Mainely Middle
Journal of the Maine Association for Middle
Level Education
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Volume 10, Number 1
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Sleet, Snow, Sleds, and Science!As they entered the classroom, they grumbled incessantly about their perceived misfortune to have been dealt a mild case of the Ice Storm of '98. Questions were repeatedly raised in regards to why they had to go to school when the majority of schools in the state had been called off. I reminded them that very few of them were in the same predicament as other students across the state. We did a quick survey of who had lost their power and only a small handful had. Of those, many had been without power for a mere four to six hours, vastly different than the four days that I had been without power across the bridge in Lamoine. MDI had emerged from the storm relatively unscathed. This point was not met with the thankfulness that the adults in the area expressed. As the morning announcements ended, the students had pretty much accepted their fate that school would go on as usual. The morning continued on in much the same manner. Kids would enter class grumbling and I would try to point out that we were all pretty lucky. None of them seemed to buy into my philosophy, but my comments seemed to squelch the poor-us-syndrome for the moment. At noontime I found my homeroom kids back in my room for science. At this point, sleet was beginning to accumulate on the ground. We saw sandtrucks go by. Of course this set them in motion once again. Hope swelled up as they then began to ask me if school was going to let out early. I tried my best to remind them that I had no idea as I handed out the lab reports that I had corrected from a unit on consumer product testing. They paused from their questions to look over the comments on their lab reports. We discussed the reports and I pointed out some that were exceptionally well done. From here I asked them for suggestions for future items for which we could design experiments. There was a myriad of suggestions that we wrote up on the board. All of a sudden one girl suggested that we design experiments on different kinds of sleds. As you might imagine, the idea was an instant hit. The enthusiasm was a bit contagious as everyone chattered about the possibility. A few seconds later all eyes were on me as they waited to see if it was a viable option. What could I say? I was as excited as they were. After lunch and recess we continued to discuss the idea of designing experiments on sleds. We brainstormed how the idea would mesh with science and English. Ideas abounded. By the end of class students had broken into groups of four and each group had drafted a memo to the Assistant Principal explaining and justifying their idea. The grumbling that had been omnipresent in the morning had dissipated in light of this idea. At the end of the day I went to see the Assistant Principal. I explained the student-generated idea and tried to convey the enthusiasm that persisted as they contemplated the possibilities. I mentioned how the unit matched the underpinnings of the middle school concept as outlined in "This We Believe". Specifically, the proposed unit provided a forum for them to see adults have faith in a student idea, allow for student ownership, and promote a sense of community amongst my homeroom members. The Assistant Principal thought it was a great ideal The next day my homeroom students finalized their memos and took them down to the office for administrative "scrutiny". They beamed when they got the go-ahead from the office. We began to discuss the logistics of the field trip to the local sliding hill which was only one mile from school. We filed a bus request, typed up a permission slip, and each group agreed to bring in two sleds. For homework each group had to think up an experiment. In the morning I overheard groups talking about their ideas as they entered the room. Later they outlined their experiments and presented their ideas to the class. Many of the experiments were a bit simplistic, but the eagerness to "do" science was inspiring. Experiments ranged from which color sled would go the fastest to which type of sled would go the best on the icy conditions to if a sled with more weight in the front would go faster and farther than a sled with more weight in the back. A discussion of variables and possible sources of error ensued. Kids were aware that a sled track might need to be packed down first to ensure reliability in their trials. A first run might be slower than the tenth. Those who needed to, revised their procedures to account for this. Other variables were brought up and the groups attempted to control for them as well. By the end of the day the ideas were finalized and a rough draft of the Question, Materials, and Procedure for the lab reports were completed. On the day of the actual field trip, my students filed in with warm clothes, mittens, hats, sleds, and the all important "cool shades". At one o'clock we boarded the bus, hot chocolate and all, and headed for the hill. Myself and one other teacher accompanied the nineteen young scientists. When we arrived, we encountered an unexpected problem. The two or three warm sunny days that we had had caused the hill to be relatively sparse on snow. Ah, problem-solving at its best! We all trudged around a bit to find a good spot. Then, out came the clipboards, stopwatches, and measuring tools. The air quickly filled with squeals of laughter as kids slid down the hill. Stopwatches clicked, information was recorded, and distances were measured. Some of the methods were admittedly less than scientific! One memory flashes foremost in my mind. One student, the designated measurer in his group because of a cast on a broken wrist, had a meter wheel which he used as he ran down the icy hill after his group member who was the designated sledder. I can still see him flailing his arms and legs as he chased his teammate in hot pursuit of the seemingly elusive distance that the sled traveled on a particular trial. On that hill, in the chilly sunshine following the Ice Storm of '98, amidst amateur scientific research, I witnessed the power of community building. I saw kids laughing together who normally don't speak to each other. I heard kids cheering on other kids who are often targets of less than kind words and acts. I watched kids race down the hill to make sure a fellow classmate was ok. after a spill on the sled. I saw one student exude an unusually admirable sense of tolerance as his group struggled to work together. I saw a student new to my homeroom make friends. I saw kids share the hot chocolate so everyone could have some. These observations may seem frivolous or unconnected to the curriculum, but they are the things that are etched deepest in my mind. As the bus pulled into the parking lot, we clambered on with all of our equipment. The ride back was quieter than the ride there had been. We were all a bit tired from the afternoon's activities. I took the opportunity to reflect back over the day. We had planned the activity under the umbrella of science, but who could have predicted all of the skills that would be demonstrated? I left work that day wishing that more people could have witnessed the events of the day. Middle school kids are the future, and from what I saw, the future is in good hands. |