Local teachers learn new ways to make science fun, engaging

CMC hosts teachers for one-week summer science institute

Scott Sandblom, left, an eighth-grade science teacher at Riverside Middle School, and John Wisniewski, right, an eighth-grade science teacher at Rifle Middle School, calculate stream flow of a channel off of the Colorado River near Silt. Twenty-four elementary and middle school teachers from New Castle, Silt, Rifle, Parachute and DeBeque participated in a one-week summer science institute facilitated by Colorado Mountain College and funded by a grant from Chevron.
Scott Sandblom, left, an eighth-grade science teacher at Riverside Middle School, and John Wisniewski, right, an eighth-grade science teacher at Rifle Middle School, calculate stream flow of a channel off of the Colorado River near Silt.

By Stefanie Kilts

For one week this past June, 24 local elementary and middle school teachers built sun dials, waded in rivers to test water for microorganisms and used ping pong balls to study moon shadows.

The activities were all part of Colorado Mountain College’s summer science institute, a local initiative funded by a grant from Chevron and designed to provide science teachers with more effective ways to improve student achievement both in the field and in the classroom.

“It’s important to know what to teach but it’s also important to know how best to teach it,” said Nephi Thompson, a CMC biology and chemistry instructor at the Rifle campus who led the summer institute.

He said the institute first focused on building the teachers’ content knowledge based on Colorado K-8 science standards, and then taught effective ways to make science fun and engaging for students by using field work and equipment.

Shelly Schuckers, a multi-age teacher for second- and third-graders at Bea Underwood Elementary School in Parachute, said she and her team had already planned on teaching habitats in their classroom for the next school year, so she was thrilled when the summer institute did a field activity on microorganisms.

“They took us to the river and we got wet. We don’t usually get to do that as adults,” she laughed.

More importantly, she said, is that she can now take the activities she participated in during the institute and adapt them to the level of her students.

Putting learning to use in K-8 classrooms

Shonna Partain, left, a second-grade teacher at Highland Elementary School, and Bob Stewart, seventh-grade science teacher at Riverside Middle School, collect a macroinvertebrate sample to assess water quality on the Colorado River near Silt. Twenty-four elementary and middle school teachers from New Castle, Silt, Rifle, Parachute and DeBeque participated in a one-week summer science institute facilitated by Colorado Mountain College and funded by a grant from Chevron.
Shonna Partain, left, a second-grade teacher at Highland Elementary School, and Bob Stewart, seventh-grade science teacher at Riverside Middle School, collect a macroinvertebrate sample to assess water quality on the Colorado River near Silt.

“There’s a lot of teaching material for reading and math but science is often overlooked,” she said. “We really gained a deeper understanding of science topics so we can teach them more effectively to our students.”

Kaycee Manuppella, a second-grade teacher at Elk Creek Elementary in New Castle, said after each field activity, Thompson would ask the teachers how they could use it in their classroom. She said it was a great way for them to get insight from each other on how best to tailor the activity to their grade-level and science curriculum.

“Science can be a lot of abstract concepts,” she said. “The activities were a hands-on way to look at and teach these concepts.”

Barbara Johnson, Colorado Mountain College’s interim director of teacher education, said the college worked with the superintendents and school principals in each district to get recommendations for two teachers from each school who might best benefit from the trainings.

The institute was funded with a $150,000 grant CMC received from Chevron to develop and provide a summer science experience for teachers from Garfield Re-2, District 16 and the DeBeque School District. Science is one of the STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) subjects on which many public schools are focusing their curricula.

In addition to the one-week summer institute, the teachers will also participate in three professional development days throughout the school year – the grant covers the cost of a substitute teacher while they’re away – so they can work with their colleagues to coordinate implementation and activities, as well as monitor student achievement.

The participants also earned a $500 stipend, $250 toward classroom equipment and three credit hours of CMC integrated science credit.

Scott Sandblom, an eighth-grade science teacher at Riverside Middle School, has already spent his $250 on sun-tracking equipment he plans to use for a long-term project during the 2013-14 school year.

The angle of the sun affects many things including climate, energy and transportation, he said, and the project will be a way to show his students how different topics in science connect, a teaching tool he said he gained from the summer institute.

“We would learn different topics each day in the institute and how they are related,” he said. “Then we would learn how to tie the topics to our lessons and show students how they all connect.”

Johnson said CMC has applied again for the grant from Chevron. With the success of the last institute, she said there is already a waiting list of teachers in hopes the institute can be held again next year.