Keystone Weekly
volume 4, issue 12        December 9, 2002

This week's Key Points: *Kit Use in Action: Electric Circuits (STC)* and *Web Pick of the Week*
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Andrew Furst, a fourth grade teacher from East Lansdowne Basics School in the William Penn School District, related his experiences working with STC's Electric Circuits. In Electric Circuits, as students learn the basic properties of electricity, they learn about electric circuits and the parts of a light bulb, and then build up to investigating different kinds of circuits, switches, flashlight construction, and the properties of diodes.

Andrew's school district presented him with Electric Circuits, but he says that he chooses to use it "because the material is interesting to me and the students. It gives my kids a chance to do real science for a change." Andrew's been using Electric Circuits for about four or five years. The kit doesn't align with any of their textbook material, but it does align to the state standards.

"I love teaching Electric Circuits," Andrew says. From a practical perspective, he explains that the preparations can be a bit involved, and mentions that it does "take a little time to figure a few things out, such as the final project where the students need to construct a 2-pole switch. I actually had it wrong and a parent corrected me on how to build it." He has encountered a few difficulties with pacing the activities, and he says that building the houses at the end of the unit sometimes takes up more time than he wants to spend. And, he explains that he doesn't allow students to take any materials home, so everything has to be done in class.

But working in class seems good to his students; Andrew says that his students are "intrigued by [electricity] and at the same time take it for granted." Andrew himself says that he "love[s] the topics of electricity because it answers a lot of real-life questions."

Andrew's students "enjoy doing the science but dislike recording their findings." He says that "since this is the first time most of them have done hands-on guided inquiry science they have a hard time thinking with their hands. They try something and when it doesn't work they try the same thing again, or they give up." This can be frustrating, but there are moments that outshine the difficulties. Andrew shares that "the experience that continually, year after year, stands out for me is when the student is fiddling with a wire, a bulb, and a battery and that little light bulb lights up, then the light bulb in his or her mind lights up and they can hardly contain themselves."

Along with learning about electricity basics, Andrew appreciates that this kit helps to teach the students "the main science process skills," and "also teaches them how to work in groups cooperatively and to test and retest their results." Andrew adds, "The teacher's guide is easy to understand and the manuals are good for the students. I would like to see more recording sheets as part of the student manuals and more assessment tools. I need to be able to have science grades for my students every week. We send home progress reports every other week so I constantly need to update my grades."

Since he's enjoyed working with this kit for years, he plans to keep on using it until it wears out. In the future, Andrew would like to shorten the project and grade more on the students' demonstrations.

Andrew says that he'd "absolutely" recommend this kit to other teachers. He concludes, "This is a great kit that teaches some wonderful skills and concepts. The students enjoy the experience and it is not a difficult unit to teach."

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The US Geological Survey (USGS) offers these beautiful images of the Earth taken from the Landsat-7 satellite. Chosen on the basis of their aesthetic appeal, this collection of images provides amazing views of our planet in ways few have ever seen before. Some of these images of our planet's features are so unusual looking that it could be a fun activity to share them with your class as part of an earth science unit and have them try to guess what it is that they're looking at.

This site is related to an exhibition at the Library of Congress in Washington, DC. The images from this project are currently on display in one of the many galleries within the Library of Congress; perhaps you'd like to stop by and check it out if you're in the area.

For more information about these images, the website, and the exhibition, take a look at this article:
http://story.news.yahoo.com /news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20021203/ap_on_sc/satellite_art_1

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This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 9819641.
Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

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