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Science Buddies: How One District is Successfully Pairing up Students to Maximize Science Instruction
By Joanna Totino, FOSS CA K–5 Professional Development, Co-Director, and David Lippman, FOSS Project Specialist
You’ve probably heard of Reading Buddies; it’s a program that pairs older and younger elementary students in a buddy system and has them read aloud to each other, benefiting both students. The program has been very successful in schools across the country. If it can work with reading, then why not with science? That’s exactly what a group of lead science teachers from Cambrian Unified School District in San Jose, California, thought. Cambrian has four elementary schools, and at each school there are teachers using Science Buddies.
The idea of Science Buddies came about during a FOSS Leadership Academy (FLA) meeting. Teachers from each Cambrian school participate in the FLA. The FLA is a three-year professional development program consisting of groups of teachers from different school or district sites.
The program includes off-site summer institutes and technical assistance days at the school sites.
Cambrian teachers had previously participated in forming buddy classes, but after this particular FLA meeting, Cambrian teachers agreed to use their buddies as a way to integrate more science into additional classrooms at their school sites. Regarding how they came up with the idea for science buddies, Lisa Lansberg, a fifth-grade teacher, says, “We were trying to come up with more avenues for our role as teacher leaders at our school. We are trying to use our FLA leadership skills to bring more teachers onboard, both with teaching FOSS and integrating science with English Language Arts (ELA). Buddies are another way for us to affect change at our sites via supporting our fellow teachers.”
The Science Buddies program works by having one elementary class pair up with another class at a higher grade level. For example, a first-grade class teams up with a fifth-grade class. The classes usually meet once a week for about 45 minutes. The students engage in a FOSS activity at the lower grade level (in our example, the students would do an activity from a first-grade module). The older students act as a support group for the younger students. The older students guide the younger students by asking questions and helping the younger students move through the steps to complete the science investigation. Jannelle Lam, a second-grade teacher, says, “Lisa’s class comes to visit every Thursday for at least 45 minutes. I tell her which investigation we will be working on. She has her fifth graders do the science activity first before meeting with their buddies so that they are able to help their second-grade buddies.”
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John Hayes, a fifth-grade teacher, says, “We follow the first-grade science curriculum. Each week, usually on Tuesday, we meet for about 20–30 minutes to talk about which FOSS lesson we’ll do on Thursday. Stephanie lets me know which lesson is up next, and we talk about materials and how the fifth-grade buddies can best help. What the fifth-grade buddies do each week depends on the lesson, but generally we do the investigation together, including adding notes and illustrations to the first-grade notebooks. Sometimes the students will read the FOSS science books together, but we’ve found that the hands-on investigation is a great opportunity for interaction between buddy pairs.” John teaches his fifth graders the new science vocabulary they will be working with and helps them find simple, easy ways to explain it to the first graders that they buddy up with. “A big part of my coaching the fifth graders is to let them do the first-grade investigation first and satisfy their own curiosities about the investigation and the science,” he says.
This system benefits both grade levels. The older students attending Cambrian Unified did not have the FOSS curriculum taught in their first- and second-grade classes; the investigations they do with their younger buddies are largely new to them. The older students benefit by improving their leadership skills and further developing their oral and writing skills. They are able to expand their skills by teaching the younger students and explaining the science investigation, helping them with whatever questions come up. One of the fifth-grade students writes, “Having a buddy taught me flexibility and patience. I also learned so much science that I did not know because FOSS wasn’t in our [school] in second grade.” The student goes on to explain how fun and exciting it is to have a buddy and do science investigations with her or him. The younger students benefit greatly from the one-on-one attention from their older buddies. They find great joy and excitement from doing science investigations assisted by older students. Both grade levels are able to expand their knowledge about science by working as scientists together, engaging in active investigation.
For teachers, the Science Buddies program sets up a strong framework for establishing a schedule for teaching science. This is
essential for lower grade teachers who often don’t get much opportunity to plan science lessons. It is most beneficial to pair up teachers who are less comfortable with science with those are have more experience teaching science. John Hayes says, “[Science Buddies] is a fun and productive way for teachers to collaborate on science at different grade levels. When one teacher is new to the curriculum, it provides a built-in mentor relationship.”
Teachers who are newer to teaching FOSS are provided a support system through pairing up with teachers who have more experience with FOSS. Karyann Wilson, a fourth-grade teacher, says, “Teachers who are intimidated by science have an opportunity to plan science investigations with another teacher and to see how science concepts can be taught in different ways.” Allowing teachers time specifically set aside to plan science lessons, while having another teacher support their planning, allows teachers to become much more comfortable with teaching science. “This is a fantastic arrangement for teachers to use. It takes the traditional buddies model and focuses it on a content area, capitalizing on the instructional minutes used to bring two classes together,” says Tyler Graff, a third-grade teacher.
Before beginning a Science Buddies program at your school, there are a few challenges to the project that will need some consideration. Scheduling a good time for both grade levels can be difficult, and it can sometimes even be hard to find a space large enough to hold both classes and all of the materials. The program can be time-consuming, and teachers have to work together to organize each activity. However, these challenges can be easily dealt with. As long as both teachers are eager to make the program a success, they won’t have any trouble overcoming these obstacles. Jannelle Lam says, “You just need to be able to schedule time with your buddy class. It’s amazing to see a classroom of over 50 kids all engaged in science. Loud, yes, but amazing nonetheless.” Matt Hill, a fourth-grade teacher, says, “Before we meet, I walk through the investigation with my kids and talk to them about how to ‘teach’ the lesson. We talk a lot about the inquiry bit—letting the first graders explore and make mistakes rather that just showing them what to do. If the first graders are drawing or writing something, their buddies are supposed to help them with their vocabulary, labeling diagrams, etc. My buddy teachers were interested in still periodically doing Reading Buddy class activities so we alternate between science and other activities.” One idea they might try next is combining Reading and Science Buddies by reading FOSS Science Resources and other books related to the FOSS module.
The Cambrian Science Leadership Team highly recommends trying Science Buddies. They’ve found it to be a fun and productive way for teachers to collaborate on science at different grade levels. Many schools already pair up primary and secondary grade classrooms. Usually these partnerships focus on reading. Why not try a science activity? Pairing up teachers who are less comfortable with science with more experienced FOSS teachers provides new FOSS teachers additional support by giving them their own buddy too! Lisa Landsberg says, “Because teachers already do buddy classes, this is not ‘one more thing’ to fit into the day, but simply requires teachers to rethink how to use the buddy time for maximum impact to support science instruction.” Having Science Buddies is a great, easy, and effective way to teach science that provides benefits that students’ at different grade levels and teachers can all enjoy.
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