Perspectives of Hands-On
Science Teaching

David L. Haury and Peter Rillero, 1994



0. Where do you keep materials and equipment once you get them?

Extensive hands-on science programs generally require lots of materials, and therefore, storage and organization must become key issues. "BATTERIES AND BONES, magnets and mealworms. The gathering and storage of models and materials for science teaching can be a daunting task" (Fox, 1994, p. 20). Appropriately, teachers are concerned with their ability to organize and maintain materials (Finan, 1990; Symington & Osborne, 1983). In this section we provide perspectives on how others have coped with organizational and management issues once materials have been obtained.

Teacher Responses

• My classroom has standard kitchen base cabinets around half the room and seven large (7' by 4') cabinets which are 18 inches deep. The large cabinets are equipped with hasps and padlocks. There is no chemical storage cabinet but I have only household chemicals which are kept in the locked cabinet. All materials are in the science room. There is only one 7th and 8th grade science room in the building. Phyllis Frysinger, Miami View Elementary, S. Charleston, OH
• Going hand in hand with having districts pool money to buy equipment [see Talbot-Wylie, question 9] is [having] ... a district or building [centrally located] ... for storage and [having] ... a check out system where the materials are rotated so nothing is sitting idle during the year. A district science center has been part of our system since 1976 and we have [saved] anywhere from [one to two thirds of] ... the total budget by buying in bulk and rotating the units throughout the district. They get used three to eight times per year depending upon the unit and grade level. It works. Bonita Talbot-Wylie, Presidential Awardee 1990, President of SEPA, third grade teacher, Minnettonka Schools, Excelsior, MN

Developer Thoughts

• You may think that materials lists are boring. But they are the bedrock. Materials define the content, economy and ultimate success of any hands-on science program. Here's my list; color it basic.

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CONSUMABLES         NONCONSUMABLES      RECYCLABLES







paper clips         Scissors            gallon plastic



masking tape        test tubes (large    milk jugs



wooden spring        and small)         cardboard boxes



 clothespins        wall clock or       jars with lids



steel straight       wristwatches       medium cans



 pins               meter sticks        Styrofoam egg



aluminum foil       oil-based            cartons



rubber bands         modeling clay      plastic produce



 (all sizes)        eye droppers/        bags



straws               with bottles       soda bottles



index cards         graduates (10,      soda cans



thread and string    100 ml)            butter tubs w/



plastic wrap        lab balance          lids



sandwich bags        (improvised        waxed milk



paper towels         with TOPS)         cartons



drinking cups -     tubs or buckets     clean gravel



 (paper, plastic,   hand calculators    clean sand



 styrofoam)         stop watches



clear tape          syringes (needles



heat source -        removed)



 candles            thermometers



matches             microscopes and



ice source           slides



pie tins            staplers



paper plates        pliers



waxed paper         paper punches



toilet tissue       hand lenses



adding machine      pennies



 tape               nails



size D Dry cells    marbles



flashlight bulbs    washers



insulated copper



 wire (about 24



 and 32 gauge)



beakers



 (50, 100ml)



bare iron wire



 (about 24 and



 32 gauge)



steel wool



refrigerator



 magnets



balloons



black felt tip



 pens



food coloring



table salt



rice



popcorn



pinto beans



dish washing



 detergent



petroleum jelly

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I use these materials over and over again to teach the 700 or so hands-on science lessons that I have developed at TOPS Learning Systems. I organize these simple things on open shelves in labeled boxes, jars and cans. When I teach about animals, or plants, or light, or sound, or rocks and minerals, 80-90% of what I need is already right at hand.

The remaining 10-20% of unlisted materials are specialty items I store in the closet. My Animal Survival box contains tempera paint for camouflage. My Green Thumbs: Radishes box contains radish seeds and potting soil left over from last year's unit. Mirrors and colored cellophane are in my Light box, tuning forks in my Sound box, and egg-carton rock collection in my Rocks and Minerals box. Ron Marson, TOPS Learning Systems, Canby, OR

Notes from the literature

• Commercial science kits are attractive and can be convenient resources. Storage problems are solved by the manufacturer's attention to detail - durable boxes, materials carefully sorted, and written instructions (Hickey, 1992). The disadvantage of the kits are they tend to be more expensive than purchasing items separately. Because of their expense, teachers may feel compelled to use the kits even if they are not appropriate for the students and curriculum. The solution is for teachers to create their own kits using shoeboxes. A good science shoebox contains a statement of the task, a list of materials, a worksheet or list of instructions, materials needed, and an assessment question. Examples of science shoeboxes include: Why Does Bread Rise? Balloon in a Bottle, and Magnetic Attraction (Hickey, 1992).
• Materials can be kept in bags. Combining a book with hands-on material in a bag creates interesting activities. The large sealable food bag should contain all of the necessary materials and a card with step-by-step instructions. A hole in the corner of the bag can be used to hang the bag on a peg or bulletin board (Carlile, 1992).
• Cans can be used both for conducting science activities and storing activities. The activity cans can be stored in a large metal trash can (Scott, 1992).
• Neirro (1992) describes her solution to storing materials for student science exhibit work. "Since storage space is practically nonexistent at Presido Hill, I asked each child to get a sturdy shopping bag with handles, so they could easily carry their 'in process' exhibit from school to home and back. Of course, this presented its own problems. Some of my students ended up misplacing their half-built exhibits; some left their projects on the bus. Other projects and materials 'disappeared.' None of the materials were expensive or irreplaceable, but it was no fun for those unfortunate students to start over again (Neirro, 1992, p. 23).
• From an analysis of school districts with elementary school science programs labeled exemplary, Penick and Yager (1993) concluded that many of these districts "developed a central science kit distribution system sending complete science kits to schools on a scheduled basis. While the ready availability of kits ... does not guarantee excellent science teaching, it does eliminate a lot of the excuses for not teaching science. Teacher efficiency improves when the amount of preparation time required to teach science is reduced" (p. 5).
• Fox (1994) describes a solution at her elementary school that utilized site-based management and community-wide support to gather and store laboratory materials. "To organize the materials we collected for our laboratory, school administrators approved a campus inservice day. Working together, faculty members placed consumables in white plastic dishpans labeled alphabetically, to which we attached detailed lists of each pan's contents. Once the materials were organized, we set up the materials in a classroom that school administrators designated as our laboratory. We stored the dishpans of supplies in cubby holes beneath a wall-length counter. Two small closets held high-cost or easily broken science equipment, such as microscopes, microslide viewers, graduated cylinders, and compasses, and a larger walk-in closet was a pack rat's delight, storing such items as paper plates, wooden blocks, baby-food jars, empty film canisters, and string. On shelves, we displayed the natural items we collected, such as birds' nests, fish skeletons, seashells, and various cones and seeds, as well as an array of equipment, including newly obtained triple-beam balances. Finally we hung light spectrum and safety charts on the wall for reference" (Fox, 1994, pp. 21-22).

Summary

While the storage and management of materials is of widespread concern among teachers, there are common solutions. There need to be physical spaces-cabinets and shelves-where materials can be readily stored and labeled in boxes, jars, cans, or other suitable containers. Dishpans, tote trays, and plastic bags can be used. Since some items will be used together in specific activities, they can be stored together in kits; other basic materials are used regularly in many activities, so they can be stored separately in supply areas. Teacher-produced kits can be assembled in shoe boxes or the boxes in which paper for the photocopier is delivered. Whatever containers are used, schools should consider having a central location for kits and supplies that must be shared among several teachers. The guiding principle in managing materials is to invest a little creativity and teamwork in creating safe storage areas with convenient access where items are easily found and replaced at a moment's notice.

Posted to the North Central Regional Educational Laboratory's
Pathways to School Improvement Internet server on July 10, 1995.

Contact: info@ncrel.org