-LS3-1. Make observations to construct an evidence-based account that young plants and animals are like, but not exactly like, their parents. Examples of patterns could include features plants or animals share. Examples of observations could include leaves from the same kind of plant are the same shape but can differ in size; and, a particular breed of dog looks like its parents but is not exactly the same.
  • 2-ESS2-2. Develop a model to represent the shapes and kinds of land and bodies of water in an area.
Day 10: Balloon Ride!  This lesson gives kindergarten classrooms the opportunity to address pushes and pulls AND weather in a new way.  Applying concepts in new and novel situations is were deep learning happens!
  • K-PS2-1. Plan and conduct an investigation to compare the effects of different strengths or different directions of pushes and pulls on the motion of an object.
  • K-PS2-2. Analyze data to determine if a design solution works as intended to change the speed or direction of an object with a push or a pull.
Picture
  • K-ESS2-1. Use and share observations of local weather conditions to describe patterns over time. Examples of qualitative observations could include descriptions of the weather (such as sunny, cloudy, rainy, and warm); examples of quantitative observations could include numbers of sunny, windy, and rainy days in a month. Examples of patterns could include that it is usually cooler in the morning than in the afternoon and the number of sunny days versus cloudy days in different months.

Share

0 Comments

1/29/2020

3D Printing: Making Minor Adjustments

0 Comments

Read Now
 

How to rotate files and adjust supports.

We do our best to share files that will be easy to print, but sometimes some files just don't seem to play nicely!  There are some variables at work.  We've occasionally found that different filament colors will behave slightly differently.  Every now and then we get a file that does better printing at a different resolution.  The more your play and print the more you learn!  Here is a quick guide to rotating files and adjusting supports if you've not yet played around with these!  We will demonstrate with the Mini Beth and Curtis Passengers for the Safari Car using our Flash Forge slicer (the software that came with the printer.) 
Picture
1. ​This file downloaded in this orientation, but If I print it this way, the posts won't fit into the car.
Picture
2. So, I highlighted the model. See how they are white now? Then I clicked on the "rotate" button and changed the Y axis from 0 to 180 degrees. FLIP!
Picture
3. Next, I clicked the "supports" button at the center top of my screen.
Picture
4. That changed the options available to me at the top of my screen. I selected "Supports Options."
Picture
5. When I clicked "Support Options" I got this dialog box. I find that playing with the "Post Diameter" settings can be helpful. I use 3.0mm a lot. It worked well for this file.
Picture
6. After I clicked "OK" I clicked the "Auto Generate" button and got this. I hit the "Back" button at the top of the screen and did NOT save the supports to the file. That way I can change them later if needed.
Picture
7. The "Back" button returned me to the main screen where I clicked the "Print" button.
Picture
8. Clicking "Print" brings up this dialog box. In the resolution area, I selected "Standard" and "Brim." Then I clicked OK and went on to print as usual.
The resulting print was of good quality.  I popped off the supports with needle nose pliers and had no trouble getting the passengers to fit into the car.  Good luck!  Let us know how it turns out for you!

Share

0 Comments

1/29/2020

3D Printing & Design Challenge Expo

0 Comments

Read Now
 

Come and play!

I'm super excited to be headed to Maine for the 3D Printing and Design Challenge Expo at the Kennebec Valley Community College on Saturday, March 7th 2020!  Go2Science will be on hand with a vendor booth all day! The event is free and looks awesome!  I see some familiar names on the schedule, and hope to see even more of our friends at the event.  I'd love to have your company at our booth.  :-)

Register for the event here: 
​https://www.kvcc.me.edu/2020-maine-3d-printing-expo/.  They even provide lunch.  We all know what Curtis would say to that!  YUMMY! 
Picture
Click to download flier pdf

Share

0 Comments

1/29/2020

Mission: Groundwater! Week 5 Comic Tips

0 Comments

Read Now
 

Literacy tips at your finger tips!

Sometimes the comics Curtis and Ben create spark so many teaching ideas, I don't know where to start!  I suppose I'll start with PreK, but to be fair, these tips would work across grade level spans.  I absolutely adore the illustrations this week and hope that you do too!
Picture
PreK: Focus on visualization skills.
Listen like and olm!  Curiosity Cat and Data Dog encounter a sightless salamander this week; an olm.  Have students work on visualization skills and pretend they are an olm listening to you read the comic aloud.  Gather children into your reading area and have them lay face down resting their closed eyes on a "pillow" they make by placing their hands one atop the other.  Prompt them to imagine they are an olm.  They can not see with their eyes, but they can imagine the pictures!  Read the comic and then encourage your "olms" to describe what they imagined each panel might look like!
​
Flash Light Reading!  Unlike the olm, Curiosity Cat and Data Dog CAN see in the cave by using their head lamps.  Turn our the lights and draw the shades, then read the comic by flash light!  Setting the stage like this can help students imagine being in the dark cave along with the characters.  Being able to put themselves into the story can help with visualization which, in turn, will help with comprehension!

Kindergarten: Focus on blends and blending.
Robot, Turtle, and Rabbit Talk!  We've got some juicy consonant blend words this week: spin, blub, glub, and drip!  These blends can be tricky for beginning readers.  Segmenting and blending skills can really help students tackle words like these but those skills can be less than thrilling to practice!  My students loved to talk like a robot, turtle, and rabbit to work on these skills.  I even had puppets for each character!  Here's how it works.  First teacher models saying a word like a robot (each phoneme is distinct and separate)  /s/ /p/ /i/ /n/.   Then a student tries to say the word like a turtle...verrrryyy sssslllooowwwlllyyy!  Like this: ssssspppppiiiiinnnnn.  Finally another student says it like a rabbit.  That means they say the word quickly or at a normal speed, but not too loudly as rabbits have sensitive ears!  As students gain skills you can mix up the roles.  I like adding in the turtle as it gives students time to work that segmented word back together and improve their blending skills.
Grades 1 and 2: Focus on punctuation.
Team Reading  For this choral reading activity divide students into three teams.  Team Period(.),  Team Exclamation Point(!), and Team Question Mark(?).  If needed, assign each team a color and begin by color coding each sentence by end punctuation marks.  For example, if a sentence ends with a period, underline it with a red pencil and then circle the period in red too.  Next, read the comic in a choral reading style.  Team Exclamation Point, for instance, would read each sentence that ends with an (!) using appropriate inflection and as it should occur in the story.  For added fun, you can teach each team a punctation song too!  Here are the once I wrote for my students.  Click the button for a demo of the motions for each and to hear the tune.  I've posted the full video below.
Picture
Click to see Beth sing punctuation songs! Be sure to sing along!

Period Song.

(tune of I'm a Little Teapot.)
I’m a little period, small and round.

At the end of a sentence I am found.
If there’s information, I’ll be there.
At the very end that’s where.

Exclamation Point!

(tune of BINGO)
I know a punctuation mark!

It’s used to show emotion!
Exclamation point!
Exclamation point!
Exclamation point!
It’s used to show emotion!

Question Mark?

(yune of Oh Where Has my Little Dog Gone?)
Oh where, oh where is a question mark found?

Oh where, oh where can it be?
Is it at the end of a question my friend?
Why don’t you look there and see?

Share

0 Comments

1/28/2020

Do Good. Learn Well.

0 Comments

Read Now
 

Service learning has far reaching effects.

This PSA was part of a larger service learning project with my students!  We all learned a LOT!!!  This group was passionate about food security.  They had a huge range of literacy abilities and needs.  This project engaged and challenged them all!

​You can also read their book which laid the groundwork for our current mission in Kenya!

If you are a fan of our lessons, you've noticed that each K-2 lesson has a service learning suggestion.  Maybe you've even googled service learning and come away feeling like this kind of thing is only for older students.  I'm here to tell you that service learning works for even our youngest learners!  My kindergarten students were proof of that!

First of all let's define it.  I think the simplest way to think about service learning is a way for students to meet educational goals while solving a real problem.  That problem could be in their classroom, school, or local community.  It could go even further!  We tie our service learning suggestions to the UN's Global Goals to help you think globally no matter where you take action.
The very best service learning is tailored to existing needs, both your student needs and the broader needs of a community.  Plus, service learning seemed to engage and motivate ALL my students, especially the ones that sometimes struggled with behavior or academics.   In my experience, it was also critical to tie service learning to student interests.  We provide far more service learning suggestions than any class could do with any meaning at all.  We only hope one or two a year can spark an interest and help you take that next step with your students.  Of course, I did not have a curated collection of resources like Go2Science when I was in the classroom, so I developed a method for designing service learning projects with my students. 

Five steps to Service Learning
  1. Identify the biggest needs of students.  What brings struggle or avoidance?  Knowing your standards or learning targets well is helpful as you go along as it makes it easier to make even more connections along the way!  Co-incidentally, their greatest needs would often correlate to MY biggest weaknesses.
  2. Find a real problem that needs attention.  It can be a big or small problem.  Does your school need a composting system? Does your town need to learn more about recycling?  Do you want to adopt an animal or help a school on another continent?  
  3. Notice student passions.  Is there a way those passions link to the problem?  Even a weak link can help!  I had a group that was passionate about dinosaurs and fossils, which led them to ponder extinction and endangered animals.  We were also very excited about our brand new 3D printer!   One of the students was also OBSESSED with the Titanic.  All of these seemingly disconnected ideas came together in a book we used as a community education piece!  (Look for the Titanic in the illustrations!  It was a game changer for one of my students.)
  4. Reflect on your resources!  Do you know community members that can help?  Do you have a surplus of a certain type of art supply?  Are there online resources to support your efforts?  If you check out the second to last page on the book linked above you'll see some of the many resources we used to support that project.
  5. Go for it!  Don't worry if your project is not fully fleshed out or you are not even sure you'll succeed!  If you keep student needs central to your work, things have a way of working out and even if you fall short or even fail that authentic, productive struggle is a powerful learning experience.  You do not need all the answers, and learning along side your students is an awesome example!
If you're interested in some of my students' other projects from my classroom days, you can find a few of them here: ​http://msheidemann.weebly.com/project-archive.html
​
I encourage you to adapt, change, or even ignore our service learning suggestions!  But I also encourage you to find ways your students can do good in the world.  You'll be surprised at how it also helps them do well in school!

Share

0 Comments

1/23/2020

Critical Context

0 Comments

Read Now
 

Rich content needed to teach critical thinking

I love a good educational article, especially those that cite peer reviewed studies!  I recently read two articles by Jill Barshay that were published in The Hechinger Report.  I've excerpted some of my favorite quotes and linked them to the related articles in case you want to dig in deeper!   They focus on critical thinking; a subject near and dear to our hearts!
​
​"...critical thinking is necessary to absorb content better but a content-rich lesson is needed to teach critical thinking in the first place."
Picture
We do our best to pack our missions full of content!  Many of you have written to me with stories about the amazing work your students do when engaged in our missions.   It makes us so happy to hear these stories!   ​​I saw evidence to support this premise over and over again in my classroom too.  Content matters!!!  While we certainly don't expect students to fully understand the way a resistivity test works, there is little doubt that interacting with such juicy content has far reaching benefits!
In a time when it seems more and more schools are minimizing science and social studies content for their youngest students in favor of a hyper-focus on isolated literacy skills, it is critical to take a step back.  
"research from the last 30 years shows that young children are far more capable in engaging in reasoning than we once thought. Scientists now think that cognitive development is more gradual and starts young. "
​We know students learn best when they care and that rich content is essential to learning vital skills.  We are so proud of the many teachers we know who take the time to bring that content to students.  We are honored to know you and to support you in bringing the best to your students.

Share

0 Comments

1/23/2020

Where in the World?

0 Comments

Read Now
 

Looking ahead to the next mission!

Picture
We are half way through our current mission and that means we are just three weeks and a day away from heading off to film our next research adventure!  We'll be headed to the island of Borneo to investigate species diversity and measure a WHOLE BUNCH of trees!
​
We're already prepping lessons in anticipation of what we might find.  Of course, there will be surprises and many things will change from our original plans but we wanted to give you a "heads up" about the mission so you can get a jump start on planning.  I've heard that some librarians order books to support our missions.  Be still my heart!

Oddball Materials!

As usual, most of our materials will be things you are likely to have on hand, but we do have two lessons in the works that need some oddball items.  You are likely to need a dishpan full of sand or soil for an erosion lesson.  Also, start saving some boxes for an active game we're cooking up.  Copier paper size is great!  They will not need to be identical, just fairly sturdy.  You'll probably need two fewer boxes than students in your class.  Of course things can still change, but I though you'd appreciate the advance notice.
Picture

Beautiful Books!

Picture
Iris Eichenlaub is one of my favorite librarians! She's also a fellow county Teacher of the Year awardee AND a master knitter!
If you are lucky enough to have one of those librarians who wants to help you get children's literature to support your Go2Science adventures, any of these topics are great:
  • rainforests
  • orangutans
  • Borneo
  • really big trees
  • conservation
  • palm tree plantations
Please share your awesome literary finds in the comments!  When we share our learning, we ALL learn more!

Share

0 Comments

1/23/2020

Mission: Groundwater! Week 4 Vote

0 Comments

Read Now
 

Up, up, and away?

When we visit the Mara river we'll have the opportunity  to view the river and the surrounding savannah from a hot air balloon.  Do your students think we should try it?  Use our T chart to consider the pros and cons before you cast your class vote.  Remember, there are many more possible pros and cons to consider and our list is just there to get your class thinking.  
Click to download the T chart!
Picture

Share

0 Comments

1/22/2020

Print a Safari Car!

0 Comments

Read Now
 

Oh, the places you'll go!!!

We've got a super treat in store for 3D printing fans this week!  In addition to a skull we've got a bunch of files to share with you that combine to make interchangeable Safari vehicle components!  These files were designed by our friend, Dave Perloff, and are very flexible!  You can print all the components for students to assemble for dramatic play and exploration but here are a few ideas to take it to the next level.
Picture
  • Provide students with a basic building platform (either 3D printed or cardboard cut to to fit the chassis) and have them design and build from the chassis up!  You can save time and filament by having students share chassis and wheel assemblies and simply switching out the top!
  • If you are a BeeBot user, you can use them as rescue vehicles as the Safari Car chassis and trailer are compatible with the hitch on the BeeBot!
  • If your students  are designing with Tinkercad, they can add shapes to the provided base plate to create their own 3D printable vehicle designs!
The Safari Car files are coming to you a bit differently than usual.  When you click the download icon on the 3D Printed Wonders page, instead of the usual stl download, you'll open a slide show.  It's got every stl file you'll need along with printing directions.  Best of all, when Dave tweaks and refines his designs you'll have access to the most current version!  
AND if you've never tried flexible filament, this is an awesome time to do it.  Dave recommends printing the tires and headlights in orange or green flexible filament by Solutech.  They seem to work best.  We have the green filament and it works great!  Please let us know how things turn out and happy printing! 

Share

0 Comments
<<Previous
Details

    Meet Beth and Curtis!

    Presidential Award-Winning teacher and hula hoop fanatic, Beth loves bringing real world science to kids! Beth is fascinated by engineering challenges, technology, and outdoor learning spaces. After 25 years teaching kindergarten, she’s excited to share her passion and experience on-line with classrooms from around the world!

    Curtis is a lot of things: a scientist, lawyer, explorer, drummer and Ironman. His brain is always churning. His paleontological finds are in museums across the country and he even has an extinct sea turtle named after him. He loves traveling the world and immersing himself in new environments and cultures. Curtis finds joy in sparking the imagination of young learners and making them think in new ways.

    Archives

    October 2020
    September 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    April 2018
    November 2017

    Categories

    All
    3D Printing
    Birds
    Bonus Materials
    Calendar
    Comics
    DCI
    FAQs
    Field Guide
    Galapagos Islands
    Jane Goodall
    Literacy
    Materials List
    Math
    NGSS
    Productive Talk
    Professional Development
    Schedule
    Scientist
    Service Learning
    Standards
    Super Teachers!
    TeachSDGs
    Thailand
    Tigers
    Travel
    Trees

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • About Us
  • Get In Touch
  • Go2Science Main Page