At Jose Ortega Elementary, we believe every student enters our school already a scientist! Before ever entering our school doors, students might have tried to see how many blocks can be stacked before the tower collapses or what happens when you add water to sand. Our job as educators is to foster this curiosity.  We also help our students develop critical thinking and communication skills. These are necessary for them to learn the most they can from their experiments and to explain their thoughts to others.

To accomplish these goals, we utilize the Amplify Science curriculum developed at Lawrence Hall of Science. In each unit, students take on the role of engineer to solve fictional problems.  Students perform experiments, navigate simulations, and read texts to discover their own answers to the problem. Teachers play the role of guide, while students do the critical thinking necessary to solve the problem.  This helps students experience the thrill of discovery, as well as the hard work of reasoning.

All students at JOES have science class 2-3 times a week.  Each week, students have one hands-on science experiment. The other class(es) might involve discussion, reading, or writing about the topic.  This creates engaged, excited science students who think deeply about the topics and are able to communicate their ideas. A kindergartener in the library was heard remarking, “Look, he’s using a force on the ball!” while pointing out a boy kicking a soccer ball in a book.  Fifth graders returning from science camp were excitedly talking about finding the constellation Pegasus on a night hike. Students are often heard plaintively asking, “Do we have science today?”

While this method of learning science is clearly a more enjoyable way to learn science, hands-on experiments take time – time to prepare and time to clean up. To aid our already busy teachers, we have science consultants at our school. Our PTA funds a science consultant to work with each classroom preK-5th grade once a week. Our science consultants prepare experimental materials, decrease the student : teacher ratio during the experiment, and whisk it all away at the end.  This helps the class immediately switch to their next academic topic.

Of course, our program depends on our dedicated and talented set of teachers who continue to push our program forward. Our teachers have enthusiastically embraced implementing this new curriculum.  Amplify isn’t just about teaching science; this curriculum has a significant emphasis on reading informational texts, academic discourse, and writing. Having implemented reader’s and writer’s workshop for English language skill development, our teachers are expertly poised to bring these same lessons to the science curriculum.  Our teachers believe that emphasizing these same skills in a second content area will only strengthen our students reading, writing, and speaking skills. Support from our teachers ensures the long term viability of our program.

We have seen remarkable progress in all our students’ abilities to reason, hypothesize, and argue from evidence.  We have happy budding scientists and excited teachers. But don’t take our word for it. Come see the results for yourself!