Day 166 - Protect the Popsicle - Mrs. Duncan - Memorial School Kindergarten

This post first appeared on Mrs. Duncan's Blog

We enjoyed a special engineering project with Mr. Musselman from the Burlington Science Center today.  The students built shade structures to try to protect their popsicles from melting in the sun!  The project involved working in a small group to make a plan, build a structure, and test it out!  The students were very successful!  All four groups designed and built structures that kept their popsicles from melting as fast as the one left in the sun.  Please ask your child to describe the project and what he/she did to help protect the popsicle!

Day 153 - Stream Table Demo-Mr. Daley-Fox Hill Grade 4

This post first appeared on Mr. Daley's Blog

Yesterday, Mr. Musselman, from the Burlington Science Center, visited Fox Hill 4th graders to lead a "stream table demonstration" as part of our "Earth's Changing Surface" science unit. During the hour-long hands-on activity, students recreated models of river systems in tabletop experiments. The demonstration advanced students’ understanding of how rivers shape the Earth’s surface, while explicitly providing kids with opportunities to develop their scientific practices such as observation, modeling, and experimentation. Students gained knowledge that the angle and amount of water flow affect the shape of a river and observed the surface features that resulted. Following are some photos of our Room 20 scientists "in action" at the stream table activity. Enjoy!

Day 135 - Modeling Changes to Earth’s Surface: Where Would You Build? - Mr. Musselman - Burlington Science Center

This post first appeared on the Burlington Science Center Website

Pine Glen fourth graders got an opportunity to play waterfront developer during their stream table investigation this week. After creating what was discovered to be a model stream/river and beach, students were given the opportunity to decide where they would build homes on the landform site.

Oh my delta!

A post shared by Burlington Science Center (@burlingtonsciencecenter) on Apr 10, 2018 at 7:10am PDT

More modeling...

A post shared by Burlington Science Center (@burlingtonsciencecenter) on Apr 10, 2018 at 7:06am PDT

Some went for big risk, big reward while others took a more conservative approach. In the end many realized that the power of moving water was a force to be reckoned with! Along the way they considered how their small scale model might provide evidence for how larger landforms such as canyons and deltas form on our Earth’s surface.

Some amazing Pine Glen geologist explaining the changes to their earth surface model. #bpschat #elngsschat

A post shared by Burlington Science Center (@burlingtonsciencecenter) on Apr 10, 2018 at 6:51am PDT

Day 123 - Exploring Circuits with Mrs. Tate’s 6th Graders - Mr. Musselman

This post first appeared on the Burlington Science Center Blog

In anticipation of working with Makey Makey sets later next month, Mrs. Tate invited Mr. Musselman in to explore circuits with her 6th grade small groups.

Open investigation was the play of the day with Mr. Musselman sticking to overarching essential questions, “Where does the energy start, where does it go, and how does energy transform as it moves through the electrical system?”

More electrical circuit systems in Mrs. Tate‘s class!

A post shared by Burlington Science Center (@burlingtonsciencecenter) on Mar 28, 2018 at 7:47am PDT

Students troubleshot battery orientation, buzzers that only allowed electrical flow in one direction, and light bulbs of varying resistance and illumination capacity. Successful circuit systems were recorded with their iPads for further reflection.

Exploring circuit systems with Mrs. Tate’s 6th graders. Where does the energy flow? What does it transform into? #NGSS

A post shared by Burlington Science Center (@burlingtonsciencecenter) on Mar 27, 2018 at 7:40am PDT

Mr. Musselman also left electromagnetic hand-crank generators for further investigation of electricity flow and the concept of alternating currents with Mrs. Tate for future classes. We are excited to see what her students come up with when they bring their computer science skills into the equation and start developing programs that can be controlled through their Makey Makey sets.

Day 76 - ‘Unoriginal Ideas’ that Improve our “Ability to Share a Message” - Mr. Musselman - Burlington Science Center

This post first appeared on Mr. Musselman's Blog

In the midst of holiday merry making and Christmas cleanup I was able to take a bite out of my podcast backlog; including several episodes of the “Innovator’s Mindset” MOOCseries currently being chewed on by teachers and administrators in Burlington. And while the word “innovation” can be defined as “a new method, idea, or product,” synonymous with buzzwords like “breakthrough” it was episode 4’s guest and Burlington’s own Patrick Larkin who bluntly admitted, “I don’t think I’ve ever had an original idea.”



That said, author and podcast host, George Couros’s 12 minute #thoughtsfromthecar episode “The Ability to Share a Message” kept reverberating in the back of my mind, connecting with the work that I do as a science specialist and professional development facilitator and leading me to reflect on ideas not originally my own…

Unoriginal Idea #1: Learn how to present by watching other presenters

We can become better presenters of anything we venture to share our thinking on by watching excellent presenters share their own.  For me this has included over 100 TED Talks on ideas not necessarily of high intrigue to me, but shared by those who are passionate about it themselves and often excellent at sharing that passion with others. The ones I came to appreciate the most often displayed only pictures (or sound) while they shared their message in the form of a story. Participating in local #edcamps and becoming acquainted with teacher-famous PD innovators like MTA’s Dan Callahan didn’t hurt either. I’ve also stolen my fair share of analogies to better communicate the paradigm-shifting Next Generation Science Standards from presenters at national and regional NSTA conferences featuring cutting edge science education researchers and lead standard-writers.

Unoriginal Idea #2: Recognize and be able to respond to multiple perspectives on your message

Format matters but just as important is to develop what Couros calls, “a 360 view” of what it is you’re presenting. In my field that includes knowing and being able to respond to the “sticking points” preventing others from acting on the shifts NGSS requires to clear the bar they have set. Having an understanding of the several perspectives one might be examining our messages through leaves us prepared to respond to them while further refining our own understanding and message. Fellow science education PD designer, Eric Brunsell outlines several of these sticking points in Chapter 3 of his Facilitators Guide, which guided me early on in sharing the Massachusetts revised Science Standards. Equally important to developing my message was listening to my fellow Burlington educators and their own classroom or school level concerns, bringing us to…

Unoriginal Idea #3: Take the time to build repoir and connect with your audience

Whether a room of teachers at the Boxboro Regency or reflecting on a lesson with a  teacher in the hall, talking in ways that build rapport can be the difference between our message planting root or being lost among many other messages rushing past our educators via email, intercom, or broader initiatives. At national and regional conferences, it can be easy for presenters to want to launch forward, fearful that they may not have enough time to deliver everything they want to share or possibly losing their audience’ engagement. But failing to first connect with one’s audience means we don’t know where our audience is and what they hope to gain from us. Making efforts to get to know our audience pay dividends when we can connect our message with common experiences that we share.

Talk that puts our audience on the defensive can also leave our audience disconnected and our message unheard. Couros’s separation between “arguments vs. discussions” stuck with me most, laying out how arguments suggest an inevitable winner and loser with the idea or message going no further. Discussions on the other hand “go back and forth,” in which case the “idea is the winner” as perspectives are shared, the idea or message becomes more deeply understood by both parties, and the idea and its potential for implementation moves forward. Staying open-minded to others perspectives and empathetic to their experiences keeps our audience open to our message, and respects the often shared but not always genuine, “we are all here learning together.”

I am a believer in the ideas (100% not my own) I deliver to audiences and understand the power they can have, particularly on pre-service teachers and others willing to adapt their craft and classroom. Keeping these ideas in mind and putting them into practice will help me continue to improve my craft as a professional developer and move our community and country toward an increasingly scientifically literate society.

Day 70 - Instant Snow Holiday Experiment! - Burlington Science Center Staff

This post first appeared on the Science Center Blog

Mrs. Pavlicek, Mr. Musselman, and Mrs. Hogan would like to wish you and your family a merry holiday break! We will see you in 2018 with even more great science experiments and activities.

Please enjoy your “Instant Snow” experiment, which was delivered to all elementary level students. Teachers can send each student home with the materials to perform the experiment or complete the activity as a class at school! Please be sure to watch our video in your classroom or at home to investigate your instant snow experiment.

Day 19 - Investigating the Sun with our First Grade Sky Scientists - Mr. Musselman - Burlington Science Center

This post first appeared on the Burlington Science Center Blog

Over the past two weeks, first graders at all of the Burlington elementary schools have been starting their exploration of the patterns we see in our sky by observing their shadows to answer the question: Does the sun move in our sky?

Just about every first grader acknowledges that the alternating day and night we experience is a pattern, but how and why this pattern occurs is often a mystery. To help uncover this mystery, Mr. Musselman has been spending time with each and every first grade classroom outdoors with chalk, clipboards, and some clever use of student feet to observe and measure how student shadows change over the course of the day and how it relates to the sun’s position in the sky.

Students work together (just like scientists!) to trace one another’s shadow.

Then they record the time of day and the length of the shadow by counting how many steps they can take toe-to-toe.

Once the measurements have been taken and the time recorded, students add this information to a chart, collecting their data for the day on the chance a rain shower might come and wash their shadow tracings away!

Later in the day, the students record to observe the changes to the length and direction of their shadow. Many students are surprised to see just how far their shadow has moved. They take time in their notebook to describe the new location of their shadow in the sky, sometimes using the cardinal direction they are facing (with the help of Mr. Musselman’s compass app) or by describing an object on the ground that the sun is over.

Students also take time to observe the shadows of their friends and look for patterns there too. Do all of the shadows appear to be pointing in the same direction? Are all the afternoon shadows shorter or longer than the morning shadows? Are these patterns too? Students answer these questions and make predictions about where they think a shadow might be cast later in the day before wrapping up their day 1 investigations with Mr. Musselman.

On day 2 students return to their shadows once more around the same time they visited the previous day. Is the shadow the same or different? What do we think our shadows will be like at this time during the winter? We will have to investigate more then to find out!

Day 175 - Protect that Popsicle! Sun Shade Engineering - Mr. Musselman - Burlington Science Center

This post originally appeared on the Burlington Science Center Blog

On the hottest day yet this year our Francis Wyman Kindergarteners were furiously planning, collaborating, and building their sun shelters to protect Mr. Musselman’s popsicles! As the year winds down all of the Kindergarten classes will be partaking in this challenge… just as long as the sun stays out! Thanks to Mrs. Duncan for sharing these photos of her classroom’s constructions!