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General Science and Teaching

Science Showcase

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Stephanie Ritter Stephanie Ritter 110 Points

My middle school is interested in hosting a science night and wonder if anyone has some ideas that aren't as involved as a full-on Science Fair.  The event might also be opened up to the elementary grades in our district. Thanks for any suggestions, Stephanie

Megan Doty Megan Doty 11857 Points

Hi Stephanie, What a fun idea! I found a couple of articles in the Learning Center that may be helpful, let me know what you think. This article has a list of many ideas, so you may be able to only use a few of them to keep things easier: http://learningcenter.nsta.org/resource/?id=10.2505/4/ss07_031_03_47 I also found an article about a Math and Science Night, with some activities included: http://common.nsta.org/resource/?id=10.2505/4/sc11_048_05_58 Will this be the first time hosting a science night for you? Does anyone else have any tips or insight? -Megan

Adrienne Boettger Adrienne Boettger 20 Points

Stephanie, I think this is a really good idea for the middle school students and the elementary students who may get to be the guests. I am in college and my Science Methods class has done many science presentations and put on a sixth grade science day. The lessons that involve some sort of hands-on activity and a little competition seem to be the ones students have enjoyed and remember the most. I would also look into getting some of the high school students to help your middle schoolers, or even if you have a college near and can ask some of the preservice teachers to get involved. If you need any activities or lesson plan ideas, let me know!  Hope this helps, Adrienne

Debbie Rydalch Debbie Morgan 964 Points

In the past, a colleague and I have hosted fantastic star parties. We found that when we put students' science projects on display (or even have students "man" their post to share about their project for a while), set out computers with Starry Night or pHET simulations, provide hot chocolate and a brief running science film, we get great turnout and participation from the community. If you need help, ask for parent volunteers to help watch the technical equipment, a local astronomy organization to run the telescopes, a group of high school students to point out constellations and have a fun night that students will remember for years to come!

Haley Wiebenga Haley Wiebenga 1353 Points

Stephanie, While I don't have any ideas for you, I must say that I love the idea of opening up the event to elementary grades! I believe that (specifically students in 3rd-5th) would love the opportunity to be involved in a creative, hands-on opportunity, while being able to observe what the "older" students have created, and learn from them what they might not be able to learn from a teacher or fellow students in their grade! Haley

Rachael Rice Rachael Rice 3631 Points

I hadn't heard of a science night before! I think that that is such a fun idea! I think that you could have 2 or 3 demonstrations and then have a handout for the families to take home so that they could do them at home too. You could also include follow up information about the experiments. One activity that you could do is have a "contest" for who can create a boat that holds the most number of pennies. I am interested to hear what you do with the science night and how it goes!

Kayla Herman Kayla Herman 1575 Points

Hi Stephanie,

I am a student teacher and was recently placed at an elementary school and we had a family science night for the fourth and fifth grade. While these students were younger than middle school students, maybe you could use some of the things we did! Our family science night was centered around reflection and refraction of light. We had eight stations but one of the stations was a snack station with cookies and juice. The students and their families filtered through the different stations in a two hour period. At the beginning of the science night, the families received a packet that helped guide them through the stations. My station was a technology station where the students and their families watched an interactive video about the way light interacts with the eye. Then, I had the students and their families play kahoot to 'test' their knowledge. Some of the students wanted to play against their parents, which was a fun aspect of the stations. The stations were interactive and different teachers ran each stations. I think this event helped us develop relationships with the families, too. I hope you might be able to use some of the ways we ran our science night. I know this post is from a few months ago, so if you have already had your science night I would love to hear how it went! If so, what suggestions might you have for our next family science night?

Kayla Herman

Amy Johnson Amy Johnson 1565 Points

Hello Stephanie! I am a current preservice teacher and I have volunteered for a few science nights in the past! My experience has mostly been with elementary grades although I think that the general concept of the science night would stay the same. I have helped facilitate a STEM night at an elementary school. The school was set up into quick little hands-on activities in each classroom in which the students usually left with something to take home. For older grades, maybe focus on a topic they are currently working on and create activities based on that. Or have the students create some projects to present/somehow include the younger grades. In my current placement, I saw a fifth-grade class create rock projects to share with the second graders. Everyone was invested and had a blast. The possibilities are endless! 

Amy Johnson Amy Johnson 1565 Points

Hello Stephanie! I am a current preservice teacher and I have volunteered for a few science nights in the past! My experience has mostly been with elementary grades although I think that the general concept of the science night would stay the same. I have helped facilitate a STEM night at an elementary school. The school was set up into quick little hands-on activities in each classroom in which the students usually left with something to take home. For older grades, maybe focus on a topic they are currently working on and create activities based on that. Or have the students create some projects to present/somehow include the younger grades. In my current placement, I saw a fifth-grade class create rock projects to share with the second graders. Everyone was invested and had a blast. The possibilities are endless! 

Victoria Krauss Victoria Krauss 1605 Points

Hey Stephanie! A science night sounds like a lot of fun! Megan has some pretty great ideas about how to keep people interested. Interactive activities are a great way to get people involved and wanting to learn more! You may also be able to find some short videos about certain topics, or some other kind of way to get people interested in the science in the area! Relating the activities to the area and the community may also help; most of the time, people like to learn about their environment, and a science night would be a perfect way to inform the general population about the area where they live and how science relates to it! I linked a few articles I found that have pretty awesome activities that can be modified for the science night! Hope this helps!

Anna Maria DiFronzo Anna DiFronzo 421 Points

I think a Science/Math night is an absolutely wonderful idea!!! I love that it gives the children control of their education while getting parents/guardians involved during or at the end of their learning process. I really like the articles that you linked Victoria. In my Science Methods class we are heavily focusing on DE's or Discrepant Events in which to get the students interested, it would be the hope that this would encourage them to go out and perform their own experiments at home to answer life's simple question of WHY? Why does this or that happen...etc?

Mary Bigelow Mary Bigelow 10275 Points

I've seen many formats at Family Nights. Many parents may be unsure how to encourage their children in science. In additions to demonstrations or presentations, you could provide parents with take-away activities that they can continue with their children at home--seeds to plant, discussion starters, observing things in your neighborhood or backyard. Small door prizes such as books, hand lenses, garden starter sets can also be motivating. It might be helpful to invite community resource such as science centers, extension agents, museums, etc. to share the opportunities that are available. Mary B.

Melanie McGill Melanie McGill 3310 Points

I think that this is so accurate that there are so many times the parents/guardians would love to instill and encourage a love for science within their children but are unaware of how to do this without spending a lot of time finding ideas. I think that offering take-away activities as you suggested would be a great way for parents/guardians to continue on with science ideas at home.

Courtney Stuart courtney stuart 4463 Points

This is such a great idea. Family nights are great to encourage children and their families to share the love for science activities. It is hard to get families to continue doing activities with their children at home, so I like the idea of giving door prices like: books, seeds, and hand lenses.

Darcey Bodziony Darcey Bodziony 945 Points

Hey there! The few science nights that I have been to hosted at a school either went with one focal point topic or had each category in stations/classrooms throughout the school. I have found that the most successful science night that I have been able to witness and participate in is one having to do with astronomy in particular. It seems as though its the best way to make sure that everyone has equal access to the resources, (the sky), every night so that you can talk weather patterns, moon phases, planets, constellations and so on, while being able to get a great outdoor meeting to look at the sky! Just in case this idea does not work, I will link a couple more with ideas from the Learning Center below: http://static.nsta.org/files/sc0507_30.pdf http://static.nsta.org/files/tst1604_37.pdf

Emily Heckroth Emily Heckroth 3967 Points

I have never thought about astronomy having the most equal access, but now that you mention it - that is a great idea. Everyone has the ability to go outside and look up at the sky, and there are many topics that you can talk about in the astronomy content area. Great idea, I will have to use that sometime. This will make all students excited about learning!

Mary Bigelow Mary Bigelow 10275 Points

i would second the idea of using astronomy as a theme. Many students (and their parents) have never looked at the night sky through a telescope. Having one or more available could be a crowd-pleaser!

Gabriella Sarno Gabriella Sarno 760 Points

The Article, Sciene Homework OverHaul, talks about how to engage families and how to give assignments that involve students and their families doing things like going outside or using real life experiences and connections. It is written by Michelle TrueWorthy!

George Mehler George Mehler 1745 Points

Hello fellow science teacher,
 
I am replying you behalf of Funsciencedemos YouTube Channel that is home to hundreds of free videos for ideas for teachers and students to recreate in the classroom. Science is our passion and we are so excited to share our engaging, kid-teacher-parent friendly, and interactive lessons with you to use in the classroom or at home. Our videos adhere to the common core science standards, encompass a wide variety of science concepts, and are specifically geared toward younger learners. All videos on the FunScienceDemos channel come with an English subtitle that can be translated into almost any language, making science lessons accessible virtually any place in the world.  
 
We encourage you check it out and spread the word! We post new science videos once a month, please subscribe our channel.
 
https://www.youtube.com/user/funsciencedemos
 
 
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Tyler Stark Tyler Stark 465 Points

Thanks for sharing, I really enjoyed this resource.

Lily Albertson Lily Albertson 530 Points

I think it would be a great idea to open it up to younger students. They look up to the older students so much and it would be really helpful for them to see what they have made. This can help the younger students grow their interest in the sciences at a young age. 

Brittany Alao Brittany Alao 580 Points

My school hosts a Math/Science night. It is usually set more like a carnival. All of the teachers in the school pitch in by running the games or issuing prizes. It is fun and the families enjoy coming out.

Christine Kurihara Christine Kurihara 40 Points

Stefanie-

I work for Foldscope Instruments (full disclosure) and suggest considering Foldscopes for an activity.  The Foldscope is a low-cost microscope made of paper and a small glass bead for a lens. It costs less than a dollar to manufacture and we sell them in packages of 20 for $25 (that's just $1.75 per microscope)  They have 140x magnification and 2micron resolution, so very much like a microscope you would find in a science lab.  And because they are so inexpensive, every child can have their own!  See our website for more info. During this shelter-in-place period, many teachers are getting these for their students so they can do some form of lab work at home.

For getting students started, we have lessons online at Ted Ed that could be used for getting started including how to fold the Foldscope, how to view, how to make paper slides and how to make glass slides.

Once students have working Foldscopes, then we have a few subject lesson plans on our site that you can use with the Foldscope. 

Let me know if you have any questions!

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