Teachers Take Part in Hands-On Science at NSTA 2008
CSE’s Jud Hill presented “Getting Kids Invested with Stories: The Car of the Future” at the 2008 NSTA convention in Boston. Jud’s co-presenter was Laura Baumgartner, a Foundation Science field-test teacher from Bellevue, Washington. (Foundation Science is an EDC-authored high school curriculum still in development.) Laura has been a very active field-test teacher and a reviewer of the curriculum.
The presentation/workshop gave participating teachers the opportunity to explore the concept of energy conversion. First, as an introduction to the topic, participants read a story about a person assigned to create an advertisement for a hybrid car. In the story, the copywriter was challenged to learn about how hybrid cars worked. Then, in small groups, teachers were challenged to build a device that incorporated different forms of energy in a series of steps to move a toy car. Participants then viewed a video of Laura’s students carrying out the same activity. This video allowed teachers to see how high school students approached the same challenge, viewing the similarities and differences. The teachers appreciated students’ creativity and science knowledge, and were very interested in their different perspectives.
In an NSTA evaluation, the session scored very high in meeting the needs of the participants, and most agreed it should be repeated at another NSTA conference. One teacher remarked, “[I] was very impressed with the session and the potential it would have in my classroom. Thanks again for a terrific session—it was a great start to a wonderful conference.”
For more information about the presentation or about the Foundation Science curriculum, contact Jud Hill at chill@edc.org.
