How can your community get involved in the science classroom?

In a recent episode of Science Connections: The Podcast, veteran middle school science teacher Ryan Renee Rudkin sat down with host Eric Cross to discuss ways educators can get community members involved in the science classroom.

You can access the full episode here, but we’ve pulled out Ryan’s top three teacher takeaways for you to use in your classroom today! 

1. Ask your community to get involved.

Ryan’s creative instructional approach extends beyond the walls of her classroom. She finds value in enlisting the support of community members as featured classroom guest speakers. These valued guest speakers share their real-world experiences to help students relate to science content.

Some examples of Ryan’s community partnerships:

  • A local meteorologist’s hometown celebrity status helped students transfer the knowledge learned during a sixth-grade weather unit.
  • A cardiac nurse practitioner led an actual heart dissection with Ryan’s students. 
  • A nutritionist joined as a guest speaker during the metabolism unit.  

When Eric asked how Ryan was able to identify so many willing community members and parents to come speak to her students, she said, “People want to come and talk to kids. It doesn’t hurt to ask.” Ryan utilizes social media, PTA groups, and family surveys. “You just have to get creative. Look in your community and see what you have.” 

2. Increase caregiver engagement.

Ryan understands there are various barriers that may affect her students’ attendance and classroom engagement. Because of this understanding, she extends grace to her students and prioritizes making them feel valued. This is exemplified by Ryan calling students’ caregivers every Friday. Students are able to listen to the positive conversations and look forward to them every Friday. These positive touchpoints establish a strong caregiver-teacher relationship and open the door for dialogue between students and families as they celebrate student success.

3. Get students excited about showcasing their knowledge of science content.

One of Ryan’s top goals in her classroom is to create an enjoyable learning environment and to do so, she encourages educators to be resourceful. “Don’t reinvent the wheel,” she says. “There are so many things out there that you can borrow and make it your own.”

To keep students excited about science content, Ryan implements activities like Science Olympiad, an in-person or remote science competition that provides standards-based challenges; and March Mammal Madness, an annual tournament of simulated combat competition among animals that utilize scientific information to educate students about inter-species interactions.

With over a decade of experience in the classroom, Ryan exemplifies how creativity, resourcefulness, and passion for learning can positively affect student engagement in the classroom. 

For a more in-depth look, listen to the full episode to hear Eric and Ryan discussing the importance of connecting with students and caregivers in the science classroom:

Science Connections: The Podcast featuring veteran middle school teacher Ryan Renee

How can teachers find new energy in the science classroom?

Hear from our Science Connections: The Podcast guest and science PD expert Jessica Kesler

In the final episode of the latest season of Science Connections: The Podcast, host Eric Cross sits down with Jessica Kesler, professional development facilitator for science teachers. 

During the episode, Kesler describes her passion for sharing high-impact teaching strategies for science teachers and her experiences teaching in Philadelphia, and discusses how teachers’ roles often involve more than just delivering content.

Read on for a peek at the episode, and to learn more about science professional development for teachers. 

Meet Jessica Kesler

“I wanted to be a surgeon,” says Kesler. But learning about science ultimately inspired her to help others learn it, too. Her passion is to empower educators to create engaging and effective classrooms that will foster future leaders, work she is able to do in her role as a professional development facilitator at TGR Foundation, a Tiger Woods charity. This position enables her to develop and implement professional learning experiences focused on STEM-based, student-centered learning practices.

Before joining the TGR Foundation, she taught in Philadelphia schools as a chemistry and science teacher for grades 4–12, which was a bit of a culture shock. Kesler had gone from teaching near-adults who could drive themselves to school to teaching young children who often related to teachers as parent figures. The experience taught her a lot about “patience and breaking information down even smaller,” she says.

I had to figure out new and inventive ways to teach science and bring it down so far that students would be able to grab onto it and achieve it. It was a challenge,” she continues.  “But in the end it paid off. We hit our goals out of the park.

Teachers are the multipliers we need

Kesler and her team at the TGR Foundation designed their goals around a challenge issued by Tiger Woods himself: Reach millions of kids. 

They knew that reaching one student at a time would make it hard to reach their goals. 

The key? Focus on teachers, who can reach hundreds of students at a time. “They can have this multiplicative effect that can help us reach those millions of kids and help prepare them for careers,” she says.

Here are just a few of the teaching strategies and pieces of advice they offer science educators: 

  • Develop your inquiry environment. This means thinking not just about your physical space, but also your intellectual space. Kesler asks: “What are the things that you can embed into your physical space and develop in a student’s intellectual space that will help you create a holistic and growing environment?”
  • Be the entrepreneur of your classroom. Kesler and her team like to ask how a teacher can use entrepreneurial techniques to tackle issues in their schools, districts, and spheres of influence.

“Teachers are eager, but tired,” says Kesler. She notes that while school may be back in session, educators are still managing the effects of the pandemic and trying to get kids excited (and keep them excited) about science.

While teachers want to learn and do more, they are more concerned than ever about having enough time, funding, and energy to do so. 

Says Kesler: “I know you don’t have enough time to try to do 29 extra things. My advice is always: Do one thing at a time. Start with something small. Asking your students a few questions rather than lecturing to them doesn’t take a whole lot of extra time, but it gives you so much extra insight. So let’s not work harder. Let’s work smarter.” 

She continues: “It’s not Thanksgiving, where you just keep piling on a plate. It’s a time where you organize your inquiry to restructure your plates so that everything has a place and a time.”

Listen to the whole episode and to the rest of the podcast.

About Amplify’s Science Connections: The Podcast

Science is changing before our eyes, now more than ever. So how do we help kids figure that out? How are we preparing students to be the next generation of 21st-century scientists?

Join host Eric Cross as he sits down with educators, scientists, and knowledge experts to discuss how we can best support students in science classrooms. Listen to hear how you can inspire kids across the country to love learning science, and bring that magic into your classroom for your students.

Accelerating learning in science with the Science of Reading

The Science of Reading: it’s not just for Language Arts.

As host Eric Cross and expert guest Susan Lambert discuss in this Science Connections webinar, the Science of Reading also provides a powerful foundation for science learning.

Here’s what they had to say about bringing evidence-based literacy strategies into the science classroom.

The role of literacy in science literacy

Strictly speaking, the Science of Reading refers to the vast body of research we now have—and put into practice—on the systematic, explicit, and cumulative instruction required for students to learn to read.

There is a misconception that when we’re talking about the Science of Reading, we’re just talking about reading.

—Susan Lambert, Amplify’s Chief Academic Officer for Elementary Humanities

In fact, we’re talking about comprehensive literacy, which encompasses all the essential—and interdependent—components of literacy, including background knowledge, vocabulary, and both comprehension and expression.

In other words, it’s the listening, speaking, reading, and writing that scientists do in the real world—and that students do to engage with and connect to science learning. As we discussed in this post, developing students’ literacy in science helps them develop scientific literacy. And science literacy allows students to become critical thinkers, problem solvers, and strategic questioners—in science and beyond.

Integrating science and literacy in the classroom

What do these literacy strategies look like in practice? Eric puts them to use regularly—and here’s how you can, too.

  1. Use phenomena to activate and gauge prior knowledge. The more you know, the better you comprehend text and the faster you learn—so exploring familiar observable events (frying eggs, seeing your breath on a cold day) can engage students and accelerate their comprehension from the jump.
  2. Provide multilingual resources. “Being intentional about providing access to resources in the languages our students speak is critical,” said Eric. “The data shows that the more proficient students become in their native language, the more proficient they become in a new one.”
  3. Get students writing (and speaking, and editing). Eric has his students document their experiments and observations in (digital) notebooks and online portfolios. They also share with and present to each other, he said, “so they’re seeing other students’ writing styles and syntax and what details they include, and they can go back and update their own.” And, since it’s a year-long process, “by the time they’re done, they have this beautiful website that showcases their work.” (Amplify Science’s Student Investigation Notebooks also fit the bill!)
  4. Work across subjects. The Common Core recommends that, by 4th grade, 50% of texts read should be non-fiction. That’s why Eric coordinates with ELA teachers to read one text about metabolism, for example, each examining it through different lenses. “When you’re able to work together with another content teacher, it’s like magic,” he said. (And in elementary school, you’re the other content teacher!)
  5. Run science seminars. Students use evidence to explain their thinking. “For students who need extra support, you can have pre-written sentence frames so that they’re able to participate,” Eric said. “Even when they’re listening to other students speaking, that’s helping them develop language skills. You watch them be able to listen, speak, engage in debate, and disagree without being disagreeable, which we know as adults is a valuable skill.”

For more of Eric’s strategies, watch the webinar: Science Connections: Accelerating Learning in Science with the Science of Reading.

Even more to explore

Webinars:

Curriculum: Amplify Science

Amplify blog:

Making the most of a science education conference

A typical science education conference such as NSTA may offer hundreds of booths, sessions, and new people to meet—and, most of the time, a typical science educator can’t do it all! So how can you maximize these opportunities to learn even more about teaching science … without maxing out? Middle-school educator and Science Connections podcast host Eric Cross is here to offer his tips. Here’s what he shared with us: 

Proven tips for capitalizing on science education conferences

  • Fuel up: Good food and good coffee are essential for me. Before you arrive, do some pre-trip research into local coffee shops and restaurants near the conference center. Avoid the long lines and overpriced food at the conference venue; instead, support local businesses to keep your energy levels up. Also important: comfy shoes, a reusable water bottle, and extra snacks.
  • Make a plan: Once registered, head to the conference website to build your agenda. Phone apps are handy, but I often find the desktop version works better for planning.
  • Narrow it down: NSTA, as just one example, offers more than 1,132 sessions! So it’s crucial to zero in on your options. Use a session schedule filter to focus on the sessions most relevant to your interests and needs.
  • Go where you’re fed: If you’re torn between sessions, go to one to collect resources, then move onto the other. Usually presenters list their session resources on the schedule or in the beginning of their session. Don’t hesitate to leave a session if it’s not meeting your needs, either—you’re there on behalf of your students. Presenters get it.
  • Divide and conquer: If you’re attending with a team, collaborate on a shared document for session notes and resource links. This way, everyone in your department and administration can benefit from the resources gathered at the conference.
  • Visit the expo hall: I recommend visiting right when it opens. You’ll find the booths fully stocked and the energy levels high.
  • Embrace downtime: Remember, conference venues are huge, and you’ll be on your feet quite a bit. Make sure to schedule 30–45 minutes of downtime. Use this break for a bit of mindless relaxation or to catch up on emails and reflect on earlier sessions. This brief pause can be a game changer for your overall conference experience.
  • Revisit next-day plans: Schedules can shift at the last minute. After dinner, I like to give the lineup a fresh look for any speaker or time changes. Being prepared allows me to have a game plan, but flexibility is also key.
  • Network: I especially find value in connecting with educators who teach content or student populations similar to my own and learning about their best practices in science instruction. Sometimes, these new connections can be just as enriching as the sessions themselves.

Note: Amplify will be at NSTA (March 20–23) at Booth #713. Stop by to experience real Amplify Science lessons; gain access to exciting, free resources and activities; and pick up fun swag. You’ll also hear from product experts and real educators about how they use Amplify Science to benefit all students.

Can’t wait? Check out our Amplify Science success stories to see how our K–8 curriculum is helping students everywhere read, think, and talk like scientists.

More to explore