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Making a Joyful Noise
Students Alyanna Ruiz (left) and Thuy Duong Vo work intently on an
activity from the Sound unit. |
STC PROGRAM Update
Spring 2004
Life with STC®
For 6 of the 12 years that Leigh Kutach has taught
children, she’s been a devoted user of STC® units. Leigh teaches science to
460 fourth and fifth graders at Stafford Intermediate School in Stafford,
Texas. Before becoming familiar with STC®, she used experiments found in
science textbooks, or just assigned her students the text. Often when
preparing a textbook experiment, she would discover that the materials were
difficult to come by and not always the easiest to prepare, although they
were TEKS (Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills) appropriate.
STC® approaches science differently. Each kit contains enough materials for
a class to cover the unit topics in 8 to 12 weeks of instruction, and
includes information on how to prepare for and present each lesson.
The curriculum's hands-on activities are designed to motivate students and
give them firsthand experience with scientific phenomena. As a result, STC®
keeps students engaged while they learn. “Students are actively involved and
love it. The students love science lab. The teachers say that they can tell
the children are learning and enjoying science simultaneously,” said Leigh.
Another advantage in using STC® is how it makes life easier for the science
teacher. “Lesson plans are easier to write. In each Teacher’s Guide, student
learning objectives are given and procedures are clearly written, so they
are easy to follow,” explained the veteran educator. “Science process skills
are part of the foundation for any good science program. Each lesson plan
and objective requires the students to use the process skills: observe,
measure, record, classify, communicate, predict, and infer.”
Leigh asks thought-provoking questions of her students to get them to focus
on, predict, and evaluate the activities. Moreover, having the materials
readily available assures that Leigh and her students can perform all of the
experiments as written. She said this was often difficult when using
textbook experiments.
Half of Leigh Kutach's teaching career has been dedicated to STC®. What
attracted her to the science curriculum? “I enjoyed the learning and
excitement of the students,” she answered. We at Carolina are grateful that
STC® is one of the methods Stafford Intermediate School uses to bring
excitement to its science classes, and believe Leigh’s story is a great
summary of what teachers and students experience with STC®.
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