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K-12 Outreach staff members help local students “Discover Water”

As part of an initiative to integrate science with math, social studies, fine arts, and language, Burnett Creek Elementary School held the community-integrated event called Discover Water. Purdue University's College of Science K-12 Outreach Coordinators, Purdue’s ENGAGE student group, and the Tippecanoe County Soil and Water Conservation District worked with teachers from the elementary by leading students in water themed activities.

“It’s important to teach students about science, but they also need to learn how it relates to other areas of their lives,” said Karen Miller, teacher at Burnett Creek and coordinator of Discover Water.

Bill Bayley, Isidore Julien, Steven Smith, and Bill Walker from College of Science K-12 Outreach focused on helping nearly 200 students apply their knowledge to the world around them. Students worked on projects that allowed them to investigate problems that face Indiana, such as soil erosion and water pollution. Students examined the effects rain had on soil erosion when plants were present and when they were not. They also participated in a seed growth experiment where the seeds were set in different water-based solutions. Some solutions had pollutants present and the students investigated the effect the pollutants have on plant growth.

After learning the basics about water, some students began applying their insights to current events. Krystal Finney, president of the Purdue ENGAGE club, said she enjoyed challenging students to apply their newfound knowledge to real-life events such as the recent tsunami. “This is real life, and they are thinking critically about the world around them,” she said. “They’re starting to understand what really happened in Indonesia and want to know what could have been done to reduce the devastation.”

“It’s about making them see that science can explain a lot of things around them,” said Bill Bayley, Chemistry Outreach Coordinator. “The biggest things we want kids to get from today are a better sense of how to question and how to do science.”

Inquiry Workshops for Indiana teachers

January was another busy month for College of Science K-12 Outreach Coordinators. During the month, they conducted workshops on Inquiry-Based Science Instruction with 40 teachers representing seven Indiana schools. The Inquiry Workshop has been frequently requested largely because the Indiana K-12 Academic Standards in Science emphasize science instruction through the use of Inquiry.

Inquiry is a multifaceted activity that involves making observations, posing questions; planning investigations; reviewing experimental evidence; using tools to gather, analyze, and interpret data; proposing explanations and predictions; and communicating the results. Inquiry requires identification of assumptions, use of critical and logical thinking, and consideration of alternative explanations. Incorporating inquiry-based instruction in classrooms involves allowing students to ask questions, gather evidence, and propose scientific explanations based on their own investigations.

The workshop introduces teachers to the concept and structure of inquiry-based learning, provides a sample of inquiry-based activities, and offers teachers the opportunity to modify a component of their current curriculum. During the workshop, teachers:
• Define Inquiry in science and academic standards
• Participate in inquiry-based and non-inquiry based activities
• Evaluate materials and activities using inquiry-based perspective
• Create and modify activities to include more inquiry

The workshop has been popular with Indiana teachers, and has immediate impact in some science classrooms. “The activities were good. I appreciated getting to ask specific questions of the Outreach Coordinators and other teachers. The information about teaching methods and scientific resources were valuable,” commented one of the teacher participants.

If you are interested in teacher workshops offered by College of Science K-12 Outreach please contact us (outreach@science.purdue.edu, 765-494-1990) or visit our website.

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