ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related institutions.
*****************************************************************************
Hi Susan!
If you'll indulge me a minute to riff on your question, another way
to approach this is to look at what you might call "little s" science
moments. The stuff that happens everyday in your community, but
still gets captured in the evening news with regularity at the
appropriate time of year. The kinds of things that you can count on
happening every year at some point or time.
Hearkening back from my Midwest roots, things I'd explore in my
community:
- Leaves turning color in the fall
- Pot holes, pot holes, pot holes: why do we get so many of 'em?
- weather phenomena (for us: tornadoes...snow storms/lake effect...)
- What's up in the evening sky (taking time to just LOOK UP!)
- Birds & Butterflies in migration
- Lake freezing over
- Power outages (where does my power come from? Now, and perhaps in
the future)
- Fluffy cloud watching
- Mayfly hatching (AKA "when NOT to ride your bike by the lake and
smile")
Although the big S announcements are great to dig into thinking about
cutting edge science, I also think that it's the little s moments
that form a web of curiosity about the world that scaffold everyday
question-asking and experimentation. Are directly investigable,
perhaps, which leads to great open-ended investigation. And can be
tuned to be directly relevant to your immediate community. Many of
'em turn out to be great bridges to the local media, as well, as
these are the things that they report on every year (Why are there so
many potholes? What about the big tornado that just came through?),
offering great cross-promotional opportunities and facetime/printspace.
Sorry if I'm going too far astray!
Best from the 'Splo-
Samdango
--------------
Sam Dean
Director - ExNet
e x p l O r a t o r i u m
3601 Lyon St.
San Francisco, CA 94123
e: [log in to unmask]
ph: 415.353.0442
c: 415.509.4303
On Oct 1, 2008, at 1:03 PM, Susan Timberlake wrote:
> ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology
> Centers
> Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related
> institutions.
> **********************************************************************
> *******
>
> Hello,
>
> I'm working on series of science enrichment publications for
> elementary school teachers on the theme "Headline Science:
> Science, Math, and Literacy Behind the Headlines."
>
> My first task is to come up with a theme for each issue that is both
> conducive to developing inquiry-based activities and connected to
> science that kids are likely to see in the news in the coming year.
> So, for example, while the Large Hadron Collider might well be in the
> news this coming year, I think I'd be hard-pressed to come up with
> related inquiry-based activities for elementary school students; thus,
> quantum physics is probably not an appropriate theme for the year.
>
> I'd love input from the many creative and well-informed people on this
> list about what news-related science topics could connect to a wealth
> of inquiry-based activities. (Note that energy and climate change are
> probably the theme for future issues, so they're not on the menu for
> this year.) If you have a favorite activity to recommend, I'd love to
> hear about that too.
>
> Thanks,
> Susan
> _____________________________
> Susan Timberlake
> Writer, editor, and content developer
> www.susantimberlake.com
>
> **********************************************************************
> *
> For information about the Association of Science-Technology Centers
> and the Informal Science Education Network please visit www.astc.org.
>
> Check out the latest case studies and reviews on ExhibitFiles at
> www.exhibitfiles.org.
>
> The ISEN-ASTC-L email list is powered by LISTSERVR software from L-
> Soft. To learn more, visit
> http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html.
>
> To remove your e-mail address from the ISEN-ASTC-L list, send the
> message SIGNOFF ISEN-ASTC-L in the BODY of a message to
> [log in to unmask]
***********************************************************************
For information about the Association of Science-Technology Centers and the Informal Science Education Network please visit www.astc.org.
Check out the latest case studies and reviews on ExhibitFiles at www.exhibitfiles.org.
The ISEN-ASTC-L email list is powered by LISTSERVR software from L-Soft. To learn more, visit
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html.
To remove your e-mail address from the ISEN-ASTC-L list, send the
message SIGNOFF ISEN-ASTC-L in the BODY of a message to
[log in to unmask]
|