Science Super Star: Janet Belanoff
We spotlight Janet Belanoff, CRS Science Star honoree, who teaches at Collins Elementary in West Contra Costa. Janet took a phenomenon that her students had seen in action every day of their lives, but had no concrete understanding of, to turn into a lesson plan that would engage her entire class.
April 18, 2020
We are honored to recognize Janet Belanoff, 3rd Grade Teacher at Collins Elementary in West Contra Costa, as 2020 Science Super Star!
“How far does a magnetic field extend?”
Janet used a phenomenon that her students had seen in action every day of their lives, but had no concrete understanding of, to launch a series of lessons that would engage her entire class.
She began her lesson with a class discussion about magnets. Students shared ideas and explored some basic background concepts that would aid them during the hands-on experiment; her students learned magnets are only attracted to certain metals and they have two poles. They discussed magnetic field properties, and narrowed down their focus question to “Would more magnets have a more powerful field?”
As the discussion continued, students ultimately found their testable question: “How many inches does the magnetic field extend?”
Janet provided students, working in small groups, with paper clips, a ruler, and several magnet. They tested one magnet by bringing it closer to the paperclip until it was attracted by it, and repeating it three times, before adding another magnet. As they tested the materials, they needed to use social-emotional skills to communicate, collaborate, and reach agreement. Often, disagreement was resolved by a re-test of the materials.
Students drew scientific sketches and recorded measurements in their notebooks. Math ended up becoming a major player in this lesson. Janet asked her class to take a guess at how far the two magnets would need to be before attracting the paper clip. However, this meant thinking in units that are less than an inch (a concept many of her students had not explored before). She introduced the concept of a half-inch unit, and checked for understanding to ensure students were connecting with the concepts.
Janet stresses the importance of having science in the classroom, as it engages learners who may otherwise have trouble focusing:
I have a student who is severely ADHD. He really enjoyed our lessons following the germination of seeds. We had four different types of seeds in a class sprouter, and we observed them over a period of a couple of weeks to see how they changed. While it is often difficult for him to follow lessons and complete his work, he was excited every day to go look at the seeds. I would help him describe/draw the changes that were taking place. Once we were done, he asked to be able to take home some of the sprouted seeds, which, of course, I gave him.
Janet has her students talk to one another before writing a claim. She understands that many of them find it difficult to put thoughts onto paper, despite being able to verbalize more
complex ideas. She wrote sentence frames on the board, that her students can utilize to help organize their thoughts. Janet acknowledges that teaching academic language is an ongoing process, especially for her ELL students, who have search for descriptive words that can convey their ideas.
She notes that most of her students are refreshingly open about changing ideas if presented with contradictory evidence, using the KWL chart to have the students note with pride how more information from the experiments helped them to refine and claify their original ideas. She also encourages sentence structures that promote polite academic disussion, explaining that scientists often disagree with their peers. The students learned to use phases such as: “I agree with __ but, …” or “I want to add to what __ said…”
She tries to keep her assessments less structured, using science notebook entries to take note of: Did they answer the question? Did they explain themselves clearly? Did they provide evidence or an explanation? Did they use a diagram or picture to help explain their thinking? She focuses more on the how students clarify and support their underlying ideas than on the language they used.
She appreciated having a BASIS lesson this past year, where the scientists presented challenges for her students to solve, and encouraged them to try many different strategies and use the results to gradually move to the correct solution. Janet said, “it is important for students to understand that most science is messy and non-linear and real scientists experience a lot of failure.”
While Janet is a multiple time Science Super Star honoree, and seems completely confident in her science teaching now, she wants other teachers to know that starting to teach science can be very intimidating, but that shouldn’t stop you:
I was very nervous about teaching science, because I do not consider myself a “science” person, but over the years, I have gradually become comfortable leading science lessons. I would recommend to other teachers to start off with a lesson that is relatively easy to manage and to plan carefully for how materials will be handled. Beyond that, it is important to always provide time for class discussions, so that students can raise questions and have an opportunity to synthesize what they are learning. And don’t be afraid to say when you don’t know the answer. It gives you a chance to do further inquiry with your class.