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FOSS Kits Customized for Rainy Winters in Corvallis, Oregon
By Gail Gerdemann
Anyone who has a spent a winter in Oregon's Willamette Valley
knows about the rain. FOSS kits developed by our neighbors
in sunny California needed to be adapted to survive our rainy
winters. Here's the story of FOSS science kit evolution in
response to environmental factors.
In our first year of piloting, we tried out a variety of kits
including FOSS. Teachers enthusiastically embraced the FOSS
format and lessons. Kits in the physical science and scientific
reasoning strands worked well as is; pendulums swing the same
(Variables Module) and cardboard crawdads balance the
same (Balance and Motion Module) whether in Oregon
or in California. It was a much different story for some of
the kits in the other strands.
Pilot teachers were the first to encounter problems with live
materials. In the Animals Two by Two Module, the directions
suggest covering the worm terrarium with plastic wrap to prevent
the environment from drying out. Things don't dry out during
the Oregon winters; instead mold grows overnight. A simple
change in directions, which suggested allowing more air to
flow through the environment, solved that problem.
Besides excess moisture in Oregon, our climate is cool during
the winter and that leads to some problems with other critters.
The waxworms and milkweed bugs in the Insects
Module seem to stop developing during the colder months.
Fortunately our partnership with nearby Oregon State University
through the Science Education PartnershipS program gives us
ready access to local experts. A quick call to two SEPS scientists--a
zoologist and an entomologist-- saved the day. We are currently
trying out their suggestions for keeping the insects warm
and the air properly humidified and hope to get some action
soon. We would love to try the silkworms in the Insects
Module (they really look exciting in the video),
but with the only two mulberry trees in town located on private
property, that will not be possible. Most of the other organisms
have worked out quite well here--especially those water-loving
crawdads in Structures of Life and the snails in Animals
Two by Two. They're right at home in the Pacific Northwest!
Third and fourth-grade
students at Adams Elementary School in Corvallis, Oregon
investigate mineral hardness in The
Scratch Test from the Earth
Materials Module.
Our moist climate required a few changes
in other kits. We've replaced the cardboard anemometer in
the Air and Weather Module with a plastic one; soggy
cardboard doesn't spin well. Water doesn't evaporate very
quickly in Oregon humidity and so we have changed the teacher
directions in a few kits. In several kits where evaporation
is called for (Water; Mixtures and Solutions; Pebbles,
Sand and Silt; and Earth Materials), teachers are
told to reduce the amount of liquid or schedule the activity
to span a weekend. One module was very problematic in our
climate: Solar Energy (guess why). Following the suggestions
of a SEPS scientist, we did experiment with an infrared heating
lamp in the Solar Energy Module, but it proved to be
no substitute for the real thing.
(Editor's Note: Cloudy-day strategies are included in the
revised teacher guide for the Solar Energy Module.)
Customizing the FOSS kits to match our local area has involved
help from local businesses and scientists. Kindergarten students
(and teachers) using the Wood Module have never seen
a basswood tree; we are surrounded here in the Willamette
Valley by Douglas fir and red alder. Starker Forests Inc.,
a local forestry business, provided over 500 wood samples
from these two local trees cut to the same specifications
as the other wood samples in the kit. The U.S. Forest Service
supplied beautiful full-color posters of the coniferous and
deciduous trees in our area. With help from an aggregate company,
we have river rocks from our own Willamette River and aggregate
samples for Pebbles, Sand, and Silt. The Mineral Information
Institute has donated reading materials and posters that serve
as a basis for natural resource research for the Earth
Materials Module. Our local aggregate company has
also donated videos of its operation along with an outreach
program for all our third-grade students. Even though Mt.
Shasta is a beautiful mountain, we needed to make the Landforms
Module our own and so we're working on a model of nearby
Mary's Peak to accompany the local topographic maps we've
added to the kit.
Students record their
observations of mineral hardness in The Scratch Text
from the Earth Materials Module.
One thing teachers repeatedly speak
about is the quality of the FOSS kits and how they make teaching
science easy and exciting. To make teaching even easier, we
have endeavored to put everything needed into the kit (which
we have transferred to two large plastic tubs). At the suggestion
of piloting teachers, we have increased the numbers of some
supplies because many activities work better for pairs of
students rather than groups of four. We have added some materials
to the kit that are listed as "teacher supplied" (for example,
napkins and liquid detergent for the Air and Weather Module).
In addition to the hands-on activities provided in the modules,
we have also added supplementary materials: read-aloud books,
computer software, posters, videos, safety goggles, lists
of appropriate websites, and small labeled collections and
models (e.g., rocks, tree cones). When a teacher checks out
a kit, there is no need to spend time gathering teaching materials.
Videos from our central collection as well as phone numbers
of local scientists and pertinent field trips are listed to
quickly put resources in the teacher's hands. In addition
to these extra materials, each teacher guide has tips and
suggestions from the piloting teacher as well as an overview
that lays out the timeline with a short synopsis of each lesson.
The enhanced-customized science kits have nearly everything
the teacher needs in the materials kit!
It's our fourth year of science kit implementation and it
has made a huge difference for kids in Corvallis. Our district
had made the switch to hands-on kits nine years ago, but interest
was flagging. At first we tried to revise the flawed kits,
but then we discovered FOSS kits. Our energy shifted from
trying to fix an inferior product to implementing an excellent
program with a few adaptations. Teachers are very excited
about hands-on science in Corvallis. We've had a steady increase
in kit checkout over the course of the four-year piloting
and implementation project. Yes, FOSS kits work throughout
the country including the rainy Willamette Valley.
Submitted By:
Gail Gerdemann
K-5 Science Coordinator
Science Education PartnershipS
Oregon State University and Corvallis School District 509J
Corvallis, Oregon
e-mail: gerdemag@ava.bcc.orst.edu
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