Elementary Science: Bringing Science to the Schools

More Information on the Hughes Grants:

With grants from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute Outreach Program, local elementary school teachers enlisted the help of Oberlin College students in presenting experimental science projects in their classrooms. As part of the projects, the College students prepared essays from which these quotes are taken:

Andrea Ahne	Andrew Hankinson	Dinah Shepherd

"The main thing I learned this semester is the requirement of total flexibility in a classroom setting. Our readings stimulated new thoughts and gave me new perspectives to observe, but the children always came up with new surprises. Nearly every one of them taught me something different. Crucially, I came to appreciate that we can learn science along with the students. It doesn't take a scientist to teach a room full of children about plants; it takes a teacher."	"Having previously worked with young children, I thought I knew what to expect, but with kids, you quickly learn to expect the unexpected. First and second graders come to school every day with a variety of backgrounds and experience. After working in the Oberlin schools I quickly learned respect for these kids. I have learned more than I thought I would at the outset, both about myself and about Oberlin."	"Objectives included exposing them to the cycles of the natural world; the ideas of self-sufficiency; and the bonuses of teamwork. I learned precisely what works and what doesn't for a wonderfully curious and rowdy group of kids. I learned how to introduce science in an applicable manner, and that six, seven, and eight-year-old children are not always predictable beings. I learned that Piaget is not going to walk through the door and assist me when over twenty second graders are bouncing off the walls because I have planned a lesson that does not hold their attention."

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