Publication Date: Wednesday, September 15, 2004
Hands-on science
Hands-on science
(September 15, 2004) Teacher relies on more than books to reach students
by Alexandria Rocha
With the thermometer at 85 degrees and not a cloud in the sky, teacher Lisa Benatar shuffled her students out of the portable classroom and onto the grassy field at Escondido Elementary School. It was time for a lesson in science.
Benatar armed a group of three students with a bloated yellow balloon, making them the center of the universe. She gave two students a flag to represent Mercury, two more a flag for Venus and continued until all nine planets were represented.
She then designated one step as 30 million miles and told each pair of students how many steps to take away from the sun. By the end of the activity, the students representing Pluto were tiny figures in the distance.
Last week's lesson on the solar system is just one example of how Benatar is changing the way children learn science in Palo Alto's elementary schools.
Through curricula Benatar designed three years ago, teachers are encouraged to take their science lessons away from the textbooks and into hands-on activities.
Research shows students grasp science concepts and apply them if taught through investigation and experimentation, said Rachel Jordan, the district's science research teacher.
Palo Alto is at the forefront of this teaching method, and it's likely to spread quick now that the state is required to test fifth-graders in science through No Child Left Behind, the federal government's school accountability model. Last year was the first time that school districts were required to test fifth-graders in science.
Last year, Benatar held a few training days for teachers interested in learning how to use the innovative curricula. This year the district is taking it to the next step by requiring all new teachers to participate. Menlo Park City School District is also interested in Benatar's curricula, she said.
In Palo Alto, 69 percent of the district's fifth-graders tested proficient or advanced in science on the federal accountability tests this year. At Escondido Elementary School, however, where Benatar teaches hands-on science to fourth- and fifth-graders, about 76 percent of students scored proficient or advanced.
She attributes the scores to the innovative science curricula.
Besides using experiments to raise students' scores, Benatar and her cohorts hope to encourage more students to pursue science majors in college.
"It's been widely noted in this country that we don't have enough science majors in the universities," she said. "If you can get (students) to leave elementary school with a positive outlook on science, hopefully that can change."
Colleges may lack science-driven students because the subject can be intimidating and conceptually challenging at early ages, said Benatar, especially when concepts such as solar energy and electric magnetism are taught out of a textbook.
Under Benatar's curricula, students learn how batteries work by building simple versions with pennies and vinegar and how big the sun is by creating planet models out of papier-mâché, which in turn leads to a lesson about the seasons.
Besides hands-on activities, her curricula teaches science fundamentals in the context of history. Before students experiment building a battery, they learn that today's common alkaline battery is a product of centuries of work done by scientists from a handful of countries --from Thales in ancient Greece to Thomas Edison's invention in 1914 that we use today.
"What a battery really consists of, is two metals --copper and aluminum," said Cesar Alvarez, 10, a student of Benatar's hands-on teaching at Escondido. "I like science because I like to find out the way things work."
By teaching the stories behind the famous scientists, the students also learn the struggles that came with their great inventions.
"My goal is not to teach to the test, but to cover the standards in the context of an engaging story," Benatar said.
Students who have taken Benatar's lesson on solar energy, included in the physical science unit, also learn how to build energy-efficient homes.
"If you live in the Northern hemisphere, you would put solar panels facing the south," said Alex Sholtz, 11. "It's all about how you position them to get the most sun."
This is the third year Benatar's curricula on solar energy has awarded the district a $50,000 grant from Palo Alto Utilities. The funds have been used to buy the materials required by all the hands-on experiments.
E-mail a friend a link to this story. | 
