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K-12 Outreach staff visit school, host Shark Day at Purdue

Focus on Science Provides Hands-on Activities at Bunker Hill Elementary School

Hands-on science and mathematics was featured at Purdue University’s Focus on Science Week, held at Bunker Hill Elementary School in Indianapolis, Indiana from February 28 to March 4.

“Focus on Science Week is a great opportunity to see students participating in hands-on activities and getting excited about science and mathematics,” said Bill Walker, Director of College of Science K-12 Outreach. “Our outreach coordinators demonstrate teaching strategies that emphasize hands-on activities and inquiry learning, which makes Focus on Science a week of science engagement for students and a professional development opportunity for teachers.”

The Focus on Science program was the culmination a larger project helping teachers include more inquiry-based activities in science education at Bunker Hill. College of Science Outreach Coordinators worked with five hundred seventy-five students at Bunker Hill Elementary. Every student participated in activities throughout the week. Activities included Busy Bugs, Bag of Rocks, Nature of Science Observation, and Earth Through Time.

Busy Bugs is a hands-on mathematics activity where students create and describe groups based on similarities and differences among a colorful set of insects and spiders. Students use activity mats to match objects with given characteristics, find patterns, and perform simple arithmetic.

Bag of Rocks investigates the characteristics of rocks depending on what they are composed and how they are made. Students practice observation and critical thinking skills to discover how scientists classify rocks.

The Nature of Science Observation has students investigate and observe their world, thinking by analogy, changing scale, and theorizing. It uses a jeweler’s loupe, everyday objects from the natural and manmade world, and simple questions to develop higher order thinking skills, creativity, and scientific literacy with ease. Questions like “What does it look like?” or “What does it remind you of?” help students to think using analogies. Analogies become the foundation for theorizing because it naturally leads to another question, “Why is it like that?”

The Earth Through Time studies changes that have taken place on our planet. The Earth is a dynamic planet that has undergone continuous change. Paleontologists use clues in the fossil record to understand ancient Earth. In this activity, students search for clues to the nature of ancient Earth by examining fossils and then construct a record of geologic time based on their conclusions.

If you are interested in learning more about Focus on Science or the College of Science K-12 Outreach Program email outreach@science.purdue.edu, call 765-494-1990, or visit the Outreach web site.

Elementary kids visit campus

Over 60 of fifth-grade students from Vinton Elementary School spent the day in Lilly Hall of Life Sciences doing hands-on experiments orchestrated by College of Science K-12 Outreach and the Biomedia Center for Instructional Design. The experiments were designed to teach the children about scientific investigation in biology, chemistry, and physics.

“The idea is to give kids a hands-on approach to science, so they see that science is fun, but at the same time that they can learn things from it,” said Isidore Julien, the Biology Outreach Coordinator.

Activities for the day included a shark dissection, demonstrations with marine animals such as sea urchins, density straws, and the aluminum boat float.

The aluminum boat float is an exciting competition for the students. Metal washers are piled unto the middle of a boat made from a sheet of aluminum foil until it sinks.

“You have to make boats so there’s a lot of area and make the sides tall enough so it won’t sink when you put the washer in,” said a Vinton Elementary Student.
“90,” she counted, “91, 92!” That’s 92 metal washers.
“The record so far is 109,” said Isidore Julien, explaining why the students were so eager to break 100.

Clark Gedney, Director of the Biomedia Center for Instructional Design at Purdue, led the shark dissection group. Gedney brought a collection of animals to science day, including a mantis shrimp, a crustacean with a club tail. “The mantis shrimp can swing that thing with almost the force of a 22-pound bullet,” Gedney said, pointing out that the walls of the fish tank holding the creature were lined with an extra strong material sometimes used by the space industry.

Bill Bayley, Outreach Coordinator for the Department of Chemistry, said inquiry-based learning, where students are given a problem to investigate and solve with little instruction from a teacher, is realistic and encourages creativity. “This is what scientists do all the time. They have a problem and they have to try to solve it. The students love it, and the nice thing is it’s hands-on and minds-on.”

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