Keystone Weekly
volume 3, issue 19        February 19, 2002

This week's Key Points: *Kit Use: Microworlds (STC)* and *NASA Wants You!*
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Kit Use Through a KSN Teacher's Eyes: Microworlds (STC)

Maureen Benner, fifth grade teacher from Manor Elementary in the Pennsbury School District, is back with more to share. She's been teaching STC's Microworlds for three years with good success.

In STC's Microworlds, students use a variety of magnifying devices (including hand lenses, acrylic spheres, water drops, and microscopes) to examine everyday objects and microorganisms.

Microworlds relates nicely to Maureen's school's life science strand, and the district selected it. Maureen reports she finds the kit to be easy to use, requiring little preparation, and what work there is to do is made easier because, as she says, "We get our kits from The Invention Factory. Everything is included—we don't have to supplement or cut out the newsprint pieces."

Maureen's students love working with Microworlds, and Maureen likes it because it "provides a hands-on experience that helps the students understand the concepts." Maureen approves of all of the topics that the kit covers. She cautions that the "hay infusion [in which students grow cultures] is smelly but very interesting," and comments that her students were particularly thrilled with studying the living organisms. To make the microscope activity more accessible and fun, Maureen says that they "use the flex-cam to view them on the TV after the students view them with a microscope."

Speaking of the microscopes, Maureen comments, "The microscopes provided are fragile. They [the students] need to be careful with the lens. It can be easily scratched." To enrich the microscope time, Maureen also sets up a station with a high-powered microscope* in the back of the room that the students can use as well.

This year, Maureen plans to use interactive web resources to supplement the kit, and she also plans to add a research project. (See the Organisms and Their Needs Curricular Companion for Microworlds-related ideas.) In the past, she's found that it helps to come up with new activities if you need to have a substitute teacher, and some of the teachers in her district have created classification activities that she finds ideal for this purpose.

(* Perhaps you may be able to contact a high school in your district if you don't have ready access to a high-powered microscope in your school.)

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NASA Is Looking for Educators to Evaluate Products

NASA Quest sends along the following request to educators. If you'd like to learn more about this branch of NASA the helps to bring space and science into the classroom, featuring free activities and resources, take a look at http://quest.nasa.gov/index.html.

During the next few months (February through March), NASA Quest needs educators to serve as educational product evaluators. There are three prototypes that need your feedback. If you teach at the K-4 or 9-12 grade levels, your time and input would be greatly appreciated. All who complete the evaluation will receive free NASA educational materials.

K-4 GRADE EDUCATORS
Kindergarten through 4th grade teachers are needed for about three hours to thoroughly immerse themselves in a website about rotorcraft science and technology that uses an online, read-aloud book format ("Robin Whirleybird on Her Rotorcraft Adventures"). After thoroughly reviewing the website, complete an online evaluation form of about 60 multiple choice questions.

9-12 GRADE EDUCATORS
If you teach 9th-12th grade, there are two possible educational products on which you could serve as an evaluator.

PROJECT 1: 9-12 GRADE
The Air Traffic Management board game needs to be played in a classroom setting with high school aged students. Your students will need to review specific informational text from the "Virtual Skies" website before engaging in game play. You will be asked to download, print, and assemble the game, then have your students play the game in a classroom setting (during an afterschool activity would be acceptable). Upon completion of the game play, the teacher is asked to complete an online evaluation form consisting of approximately 70 multiple choice questions. Total time for this activity from download through assembly to game play is approximately 8-10 hours.

PROJECT 2: 9-12 GRADE
Another high school educational product that is also connected with the website "Virtual Skies" includes three classroom math and science lessons. Teachers will be asked to review and select one lesson, download and print the lesson as well as teach the lesson in a classroom setting with high school students. Following its instruction, the teacher will be asked to complete an online evaluation form consisting of approximately 60 multiple choice questions. Total time for this activity should be about 7 hours.

CONTACT INFORMATION
The evaluation period is set to run from February 18 through March 22. If you would like to volunteer to serve as an evaluator, please send an email to achaussee@mail.arc.nasa.gov.

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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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