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“Ooohs” and “ahhhs” could be heard throughout the crowd as Mr. Science,
Eric Juhre, showed one experiment after another using dry ice during the unveiling of the Lowe’s Mobile Science Labs.
The mobile science labs are a result of a $55,000 grant from the Lowe’s Home Improvement Store (on Highway 151) who donated the funds to outfit each of NISD’s 53 elementary schools. The Mobile Science Labs come equipped with rollers, mirrors so students can “see” the experiment as it is conducted, as well as water pumps, access to electrical power, and storage for supplies.
Juhre, an academic support teacher at Adams Hill ES, demonstrated to his fifth grade class and visiting adults from Lowe’s Home Improvement and NISD the models of solid, liquids and gases and discussed the properties of each. The result was the creation of ice fog, the blowing up of a balloon without air, and the singing of spoons when touching the dry ice.
“Learning to solve problems is the essence of teaching science,” according to Northside ISD Elementary Science Specialist Debbie Traynor. “The initial problem, however, was that NISD elementary schools have limited science equipment and had no science classroom space.”
Teaching science in grades Kindergarten through 12th grade has become the norm in NISD, and elementary students will be taking a state-mandated achievement test in science for the first time in 2007.
“NISD students are going to be much better-prepared for TAKS Science with these labs from Lowe’s,” says Traynor. In the meantime, new elementary schools will be designed with stationery science labs.
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