Working Effectively With Students
There's no doubt about it -- impacting students is the bottom line of
any educational enrichment effort. Working with students is rewarding because you get to
see the "light come on" in their eyes when through a hands-on experiment they
discover how something works, or when based on preliminary observations they successfully
predict the outcome of an experiment. In addition, interacting with students allows you to
serve as a role model and promotes contacts out of which mentoring relationships can grow,
positive images of science and engineering can be fostered, and students can become aware
of technical career opportunities. Finally, doing science enrichment activities in the
classroom enables you to demonstrate to students and teachers alike both the process and
applications of science.
To work effectively with students, however, you have to know a bit
about what makes them tick, how to relate to them, and how to plan and conduct activities
that will be meaningful and memorable learning experiences. Too many technical
professionals have the attitude, "I know a lot more about the subject than they do,
so working with kids ought to be easy and not require much forethought or
Certainly you know more about the subject matter. But the subject isn't
all you need to know to conduct a successful in-class activity -- not by a long shot! To
be effective you also have to understand things such as how your activity fits into the
overall teaching plan, what the students already know, what types of additional
information and experiences will be meaningful to them, how to conduct the activity so
that it will be both interesting and memorable, and how to interact constructively with
This chapter will help you understand some of these key principles. If
you learn and practice them, you will greatly improve your chances for having productive
and satisfying experiences. If you ignore them, the students will probably be bored and
you will become discouraged. It takes time to learn and follow these principles, but the
results are worth it.
and Intellectual Development of Children
In working with students, it's helpful to understand a bit about their
stages of social, emotional and intellectual development. Some of this is outlined in the
overview chapter, but will be reviewed and expanded upon here.
Social and Emotional Development
Children younger than age 10-12 base their social values and find their
security mainly in their families. Typically, young children from socially and emotionally
healthy families are well-adjusted and relatively easy to work with -- nice, normal,
happy, exuberant kids.
Unfortunately, more and more youngsters don't come from stable homes
where positive social values are modeled and their needs for emotional security are met.
Things like family disputes and break-ups, substance abuse (by either themselves or other
family members), inadequate or improper food, clothing, or parental support, and families
with little commitment to the importance of education are more common than most of us
would like to believe. Such issues are responsible for a growing number of children of all
ages who come to school with a wide range of serious personal problems and are ill
prepared to learn. These kids frequently need special intervention to prevent them from
growing into adults who pass on similar problems to the next generation. Special education
classes are designed to help, but a caring adult volunteer willing to make a commitment to
caring for and encouraging such a child can be crucial to his or her development.
As children approach and enter their teens, something remarkable
happens -- puberty. They not only change physically, but also socially and emotionally.
With physical maturation dawns the realization that they can't stay cuddled up in mom and
dad's cocoon forever -- they're becoming adults, which means that they're going to have to
make it in the world on their own. It's simultaneously exciting and terrifying, even to
the healthiest and best adjusted kids. With this bag of mixed emotions they make their
fledgling efforts toward independence. Their peer group becomes increasingly significant
in their lives while the family becomes less so, and they begin to question values and try
on new behaviors (often to see what reaction is evoked from their peers). Their time
constants for change are remarkable short -- one minute they exhibit sophisticated adult
behaviors and attitudes, and five minutes later they seem to have socially and emotionally
reverted to third grade. It's a time of great emotional upheaval for many children and
parents alike, not to mention others who have to interact with them, such as teachers.
Fortunately, this early adolescent period doesn't last forever. It's
just a natural stage in their learning to function in society and establish their own
values (which frequently end up being similar to those of their parents). While they're in
the midst of the turmoil, however, these youngsters have an incredible need for caring
adults who will simply like them, assure them that theyre going to
turn out great (they are scared to death that they're ugly and/or stupid, and that they
will turn out to be misfits), and help them develop the skills they'll need to
succeed as adults.
By the time they reach 15 or 16, the turmoil is starting to slow down
for many, but for some it goes on into their 20s. When they are juniors and seniors in
high school most of them are socially and emotionally much more stable, and are well on
their way to establishing themselves as adults. At this age, however, they have a great
need for respected mature adults who model appropriate behaviors and attitudes, who
challenge them intellectually and socially, and who will interact non-judgementally with
them as they struggle with difficult issues or questions.
Changes in intellectual development also occur with age. Most
elementary school children are concrete thinkers. They think in fairly simple terms
about things they detect with their senses, i.e., things they can see, touch, hear, and
smell. In the early grades they can only deal with and think about things which they can presently
see and touch. In addition, they can conceptualize only one attribute or variable
at a time. Consistent with this, they learn to classify things into major
categories, ordering them by single attributes such as length, size, shape, color,
In later primary grades they can deal with and think about things which
they saw or handled yesterday or last week but that are not available to see or
touch today. In addition, they become able to conceptualize more than one variable.
This enables them to classify things more complexly into major categories and various subcategories,
e.g., by shape, and for items of similar shape, by size, color, or texture. Throughout the
concrete thinking stage, however, their abilities to conceptualize are limited to real
things -- either ones that are present right now or those that they have experienced
previously. Things that they can't see or touch, such as atoms, voltage, and sound waves
are very difficult for them to conceptualize, even though they may seem simple to us.
As they mature, most students make the transition to abstract
thinking, where they can generalize, project into the future, and deal with less tangible
issues. In mathematics, algebra represents an important transition from the concrete
(numbers) to the abstract (symbols). Making the leap from specific problems and real
numbers to generalized formulations involving x's and y's is a frustrating exercise for
those who have not yet begun the transition from concrete to abstract thinking. Some
people make this intellectual transition around age 11-14, but for many it takes much
longer, and some remain concrete thinkers throughout life.
In working with elementary school children, it's essential to be as
concrete as possible. Even with high schoolers (not to mention adults), it's best to start
out with concrete activities and progress to greater levels of abstraction, depending on
the demonstrated abilities of the students involved. For example, the most concrete way to
represent the effects of water on plant growth is to display plants of varying heights and
graduated cylinders showing how much water each plant received arranged together on a
table in order of increasing plant height. One level of abstraction would be to show
pictures rather than real plants. Progressively higher levels of abstraction would involve
numerical data, a graph of the data, and an algebraic equation representing the effect of
water amount on plant growth.
"A Biological Basis of Thinking," provides an excellent
summary of the stages of cognitive development. It can be obtained in either videotape or
print form from Lawrence Hall of Science.
Attitudes Toward Science
When they enter school children are usually fascinated by the world
around them. They typically have great curiosity about and positive attitudes toward
science. Starting in about the third grade and continuing through about the eighth grade,
however, increasing numbers of students lose interest in, and develop negative attitudes
toward science. Thus, third through eighth grade is a critical time for inspiring
interest, building basic skills, and avoiding premature burning of bridges.
By the time they reach high school the student population has pretty
much become bimodal with respect to attitudes about science. A substantial percentage of
students have essentially lost interest in and tuned out of science and math. It is
difficult to re-engage these students in the context of traditional academic classes.
Perhaps the best bet is to attempt to rekindle their interests through the back door of
technology. A good bit of applied science and math can be incorporated into
industrial arts and other applied classes. Some uninterested students learn key science
and math concepts very effectively when they are directly tied to solving specific
On the other hand, some high schoolers have retained their interest in
science and have developed the tools needed to continue expanding their understanding. For
them, high school is the time to begin focusing more on specific content and applications
of science with an eye toward career options.
for Maximized Learning
In addition to understanding the basics of social, emotional, and
intellectual development, you should also be familiar with the elements of effective
Learning vs. Memorization
Educators make an important distinction between learning and memorization.
Learning involves assimilation of new knowledge in a way that it is understood and
can be applied. Memorization, on the other hand, does not necessarily involve
understanding and requires only that information be recalled, not applied.
Sometimes our society mistakes memorization for learning. Perhaps this
is because recall is easier to test for and quantify. But successful recall of facts does
not necessarily imply understanding or application ability. It is true that students who
have learned about a topic will typically remember facts relating to it. But the
remembrance of these facts is more a side-effect of learning having occurred than its
essence. Facts that have simply been memorized, but which have not been integrated into a
system of understanding and which cannot be appropriately applied really aren't very
useful (except perhaps for passing tests). Interestingly, they usually aren't remembered
for very long either. Clearly, the goal of education should be learning, not just
Regarding the learning of science, educators point out that each person
has certain generalized mental schemes about how things in nature work. Typically these
schemes have been constructed to be consistent with the natural events we have experienced
and are familiar with. Young students have very simplistic schemes -- birds and winged
insects fly, therefore wings enable flight. Ph.D. scientists have more complex schemes,
but like the young child's they are constructed to be consistent with and explain observed
behavior. No one's schemes, however, represent the ultimate and complete truth about
nature -- at best each represents partial, but incomplete, understanding.
Educators believe that the first step in the learning process occurs
when students encounter something they cannot explain in terms of their current schemes.
This step is inherently student-centered. Teachers can provide interesting activities,
materials, and direction to promote these encounters, but the experiences of the students
are the key events. These "unexplainable" encounters might initially cause some
frustration, but they also pave the way for the second step in the learning process. Here
the students re-evaluate their schemes in an effort to modify and make them consistent
with their experiences and observations. In this stage the teacher helps the students
organize their observations, understand the shortcomings of their previous concepts,
develop new schemes that correctly account for their recent experiences, and learn the
language associated with the new concepts. In essence, the teacher guides the students in
the discovery of new or expanded schemes. In the third step, the students apply the new
concepts to a variety of problems. This reinforces the concepts, ensures real
understanding, and provides practice in application.
If the student is inherently incapable of understanding the new
concept, for example because it requires abstract thinking skills that have not yet been
developed, frustration occurs. Placed in this situation, highly motivated students with
strong desires to please parents and teachers will try to memorize enough to score well on
tests, but lacking real understanding, will quickly forget what they have memorized. Other
students will lose interest and give up, concluding that science is very hard and that
they just can't learn it.
In addition to being consistent with the students' level of
intellectual development, some of the common denominators of great learning experiences
are: they are fun and exciting, they involve hands-on activities in which the students
discover the underlying principles for themselves, they integrate applications that are
relevant to the students into the learning of principles and theory, they appeal to
students having a variety of learning styles, they encourage the student to integrate new
knowledge with his or her existing body of knowledge and to practice applying it, and they
are designed so that nearly all of the students experience success. Let's consider each of
Fun and Excitement
If you want to get students' attention, you better do something that
involves fun and excitement. Today's kids are accustomed to experiences that involve or
portray nearly continuous action and virtually instant gratification -- just check out the
popular video arcades, Saturday morning cartoons, movies, and rock videos. Many young
people have become conditioned to expect life to provide nearly continuous fun and
excitement. As a result, they are easily bored and inclined toward activities that provide
short-term satisfaction, rather than those that require short-term discipline in order to
realize long-term rewards. While most of us would agree that this is unfortunate, it is a
fact of life which we need to recognize and deal with if we are going to work effectively
with students. The fact is that if we want students to develop favorable impressions of
science, we better incorporate fun and excitement in the learning process.
For example, in a middle and high school program on chemical bonding we
examine the effects of temperature on the properties of rubber tubing. After demonstrating
its normally flexible behavior we cool it in liquid nitrogen and then challenge students
to bend it. At first they conclude that it is very strong, but when they exert sufficient
force it shatters dramatically into thousands of tiny pieces, which fly all over the room
(safety glasses are a must). This typically creates great interest, and soon students are
selecting other things that they want to test and are hypothesizing about how various
materials will behave at very low temperatures. This provides a great lead-in to a
discussion of the molecular structure of polymers, and how materials scientists engineer
materials with different properties by varying chemical bonding and atomic arrangements.
Please don't misunderstand -- this doesn't mean that there is no place
for disciplines such as study, memorization, and drill. However, in order to get students
interested and committed to these disciplines it is crucial that fun and exciting
activities be included with each science topic. You can play a key role in the educational
process by helping to provide such activities. While teachers are typically better
equipped to do the actual instruction, your enthusiasm for science and its applications
provides a great opportunity for you to generate the excitement needed to ignite or fan
the flame of interest among their students.
One of the worst ways to generate excitement is by giving a lecture.
Nearly all of us find doing things more interesting and exciting than seeing
things or, worse yet, listening to things. Kids have shorter attention spans than
adults, so they are much less tolerant of lecture formats than we are. Activities in which
everyone becomes personally involved in thought-provoking ways provide a much more
interesting format in which far more learning occurs. Hands-on activities designed to
enable the students to discover explanations and underlying principles by themselves
provide some of the greatest learning experiences.
Once after conducting the rubber-hose-in-liquid-nitrogen activity with
several classes of seventh graders, a young lady from one of the classes called and asked
if I could provide some liquid nitrogen for her science fair experiment on how rapidly
different foods froze and thawed out. After agreeing and setting a time and place for the
experiment, I encouraged her to invite a few of her friends (by reminding them that this
promised to be a lot of fun).
When the big day arrived, the four of us tested apples, oranges,
bananas, marshmallows and dinner rolls. After running one sample of each material and
finding a wide range of cooling rates, I asked, "I wonder what made some things get
cold quickly and others take a long time?" They talked among themselves about this.
(The reason I wanted several of them there was because a single student might hesitate to
speculate with me, thinking that I know the right answer and that she would be embarrassed
if she guessed wrong.) When they got around to the idea that not all of the samples were
the same size, I asked, "Is there a better way we could have done the
experiment?" After discussing this a bit, they decided to repeat the experiment using
samples of equal mass. (Fortunately, I had a balance in my car!)
This time they found that the three fruits all cooled at the same rate,
while the marshmallow and dinner roll took much longer. When they recognized this
grouping, I asked, "I wonder what it is that apples, oranges, and bananas have in
common that's different from marshmallows and dinner rolls?" After discussing this
for a while, they hit upon the idea that the three fruits contained a lot of water while
the other two items were very dry. "When a scientist has an idea like that it's
called a hypothesis," I commented. "Then she or he tries to think up an
additional experiment to test their hypothesis -- to see if it is correct." After
thinking for a while, the girls decided to put an equal mass of water in a vegetable bag,
place this in the liquid nitrogen, and measure its cooling rate. The results confirmed
During that hour and a half they discovered for themselves the
concepts of controlling variables, grouping data, constructing hypotheses, and designing
critical experiments to test hypotheses. And since they discovered them, they'll remember
them. All I did was ask leading questions at appropriate times to guide their thought
processes. If I had told them at the outset to make all of the samples the same size they
would have done it, but by the next day they likely would have forgotten the concept and
importance of controlling variables.
Leading kids just enough that they make the important discoveries for
themselves is education at its best. Think back over your own experiences. If you're like
me, you've forgotten most of things that people told you, but the things you discovered
"for yourself" are indelibly etched on your memory.
Combine Science Process With Science Content
It's important for students to learn science content: electricity and
magnetism, the water cycle, photosynthesis, etc. But it's even more important for them to
develop scientific habits of the mind: critically examining claims, developing and
conducting experiments to test ideas and hypotheses, making observations and measurements,
sorting through and organizing information, reasoning logically to derive valid
conclusions from their observations and data, etc. Many of the students will be able to
become successful adults without knowing much about science content, but all of
them will have to possess logical thinking skills to be rational shoppers, intelligent
voters, and full participants in adult society. How will they develop these skills? By
practicing them. And what better setting to practice them than in the context of science
-- the discipline which is based on inquiry, critical examination, experimental inquiry,
and rational conclusions developed from unbiased measurements.
Interestingly, educational research shows that both science content and
science process are best learned in conjunction with one another. In other words, we best
learn the things we reason through and "discover" for ourselves; we also best
learn logical thinking skills in the process of applying them to concrete problems.
Consider the apples-and-marshmallows-in-liquid-nitrogen activity
described above. It dealt with science content areas such as temperature, states of
matter, phase changes, and thermal conductivity. In addition, it involved the students in
science process: developing and refining experiments, making measurements, reasoning
logically about the implications of the data, and debating and agreeing on rational
conclusions. Teaching science in the context of inquiry-based activities promotes highly
effective learning of both science content and science process.
Principles and Applications
For most people, experience with practical applications provides the
incentive and motivation for learning about theory and principles. Once I had quenched
steel and discovered its dramatic effects on hardness and strength I developed an interest
in understanding why. I am convinced that if the theories of diffusional and martensitic
phase transformations had been presented to me before I had this applications-oriented
frame of reference, I would have found them both boring and confusing. Since I was
familiar with their practical applications, however, I not only found these topics
fascinating, but also was able to discipline myself to struggle through the difficult
parts and master them.
Too often, however, our educational paradigm is to teach principles
first, with applications to follow -- if time permits. Could this be the reason so many of
our students are bored and uninterested in science -- because they see no relationship
between the things they are learning in class and the real world in which they live? You
bet! The traditional approach of teaching theory first and applications later is
fundamentally unmotivational. Applications that are interesting and relevant to the
students (as opposed to things that you and your professional peers find interesting)
can provide the hook to stimulate interest in principles.
One good applications-oriented math exercises asks each group of
students to figure out how high the school (or something else) is using a cardboard tube
from a roll of toilet paper or paper towels. Each group "calibrates" its tube by
standing back various distances from a meter scale on the wall and determines how the
vertical field of view seen through the tube changes as a function of distance. The
students then go outside and see how far they have to get back from the school to just get
it in the field of view. From this information each group computes the height of the
school. It can be a proportions problem, a graphing problem, or a trigonometry problem,
depending on what is being covered in class. The beauty of the exercise is that it
develops the subject matter in the context of an application that is real to the
students, rather than just as a rote manipulation or abstraction.
Sharing how the material they are covering in their classes relates to
interesting (and understandable) applications from your work can also stimulate interest.
As professional scientists and engineers we are ideally positioned to provide the
applications link that motivates students to want to understand scientific
Students exhibit a variety of different learning styles. Some learn
well by listening or reading (auditory and print-oriented learners). They typically do
well in our traditional education system, which is structured consistent with their
natural style of learning. Others learn more effectively by seeing things work (visual
learners), by being physically involved in games or activities that simulate scientific
phenomena (kinesthetic learners), or by solving problems in groups (group interactive
learners). The best learning experiences are those that involve a variety (ideally all)
learning modalities. Remember -- just because you have a particular learning style
doesn't mean that all students learn best in the same way.
A common component of a middle school study of solids, liquids and
gases covers how the atoms or molecules are arranged and bonded in each of these states of
matter. A conventional way of teaching this might be to have students read about it and to
explain it to them orally (print-oriented and auditory learning experiences).
In a more complete and balanced educational program this could be
supplemented by visual and kinesthetic experiences where the students see and handle
ping-pong ball models -- balls glued together for the solid, unglued but contained in a
vegetable bag for the liquid, unglued and uncontained for the gas. Another kinesthetic
experience would have the students pretend that they are each atoms and to behave as if
they were first a solid: everyone holds hands, then a liquid: everyone holds hands, but
continually changes partners, in sort of a disorganized square dance, and then a gas:
everyone lets go of one another and moves in straight lines around the room until they run
into and bounce off of something or someone. A group interactive activity could involve
teams of students trying to estimate how many bonds in a liquid are broken at any one time
based on the heats of fusion and vaporization.
Integration and Application
Students need to not only absorb new information, but also to integrate
it with their existing knowledge and experiences, and to practice applying it. Only after
they have done these things is the new information likely to be retained and available for
When I work with seventh grade physical science classes it's amazing
how many opportunities I find to connect new material with activities we have done in the
past. Activities early in the semester involve Newton's Law (force and acceleration) and
buoyancy (floating and sinking in liquids and gases). Later in the semester when we are
doing activities involving states of matter we cool balloons full of various gases in
liquid nitrogen. With just a little leading the students are able to go back to Newton's
Law and both predict and explain why the balloon shrinks when the temperature is lowered
and the molecules slow down. Similarly, when given time to hypothesize whether a
helium-filled balloon will rise or fall after being immersed in liquid nitrogen, they
hearken back to the density activities and conclude that the balloon might fall -- until
it warms up, whereupon it will expand and float.
These integration experiences are crucial not only to the learning of
past and present material, but also provide practice for the application of knowledge in
the real world where very few high-level tasks require simply the recall of the
"correct" answer. And the excitement in their eyes when their predictions are
confirmed by experiment is a priceless reward for us who dedicate our time to them.
Repetitive practice in applying new knowledge is also crucial to the
learning process. All of us have had the experience of reading about something and
thinking that we understand it -- and then realizing when we try to apply it how limited
our understanding really is. Useful knowledge is developed in the process of applying it
-- over and over again -- to a variety of problems. This practice aspect, however, is very
time consuming, so it is usually not possible for us to incorporate this into our programs
because we spend a limited amount of time with the students. By integrating our activities
with the topics being covered by the teacher, however, the teacher is able to do follow-up
activities and provide a more complete learning experience.
One of the greatest temptations of technical professional is to develop
challenging activities that only the brightest students in the class can understand and
relate to. This only reinforces the preconception of many of the youngsters that science
is very hard and that they can't do it. Don't get caught in this trap. Your goal should be
to help 95% of the kids believe that science is interesting and that they can do
Design your activities so that nearly everyone gets involved and
experiences success. Experiments that are virtually impossible to mess up, such as making
"slime" by mixing together polyvinyl alcohol and borax solutions, are great for
young students. In some cases this will mean working in groups rather than individually.
You and the teacher might want to meet with group leaders and the brighter students ahead
of time to enlist their support as part of the team to ensure that each student gets to
participate and develop understanding.
One of the most important things you can do is to help students
redefine success in science -- as learning something rather than knowing the
correct answer at the outset. When I am working with students I frequently ask them to
make hypotheses about an experiment we are about to do. Some of them construct correct
hypotheses, others incorrect. I then give them an opportunity to explain and discuss their
hypotheses with one another. In this process some of the students frequently see flaws in
their reasoning and switch camps. Then we do the experiment and discover which hypothesis
was correct and discuss why.
Then I congratulate and make a big fuss over the students whose initial
hypotheses were wrong! I tell them that they participated as real
scientists, because that's what good scientists do -- they make a hypothesis based on
their best current understanding, do an experiment to test their hypothesis, and change
their minds when the results of the experiment indicate that their hypothesis was
wrong. Then I share with them that many of my hypotheses at work turn out to be wrong, but
that my employer continues to pay me, because out of the incorrect hypotheses comes
increased understanding, which eventually leads to some correct hypotheses and the
development of improved (in my case) engineering materials.
the Teacher -- The Foundation for Success
With the principles of social, emotional, and intellectual development
under your belt, and an appreciation for the elements of successful learning experiences,
you're now ready to start implementing some specific activities. But don't try to do it on
your own, or you'll be overlooking, and possibly alienating, the person who could be your
greatest supporter and guide: the students' teacher.
The teacher knows far more than you do about such things as cognitive
development, the structure and goals of the curriculum, classroom management, and the
abilities, limitations, and learning styles of the students. On the other hand, you might
know more about science content and how science is applied in the real world. By working
together as a team you can make each other's jobs more productive and interesting. If you
and the teacher work independently, or worse yet in competition with one another, your
efforts with students are not nearly as likely to be productive.
There are a number of up-front issues you need to discuss with the
teacher before beginning to plan a meaningful activity. First and foremost, you need to
assure the teacher that you want to assist and supplement his or her efforts, not
criticize, belittle, or change what he or she is doing. If the teacher sees you as a
threat you will start out with two strikes against you. Your preliminary discussions with
the teacher(s) should also include topics such as integration of your activities into the
curriculum, determination of your role and how your activities fit in to the overall
teaching plan, and understanding what student background knowledge you can anticipate.
Let's elaborate a bit on each of these.
Integration Into the Curriculum
It is important for you to plan your activities to fit into and
strengthen the curriculum and overall teaching strategy. Activities that are unrelated to
what the students are learning in their classes might provide interesting diversions, but
those that introduce, reinforce, or illustrate applications of current curriculum topics
have far more impact. Talk with the teacher and find out when in the semester topics
related to your professional interests will be covered and when there might be
opportunities for you to do enrichment activities with the students. Then present your
activities when they coincide with coverage of the pertinent or related topics in class.
Determining Your Role in the Teaching Plan
In addition to coordinating your activities with the curriculum, you
should also determine with the teacher what role in the teaching process your activity
will play and what its goals will be. Very rarely will your activity comprise all of the
instruction in a particular topic area.
Occasionally you will be introducing a new topic area. In these cases
activities that serve as appetite whetters and curiosity arousers are very appropriate and
relatively little time should be spent on in-depth explanations.
Many times your activities will be dealing with real world applications
of the principles they have been studying in class. It is essential that these be
applications the students can understand and relate to.
Concentrate on activities where you have something to offer that the
teacher simply couldn't provide -- experience with real world applications, special
supplies or equipment, and so on. Avoid activities in which the teacher could easily do
everything that you will do. That's the teacher's job and he or she can almost surely do
it better than you can.
Understand Student Background and Vocabulary
Two of the most common mistakes of technical professionals are making
incorrect assumptions about students' level of knowledge and using vocabulary that
students don't understand. For each activity have the teacher explain to you what
background knowledge the students will have and what vocabulary terms have been used in
class. Then review your tentative activity plans with the teacher to get a reality check
on whether it is at an appropriate level for the students.
Some teachers might worry that they will offend you by offering
criticisms of your plan. Try to overcome this by letting the teacher know that you really
want the activity to be an outstanding experience for the students, and that constructive
criticisms, rather than offending you, will be appreciated as a means of helping you reach
Go over your planned explanations carefully and get rid of as much
technical jargon as possible. Be especially careful to avoid using acronyms. For younger
children it is particularly important that you simplify your vocabulary -- since technical
terms are second nature to us it takes a strong conscious effort to avoid using them in
situations where they cause confusion. For technical terms that are essential, prepare to
explain them clearly in terms that youngsters can understand. Be sure that the teacher
will be present during the activity, and that he or she has your permission to interrupt
and/or question you in order to clarify issues that the students are not understanding.
and Preparing Successful Activities
After you've done this preliminary preparation with the teacher and
identified a topic area, you're ready to begin fleshing out your plan. Begin by going back
over the principles for maximized learning. Keeping in mind the level of intellectual
development of the age group, think about potential activities that would be fun and
exciting, involve hands-on discovery experiences, demonstrate practical applications that
the students can understand and relate to, involve various learning styles, and provide
nearly all of the students with a feeling of success and accomplishment.
Tap into the resources listed in "Sources of Ideas for Hands-on
K-12 Science & Math Activities" to discover and investigate things that others
have done on similar topics. Consider how you might use or adapt one or more of these for
part of your program. Put each idea through the screens of age-appropriateness and
learning principles, and distill your list down to a few of the best possibilities. The
teacher might be very helpful in this process, particularly if you're relatively
inexperienced. Then begin to develop an order in which several related activities could be
strung together, consistent with the following principles.
Start With a Grabber to Generate Interest and Focus Attention
Don't assume that the students are going to start out sitting on the
edges of their seats just dying for the pearls of wisdom that you're going to drop on
them. Your first task is to win their attention. Activities or demonstrations that involve
something dramatic or unexpected are terrific for this purpose. Be sure, however, that
this introductory activity ties in with the topic at hand because, once you have their
attention, you'll want to be able to make a logical transition to your next activity or
When I do a program with middle schoolers on force and acceleration, I
start by wrapping up a student volunteer skateboarder (I'll call him Juan) in many layers
of bubblewrap packaging material, giving him a bike helmet, putting him onto a skateboard,
and running him into the wall (carefully, of course). After that everyone is paying
attention! Then I take the bubblewrap off and feint doing the "experiment" over.
This leads into an interactive discussion of how the force applied to Juan's body and the
suddenness of his change in speed vary with the number of layers of bubblewrap. Out of
this the students develop an appreciation for the principle that force scales with the
suddenness of change in speed. Only after this "intuitive" understanding has
been developed do I present and begin discussions regarding applications of Newton's Law,
F = ma.
Design In Clear Connections and Transitions Between Activities
Many of your programs will involve several activities. It is important
that these be clearly connected, not only in your mind, but in the students' minds. Too
often we abruptly finish one thing and move on to something else in a way that disrupts
continuity, where just a few words of transition would build these activities into a much
more coherent whole.
In the middle-school program on Newton's Law, I start with the
skateboard activity to generate excitement and develop qualitative understanding. Then I
move on to a more quantitative activity where we interactively estimate the forces applied
to humans in accident scenarios that are part of the students' "real world,"
such as a skier running into a tree or an outfielder running into the wall. After that I
progress to a description of how engineers did very similar calculations to determine what
damage would occur to a transportation system during a severe accident. I then show a five
minute videotape of destructive testing of a few transportation systems (most middle
schoolers are "into" destruction). Finally, I explain that we used the few
destructive tests to verify our calculations. Once we knew that our calculations were
correct we were able to do most of the "testing" by computer rather than having
to perform a large number of very expensive "real" crashes. Logical sequencing
and good transitions between activities help make the entire program a clear package
rather than a series of disconnected activities.
Build from Simple to Complex, Concrete to Abstract
Start with simple, concrete examples and activities that virtually
everyone will readily understand. As students experience these initial successes they will
gain the confidence and knowledge that will enable them to tackle progressively more
complex and abstract challenges.
Don't, however, try to pack too much into a single session. It's much
better to do a little bit well than to attempt to do so much that you end up confusing
most of the class. Initially you should look to the teacher for guidance in this area. As
you gain more experience you'll start to get the hang of how complex and abstract you can
get before you start to lose people, as well as how long various kinds of activities are
likely to take.
Not all of your activities should be highly structured. Some of the
greatest learning experiences occur during times of purposeful messing around because they
provide terrific opportunities for student discovery experiences to occur.
Plan a Strong Closing
Its good to close with something that enables the kids to prove
to themselves that they've learned something. A puzzle, problem, or experiment that they
will be able to solve or correctly predict the outcome of works great as a closer. When
they get it right, heap on the praise. This will strongly reinforce their learning
experience and also pave the way for a positive next visit.
Finish with a positive statement about how much they've learned and
encouragement regarding how efforts that they make now will pay dividends in the future,
rather than a bland statement like, "That's all I have for today."
In a middle-school program that relates atomic bonding to the
properties of engineering materials, I close by having the students hypothesize and
explain in terms of molecular structure what will happen if we stretch a rubber band,
place it in liquid nitrogen, and then remove it and put it on the overhead projector.
Initially, most of them reason that the rubber band stretches by carbon-carbon bond
rotation resulting in molecular chain straightening (which we've discussed previously),
but that when it is then cooled the carbon-carbon bonds will no longer be able to rotate,
so the rubber band will remain stretched when released. Then someone says, "But not
forever," and explains that as the material heats up bond rotation will again be
possible, so the chains will re-curl and the rubber band will eventually return to its
unstretched shape. Pretty soon the whole class agrees, so then we do the experiment. When
it happens exactly as they had predicted, I take advantage of the opportunity to
complement them on how much they've learned, tell them about the great careers available
for chemists and materials scientists, encourage them to continue to take their studies
seriously, and tell them how much I'm looking forward to our activities together next
The closing also provides an excellent opportunity to encourage them to
tell someone who wasn't in the class about what they did and learned. This gives them
opportunities to be "the experts", and also makes them think back through the
activities and principles, thus fixing them in their minds.
It is also a good time to give each student something from your program
to keep, particularly something can be used to tell their friends or parents about what
they did and learned. Just make sure that it's not something that someone could get hurt
Know Where You Will Cut If Time Runs Short
The best-laid programs of mice and men often take longer than expected.
You might be able to run a bit overtime in an elementary school where the students don't
change classes, but in a middle or high school, when the bell rings you're history.
Plan how much time you expect each segment of your program to take, and
keep track of how you are doing relative to your time projection. Know what you can either
condense or eliminate if you are running behind schedule. It's almost always better to cut
something than to try to squeeze everything into a shorter time, but be careful not to cut
an activity in which knowledge or skills that will be needed for a subsequent portion are
developed. At all cost, keep time available for your closing activity and comments --
these are too important to eliminate.
Plan for and Model Safety
Go over all your activities and be certain that they're safe,
environmentally sound, and don't violate any school guidelines. Make sure that you have
the appropriate safety equipment available. Remember, your job is not only to be safe, but
also to model good safety awareness and environmental consciousness.
One way I do this is in conjunction with repeatedly emphasizing the
theme that scientists and engineers don't primarily memorize facts, but rather do
experiments. Each time I do this, I reinforce, usually in the form of a question, that
before good scientists do an experiment they think about ways in which it could harm
people, property, or the environment, and either take appropriate precautions to avoid
such damage or cancel the experiment. The students then participate in projecting the
potential dangers in the experiments that we are considering doing together and help
determine what precautions need to be taken (or what experiments suggested by classmates
are too dangerous to be done).
Reinforcing this theme in repeated visits provides a good learning
experience and also helps overcome the myth that scientists are a bunch of wild-eyed
fanatics who do dangerous things and are oblivious to environmental concerns.
Don't Overlook Logistics
What supplies and equipment will be available at the school and what
will you have to bring? What must you do to reserve school equipment? How many students
will you be working with, what size groups will they be in, and how many sets of supplies
or equipment will you need? Are there enough electrical outlets available? How much time
will you have to set up, clean up between groups, and pack up at the end? Will you provide
name tags for the kids? (Calling them by name goes a long way toward building the
relationships in which learning thrives.)
Think about these types of issues ahead of time and make the
appropriate preparations. Remember that youngsters are easily distracted. Once you get
rolling you don't want to disturb the continuity of your activity to hunt down something
that you forgot -- the attention of the students will likely be lost and you might have a
difficult time refocusing them.
Well, the fateful day finally arrives -- you get to go to the school
and present your program. If you've done your homework you'll be well prepared with
activities that should be both interesting and educational. But there's one more thing you
need to know about: how to interact effectively with the students.
Working with students has a strong relational component. If they view
you favorably, your chances of having a positive impact are substantially enhanced. You
don't have to act like a kid to be liked by kids; in fact, many young people recognize
such behavior as phony, and there's nothing worse you can do with kids than come across as
phony. Their view of you will be strongly influenced by your attitudes toward them. Here
are a few tips.
Be Excited and Fun to Be With
If you're not excited about the activities that you're doing with them,
it's unlikely that they will be either. But your excitement can spread to others. Don't be
overly serious. Enjoy yourself! Smile and laugh some. It's contagious.
Demonstrate That You Like Them
One of the best ways to do this is to call them by name. They'll really
be impressed if you do this outside of class when they're not wearing name tags.
Take an interest in them. Talk with them in the halls and at lunch
time. Don't know what to talk about? That's great -- you shouldn't be doing most of
the talking, you should be listening. Ask them about their interests. Once you find
out what interests them, continue asking questions that encourage them to share more about
these areas. Don't ask questions that can be answered "yes" or "no,"
but open-ended questions, such as, "How did you get interested in ....? "What
have been some of your favorite experiences,?" and "What things have required a
lot of work or practice, but then have paid off?" Notice that there is a progression
to these questions. They start out impersonal and non-threatening, and gradually enable
the student to share more deeply of his or her experiences and feelings. Your part is
mostly to listen and express interest. When they conclude that you're interested in them,
they'll start to like you and pay attention to what you have to say.
Give Lots of Positive Feedback
Set the students up to be successful, and when they succeed, praise
them. Even mistakes can be dealt with creatively. When someone volunteers something that's
incorrect, don't tell them that they're wrong; instead ask them why they think they're
right. Frequently, in the process of explaining their logic to you or to the class they'll
discover their own mistake -- then you can praise them for their discovery. Or if they
think their logic is correct, you can present your logic and have the class discuss and
compare these two perspectives. If the class can't come to an agreement, try to develop
and do an experiment to find out whose position is correct.
Then point out that this is how science really works: rather than
scientists knowing all the right answers, they make hypotheses and do experiments to test
them. The best scientists aren't those whose hypotheses are always right, but those who
are willing to change their minds when the experiments disprove their hypotheses. Remember
that developing these types of critical thinking and reasoning skills is at least as
important as learning facts about particular science topics.
Don't Try to Impress Them
If you try to blow the kids away with how much you know, you will
succeed. However, you will also convince most of them that they could never understand or
If you try to impress them with the elegance of theory, they'll go to
sleep. The only people who appreciate theory are those who understand its applications.
And never, ever try to impress them with your coolness by putting down
one of their classmates. The target of your "humor" will hate you forever. Feel
free to poke fun at yourself, but never at one of them.
They will be most impressed with you if you simply demonstrate that you
like them and help them to learn something.
Treat Them With Respect and Expect Them to Behave Responsibly
If they start getting a bit rowdy explain your expectations to them and
let them know that your continued interactions with them will depend on their behavior.
Most kids will respond well to this. If not, deal with the problem students privately if
possible, not in front of their peers. Criticize their inappropriate behavior, don't
attack the people. For the most part, you should have an agreement with the teacher that
he or she is responsible for dealing with classroom management issues. In general, I have
found that most young people respond well to someone they know cares about them and places
high expectations on them for responsible behavior.
Now you've completed your first activity. Don't stop here or you will
have lost at least two great opportunities.
First, offer and provide follow up assistance to the teacher and/or
students. Provide them with opportunities to read more about interesting applications of
your topic, places they can visit to see applications happening (perhaps where you work;
see "Conducting a Tour of Your Worksite"), or science fair projects they could
do in this area. Encourage them to write follow-up letters to you sharing their comments
and any questions they later think of. Then be sure to write back, taking the opportunity
to reinforce a few main principles.
Second, have the teacher review your program, pointing out things that
went well and things that could be improved. This will help you understand how to do an
even better job next time.
Speaking of next time, don't forget to find out what topics they'll be
covering in the next month or two, and make an offer for a return engagement. As you and
the students get to know one another, your times with them will become increasingly
productive. You will grow in your understanding of how to interact effectively with them,
and they will become increasingly eager for your visits.
The middle school physical science teacher with whom I work uses my
upcoming visits as a carrot. She tells the students, "When you demonstrate sufficient
mastery of a topic, Dr. E will come for a day of related activities." She tells me
that it works like a charm. And from the reactions of the kids when I show up, I believe
Best of all, I get to see their growing understanding of and excitement
about science. Here's hoping you will too.