Amy Stewart
7E:162
Community Resource Project
The Science Station in Cedar Rapids was the site of my community resource project. The Science Station features a “Dino-Might” dinosaur exhibit along with three floors of hands-on type science experiments, activities, and displays. In addition, the science station has an IMAX theatre, but we did not get a chance to experience that feature.
My husband and daughter, Carley (5 years of age) accompanied me to the science station. We all went into this as students, there to play. Of course, I was keeping in mind the teacher end of the experience also. For all of us, there were displays of interest. I found the Dinosaur exhibit to be fascinating and educational. The exhibit was so realistic that my daughter did not want to stay in there. She was scared. It was very cool, for anyone at any age. But, they also had a lot of fun with an exhibit where fast moving air moves balls through mazes of pipes in different ways. They had fun guessing which way the balls would go and where they would shoot out. We also spent a lot of time with magnet activities. One was different heights of magnets on a wooden frame. Then the person had to try to hang bolts and nuts together from the magnet to reach the table below. It was a challenge and we finally got it built on all three levels.
For young children, like my daughter, there were many exhibits where she could get right in there and work without help. She used air tubes to make bubbles, played a piano, dressed a weather bear, use astronaut type gloves and build with materials, and several magnet activities. There were many more than that. I know that she did not truly understand much of the science behind each exhibit, but she had a lot of fun, a building block for future learning. She was also surprised many times when outcomes were not as she predicted them to be, or when she saw things she had never seen before. Examples of this were holographs and curved mirrors. For her I felt like it was just the beginning in a long journey of wondering and trial, and fun.
For my husband and I there were many challenges also. Not only were some of the activities challenging, but we also took the time to read some of the explanations for the exhibits. I liked this aspect. While some of the terminology may be difficult for students, it offered me explanations to how or why and would help me to explain to students what the exhibit was about. I guess I am just being brutally honest when I admit that some of the experiments, I would have difficulty explaining. At the same time, I found myself encouraging Carley, asking her questions, letting her make choices and mistakes, having her predict the outcome, and trying to give simple explanations at times. I was following the teacher (and parent) role in this way.
Through all of this I realized that this facility would be great for elementary students of any age, and I feel it very important for a teacher to have visited the site before the field trip. Time spent there and preparation needed would differ depending on the age. It would be the type of place that would be great to visit at one age and then revisit with new science knowledge and understanding. For upper elementary students, I could see spending most of a school day there, considering drive and lunch time included. We spent two and a half hours there and could have very well spent more time. As a teacher, I would hope for parent volunteers to accompany because I feel at times that small groups would be great. Each person would take a turn and then a small discussion could be had as to why or how. I also think there would be times where larger groups could work, and that it would be important for older students to explore where they wanted and with who the wanted. Preparation would also be key here. We would need to prepare students as to how the day would operate, what they need to bring and how they are getting there. At any age, I would also expect students to bring paper to write or draw about those things for further reflection. There is just so much to see that I think taking notes is crucial for further discussion and reflection.
The staff is helpful at the science station. I think they would also be great help in meeting a teacher’s needs on a field trip. They also have written materials available for teachers described as informational and guiding for the day. I don’t think that I would choose to have someone come to the classroom as a guest speaker because it is really the type of place you have to see to believe. It would be important to address rules and layout, such as bathroom locations, ahead of time. The trip is meant to be child-centered, yet with a whole class of students, it would need to be very controlled to ensure safety. At the same time, discussing the purpose for the visit would help remind kids that while field trips are fun, there are expectations designed by the teacher (according to age level).
I would feel very confident in choosing the Science Station for a field trip. I know how kids will feel when they see something they have learned about in the classroom, especially when they know why things work. I felt that myself when we came to the magnets. I was interested in trying their activities, some different from and same as what we did in class. This is not something I would have felt as a kid, because we didn’t do hands-on very much. But, in the midst of this class, I can really value everything about it.