Mar 04 2008
Use of Science Carts for teaching and Lab experiments
Tonight I have collaborated with Dan Pierce, Alt. Ed. Supervisor LoGuidice and former high school science teacher to provide in-depth training for our science teachers at Hewes Center on the use of the science cart. The ability of this science cart is only limited by the teachers imagination. The cart which includes a video data projector is equipped with close to 400 lab experiments. Unfortunately due to limited teacher training and time to adapt the technology plus become familiar with the all the myriad uses possible, the cart is not used as much as it should be. Hence our students are denied the wonder of science and technology linked together to make learning real.
This teacher training will be expanded to include an invitation to the Science liaison in CTE, Hewes and teachers of science at LoGuidice, Ormsby and Baker Road. All sites that work primarily with our High School student populations. I believe that two full days of sustained teacher training are needed to both review, experiment and use the science carts to teach with to a group of select students, before familiarity and usefulness of the Science Carts can be fully appreciated by our BOCES instructors.
My goal as a supervisor is to get the science cart to be used by both Alt. ed and Special ed science teachers at the High School and Middle School level. In addition, working with the CTE science liaison will assist all three instructional divisions to better collaborate and utilize expensive equipment for the betterment of all students and programs.
I will propose that two days be set aside within one week for this sustained training opportunity that demands teacher concentration and time away from the classroom in order to ensure more regular use of the science carts. Watch this site for follow-up news on this instructional resource – the science cart.
2 responses so far
Create a free edublog to get your own comment avatar (and more!)
As a science teacher that currently has a science cart in my room, I feel the need to defend both myself and some of my fellow teachers. Let me start off by saying the science can be a wonderful resource. Unfortunately there are several fundamental flaws with the cart in my specific room. First I will agree with the fact that there are over 400 experiments on the cart. However, 90% of them are geared towards a physics curriculum, which is not currently being taught in any Boces center that I am aware of. Secondly, the science cart is not working properly due to the flaws in both ordering and setting up of the science cart. Speaking to several other science teachers yesterday at a curriculum meeting, I was able to learn that the Hewes Center is not the only center that is experiencing these issues. One of the other centers only has one student lap top and many of our computers do not have the capability to access the Internet to gather the resources that would add to the success of the science cart.
I must also state that I have been to three days of staff development involving the science cart in the past. It is not that I am unaware of how to operate the cart. It is that it has never been set up properly so that teachers can fully take advantage.
Finally, although I believe the science cart can be used as a wonderful resource and will be in the near future. I do not believe that that will be the case for every teacher. Each teacher has their own teaching style and that is what makes us unique from each other. There are many other ways that the students can be exposed to the both the wonder of science and technology.
As a teacher certified in Special Education and Reading, I need all the help I can get in Science! I think it is wonderful that we have access to the science cart. It can be a wonderful supplement for teaching that will engage students and make learning fun. However, the cart needs to have all the correct components and topics geared toward what we are teaching in order for it to have an impact upon our students. In order for a teaching tool like the science cart to be effective, it has to work and be compatible with the technology we are using. This, coupled with training should make the science cart a very useful part of any science curriculum.