Mobile Science Lab

Every year we schedule the Mobile Science Lab for a visit for our third and fourth grade students. Our fourth graders make lip balm and GLOOP and have a really fun time! This year, we made the newspaper! The Daily News did a wonderful job and I am so proud of my kids for giving good quotes! You can read part of the article below.

Real-life applicationsEducators reinforce science lessons with traveling exhibits, hands-on activities
JENNA MINK, The Daily NewsPublished: February 2, 2011

It wasn’t an ordinary science class for Myron Salvador and a slew of other fourth-graders at Alvaton Elementary School.
Last week, the 9- and 10-year-olds clustered inside a small trailer, pounding handfuls of slimy substances.
“We’re learning this stuff in science,” said Myron, 10, of Alvaton. “It’s pretty cool because it’s a good activity for everyone, and you can play around and squish it.”
The Mobile Science Activity Center, sponsored by the Kentucky Department of Agriculture, travels across the state, letting students conduct experiments about topics they’re learning in science classes.
It’s one of many techniques teachers are using in science classes. As they implement hands-on learning, teachers are striving to apply science to real-life situations.
“It’s very important for them to have hands-on learning so they can see science in the real world,” said Angel Borland, a fourth-grade teacher at Alvaton. “It makes it real for them.”
The most recent data from the national report card show that Kentucky fourth-graders outpaced the nation in science in 2009, according to information released last week from the National Assessment of Educational Progress.
Faculty members at Alvaton Elementary schedule the mobile trailer for a visit. It has traveled to the school for the past four years, bringing new science experiments.
“It is such a valuable learning experience,” said Cynthia Rider, a fourth-grade science teacher who initially scheduled the visit. “Anything that’s hands-on in science is a plus.”
Students make lip balm and ice cream. Last week, they were learning properties of matter – solids, liquids and gases – by making gooey globs that resembled Silly Putty.
“Everything we do ties to science curriculum they are teaching in the classroom,” said Jason Hodge, program coordinator for the mobile science lab.
The Department of Agriculture started the program about 10 years ago. Schools can reserve the trailer for up to three days for $100 a day, and slots fill up quickly – Hodge’s schedule already is full for next year, and he travels only to the western part of the state.
“It’s amazing how upset the kids get when they find out they were going to get to do this and then they don’t get to,” Hodge said, referring to cancellations due to snow days. “It’s the only thing that makes kids want to go on a snow day.”
Several teachers try to schedule the mobile science trailer before the state testing window in the spring. Several teachers say test scores improve after students visit the mobile lab, Hodge said.
“You can take students who don’t quite understand something in the classroom,” he said, “then they get here, and they hear somebody else explain it.”
Students bounced in and out of the trailer throughout the day, chattering about their projects and toting their experiments back to their classrooms.
“You can be out of the classroom,” said Kayla Thomas, 9, of Warren County. “You can listen and learn new things.”

Copyright 2011 News Publishing LLC (Bowling Green, KY)