Science Super Star: Robin Harley
May 7, 2020
We are honored to name Robin Harley, Science Specialist at Sylvia Mendez Elementary in Berkeley, as a 2020 Science Super Star!
Robin teaches around 300 students between the first and fifth grade. Robin is constantly producing science lessons that her students can relate to on a personal level, which has prominent long-lasting effects on learning. She shares helpful advice on how she formats lessons:
“Keep it fun and encourage the students’ curiosity in the world around them. I have really enjoyed starting classes with a phenomena, a photo or a video, and a quick write up about what they notice and what they wonder. With younger kids, it is a ‘See, Think, Wonder.’ I also think exposure to the correct scientific vocabulary or concept is so important, even if they do not get it now, they will have a place to recognize it when they see or hear about it again in later grades.”
Helping students take a closer look at something they often take for granted, such as hiccups, is often the start to an engaging lesson. Starting with a ‘Notice and Wonder’ to spark a discussion, Robin’s classroom shared their experiences with hiccups, many claiming that they are annoying, weird, and usually occur after drinking water too fast. Others recognized that their pets also get hiccups. It was a specific lesson that helped her capture her students’ interest for their overall unit on the respiratory system.
With other lessons, Robin focuses on her students’ current interests, and pushes them to search for a deeper understanding. After a unit on animals and food chains, she hosted a community building activity during circle time, where they all shared their favorite animal (and shared their guesses on if it is a herbivore, omnivore, or carnivore.) There was even a debate on the status of corn snakes, as some students debated with the (hopeful) stance that since they were so cute, they might not be carnivores.
Robin’s lessons even help students to relate to one another. She had her students blow into a bag to determine their lung capacity. As a class, they discussed why some students might have a greater lung capacity and the effects of asthma and asthma attacks. It was especially helpful for students who deal with asthma, to learn about the internal process of asthma..
She added a new feature to her classroom recently, a Word Wall full of new and unit important science words. Since her school is bilingual, she often orally introduces the words in both Spanish and English. It is also a way for classroom teachers to see what students are learning during her lessons, so they can connect the science learnings to their reading and writing subjects.
This year, Robin has worked towards building more time for conversations with classroom teachers. Both sides were excited to connect on the commonalities of their lessons. For subjects, such as math, it really helps reinforce the theory they learn in math classroom to put in practice through science lessons.
Fostering a science community at her school goes beyond involving teachers. Every year she holds a science night, where parents and community scientists host a table with science projects and experiments for students to try. She is currently doing a program Trout-In-The-Classroom where a Bay Area fly fisherman and his club sponsor hatching baby trout in the classroom.
Students learn about trout reproduction, necessities for survival, and how human activities can endanger trout. Robin introduced an interactive board game where children play as trout and can advance forward by positive actions (i.e.. students pick up trash near stream) or backwards from negative actions (i.e.. humans let their dogs play in stream, create mess/muddy the water and erode the bank)
This game, along with observing the trout they raise, helps students connect with the natural world and humans’ impact on the environment. They care about baby trout survival. It creates a connection to nature, streams, and lakes that might not be there otherwise.
“There are always students, who just love science. Sometimes these are students who also have trouble sitting still. I often have informal agreements with these students that as long as they are still engaged in science, they may take breaks to walk around the room and look at the fish tanks, animal cages and posters on the walls. It was one of these students who discovered that one of the crayfish was pregnant… We now have about 20 baby crayfish swimming around in a fish tank growing bigger. She likes to check on them everytime she comes in.”