A Day in the Life of a Teacher at the National Hands-on Science Institute
By Jeanne Lodwick, 4th Grade Teacher, Stemboat Springs, Colorado

So, you're probably thinking... "Hey, this hands-on science thing sounds good, but what really goes on behind closed doors for a week? In other words, do I really want to spend a week in Denver at a summer science workshop?" These were my exact questions, and my answer to you is a resounding YES! Here's a brief overview the experience that changed the way I teach science...

Sunday Orientation
What? An orientation? As a teacher of 17 years, I don't get too excited about orientations! In fact, I contemplated making up an excuse so I wouldn't have to attend. Looking back on my experience (and my two return visits), the couple hours we spent together on Sunday afternoon were more like a jump-start on the first day of class. Monday morning would have been quite stressful if it were not for the few hours we spent together on Sunday. All in all, it really helped set the tone for the rest of the week.

Monday Morning
8:50 AM - The workshop officially started at 9:00 AM, but being a little uncertain (and nervous) about what to expect, I showed up a few minutes early. To my surprise, I was greeted by a lab assistant (affectionatelyreferred to as a "Labbie") who pointed me to the table of food... just in case I was hungry! With a bagel in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other, I wandered down the hallway to take a closer look at the hundreds of pictures and quotes and projects that decorated the walls. The third floor of the science building had been transformed into a teacher-friendly, non-threatening, welcoming environment that was not at all what I expected. I could already tell that these people understood elementary education.

9:00 AM - The workshop instructors, Steve Spangler and Doug Hodous, kicked things off with a few science demos to grab our attention and we hit the ground running at 9:00 AM. Within minutes I found myself knee deep in giant, 8 foot long bags, soda bottles, twisting tornadoes, exploding eggs (well, that's what happened to my egg!), all in an effort to better understand the science of air. Each activity helped reinforce a fundamental scientific concept in a way that was both engaging and educational. Before I knew it, Mickey's two hands were on 12 and the morning session was over. As I was cleaning up my take-home goodies, reality hit... I was supposed to teach what I just learned to a small group of children in the afternoon. Hey, this is not what happens in other summer workshops. You know, you just pretend to understand the material and then completely forget everything by the time school starts in the Fall. How could I ever teach what I just learned?

12:00 PM - Lunch time. Thank goodness I wasn't the only one who wasconcerned about this afternoon teaching thing. Needless to say, it was the topic of conversation for the next 56 minutes. A few people were excited about getting to try out their newly discovered activities on real kids while the rest of us shared mixed emotions. Before we left for lunch, I remember Steve saying, "People learn best by doing." All we could do is head into the afternoon session with an open mind.

Monday Afternoon
1:00 PM - Upon returning from lunch, I was greeted by 90 of the most enthusiastic kids I'd ever seen. These third, fourth, and fifth graders were eager to learn. We met the kids outside in front of the science building. The Institute staff introduced us to our kid scientists and our trek up to the third floor was under way.

Before we even made it to the second set of stairs, my kids were asking me questions. "When do we get to do experiments in the lab? Do we get to wear safety glasses? Are you going to be our teacher? Will something explode today?" My answers to these questions and more were interrupted by the sound of Steve's voice, "Are you ready to wonder, discover, and explore something really cool?" Then, flames jumped from the pages of Steve's Hands-on Science Book while Doug uncorked a magical Genie from a bottle. The room was filled with ooohs & ahhhs! From that point forward, we were hooked... and so were the kids. Steve and Doug's "science show" introduced the kids to our topic of discovery for the day - Air-Mazing Science. They wrapped up the show at 1:30 PM and now it was my turn to be the teacher.

1:30 PM - For some reason I was much more relaxed about teaching in the afternoon. The little motivational science show was exactly what we needed to break the ice and to focus on the day's topic. We found our assigned area in the science lab and I reviewed all of the safety procedures. Each of the kids received a lab book with all of the activities that we were going to do. One of our main goals was to get the children to write down their discoveries as they happened and to keep a journal of their learning experiences. As you can imagine, two of my three kids were not nearly as eager to write as they were to explore. This took a little coaching on my part to integrate the gee-whiz with the importance of writing and documenting our discoveries. As soon as I started into the first activity, all of the finer points that I learned in the morning session came pouring out. My students were asking questions and wanting to try variations of the experiments that were above and beyond the scope of the activities presented in the lab book. Questions like, "What if we change the amount of water?" or "I wonder what would happen if...?" were being tossed back and forth and it was my job to help facilitate their learning. Hmmm? Then it dawned on me... isn't that what I'm supposed to be doing in my classroom back at school?

Our time together in the afternoon flew by. We didn't get through all of the experiments, but no one really cared. After we cleaned up our area, I asked my students to flip through the pages of their lab book as a reminder of what we had learned. Much to my amazement, their pages were filled with drawings and diagrams and predictions that chronicled their learning for the day.

4:00 PM - We reassembled in the big room for a "wrap-up" of the day's activities. Steve and Doug's closing demonstrations reinforced what the kids learned in the lab and teased them about topics we would cover later in the week. We walked the children downstairs at 4:30 PM and returned to our classroom to debrief until the clock struck 5:00 PM. Wow... What a day! My head was spinning with ideas and my body was tired.

What about the rest of the week? - Knocked my socks off! Trust me when I say each day was filled with brand new learning experiences and each day was better than the day before. I can't explain the feeling I had when we finished up at 5:00 PM on Friday, but it's a memory that I'll never forget. It changed my teaching forever.