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The Early Years column activities can be used both in preschool to provide a hands-on science experience for young children, and in upper grades to begin engaging older children in a concept or topic. Search for 'Ashbrook' on the Science and Children page to see a list of the columns.

I hope you will use the activities as part of an on-going science inquiry where children are able to explore a topic or investigate their question over time--weeks and months!

I write related blog posts on the NSTA Early Years blog: www.nsta.org/earlyyears

Best wishes,
Peggy Ashbrook

The thing about "hands-on" learning is that it is noisy and busy. However, as you rotate through the room, stopping to listen at each group, you will find the students on task! Think about worst case scenario when you are choosing experiments and plan for that. If there is some kind of cutting to be done, you may want to cut items in advance. The students I work with must follow lab safety rules and often, the engineering planning cycle. They draw and label their idea before they put their hands on anything. When something happens, you stop the entire class to point out that no one is in trouble, we just need to be aware that this part can be unsafe. As we wrap up the lab, each group cleans up their materials and they record their findings in their journals. Look on Teachers Pay Teachers for FREE science lab job descriptions which help to prevent arguments about who does what in each group. If you are looking for labs, you can check out my Pinterest boards. There is always something cool to try on Instructables. https://www.pinterest.com/pameladupre/ http://www.instructables.com/

[size=4][font=Helvetica]Hi, Farah and others, [/font][/size] [size=4][font=Helvetica] [/font][/size] [size=4][font=Helvetica]To create experiments that are both effective and fun, I worked with a couple of Finnish teachers to develop the Phenomenon-Based Learning Books (from NSTA Press). Here are links to the elementary version [/font][/size] [size=4][font=Helvetica] [/font][/size] [u][color=blue][size=4][font=Times New Roman][url=http://www.nsta.org/store/product_detail.aspx?id=10.2505/9781936959389][color=blue]http://www.nsta.org/store/product_detail.aspx?id=10.2505/9781936959389[/color][/url] [/font][/size][/color][/u][u][color=blue][size=4][font=Helvetica] [/font][/size][/color][/u] [size=4][font=Helvetica] [/font][/size] [size=4][font=Helvetica]the middle-school version [/font][/size] [size=4][font=Helvetica] [/font][/size] [url=http://www.nsta.org/store/product_detail.aspx?id=10.2505/9781936959372][size=4][font=Times New Roman]http://www.nsta.org/store/product_detail.aspx?id=10.2505/9781936959372[/font][/size][/url] [size=4][font=Helvetica] [/font][/size] [size=4][font=Helvetica]and the high-school version [/font][/size] [size=4][font=Helvetica] [/font][/size] [url=http://www.nsta.org/store/product_detail.aspx?id=10.2505/9781936959365][font=Verdana]http://www.nsta.org/store/product_detail.aspx?id=10.2505/9781936959365[/font][/url][size=4][font=Helvetica].[/font][/size] [size=4][font=Helvetica] [/font][/size] [size=4][font=Helvetica]On any of those pages, you can scroll down, and under “Details,” you’ll find a link for downloading a sample chapter. And if you click on that link, you get not only the sample chapter, but also the table of contents and the Introduction. Teachers will find the Introduction quite informative in describing how they should present the activities in ways that will be most pedagogically effective for all levels of students.[/font][/size] [size=4][font=Helvetica] [/font][/size] [size=4][font=Helvetica]The books are based on "Phenomenon-Based Learning" (PBL), which builds knowledge of, and interest in, physical science as a result of observations of real-world phenomena, in this case, some fun gizmos and gadgets. Why PBL? PISA assessments showed that Finnish students were among the top in science and reading proficiency levels. So, as I mentioned, I worked with a couple of Finnish teachers to develop the PBL pedagogy, which combines elements of what's done in Finland with what's known about effective science teaching based on science education research to present science in ways that are both fun and educational. The idea is to teach broader concepts and useful thinking and performance skills (as with [i]NGSS[/i]) rather than asking students to simply memorize facts and formulas. Students will investigate an interesting gadget and, motivated by their own curiosity, explore and discover how it works and what physical phenomena are involved. Thus the book’s approach to learning is based on curiosity and creativity — a fun way to learn! [/font][/size] [size=4][font=Helvetica] [/font][/size] [size=4][font=Helvetica]There are also kits of materials designed to go with the book, which are sold by Arbor Scientific. You can see them here: [/font][/size] [color=black][size=4][font=Bookman Old Style] [/font][/size][/color] [url=http://www.arborsci.com/nsta-kits][size=4][font=Helvetica]http://www.arborsci.com/nsta-kits[/font][/size][/url] [color=black][size=4][font=Bookman Old Style] [/font][/size][/color] [size=4][font=Helvetica]Click on any book to see the kit(s) for that book. [/font][/size] [size=4][font=Helvetica]The kits are expensive, but they provide enough materials for dozens of activities and would be a great investment for any school, even without the books. [/font][/size] [size=4][font=Helvetica] [/font][/size] [size=4][font=Helvetica]Best regards, [/font][/size] [size=4][font=Helvetica]Matt [/font][/size] [font=Helvetica] [/font] [size=1][font=Helvetica]=================================================[/font][/size] [size=1][font=Helvetica]Dr. Matthew Bobrowsky[/font][/size] [size=1][font=Helvetica]Delaware State University[/font][/size] [size=1][font=Helvetica]Dover, DE 19901-2202[/font][/size] [size=1][font=Helvetica]302-857-7729 (office)[/font][/size] [size=1][font=Helvetica]443-812-5466 (cell)[/font][/size] [size=1][font=Helvetica][email protected] [/font][/size] [url=http://www.linkedin.com/in/mattbobrowsky][color=blue][size=1][font=Helvetica]http://www.linkedin.com/in/mattbobrowsky[/font][/size][/color][/url] [size=1][font=Helvetica]=================================================[/font][/size]

Victoria! That's exactly what we want to happen with our students. We have to make learning relevant to them and help them to make those connections to the real world.