Hands-on learning a hit with students

by Frank Lee

operations@thenewsleaders.com

The first hands-on science and nature conference coordinated by Resource Training & Solutions at St. John’s University in Collegeville for fifth- and sixth-graders was a hit with students.

There were 20 students from Kennedy Community School in St. Joseph who attended the St. John’s event on Jan. 12, who were assigned to four 60-minute sessions throughout the day, such as “Blasting Off With Rockets,” “Laser Light Ruler,” “Survivor: Winter Edition” and “It Makes Your Blood Run.”

“The students benefited from being able to move around to different learning sessions with a wide variety of topics,” said Jean Eid, a fifth-grade science teacher at Kennedy Community School. “The day brought on the ability for students to explore in their inquiry and learn new areas of interest.”

More than 1,000 students in all participated in the annual Science Rocks! at St. Cloud State University on Jan. 3 and inaugural Science Fest! at St. John’s on Jan. 12.

“When talking with many of my fifth-grade students, they shared how much they enjoyed the smaller group sessions and their ability to explore new things and ask questions,” Eid said. “Some of my students shared with me how cool it was for them to learn about topics that we have explored and learned already in science and making those connections to school.”

The students came from 33 school districts in central Minnesota and could choose what topics they wanted to learn about and explore.

“This conference is designed to introduce students to a variety of science and nature elements through presentations and hands-on learning,” said Sandra Cordie, conference coordinator.

There were 22 possible sessions to attend at each conference, which were all taught by professionals in their fields, such as physics, entomology, engineering, nursing, mathematics or nature.

“It was very hands-on and engaging for the students in the different sessions, and it really expanded the students understanding in new topic areas,” Eid said.

In 2016, there was so much interest in the event that all who wanted to attend could not be accommodated at SCSU. St. John’s has a longer college student break and therefore it was chosen for the location of a second day of events.

“Being on a college campus also introduces them to the concept of higher education,” Cordie said. “By doing so, our goal is to inform and inspire the next generation of scientists, engineers and environmentalists.”

Vicki Decker, a teacher at Maple Lake Elementary, said some of the presenters have shared their slide show lessons and handouts so she may use them in her own classroom.

“People have so many different ways of learning, and I believe we learn best through experience and experiments,” said Melissa Bach, a sixth-grade science teacher at Kennedy Community School. “When a lesson can be hands-on, it’s more meaningful and more learning occurs.”

Science Fest! was held in the Peter Engel Science Building and the New Science Building on the campus of St. John’s.

“It’s great for students to get out into a new environment to learn,” Bach said. “How wonderful that my students have a chance to gain information from new voices and faces – especially when the sessions are interdisciplinary, hands-on and experiential.”

Students who participated in the hands-on science and nature conference also heard the keynote address by Belinda Jensen, a weather meteorologist from KARE11.

“All of the sessions were interesting, even the ones I didn’t pick,” said a sixth-grader at Kennedy Community School. “I especially enjoyed the knot-tying session, which incorporated math, reasoning and art. I got to hold a dead zebra mussel and sea lamprey in the invasive species session.”