Instead of reading about weather in a science textbook, local fourth graders are building their own meteorological instruments to learn about wind's influence on weather patterns. The students then met with an air-traffic controller at the small-plane Lebanon Airport, where they compared their wind instruments with the airport's and learned about a real-world importance of wind direction.
Lesson plans like these are inspired by an instruction method called inquiry-based learning, the subject of a symposium held Jan. 6 in Kemeny Hall. At the event, which was sponsored by Dartmouth's education department, teachers explained how their students responded to learning activities like the ones the fourth graders took part in.
Inquiry-based learning is aimed at helping students understand and experience science first-hand rather than through a picture caption in a textbook.
Professor Janet Zullo, supervisor of the Elementary Teacher Education Program, partnered with Judith Filkins, the math and science curriculum coordinator for the Lebanon school district, to realize this type of learning in science education for five local school districts.
"There wasn't as much science being taught before this program. But, since the No Child Left Behind Act started testing science, it is beginning to become a priority," Zullo said.
The New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont departments of education worked together to develop a common set of grade-level expectations in response to the NCLB requirements.
These expectations take the form of an assessment called the NECAP test. Though the test contains multiple choice questions, it also provides students with a chance to explain their thinking in written sections.
To meet these requirements, the inquiry-based learning project focused on improving teachers' knowledge base and giving students hands-on experience with the sciences.
"Elementary school teachers have to cover a range of topics, so most usually don't have a lot of science background. We tried to supply them with science content specialists," Zullo said.
This program has attracted many specialists to speak to the students, including Dr. Jay Buckey, an astronaut who flew aboard a space shuttle mission as a NASA mission specialist, and Tom Hoyt, the meteorologist for television station WNNE, who grilled students with questions after they performed in a weather report skit.
"The inquiry-based learning plan focuses on students asking and answering their own questions," Filkins said. "We are trying to shift teachers away from using textbooks and trying to get kids to think of science as something other than a set of facts."
With a background of 11 years teaching in the Lebanon school district, Zullo held seminars with teachers to help them feel more confident without a textbook.
"Inquiry science is a way of questioning, not just coming up with the right answer," Zullo said. "That is what it is about. It is about a way of approaching a problem based on scientific observations and data."
At the event, teachers shared their accomplishments with each other and felt comfortable doing so since they were in an accepting, tight-knit community, Zullo said.
"You up the ante when you have a public display. That is why it sticks with you; that is why it sticks with teachers. They too are learners, just like we are asking students to be in the classroom, the parallels are all there," Zullo said.
The project has not been met without opposition, however. Veteran teachers, according to Filkins, are more comfortable with the traditional format where questions are placed at the end of the unit.
The teachers and administrators involved, enthusiastic about the program, want to see it duplicated in other parts of the state and in other disciplines.
"If I were a kid in school, this is exactly the type of science that I would want to do," Filkins said.
