Carroll Lane Elementary - October 28, 2009

Cotton Candy! Pickles! Popcorn! People were lined up at the door an hour before the event even started!! It was a GREAT evening at Carroll Lane Elementary with families and students ALL enjoying themselves!

"The one thing I will remember at this event is how many children actually showed up....especially because of the economical background I heard about that school. I thought it would have less family involvement because the parents were busy with work. I felt that they were really thankful that we came out to their school. I really enjoyed Family Science Night this time around! It was so much fun!!"

"I felt that the parents were as eager to do the activities as the children. I had many parents comment that our activity was interesting and that they were going to try this activity at home."

"I was shocked that some of the students said they have never seen a full moon....I have to remember to take in consideration that everyone has a different experience or different background that they bring to things."

"I noticed that many parents were timid to become involved and I soon realized that many of the parents spoke Spanish as their fist language.....This was the most interesting part of the night because it was so incredible to see such loving and intellectual conversations between parents and their children."

"Seeing how many parents showed up that night showed me how much they really care about their student's education."

"I have learned that EVERY DAY the students need to be actively involved and interested in the education they are receiving, EVERY DAY they need to feel motivated to attend class, and EVERY DAY they need to learn something new."

"There were so many children and parents; it was truly a family night."


"As I went to sleep I found myself thinking that it would be an amazing experience to teach the students new aspects of science everyday."

"It was awesome to see how much these kids love science and how interested they are in it. Every opportunity like this reminds me why I am going to school to teach and just how rewarding of a profession it really is!"

"The parents of this school seemed to be a community. The principal knew the parents and students by name. The teachers did too. It was obvious that these people have built a community and we were invited to contribute...it was a honor to be here."

"...when I was observing the parents, they didn't give their child enough time to think about how to do the activity. They jumped right in and did it for them....My lesson learned for the future is to be patient and give the students time to think on their own....I never really thought about giving the students time to think as being part of the process of instruction."

"I saw grandparents, cousins and many parents interacting together from station to station....I even saw Dads taking pictures. There were so happy to be there and so excited for their students to be learning something new and especially something that can be connected to the real world."

"As I was teaching [the student], a man walked up and said, "there you are son, I knew I would find you somewhere around fish!". I smiled and asked him if they were fishermen and he answered with an excited "yes". He looked towards his son and I could just see all the love that he had for him. He then walked up to him and gave him a big hug and told him that he loved him. It was so wonderful to see just how caring and loving this man was toward his child. It made me feel absolutely wonderful to know that this family was going to take everything that I taught them and apply it in the real world. Words cannot explain how I felt at this point. I was absolutely ecstatic."

"Clearly, Carroll Lane Elementary supports their students and families, and shoots for the highest when it comes to their success."

The staff, students and their families at Carroll Lane Elementary showed me what a school community looks like."

Family Science at Gregory-Portland Intermediate!

"Making our science activities culturally relevant was one of the requirements to be included (in this project), and I have to admit I had a hard time understanding this at first. I couldn't see how one's culture could help a student understand a science topic. Integrating students' personal experiences with Padre Island beach made the activity more meaningful for them and easier to understand. I realize now that this is what made our activity culturally relevant....by incorporating students' interests and allowing them to share their personal experiences makes the topic all the more meaningful and interesting to learn for everyone."

GP intermediate was PACKED - we have never had such a huge turn-out of families from a middle school! It was a FABULOUS night!!! Read some reflections from my students:

"I would like to focus on how science is directly relevant to the students' lives along with out it is relevant to culture. I say this because if we cannot integrate or associate science to any aspects of our lives then there will not be any connections....We need to create a purpose behind why we are teaching science and explain that to our students so they can make connections. This builds understanding of the knowledge that is presented to them."

"I learned and was able to teach others and that is a priceless gift."

"I have a better appreciation of science which has always scared me in the past. I have a much better understanding of why we teach science and how it is involved in everything in this world."

"It was remarkable to see how many young students became actively engaged and interested in learning. It reassured me that students do love to learn. It is through the learning experiences and activities that we can either turn them onto learning or turn them away. Witnessing this reassured me to have a hands-on, student centered classroom."

"Stressing cultural relevance is the advice I would give to future science teachers and organizers. This aspect is often overlooked and I learned from this event that not only is it important to teach, it's a real attention getter for your audience."

"The students seemed really eager to do the activity and were very attentive as they listened to facts about sand dunes....They had prior experience with the beach and with sand dunes. They could build on this previous information and put the concepts together."

"This experience made me realize that you can teach science in a culturally relevant way. The idea never occurred to be before. I always thought science was science. After seeing all of the Texas A&M student's projects, I realized it is possible to make almost anything culturally relevant."

"The one thing I will remember from participating in this event is that children love conducting experiments especially when you make the activities personally relevant to them."

"I honestly did not put much thought into the idea or importance of science in the lower grade levels. So much of the focus seemed to be on math and reading. Science is a subject that I am getting excited about teaching. Science is such a 'hands-on' subject and I truly feel that students will really be excited about learning science!"

"This event was eye opening and a reality check. The realization of all the time and effort that teachers put forth every day to be sure their students learn....Teachers are not given the credit they deserve. People do not see all the outside time and money they put into their lessons. Other professions do not involve such work."

"When I was in school we never learned the science behind the activities we were doing at the time. Now I realize how important it is for students to realize the science behind the activity they are learning about. We have the chance to change the way students perceive science by making a difference in how we teach/explain our activity to the students."

"One thing I will remember was when a mother and her daughter came to our station....Once they were done the daughter hugged her mom and thanked her for bringing her and told her she was having the most fun ever and that she loves her. Her mom's face lit up and you could tell that was a moment the mother will never forget. Neither will I."

Fishy Tales Involving High School Students and their families

We had a very cool opportunity this semester as high school students from Alice, Texas came to Texas A&M Corpus Christi as part of program involving Dads and Students. I volunteered my morning preservice teachers to work with this group and do a perch dissection with them. We provided the materials, the Dads (and Moms!) came in and went to work -- it was unbelievably awesome -- like Family Science coming to the classroom!

I am working to make this happen several times during the semester from now on. Authentic learning at it's best! My PST's learned along with the families. Amazing!

My student's reflections:

*"I wish I wold have had opportunities like this when I was in high school. I also would have loved for my Dad to be involved in activities like this with me."

*"Parent's showing interest gives the students inspiration to want to learn because it helps them to be proud of themselves knowing their parents are proud of them."

*"Another realization that occurred to me was how important it is to allow time to let students warm up to an activity, get motivated to participate, and have time for reflection afterwards. Overall, this experience taught me a lot about planning executing lessons for students."

*I enjoyed the second group that came because I got to work with a father, his daughter and her friend by myself. They were all very fascinated by the fish. The dad and I discussed some fishing trips that he had with his son. They were so kind, you could really tell they appreciated us taking the time to show them university life....It would be nice to get them thinking about college even more."

"Eleven years ago when I graduated from high school, there was not anything like this available. It was really nice to see these proud parents accompanying their children to such a great function."

Road Trip - Falfurrias Texas!

"The one thing I will remember from participating in this event is that even in a small town with the stigma of education maybe not being the most important thing, there were so many supportive teachers, parents, and members of the community involved. That was such a great portion of the night and I'm sure it meant a lot to the students."

Part of my work with Gear-UP involves going to communities where students do not see the importance of college, teachers may need some help, and generally assist in motivating all to make the transition to college. I involved my preservice teachers this semester as they trekked 90 miles each way to bring their projects to Falfurrias, Texas. All three campuses were involved in Fal - elementary, intermediate and high school. In addition the high school students in Fal created projects that they did with elementary students! It was awesome - much work that yielded so many rewards. I am thankful to my PST's for sacrificing their time. It was well spent, and in many cases, an eye-opening experience for them as they worked with a rural school district.

Here are some pictures from the town:

The main landmark - the water tower.

A town that boomed when oil and gas pushed Texas' economy in the '70's, those days are over. There are more boarded up houses than houses that are lived in.

The movie theater.

The pharmacy.

Turn to the high school.

You don't have to live in Dallas to be a Cowboy's fan.

The night held many pleasant surprises -- high school students who appreciated meeting and talking to my students, and for the first time, many inquired about college and the college experience. One student was a natural born teacher - I saw it. I encouraged her to apply for scholarships and come join our program. She was genuinely excited! We gave away microscopes and other prizes to budding scientists. I am still hearing stories of perceptions that people took away that evening. I think the proof is in the statement made by the high school principal, "We are going make Family Science Night an annual event!".

Perceptions from my students:

*"We underestimated the students and their background knowledge."

*"Some of the projects that the high school students created gave us a run for our money!"

*"The atmosphere was very welcoming and warm."

*"The projects developed by the high school students were greatly reflective of the active, adventurous nature of teenagers."

*I think this experience was neat for me to be a part of because I had the opportunity to see community-centered learning happen right in front of my eyes."

"Personally, I thought this was the best family science event of the semester....The spotlight was on the high school students and I felt as if were there for backup support."

*"My first thought when you told us about this assignment was, "Where the heck is Falfurrias Texas?"

*"The high school students were getting down to eye level with children and sharing their knowledge with them. I found this very touching to see."

*"This is the best family science night out of all of them. There was a lot of interaction and participation with the families which is something that we have not seen in a while....There were tons of different projects...I even saw grandparents!"

*"The town was very cute but was rundown and lonely. It was fascinating to see the town and the people. The people were very nice and encouraging and they were all very interested in one another's hard work."

*"I would like to share my heightened desire to be involved in science and teaching science....Teaching at Family Science Night makes me feel like a real scientist and I am very pleased when the participants can learn from me and take the information into their own lives."

*"The best way to learn is to teach."

*"I believe this was the most important Family Science Night for us future science teachers. We were able to see the event from the presenters perspective and the guest's perspective. We were able to see a variety of projects that we can use in our own classrooms. As a future science teacher, I will definitely be using the idea of having my students present projects in the same or a similar manner as they did at this event. I have really enjoyed these events and am actually a little sad that this was the last one we will have this semester."

Family Science and Math! Flour Bluff Intermediate - Feb 2009

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"As a young student, science was something that occurred in forests, oceans and space...not in my house. Science happened to plants, molecules and organs...not to me. Today we showed students not only how things work, but also the relevance of science."

On February 19th, approximately 100 preservice math and science teachers gathered at Flour Bluff intermediate school to share the projects they conceived, designed and implemented with intermediate students and their families. It was a great evening and our first family learning event of the spring semester. Thank you to Marcia Venzon's preservice math students who worked along side our science projects. A wonderful evening! Here are some reflections from my students:

* "Teaching science to children does not seem so daunting."

*"When teaching any subject, whether it be about nutrition or numbers, strive to deliver instruction that is versatile....I can encourage this by getting to know the families and integrating that knowledge into the curriculum."

*"The son had a much harder time listening to his heart through the stethoscope and he exclaimed softly with astonishment, "There's so much fat above my heart...I just can't hear through it." I think this was the first time he had ever realized just how hard it was on his body to weigh so much."

*"I did not think that a bunch of middle school kids would be as excited about science as they were. It was fun to see their faces when they connected something that they learned."

*"Not everything will flow smoothly when you are teaching science, but when glitches come along that that, you must be able to think creatively and improvise with what you can."

*"If I had the opportunity to advise someone who was going to be participating in this wonderful event, it would be to fully engage in it and give it all you've got because it is fascinating to learn new things and most importantly to be able to share it with the public."

*"I use to hate science- it always seemed so boring, worksheet after worksheet, and no hands-on activities. By participating in science night it made me see just much fun, interactive, hands-on experiments there are for science."

*"I feel that I gained social skills with parents and students and that will be beneficial to me as I become a teacher."

*"Getting parents involved in their children's education is important because it shows the child how valuable education can be. If we can instill this mentality into their minds, our children of the future could possibly someday become successful scientists or mathematicians."

*"More than anything, I learned that children really respond to science lessons."