Comments on: Kids Should Know How Things Work

By: FeFe

FeFe — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 18:22:52 +0000

Agree Crimson Wife. I always wonder why there is so much emphasis on hands-on in elementary school vs middle school? Get a solid foundation in elementary school and then go wild with hands-on in middle school.

By: Crimson Wife

Crimson Wife — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 16:48:59 +0000

“Hands-on” doesn’t mean “check your common sense at the door”. Certainly there is plenty of latitude to allow kids to explore the world around them while still keeping them reasonably safe.

Recently, I tried to recall what topics my elementary & middle school science classes had covered to help me in planning my daughter’s homeschool curriculum. The ONLY thing I could remember was a unit we did at a nearby pond for a month in 5th grade. I can also recall hands-on science stuff I did with my Brownie troop or with my family. But all the textbook stuff has been long forgotten (which is why I always do so lousy on the science portion of “Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?” despite the fact that I studied Human Biology at Stanford)

By: Robert Pondiscio

Robert Pondiscio — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 15:18:25 +0000

That’s a great story, Ms. Miller. And your point is well-taken. I’m not sure Marshall is advocating that level of hands-on science instruction, however. That said, I had a number of misadventures doing hands-on science at home and survived. Barely. I clearly remember learning about the difference between alternating and direct current with the aid of a battery, a wall socket and a butter knife. That quickly turned into a hands-off experiment. Way off.

By: Ms. Miller

Ms. Miller — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 13:32:16 +0000

Consider for a second what would happen if a student knowingly ingested an infected water sample in science lab on your watch. He’d become violently ill, and you’d likely never teach in the public school system again. Not coincidentally, that’s one strategy Barry Marshall used to win a continuation grant: When antacid producers tried to undermine his ulcer research, he induced a stomach ulcer in himself with H. pylori bacteria to show that it wasn’t caused by stress. This sort of bravado labels one a troublemaker in most major research institutions, let alone K-12 schools, so I doubt that Marshall will gain much traction with this one.

By: Mamacita

Mamacita — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 05:51:35 +0000

I agree! Kids don’t get enough science education and VERY little of that comes from the home. This makes it all the more important for teachers to make sure our kids are exposed to science.

An excellent way to do that is to sign up for Steve Spangler’s Experiment of the Week. You’ll get - absolutely FREE - an experiment, every detail explained in both words and video.

I signed up for it last spring and it’s been AWESOME. Teachers AND parents would be able to use it.

http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/experiment-of-the-week.html?source=blog