New kits aid science labs

Science class at John C. Thomas Middle School is more than taking notes and watching the occasional movie. This year teachers are using Science Kits by FOSS, (Full Option Science System). The kits have all the materials the teacher needs for her lesson.

Each grade has a different kit they will be learning from for the next couple of months. Tiffany Niemeyer’s eighth grade students are learning about rock formations in the Grand Canyon. They begin with “Investigations,” which are lessons that explain a section of the entire unit.

“The greatest thing about the kits,” Niemeyer said, “is that I don’t have to go look for any of the stuff.” The kits supply the teacher with everything they will need for labs and lessons. Before the kits, if teachers wanted to conduct a lab, they would have to find the materials themselves.

When the kit is completed, teachers will pack up the remnants of the package and send it back to the Educational Service District (ESD). In return, they will receive a new kit with a new unit. As each kit comes, the teachers must be trained on how to instruct it.

At the training seminars, teachers meet with other teachers of the same grades and get hints on instructing the lesson as some have taught it before. For instance, when Niemeyer attended a recent training, she said she learned alternatives to the investigations from a colleague.

The kits are fun and engaging, Niemeyer explained. The goal is for the student to eventually be able to identify the rock layers and decipher between shale and sedimentary rock.

Teachers seem to appreciate the kits more than the usual science book, because it makes the lessons more interesting. “Books aren’t bad, but the kits have everything,” Niemeyer said.

Tina Merz’s sixth grade students are learning about The Solar System. Currently, they are learning how to predict how much daylight will be lost as the seasons change. They are studying the different phases of the moon and what those phases are called.

Since Merz started using this kit, she said the test scores this year compared to last year are amazing. Because of the hands-on learning, her students are already able to interpret the difference between a waning and waxing gibbous.

Gibbous means that over half of the moon is illuminated. “Waning is when the illumination is on the left hand side and waxing is when the illumination is on the right hand side,” Merz said, adding the kids in her class have fun taking the information home to Mom and Dad.

This kit has 10 investigations, Merz said. Each of those is tied to one unit. This particular kit Merz is using, she will teach until mid-November. Other investigations Merz will be teaching include, “Moon Craters,” “Mapping the Moon,” “Landing on the Moon” and the class will conclude the unit with “Exploring the Planets.”

In Washington state, the EALRs or Essential Academic Learning Requirements dictate the educational level of the kits. They set the standard for what a child needs to know for their grade level.

Lisa Frink’s seventh graders are learning about catastrophic events and how water and soil contribute. In a lab last week, the students tested water and soil to find which heats and cools faster.

Frink likes the kits because it makes doing the labs so much easier. “The books are great, the thing is, with the labs, we have to find all the materials,” she said. Materials for the labs can be ordered through the ESD, but it isn’t cost effective.

The books are still used to supplement, Frink explained. At the end of the quarter when the students begin to study volcanoes, the books will be used because of the great images. Mount St. Helens is on the cover of the book which brings it closer to home for the kids, she said.