Your Classroom Atmosphere

CLASSROOM ATMOSPHERE

MAKING THE RIGHT IMPRESSION- DOES YOUR CLASSROOM ‘REEK’ OF SCIENCE?

By Ida Swenson

   Everyone knows that first impressions do count.  In the science classroom, first, middle and last impressions count.   What impression does your classroom create?  Does it show that students spend time there and do worthwhile things?   Does it look like a place where science happens?  Do you look like a scientist or at least someone who enjoys science?   Do living things have a place or is your classroom sterile?   The atmosphere is something you breathe.  Can a student breathe science in your room? 

          The first thing most students notice in the classroom is the teacher.  Do you look scientific?   I have worn a lab coat for years.   (Not the same one - and I do take it home frequently to wash it.)   You can get them from a uniform shop or order them.  I embroider my name on the pocket in "Roy G Biv" colors.  Some people think I wear the coat because I'm scientific.   The truth is that I need the pockets and the labcoat saves my other clothes from stains, keeps me warm when the heat goes down and of course supplies pockets.       It is also great fun to dress for the subject matter.  T-shirts that fit your subject matter are always in style.  Ties, skirts, blouses, earrings,--and whatever else fits the topic-- can be found everywhere from T.J. Maxx to K-mart if you keep your eyes open.   If you sew and can find appropriate fabric, use it to create your own Ms. Frizzle aura in the classroom.   Even if you don't sew, a simple, elastic waist skirt can be made with one seam, a 'tunnel' for the elastic, and a hem.  A T-shirt over the top, or a belt will cover the waist; my dinosaur skirt fits sizes 6 to 20.  One of the highlights of my year was when a student excitedly told his Mom at open house, "You should see what she wears!  You can tell what we're studying just by looking at her."   And I knew I had created a monster when a student looked at me in May and asked, "What does what you're wearing have to do with science?"   Do be prepared to be referred to as "The Friz". 

 Of course, the most important thing to wear is a smile.  Enthusiasm for the subject is crucial- if science doesn't excite you, how can it excite the students?   The book, Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman, discusses the importance of positive emotions in enhancing learning and the stifling effect of fear, anger and boredom on learning.  If a student feels threatened by you or another student, fear will shut down his/her mind.  Anger and depression slow learning as well.  If a student is laughing, learning is greater – and the studies show it!  (See the handout on “Fun and Games”.)  Of course, you need to be sure the laughs are appropriate to the learning.  (For more on the role of emotions and learning, start with http://www.cdl.org/resource-library/articles/connect_emotions.php by Candy Lawson, Ph.D.)

           I find it amazing to go into a life science classroom and find the only living things are people.  Countless times during the year I refer to the plants and animals in my room as examples.  They provide a common experiential base for my students.  EVERY science classroom should have a pond.  Collect water, mud, tadpoles and algae from a pond - preferably a nutrient rich cow pond.  Do this as early in the fall as possible.  Any container of at least five gallons will hold your 'goo'.  Keep it near a window, but don't let it get too warm.  (Avoid heat registers.)  Don't worry about an air pump unless you have lots of animals.  It may smell some at first, but have patience - or use the pump for a little bit.  The water will look dirty - that's OK.   It is not 'dirt', it is organisms that will come alive for the students when you use the microscopes.    Do scrape the sides of the tank occasionally to clean off the living diatoms and other algae.  Watch out for the snail eggs!  If your plant population dwindles, add Elodea or Anacharis from another pond or pet store.  (Be sure to ask for native plants, not ‘alien’ exotics.)  I find that they grow better in my pond tank than they ever did in the tropical fish tanks.  If you collect river water, use a high powered pump and air stone to maintain the high oxygen level required by stream organisms.  Your pond should be in balance after a couple weeks, and you won't have to worry about a pump or even feeding the animals.     The main 'problem' I have with the ponds is the constant fascination they hold for the students, and the time we spend together looking at some new thing we never realized was in the water.    If you are fortunate, you will find diving beetles, tadpoles (probably either for bull frogs or green frogs), midge larvae, dragonfly and damselfly nymphs, fairy shrimp, daphnia, copepods, leeches (they are very shy and only show themselves in the spring when it is time to mate), planaria, minnows (I have one that is three years old), etc.  If you like, add some fish food or frozen or fresh spinach (not canned - - too much salt) a couple times during the year.   Be sure the students know you don't have to feed the animals if the pond is in balance, because the producers are making enough food and oxygen for the animals to survive.   The pond should NOT be cleaned, except to occasionally scrape the sides of the tank so light can get in and we can observe the life.  The pond can stay in the classroom all summer without any feeding, machinery, etc.  Organisms I can use in microscope and taxonomy labs are readily available, and many kinds of life cycles can be observed, not just that of guppies.   And it is lots of fun in late summer to 'muck' around collecting pond organisms for your pond.

           Plants are a wonderful addition to the classroom.  Turn your leaky aquariums into terrariums.  Use many kinds of plants, such as cacti.  Spider plants, Schefflera and others will actually help clean the air.   Try to include plants that show asexual reproduction such as budding cacti, spider plants, aloe, etc.  Let the students see you starting stem or leaf cuttings. 

           But you say plants are messy.  Why not put those dead leaves, pieces of stems, and worn out flowers in a compost pile?  You can have the students add their apple cores, bread rinds and rejected celery sticks.  Just take a five gallon bucket, or large dishpan, add leaf litter or a shovel of already started compost, a few red worms if available and start adding organic materials.  Shredded paper will help it to retain moisture.  Stir it frequently or transfer to another container to add oxygen and thus avoid odors.  Keep it moist, but never wet (or you will have an odor).  Avoid broccoli, onions, cauliflower and cabbage as they will also cause aromas you will want to live without.   You will be amazed at the LACK of smell when you maintain it properly.   Of course, you will want to use the compost on all those plants you have.  You will also have available instant examples of earthworms, round worms, mites, millipedes, sowbugs, etc., if you start with lots of leaf litter.  Use it as the best example of nature's constant recycling.  (Whatever you do, DON”T add animal wastes.  I shut down several classrooms with that mistake.)

           Kids love warm-blooded animals.  I try to avoid them in my classroom because many students are allergic to fur or feathers.  If you have them anyway, have the students wash their hands thoroughly after handling them to avoid making other students ill.  If a student is bitten, call your health department to get their instructions.  Be sure they are treated humanely.

          My favorite animals are reptiles, amphibians and insects.   I keep anoles when possible.  They are cheap and afford interesting hypotheses by the students as to why they change colors.  Most reptiles must have a 'heat rock' for proper digestion.   To feed them cheaply, I keep mealworms.  The mealworms require only chicken feed or bran and occasional apple or potato peelings.  They provide an excellent example of incomplete metamorphosis and sometimes of the population control nature will undertake on its own.   I also have found a pet store that occasionally will trade an anole lizard for a few hundred worms.  I always have tadpoles which are taken back to their original pond as soon as possible after they 'frog out'.  I have had a yellow-spotted salamander and a yellow-spotted newt that I raised from tadpoles.  They ate mealworms and earthworms - in fact they survived long periods in a moist terrarium full of leaf litter with no attention other than adding water.  An apple core attracted fruit flies and other insects for them.  If you can get crickets started growing in your room, they also will provide food for your cold-blooded vertebrates.  I have not had much luck, but my pet store owner will eagerly trade with me if I can get them going.  And how about some hissing cockroaches?  They can be kept in a jar or old aquarium with only a ring of vaseline around the top two inches of the glass.  They can also be the subject of experiments on food preferences, habitat preference, etc.  I kept tropical fish for several years, but had to watch carefully for under feeding, over feeding, chemical levels, heat levels, etc., etc.   The tank had to be cleaned out, the fish had to be purchased and then disposed of for the summer.   It was a royal pain in the neck.  Once I started keeping a pond, I rapidly discontinued the tropical fish tank.  

          Many articles have been written about the physical setting in the classroom.  Bulletin board ideas abound in Science Scope, Science for Children, on the internet and trade books.  A subscription or two to Ranger Rick, National Geographic or your state conservation magazine will furnish display ideas.   Show student work.  Is there a place for recognizing outstanding students or team sheets?   Are there cartoons that have to do with your current topic?   Hang posters from the ceiling.   If you have a dropped ceiling with grids showing, use bent paper clips and a hole punch to hang posters next to the ceiling.   Change the posters frequently to reflect the current unit, so even the day dreamers will be learning about science.   A riddler poster can have puzzlers, knock-knock jokes, riddles or other funny quips related to the topic.   A sheet of laminated colored paper that holds interesting things will become a center of attention before and after class.   I am very fortunate  to have a magnetic blackboard, but you can purchase magnetic 'whiteboard' by the roll.   I have even seen magnetic paint advertised, and am thinking about purchasing some for one of the walls in my room.   I use magnets to hold up team sheets, arrows that alert students to what they need to get ready for class, announcements, posters, and game cards to arrange into groups when we study protists and invertebrates.   Cupboard doors can become bulletin boards as well as using brown paper hung by the bent paper clip method.  The advantage to the brown paper is being able to roll it up for next year. 

          What does your classroom sound like?  Are there occasional animal noises?  Do songs about the content make an occasional ‘appearance’?  Is there appropriate background music and noises when you are doing some labs?  Is there laughter to open the mind to new ideas?  Is there a low hum of ideas being shared during labs and group work?    Do your students feel comfortable asking you questions because you will treat their inquiries with respect and occasional good humor?  Do they know that disrespect from you or anyone else in the room is forbidden?  The very quiet classroom is rarely the best classroom atmosphere.

          A set of encyclopedias or the internet can furnish instant answers to questions that come up.  Sometimes a dictionary even helps.  It is good for students to see that you do not know everything, but you do know where to go to try to find the answers.  It is also good for students to understand that scientists do not HAVE all the answers, that there are still mysteries left for them to solve.  A shelf of old National Geographic, Ranger Rick, and Popular Science magazines will provide reading and reference materials for bored study hall students, reports, and borrowing for pleasure reading.  My librarian offered me references and magazines that were about to be discarded.   I also made an appeal for magazines and solicitation calendars to parents each year, as we did a couple projects that necessitate cutting out pictures.  

           Desks are made to be moved into groups for teamwork.  Glassed cupboards should contain the most interesting specimens you can find.  A table, desk, or spot on your lab table can have interesting items with accompanying questions to make the students think.   A carrel can become a science quiz station for students who have completed their work, or for extra credit during a study hall.  Computers should have word processing capability, science games, and a modem to connect your classroom to scientists elsewhere.        

           What is the impression that one gets when they first walk into your classroom?   Is it a place of discovery of real organisms and experiences?   Take inventory.  Maybe your classroom occasionally emanates strange odors.  That is the atmosphere of science.  The eyes, the ears - and the nose - should be able to soak in an atmosphere that shouts, "Science is happening here!"    A large bracket fungus is in the front of my room with a sign that proclaims "The Fungus Rises First In Room 400."   It is a take-off on our school motto, "The Sun Rises First Over East Middle School."   Sure, my room is a mess and sometimes it smells bad, but it's a mess that provides many good experiences and hopefully lots of learning, for all the students who enter it.  

   Ida Swenson lives in Palmyra, Virginia.  She is retired from Binghamton City School District in Binghamton, New York.  You email her at idathefriz@gmail.com.