Website/Book: Invitations to Inquiry

 I have found what looks to be the ultimate treasure trove of science demonstrations and activities for elementary and middle school students. 

Tik Liem published a book called Invitations to Science Inquiry.  It's downright difficult to find a copy of this book today, and if you can, it'll cost you plenty.  But, ERIC* has the complete second edition available for free.  That's 400 discrepant events** for you and your students, for FREE!!!  And they cover every branch of science. 

In the abstract, Liem writes:

In the teaching of a science concept, it is important for the teacher to arouse the student's curiosity.  Once curiosity is aroused, the students will learn much more on their own than the teacher can ever teach them.  The use of discrepant events in the teaching science is one of the best methods to arouse this curiosity.  This book is a collection of thoroughly tested discrepant events.  They can be used to initiate or sustain a lesson in virtually any topic of science at the upper elementary or intermediate level.  They can be used as reinforcement activities or as challenging problems for further inquiry. 

Seriously... I think I've been channeling Tik Liem for the past 8 years without even knowing of his existence.  I've been trying to learn a bit more about him and his experiences, but have yet to come up with anything beyond this publication.  

In the meantime, I'm figuring out how I want to print this massive document because I think I need to have it in hard copy - there are just too many high quality demonstrations I need to try out.

I"m familiar with several of the discrepant events in this book (and you are too, if you've been reading my blog), and they are demonstrations that easy to set-up and come through for me every time.  I'm looking forward to finding more of these as I work my way through the book.  And I thought I might run out of material for this blog... I'm good for a while now!  (Although I won't be doing much of anything in his chemistry section, as they all require chemicals and safety equipment that I just don't have at home).

Do yourself a favor and go check out Invitations to Science Inquiry NOW!  

*ERIC is the Education Resources Information Center run by the US Department of Education - a very legitimate site.  My past experience with it came in grad school - it has lots of journal articles and research papers.  I still think that's the majority of the content, but after learning of Invitations to Inquiry, I might have to explore a bit more and see if there are other treasures lurking about.

**Discrepant events are things that counter-intuitive.  You need to look closer at the science involved to understand what's happening.

AIMS: Magazine and Lessons

AIMS Education Foundation is an organization aimed at giving students a solid understanding of math and science. 

For awhile I maintained a subscription to their magazine.  It's a beautiful, high-quality publication.  I did let my subscription lapse... I found it to be a bit expensive and I felt like there were more lessons geared toward math than science in the editions I received (that may have just been a function of that particular year, or just something I imagined, but regardless, it just wasn't meeting my expectations).  However, I do know that they have produced some great activities, that I've come across through other resources (and thus my interest in the magazine). 

Even if you're not interested in the AIMS publications... head to their website - they have several of the activities available as free samples.  There aren't a lot, but you might find something of use to you.

There are also some downloadable activities that are available for a dollar or two each.

Book: Science Verse

Science Verse  is a fantastic book from Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith (who also did Math Curse). 

It begins....

On Wednesday in science class, Mr. Newton says, "You know, if you listen closely enough, you can hear the poetry of science in everything."  I listen closely.  On Thursday, I start hearing the poetry.  In fact, I start hearing everything as a science poem.  Mr. Newton has zapped me with a curse of SCIENCE VERSE.

And then come the poems.  Wonderful! 

All of the poems are originial, but many are based on famous works, such as Casey at the Bat, The Battle Hymn of the Republic, Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening, Paul Revere's Ride, and so on.  Others are based on well-known childhood rhymes: I'm a Little Teapot, Jack Be Nimble, etc. 

Lane's illustrations are as entertaining as the poems.  They're so much fun to look at.  

The book comes with a CD of Jon and Lane reading the poems.  It's equally fantastic, and helps you pick up the rhythm of the poems - there were a few verses whose "tune" I didn't pick up on until hearing it read aloud.  The end of the CD also includes some additional poems that didn't make the "cut" - a little added fun!

Consider adding this book to your classroom or home library.  You'll want to share individual poems with your students and also leave the book out for students to explore on their own.

TOPS Learning Systems

TOPS learning systems has a series of 48 workbooks for all variety of math and science topics.  Their premise is to have kids doing hands-on science and math activities using simple materials. 

I have a copy* of Scale the Universe (#44) and I really enjoy all of the printable, ready-to-use pages.  I can attest to the use of very simple, common materials.  There's some fun stuff in there. 

Even if you're not interested in purchasing the books, I would recommend checking out the website.  There is a free sample lab available for each of the book titles - that's 48 FREE LABS!  Look through the available labs and see if there's anything there you might use in your classroom!

*I was given my copy free, while attending a workshop. 

Teaching Science with Foldables

Elementary Edition

Middle/High School Edition

I'm not sure when I first learned about foldables, but I'm sure glad I did.

Basically, foldables are a whole series of different ways to organize information - there are tables, booklets of all types, 3D structures, and more. 

A few of my favorite things about foldables...
...it's good for kids to learn a variety of ways to organize information.
...it turns boring note-taking into something more interesting.
...they are a great addition to a portfolio or interactive notebook


Dinah Zike's books are great!  They are organized in two ways...
...First, each type of foldable contains several examples of topics for which you might use that foldable.

...Then, each science topic has a list of foldables you might use to organize the information in that topic. 

It's hard to read, but that's a whole list of ways you might use foldables when studying plate tectonics!

As a science teacher, I like the Zike's books related specifically to science (it makes it that much easier for me!), but it would be easy to adapt these basic organizing techniques to any subject area.  In fact, Zike has written books on math and social studies foldables.

Books: A Short History of Nearly Everything

I've drawn attention to A Short History of Nearly Everything, by Bill Bryson before (not on this blog, but elsewhere).  I LOVE this book.  I find it utterly fascinating and fun to read.  It is Bill Bryson's attempt to understand the oldest questions posed about our universe and ourselves. In his words, "The idea was to see if it isn't possible to understand and appreciate - marvel at, enjoy even - the wonder and accomplishments of science at a level that isn't too technical or demanding, but isn't entirely superficial either."

In my opinion, he succeeded!

If you read it, you'll be amazed by how much we know about the world around us, and stymied by the vast amount of information that remains unknown. 

I am particularly fond of the analogies Bryson uses - I find that they make the material accessible as well as just plain fascinating.  He covers some pretty heavy topics, but the way he writes makes them understandable (and interesting) to even middle school students. 

Here are a few examples.

First, on how small a proton is...

 A proton is an infinitesimal part of an atom, which is itself of course an insubstantial thing. Protons are so small that a little dib of ink like the dot on this i can hold something in the region of 500,000,000,000 of them, rather more than the number of seconds contained in half a million years.

And then, on how large space is....

Our nearest neighbor in the cosmos, Proxima Centauri, which is part of the three-star cluster known as Alpha Centauri, is 4.3 light-years away, a sissy skip in galactic terms, but that is still a hundred million times farther than a trip to the Moon. To reach it by spaceship would take at least twenty-five thousand years, and even if you made the trip you still wouldn't be anywhere except at a lonely clutch of stars in the middle of a vast nowhere.

And, finally, on how little we even know about our own home....

The distance from the surface of the Earth to the center is 3,959 miles, which isn't so very far.  It has been calculated that if you sunk a well to the center and dropped a brick into it, it would take only fourty-five minutes for it to hit the bottom (though at that point it would be weightless since all the Earth's gravity would be above and around it rather than beneath it).  Our own attempts to penetrate toward the middle have been modest indeed.  One or two South African gold mines reach to a depth of two miles, but most mines on Earth go no more than about a quarter of a mile beneath the surface.  If the planet were an apple, we wouldn't yet have broken through the skin.  Indeed, we haven't even come close.

One of the other great things about this book is that you can pick it up, flip it open to a random page (or chapter) and start reading, as I did several times in looking for the above quotes. 

Get yourself a copy of A Short History of Nearly Everything - you can most likely get it at or through your local library.  Although, you might want to get your own copy so you can mark it up with your own notes, exclamation points, and underlining (although I gave up on all that when I found that I had underlined or bracketed almost every paragraph in the first two chapters).