Science Toolkit

Science Toolkit is a competent and with professional skill made interactive learning package, which will get every pupil feeling to be a real scientist and investigator of nature. It has been planned to cover whole the school-time from first grade to the last. It has very unique skill to help the teacher as a Tool of Experimental Natural Sciences. Even it is impossible to simulate some natural phenomenons without Science Toolkit. You can use the simulation hole the school-day lesson by lesson, from one classroom to another, because it is so easy to move around and use and in addition to that it is so fast to calibrate. I shall thank my lucky stars for exellence of Science Toolkit, because I had got permission of The Minister of Education for the Computer Aided Learning Experimentation in my school.

Contents

• About article
• Science Toolkit
• Introduction
• About makers
• How does it work?
• The Use of simulation
• Results
• About weather and radiation
• Assessing
• Meteorological observation form
• References

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Introduction

Why did I chose just Science Toolkit program for the topic of my exercise work? Was it the attencion, that the teaching plans of the basic school has been left to fully neglected condition in this branch of study, compared with teaching-level even 40 years ago, or was the reason, that we solved the problems of the natural sciences former in my school with help of this simulation, or was it the recently cry of distress for the better teaching of nature sciences in Newspapers?! So, was the matter either way, it confirmed my choice very much, when I saw in "Turun Sanomat" 8. February an interview of the climate investigator Raino Heino "It is to be expected getting warm, Man is stiring up the rhythm of climate on the Earth".

I have tried in this publication to present in broad outline the use of Science Toolkit from the visual angle of teacher in basic school, but at the same time taking care to disconnect it from whole of the matter. With deliberation I also have placed the computer into the role of bare stuntman, of course into such a role, where other kind of stuntman could far from reach.

No wonder if the "trousers" did not become a "purse", but an "overcoat", even two sizes too great. I certainly must make only a lesson plan, not "Whole Weather-Week for pupils". And certainly I must test it too.

About makers

Science Toolkit was made by an American Team: Scott Shumway and Lauren Elliot. Cover Photography by: Larry Keenan. Publishing by: Broderbund Software. Available for Apple IIe and IIc program diskette, Manual in English - Science Toolkit Master Module, User's Manual & Experimentation Quide.

How does it work?

The program is quided from the keyboard. At the same price you will get with heat-probe and a sensitive gallium-arsene light-probe with cable, a socket and a stand. The user interface of simulation is self-quided menu-system, indicating clearly action wanted condition by condition.

Science Toolkit is a device of natural sciences lesson, with which you are able to:

• investigate many kind of facts from chemistry to botany, from fysics to physiology
• correct many wrong intuitions of pupils about the modes of the action according the laws of nature
• save results of experiments onto diskette and
• then output them at printer

When you are doing experiments, you are involved in choosing either the thermometer or the fotometer, and then use it together with the clock and the plotter. The thermometer can be calibrated in melting ice and then the fotometer can be adjusted with an exposure meter. The plotter is able to display as quickiest changes of 1/10 second intervals and as slowest events of 20 second intervals, so you have time to use plotter 24 hours, while at the first case you are able to get curve at most during 5 minutes.

The instruments can be suitably connected so, that you let the clock start and end at the point you have told thermometer- or fotometer probe. The clock works within accuracy of 1/100 second, so you can use it even though in gravitation tests. In the whole simulation you can swith between menus by pressing RETURN if you are going forward, and ESCAPE if backward. At the level of each menu you need use arrow-keys in order to choose the action, and the action can be started and stopped with SPACE. The incorrect character can be removed with key DELETE or key <-.

The simulation has been made facinating by drawing instruments onto screen in so big size, that all the team can see them from own desk, even if the computer is the single one in school. In addition to that they will work quite as right instruments: "quicksilver" rises, the patterns of fotometer begin to encrease and sound of fotometer is getting the shriller the brighter the light of fotometer pattern glows, hand of clock is speeding around, the pen of the plotter rises and lowers making continuous curve at "light-paper" sliding on the screen and the readings chance at their windows all the time. The manual of the program contains 27 experiments alltogether for different models about the branche of the natural sciences. An enterprising teacher allways can find more experiments with this powerful package, even if gentleness towards nature sparkling out of these model-experiments could not be easy to exceed.

The Use of simulation

The simulation has been used for learning of the natural scientific phenomenons at my school since the fall 1987. The program is easy to use and therefore pupils have not been obliged to become more familiar with it, but they have used to act as assistants during every lesson by computer and probes changing the roles lesson by lesson. The site of teacher is by the board, where appears all time long filling for the workbook, as it still used to be some years ago.

Results

As I above in the introduction mentioned, I liked to choose for the experiment area of this program the best possible branche of science. I found for the simulation a task, which really was of good fit about the chosen topic-areas of weather-week, if we shall pay attention to its skills. You will make mistake, if you believe, that for instance all works of weather observing have been made computer aided. The role of Science Toolkit was very brief, but also that thrilling.

Program of the weather-week was following:

At the lesson of mother tongue: the climate-article of climate-investigator Raino Heino in "Turun Sanomat" and his "movies": - "600 million years History of the Earth". After that an essay, written about the facts they had heard.

At the lesson of geography: lectures made as teamwork about weather factors like: air, humidity, air pressure, wind, clouds etc. using preferences available.

The planning of weather-observing form by means of Meteorological Institute and filling it day after day: the temperature-maximum and -minimum, prevailing temperature, humidity, speed and direction of wind, rainfall, air pressure, cloudiness, weather-marks, all pupils filled in the blank.

Using Science Toolkit for research of the qualities of some light- and heat-radiation.

A revision about the weather-week as teamwork, topics: Weather-week, weather-observing tools, dependents on weather both weather and radiation.

Essay about the topic "Exceptional warm weather in this winter".

The best essay about the topic above onto the Classroom News, "Haveri News" and weather this week.

Making of a hot air balloon during the fine arts lesson.

Looking at TV about weather-radar program made by Meteorological Institute.

Planning weather forecasts of tomorrow and reading about weather forecasts as folklore ( "Weather Knowledge" as reference)

About weather and radiation

Photo by: E. Veijalainen

We used to put our "Stuntman" to a hard test at the session of two hours Science Toolkit lesson:

• At first it had to correct the intuitions of the pupils about phenomenon: lights strong becoming darker when the distance is coming longer. We naturally discussed conditions on different planets after test like this.
• The influence of surface curvature considering the strength of the radiation was another aim of the test and so was cleared among other things the seasonal changes at Poles of the Earth.
• At last we tested the weakening of the light intensity, when it was going through different obstacles. By this way we succeeded in getting an explanation for the glass-room phenomenon.

In the first experimentation we put a law-effective bulb (40 W) near the light-meter probe so, that we could see the max (500 fc.) on the screen of computer. After that the bulb was moved to distance of 2 times, 3 times etc. and we marked readings of light-meter we had got up to graph. So we were able to get the influence of distance in relation to weakening of ligh.

To succeed in doing another test we needed a plywood hanging down from the thread. The one side of plywood was black and the other white. Bulb of 60 Watts and the probe of the light-meter were side by side near the observing plywood directed towards it. Now the assistant activated the plotter, and the "light-paper" on the screen began to run and the pen of the plotter waked up into action. After the black-white plywood was put to sving around, it began to spring on the screen drawing some kind of curve depending on the angle of plywood in relation to the light. The readings of the curve can be saved now on diskette and write down onto paper at printer if needed.

In the third trick our "stuntman" was put to make clear the difficulties of the light- and heat radiation during permeating different cloud layers. These clouds were marked by a group of different films made of transparent plastic, silk-paper and general white paper, even by transparent glass-trough, where they began to increase milk. Screaming of fotometer lowered the more the smaller the digital-readings on the screen begame in relation to putting less transparent films between "sun" and ligh-meter. Our sun in the test was the ceiling light of the glassroom.

Assessing

Alltogether 19 pupils at grades 3-6 in our 2-teachers school took part in this experimentation. Most of them were interested in experiments, beeing most of them coming from farmer-families. Especially the easy use of Science Toolkit and its powerful skills give them eagerness to think about the secrets of natural sciences. I should be delighted if neglect for education into the longing of the cleanness in nature and environment could be stopped in basic-school, just when pupils are in most sensitive age. In my mind computer and just Science Toolkit have removed all pretexts for keeping on in this way.

Meteorological observation form

References

Papert Seymour. 1985. Lapset, tietokoneet, ajattelemisen taito (Mindstorms). Helsinki: Kirjayhtyma. 250p. ISBN 951-26-2707-8.

Meyers Susan. 1985. Science Toolkit Master Module Manual. Broderbund Software, Inc. San Rafael. California.

Asikainen Eila. 1985. Music Construction set - Musiikkiohjelman Ominaisuudet ja Opetuskaytto (The Qualities and Use of A Musical Program). Jyvaskyla. Kasvatustieteellinen tutkimuslaitos. 9p. ISBN 951-679-432-7.

Peltonen Tapani & Puhakka Timo. 1983. Saaoppi (Weather knowledge). Helsinki. Otava. 217p. ISBN 951-1-05908-4.

Fifty Years of Environmental Measurement - Vaisala 1936-86. Helsinki. Vaisala. 110p. ISBN 951-99-765-5-8.

Heino Raino. 1981. Ilmakehan hiilidioksidin lisaantyminen ja ilmastolliset seurannaisvaikutukset (The increase and climatic effects of carbon dioxide in athmosphere). Terra 93: 4, pp. 180-189. Helsinki. Ilmatieteen laitos.

Rossi Veikko. 1968. Sata vuotta tieteellista saaennustusta (A hundred years weather forecasts). Helsinki: YV 7-8. 2p.

Kosola Erkki. 1978. Purjelentajan saaoppi (Weather knowledge for glider-pilot). Kajaani. Lentokerho Ikaros r.y. 100p.

Harjama Erkki. 1982. Saa (The weather). Helsinki. Tilgman. 45 kuva-tekstikorttia kaantokasetissa (45 pictured text-card on swinging reversal cassette).