SENSES
The Academy of Natural Sciences partnered with six schools in the School District of Philadelphia through the SENSES program (Supporting and Enriching Natural Science Education in Schools). The program assisted schools, teachers, and students in developing and implementing excellent science education.
2004-2005 School Year
Watershed Education
During the first year of the program, the Academy provided comprehensive watershed education for five public schools in the South Region. The five partners were Kirkbride, Meredith, George Washington Carver, Taggart, and Abigail Vare schools.
Immersive Science Education
In addition to the watershed education program, the Academy developed standards based programming for two Philadelphia public schools, Russell Byers Charter School and Bache-Martin School.
2005-2006 School Year
Watershed Education
Students in grades 4-7 at five South Region elementary schools (Eliza Kirkbride, William Meredith, John Taggart, Abigail Vare, and George Washington) participated in lessons at both the Academy and the schools. Teachers from all five schools participated in a series of accompanying workshops designed to supplement their science curriculum. A special emphasis was placed at the sixth grade level, to align with the ecosystems-related core curriculum requirements. Additionally, the students participated in behind-the-scenes experiences with Academy scientists and a field research trip to a Philadelphia-area stream.
Immersive Science Education
At Grover Washington Jr. Middle School, the SENSES program worked with teachers and administrators in order to implement the Science CORE curriculum. Educators from the Academy spent time with the students in their classrooms teaching units on endangered species, environments and animals with bad reputations. In addition, students and teachers participated in a tour of the Academy’s Botany research area, investigating the wide assortment of international specimens that are maintained in our collections. School staff each received a family membership to the museum.
2006-2007 School Year
Teacher Workshops
The SENSES program offered a series of different teacher workshops during 2007, including:
- Plant Growth – Butterfly Plants and Other Green Things
- Literacy through Effective Science Journaling
- Science and Literacy Connections
- Live Animals in the Classroom
Immersive Science Education
Lowell Elementary School
As part of the SENSES program, the Academy performed outreach visits for the kindergarten students at the school. As part of the Philadelphia School District’s CORE curriculum, students studied live animals in their classrooms. To supplement this learning, Academy educators presented programs with animals from our living collections, including a Barn Owl, a Striped Skunk and a Bull Snake. In addition to the live specimens, students had the opportunity to investigate items from our teaching collections including skulls, bones and fur.
Moore Academics Plus School
At Moore School the theme was invertebrates! Education staff brought living invertebrates from our collections to the classroom. Students also had a chance to observe some invertebrate specimens from the museum education, including spiders, beetles, moths and butterflies. A projector microscope allowed the students to view some of the specimens in more detail.
The Russell Byers Charter School
Using our collections, live animals and dioramas that relate to the life of Africa, the Academy and Russell Byers staff worked together to bring a thematic unit on the continent alive for the students. The 2nd grade students had the opportunity to come to the museum on multiple visits, where they created their own artwork based on the African animals from our dioramas. In addition, the students went behind-the-scenes, where Academy scientists graciously gave the students educational tours of our large collections, specializing in the African animals. Visits to the Academy were followed by visits to the classroom with furs, skulls and African animals from our living collections.
2007-2008 School Year
Science and Literacy Teacher Workshops
As part of the SENSES program, the Academy offered a series of 5 teacher workshops during the 2007-2008 school year. Trying to find time to teach science in an already busy school day can be challenging. Currently, emphasis for student learning has been on literacy and math and most time in the classroom is spent on these subjects. Nationwide, time spent on science learning in the classroom has decreased. As testing for science standards begins, teachers are increasingly concerned about finding time to incorporate science learning into an already busy day. As a response to this need, the Academy focused these workshops on incorporating science into literacy programming.
Immersive Science Education
Working with Hamilton Disston School, the SENSES program developed and implemented inquiry-based science teaching units, focusing on the Core Curriculum. The Science/Literacy Discovery Boxes are designed to be used during guided reading by groups of students working independently while the teacher is working with the guided reading group. They target the literacy concepts using Core Curriculum Science topics.
Participating teachers attend a training workshop for the Discovery Boxes. Then, SENSES staff model one of the lessons in the Discovery Box in the teachers’ own classroom prior to the teacher implementing the lessons themselves.
Teaching kits that have been completed include ones for Structures of Life, and Land and Water. Further kits for Plant Growth and Development, Our Earth, Ecosystems, Variables, Environments and Landforms are planned. These kits are transferable to schools across the district.