Reflections of a Techie

Students may give Al Roker a run for his money as weather casters

"Katia's a tropical storm."  And so the conversation goes as we look at what the National Hurricane Center is posting for their advisories.

"No, she's not.  She was just upgraded to a hurricane."

"Mrs. Ratzel did you know that last night Katia was upgraded?  The winds got faster and stronger and she turned into a hurricane."

"Where do you think she'll hit?  Irene just went right up the coastline, but she first went over Puerto Rico and Cuba.  Katia's still out at sea...do you think she's going to miss the Carolina's.  That's where Irene came on shore, isn't it?"

"Mrs. R....Katia's been downgraded to a tropical storm."

"Yeah, the winds are as strong as they were so she was downgraded."

"I think we should look at the sea surface temperature.  Where do you find that?"

"I'll bet that the NOAA place has something...that's where we get most all of our satellite data.  Let's look there."

So they go and find sea surface temperature maps.  They settle in on the filled contour maps that NOAA has posted.  Guess what they find.

"Look at these temperatures.  I don't know about Katia, but right where Tropical Storm Lee is happening is the warmest water.  It does make a difference doesn't it?"

Immediately because they're following the news, they know about the Tropical Storm Lee and connect to the bright orange areas surrounding Louisiana.

You have to know that most of my 6th graders knew nothing of hurricanes and tropical storms before the 1st of August.  They never watched the weather news with such rapt attention and they certainly never used sea surface temperature maps to understand why these kinds of storms were progressing as they are.  But now they are.

It has been a no-brainer to get them interested in the science of weather since we are watching it happen before their eyes.   As Katia and Lee progress, I think they will only have more and more questions to ask.  Katia has gained strength and is now listed as a Category 2 Hurricane and it looks as though it will become a major hurricane by tomorrow.  They'll be buzzing when I see them in the morning

Most of them don't believe that Katia will come ashore even if it causes large waves and rip tides.  But their experience doesn't include lots of hurricane observations yet.  We'll see how accurately they have interpreted and predicted the path of Katia.

Wonder what they'll say when I ask them why the sea surface temperatures drop right after the storm passes?

 

PBL, question asking, and infusing core content knowledge

Questions, questions, questions....they're full of them.  Here's how it went down as students and I documented it on our class Twitter account @ratzel66.  I'm using Storify to put it all together in a running narrative...or at least as much as I can remember.

 

People have been talking about how doing PBL is like peeling an onion with all it's layers, textures and flavors. Well, I've taken the plunge and so far the parts that I'm see are wonderful for my students and their learning. Engagement is high, excitement is higher and their smiles say it all. That said along the way I'm pouring in the content.

That's the part that keeps so many of us in falling in love with PBL. How to get the content inside these engaging activities?   As we processing these questions, I'm weaving in the steps....refining our questions so they'll be testable as well as reviewing other parts of the scientific method we've already worked on.

We're building a class focus question by discussing what we're trying to find out as well as defining what information we expect to obtain. One of the big questions yesterday was if we were going to collect qualitative or quantitative data. You know they didn't ask this one on their own, right!!! I definitely prompted the initial question and asked them if they knew what they'd collect to answer the questions on the post-its. But they took the conversation over...and I gently kept reminding them to look back at their notes from our penny drop lab...to find relevant things we've already done and reviewed. It wasn't long before they were doing much better on this differentiating between data that was measured vs data that was described. And as we looked back on our steps of the scientific method, they were quick to point out that we were engaged in the first step of posing a question that is related to the problem and that can't be answered with a "yes" or a "no".

So I'm beginning to see how to interject my required content knowledge inside this engaging scenerio. It's working pretty well and if I can just stay on course with remembering what I will need to infuse, it will continue working.

Play-by-play: Giving students power to transform rubrics & learning

Today was a big step in students taking power for their own learning.  Students started revising my stuff to meet their needs...they took my Smart Board lesson and began customizing it to expand and elaborate on the ideas that needed more explanation.  Another group took the rubric that I first gave them and evaluated each part of it to see where they wanted to make changes.  And other students took the night's homework and started summarizing everyone's thoughts in our Paper Blogging work.

We started off with my intention that students learn to be excellent communicators which I turned into the science process skills of observing and data collection. 

The Play by Play of deepening their communicator skills

After I did the intro to that we did the penny lab where they defined their own observing question and built their experiment.  Then they decided on another question and we practiced data collection.  My assessment of their learning was to take them outside, give them the whole class period and let them chose which skill to show me they could do with anything they could find out in the field behind the school.

The day after they took the assessment, I gave their work back to them and we walked thru each part of it...allowing them to make revisions and changes as they saw fit. This actually set up a very nice dialog for me to build as I made my evaluation of their work....because most of the time they saw the changes that I would have told them about.  Now they defined them....giving them the power to see the need and to meet it.

Building revised rubrics that make sense to students

It is from all this that today's work flows.  Given all this learning and processing and learning more and reflecting....they are revising my notes.  In some places they felt like they needed more information...so they're mocking up examples and making posters.  In other places they thought I labored too long and are cutting my slides.  The other team is working on the rubric....most students have really great insights....and they see the connection between the slides that give them the upfront information and what they have to do at the end.  The rubric group is preparing a draft of the changed rubric to present to the class...we'll have more discussion and consensus building before we adopt anything.

All this will give them a strong understanding of these two parts of the scientific method.  And it builds their belief that this is their classroom and I'm their partner in learning alongside them.  I think it turns a rubric that most would use for grading purposes into some much bigger.  It also has the powerful to have students perform self-evaluation and work with it as an instructional tool.  The learning doesn't stop just because they're taking an assessment.

Using the whiteboard as a blog and using paper instead of computers

As all of this was going on, the last group of students gathered everyone's homework which was to find, research and then make 5 comparisons between Hurricanes Irene and Katrina.  The group's usually split up the homework papers and then summarized the best comparisons....and are now working towards creating a blog post from each hour that summarizes what all 30 or 31 of them believe is the best way to compare these two hurricanes.  (I love that they are frustrated with all the different estimates of damage....it gave rise to a terrific conversation about why numbers are necessarily precise and the need to verify information in more than one place.)

We're doing all this to create our first paper blogging post.  This is how I work them into learning how to write high quality comments....before I turn them loose on the class blog page.  So we post the prompt on the whiteboard.  Students then summarize and write "posts" back to the prompt on construction paper or sentence strips and we put those up with magnets. 

Good group conversation on that, too.  They'll be responsible for leading the class discussion next week on what is a high quality comment....and teaching the other classmates.  Eventually we'll repeat the rubric development process that we just did with observations & data collection with blog commenting. 

Value of all this metacognition and class discussion

I think all this upfront conversation in the small group will help them make good leaders and able to help the other kids think through the things that should be considered.

I also think it was amazing to students when I didn't "grade" their homework.  I made sure they had something to contribute to the class blog group....that's all.  One student told me they had never handed in their homework to another "kid who actually used what I did".  That gave me great insight into how they see the value of their homework.  It's something I really need to work on this year.

First PBL steps...great for kids & hard for the teacher

It felt very different in my room today....although I've always done inquiry science it has been more teacher-directed than I wanted.  This summer I took a class in "Unleashing Student Passion" hoping to find a better way....isn't that what you always do in the summer?  Look back at what worked well and what you could improve....I picked developing more independent and critical thinkers.

This class, led by Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach (@snbeach)  has been hard for me because it exposed so many places I want to be better.  Not just a little better.  A whole lot better.  Unleashing student passion for learning and specifically for science is my targeted area.  I needed to stop holding students back from becoming the learners they will need to be as they grow up....I have always helped them learn the science and be curious.  Now I feel like I need to take another step....help learners not need me anymore.

Today I took a plunge with implementing what I've been studying all summer.  It was hard because I wanted to be roaming the aisles looking for kids who needed help and encouragement.  Instead I chose to sit back and let them do all that for themselves using the skills we had been talking about in these weeks of defining and building teamwork and being a communicator.

So we're working on those opening school skills making observations and data collection....yawn!!!!  Oh no....no yawning if you please.  I decided it would be the perfect place to test out some of these ideas Sheryl's been teaching.  Besides we've spent hours talking about teamwork and defining what it takes to be a good teammate.  Beyond being a team member, they're also working on communicating clearly....becoming a communicator.  We've practiced body language and communicating with how we listen to each other.  So it was time for me to step back, hold my breath and watch them put all they've been developing into action.  While I've done inquiry before, this time I really , really let go.  I helped set them up with the background knowledge and then I let them go....and they posed questions that seemed to interest them.

I also purposefully let them do it without me hovering.  I told them I was strictly an observer of them today.  I tried to empower them by not just telling but showing them  that I trusted them to do the work.  Although it was hard, I sat at my desk, never strolled the aisles, asking questions or answering questions.  I sat there, intently concentrating on what they were doing and how they were interacting with each other.

Being present without being there

They knew I was present.   That's been a big point of the learning I've done this summer.  I was there without being depended on.  Does that make any sense?  But I think they were shocked at how well they were capable of doing and I learned so much about my students.  I was able to spend almost the entire 45 minutes making notes about who were the leaders, who struggling, how they worked with their partner.....an enormous cache of information about each of them I can use to do my lesson planning.  This valuable data will be the basis for the next lesson I teach.  Many thanks to my wayfinding teachers---Lani and Dean---for showing me this lesson.  I still have a long way to go but I think I'm getting it.

Ah.....how do I know they got anything out of the experience?  By the questions they asked.  Turned loose from teacher expectations, they investigated their own questions and then started exploring other things that were of interest to them.   We started at the typical dropping water on a penny and counting them up

they started asking better and better questions....

They worked and worked at all these questions...some of which I was very dubious about when they proposed it.  I'll admit that some worked and some ran into the troubles that I expected.  But here's the big ah-ha for most people....they learned it for themselves now.  It wasn't the teacher telling them "no" and here's why....they tried it, it didn't work, they re-grouped and formulated another question to test.  It wasn't a big deal.

I'm hoping that builds up their learning muscles so when we get to bigger topics, they'll feel the same way about roadblocks they encountered that will be harder.  This was the beginning steps students needed under their belt with a very simple activity.

Unexpected pleasures are usually the best ones just ask Sam and Ian

My biggest joy today was one of those goofy boy groups who you love and stresses you out all at the same time.  They finished and sat there just seeing what would happen if---mostly making a mess until....

    they discovered you could get a drop of water to "stick" to the penny even if you turned it upside down

 

Then everyone had to try and replicate the results....with that success under their belts, they starting firing off amazing questions. It was contagious.   Success breeding success everywhere that hour. They measured the bulge of the water bubble over the side of the penny concocting amazing ways of using rulers!!!  They conferred and shared and suggested alternative ways of doing everything.  All the while they were engaged.

I wish you could see their faces beaming and shouting across the room..."Hey Mrs. R look at this!" and then moving onto the next thing and the next.  I sent a big air high five across the room to congratulate them.  These were their questions, their experiments and they owned it.  Big time.

All because I got out of their way, and let them struggle a bit, so they could find their passion for learning science.

 

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/7327560@N06/4307378745/ licensed under CC

http://www.flickr.com/photos/68134711@N00/3172441452 licensed under Attribution CC

 

Using Twitter to help students connect to earth science

Lelia walked into my classroom this morning, now a worldy 7th grader, and said,

"How are you going to pick what to show the 6th graders with the hurricane and earthquakes happening pretty much on the same day?"  She smiled.  I think she was cracking up that she still remembered doing this in my class last year.  I smiled back and said....

"Well, I'm going to show them how to track hurricanes first...that story is still developing and the earthquakes are already finished.  Nothing will change with them, so I'm starting with Hurricane Irene.  What do you think?", I said. 

I didn't know what she thought about doing all this so called work to learn science and she was with one of my more enthusaistic new 6th graders.  I was hoping for an encouraging answer.

Again she smiled and looked at her friend with that "I told you so" kind of glance....

."I think that's a good one.  I liked tracking the hurricanes and learning about them.  Now I even notice when they're on the TV news and still remember all the stuff you taught us." 

Yep...that's my science curse....remember a little bit about how the earth works and I think I've done my job as the 6th grade science teacher.

Mother Nature always provides a rousing start to my science class every year...

2011 is no exception.  With Hurricane Irene upgraded to a Category 3 and threatening the East Coast, I thought we would have more than enough to engage my student.  Low and behold....the double earthquakes occurred yesterday in Colorado and in Virginia.

Today we plotted our first data point on the Atlantic tracking maps.  Using the NOAA data, I showed students how to find the data using the computer, how to draw the hurricane symbol which is a rounded "6" with another tail, and helped them plot their very first data point.  We're concentrating on becoming excellent communicators....so learning how to create graphic pictures of the earth's operation is critical.

The only challenge to all this is that my school makes it darn near impossible to use any of the communciation tools to stay abreast of what's going on.  I use my class Twitter account to monitor the up-to-date hurricane happenings at @ratzel66  Every night I curated all this into my newspaper format at the Ratzel Room66 Daily.   In between issues, we monitor the Twitter feeds using TweetDeck.  Or at least we did before this year.

Here's where the real world interferes with the learning

We've gotten a new filter and now many more things are blocked.  We can't have access to them.  So while the Smithsonian is publishing these fantastic tweets with all sorts of terrific info about the earthquake, I can't even access the hyperlink because it's blocked.

Is this really what they need to block?  Why is it that computer hackers can do all sorts of amazing things and the programmers of school filters can't tell the difference between the Smithsonian Magazine and porn?  Apparently using a URL shortener makes it fall into the category of blocked content....ugh.

Wouldn't it have been nice to be able to read the Scientific American article about Category 6 hurricanes?  Category 6?  Yep....atmospheric scientists seem to think that the "ferocity" of this century's storms may warrant adding a new category.  Would that have stirred up loads of excitement when we read

But we could read this one either....because it uses the URL shortener again.

I've asked for help from administration in getting these unblocked so we can use Twitter to stay up to date and follow the tracking data.  I'm not hopeful because I don't seem to ever find an ear that sees it the same way. 

I could tell you the whole tale of woe in how TweetDeck is now blocked, so I can save searches.  I won't because you've heard it all before.  Normally we create a hashtag search that we save and then use TweetDeck to follow any tweets that meet those criteria.  Blocked can't do this anymore either.  Sigh......

This is how to keep students interested in earth science

Make it relevant to what they see happening in the world around them.  Help them to see the connection between science in a classroom or textbook and the world.  This is what makes science exciting and makes my former students still "notice" hurricanes and earthquakes and tsunamis and flooding and.....on and on and on.

 

Scientists @ the Smithsonian & Middle School PBL

All kinds of people become scientists. And scientists do all kinds of things. Watch and read about these scientists at the Smithsonian. What kind of scientist would you like to be?

via www.smithsonianeducation.org

By any chance did you see this Scientists @the Smithsonian online exhibit?  I've been wondering how to get my PBL on the scientific method started and this will be a great hook.  I know they'll be intrigued by all the different disciplines represented in this Hall of Fame.  The introductory videos are captivating and I'd imagine that students will be completely engaged listening to these people describe their areas of passion.  Things I've never heard of, and yet, vital to the healthy functioning of our world.   This will tweek their emotional connection to the topic of the scientific method.

My introduction for the unit is

for the bookkeeper to arrive in my room, very exasperated that she has all these kilos of dirt being delievered to her for processing by the UPS man.  She has no idea what to do with them because they've come without an invoice and no addressee.  Since she knows we are young scientists in the making, they will be asked to investigate the dirt, develop any conclusions about what it is and then report back to her.  She's promised to be quite aggrevated and plead for our help.  Luckily we'll have enough kilos delivered that she can repeated this scence every hour...hopefully getting more dramatic with each hour as ANOTHER package is delievered.

My thought is that we'll talk about how to develop an investigation method....and tie it to their knowledge of the scientific method.  We'll have to come to her aid and help her figure out who might have ordered "dirt".  In the act of doing this, they will discover that it's more than dirt.  There's something in it...and I will help them come to understand how to process it.

We're going to participate in the Mastodon Matrix Project . There are very clear directions on how it's to be processed and I will help students discover this kind of scientific inquiry based on the Museum's protocols.  They've really done quite a bit to help a classroom teacher know how to do "real" science.  Right now I'm just waiting for our kilos of matrix to arrive from the Museum of the Earth.    As part of the Science for Citizens Network,  @Sci4Cits    I'm very excited to use this as the entry into 6th grade science, PBL and the start of school.  Love Science for Citizens motto

"Science you can do."

Just today I was brainstorming with a new f2f colleague who is going to be the art teacher at my school next year.  She was sharing "The Creative Process" with me...steps outlined on her bulletin board that students should follow in working on their projects.  It looked remarkably akin to the scientific method and the historical inquiry procedure. 

We decided that it would be great fun to teach this at 100,000 feet so students could see that inquiry projects---be they from science, art or social studies---all start with a question.  And then someone goes about this general methodology for answering and testing out their conclusions about the answer.  We're going to weave into the lesson parts of her curriculum on relief, scultpure and maybe even try to help them build a plaster mold of the mastadon's footprint.

I've been learning in my Unleashing Student Passion class to release control to students and this will be one of the first lessons where I'm focusing.  I've learned so much from the course instructors (Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach and Shelley Wright) as well as other teachers who are taking the course.  I love this kind of learning....relevant, hard hitting, making you feel uncomfortable because you know you can be better, and satisfying.  It's been hard to make time to do this but it's going to be a huge forward step in my professional practice.   I've had all the pieces but not such a good framework on which to hang them...so the organization of this has been the biggest help to me in thinking about the work.

I have brainstormed a conceptual map of all the learning I know is required by my district for the scientific method, communciating about scientists, the history of science and process skills.  I will repeat this with my students...and then merge those two maps into a mindmeld concept map where I will teach the parts where I'm required to cover and leave huge gaps for students to fill in with areas surrounding this topic about which they are passionate.

I can't tell you much about what they'll pick but with the whole subject of scientific inquiry and mastodon's available to them...well, I'm imagining they'll find something about which they can be passionate.

One thing is very disappointing about the Smithsonian's website, though....while there is a good split between men and women...there's a lack of diversity in the people. Even the NYTimes had trouble only finding 2 non-Caucasian looking faces in their test-yourself..."Name that Scientst".

Maybe my students will remedy that.  Maybe that will be their area of passion....and a way to connect to the world!

 

Changing classroom roles--21st century literacy takes over

Trying to get students more involved in the classroom conversation...so I've been thinking about re-defining student jobs/roles.

I don't see that students feel attached to the class or to each other, so I'm going to test out this role

Social Chairperson-- person(s) who is in charge of making sure everyone in the group feels comfortable, participates in the conversations, is in charge of introductions, and publicizing who is in your group.   There are also mingling responsibilities that include finding ways for people to get to know each other, thinking of conversation starters and planning activities for everyone to get to know each other.

I'm not going to define it very clearly so that students help me really craft a better picture of what they need and want.

Reporter---person(s) summarizes what the group has learned that day and at the end of the week.  They will post this information on the class blog as part of their homework.  At designated times, the reporter will take photographs which they must upload onto the class blog.  Finally, the reporter is responsible for maintaining a shared calendar for their group that also links to the class calendar.

I'm wanting to do a better job keeping parents in the loop and creating a digital footprint for our class.   This role will be one way in which to do that....students being the ones to do the work with me in the background managing it.  Again they'll help me refine/improve these ideas.  This is also where I plan on embedding mini-lessons about Google Doc functions---teaching them how to create/share documents and calendars.  Hopefully they won't even know that a 21st century tool just hit them!!!

Twittererererer---person(s) responsible for tweeting each day about what has been learned.  The Twittererererer may coordinate with the reporter.  The Twitter must also read tweets/blogs to find out what other groups have posted and report back to the group.  Our class Twitter account is @ratzel66

I love the title.  Much like the reporter but a different medium.  We'll do it first using the classroom door so they can develop their tweeting skills....then they'll graduate to the real deal.

Next I want to emphasize with a classroom role that students are in charge of looking up information....acquiring those precious literacy skills and critical thinking skills.  Here's where I'll embed the social bookmarking mini-lessons using Diigo.

Researcher--- person(s) that keeps track of anything that needs to be Googled by creating social bookmarks and lists of other resources that were used by anyone in the group.  The Researcher develops and manages the group project.  They start any team document and teaches the group members how to use software and websites, especially Twitter, Google and Diigo.

 

I think the roles will change over time...but this is my starting point.  As I move into more content based stuff, the roles will adjust to be more aligned to science.

Why hashtag meetups are important to building Twitter colleagues

Building a personal network of trusted colleagues is not as easy as some make it out to be, for me.  I've struggled to find Twitter friends and just now I am finding success.  Patti Grayson wrote an article that put words to something that I've found but never knew how to describe. 

Hashtag meetings???  What???

Patti talked about hashtag meetups.  I had never heard that term before ( go ahead and roll your eyes because I'm sure I'm the last person to "get it".  But I'm considering it a victory that I now know it.  What a descriptive piece....because I am building my personal network from the folks that I meet in these meetups.  Not the other way around.

It works...the proof is in the pudding...I found success

And I have found powerful connections....you can see my story of how Twitter helped me find scientists with whom to collaborate in my classroom. 

Using Lists to find Colleagues for my Personal Network

Then I use Lists to assemble the various names I've met and connected.  When I have time to check Twitter, I go to the Lists view and see what the people have been saying.  Or I use TweetDeck and just keep it visible all the time.

For me, just going out into the Twitterverse was very much like stumbling around in the dark.  I never knew what I'd find and got lost all too often.  Finally I found the Science Chat #scichat on Tuesdays and the 6th grade teacher chat  #6thchat on Thursdays.  Both of those chats were full of like-minded teachers who had some basis in what I liked and wanted to learn.  Both are moderated by some pretty incredible people who are very dedicated to helping others learn...I give them all kudos and respect.

 

Democratically Run PD

I love the way that the topics are selected.  Polls are circulated and people vote on what they would like to learn about....participation is encourage.  For example this week, #6thchat is going to talk about blogs and people are asked to bring forward ideas on how to start and to post examples for the evening's discussion.   At the end of the session, all the information is gathered into a wiki, so that if you miss the discussion (as I will this week because I'm traveling), you can scan thru the conversation and still benefit from "hearing" the conversation.  I think many of the #hashtag chats do that.

 

Is this how it's happened with you?  Have I missed something that was important?

 

 

 

How much is that tree, please?

I've been on the lookout for ways to engage my students in science that's outside the walls of our classroom.  And for the past couple of years, I've driven past price tags on trees which have piqued my interest because who has ever heard of price tag on a tree?

Turns out I found out where those price tags come from...The Heartland Tree Alliance.  This seems like a fantastic project to raise awareness in the community about the value of trees.  And it makes me wonder fi this wouldn't be a perfect way for my students to become interested in things within our neighborhoods, parks, backyard and playgrounds.

One of the outreach projects I read about was a Twitter feed from Penny Oak. 

Everyday this tree tweets about what is happening to it and in the park where it lives.  Wouldn't this be another great seed of idea for the kids to use?  I know they'd turn it into something even more than this...don't know what, but I know it's be terrific.

 "How much is that tree, please?" could be the start of our very own citizen science project.  I've been inspired by Science for Citizens @Sci4Cits and think this might be our entree into that kind of learning.

The shining mud ball---Hikaru Dorodango of course

Everyone enjoyed playing in the mud as a child, right? Well, that’s what you get to do with hikaru dorodango (“shining mud ball” in Japanese). Except this time, you don’t just wash the mud off and forget about it. Instead, you create something beautiful and unique. You also form a surprisingly strong attachment to a piece of artwork that you create from something so mundane.

via makeprojects.com

I'm always on the prowl looking for ways to incorporate art into my science class, so imagine my delight when I came across this shining mud ball possibility.

http://makeprojects.com/Project/Hikaru-Dorodango/1058/1#

Every year students collect soil samples as they go on Thanksgiving break since many travel to visit relatives and friends....they go everywhere.  When they return they bring back a one cup soil sample that we then examine to find what exactly what are the properties of soil.

You never know what they'll find as they look at the samples using their hands, magnifying glasses and the stereomicroscopes.  Honestly they revert back to the days when they were little kids and have a blast playing in the mud.  Do you remember playing in the mud?

Real science is accomplished because they can immediately detect differences in the color and texture of soil.  I think it's at this point they realize that soil is way more than "just dirt".   What a big ah-ha moment?  I know it seems trival, but this is where kids begin to appreciate the soil as something so common that they ignore it.  Suddenly they begin to actually notice that potting soil is not soil....it has wierd things in it that isn't in natural dirt (their words).  Do you love it when our students discover something so simple as this but that will forever alter their understanding of the world? 

Which is where Hikaru Dorodango comes in.  Once we are finished with all our examinations, we usually pick one or two of the really visually interesting samples to go in our class collection.  And sadly we dispose of the rest of the samples.  When I read this article about the shining mud ball art piece, suddenly I could see many possibilities that I had never had before. 

What if we could take all these samples and turn them into an art exhibit?  Do you have something where you morph stuff into an art exhibit?  I see this as a powerful way to connect science learning via another way of knowing....fusing those connections.

Somehow (and they can figure out how we'll do it) they can mix what they've learned about soil and its properties with their Hikaru Dorodango spheres.  I think it would be great fun.  My school is getting another art teacher and maybe they'll want to partner with me on this idea and we can build something cool for our kids.

What do you think?  Will Hikaru Dorodango work?

 

Many thanks to the Make Projects website for posting this idea.