How many teachers reading this wish that your students' parents had more opportunities to get their children involved in science? Well, you are not alone. According to a recent survey, 500 teachers were asked that similar question and 94% of them agreed. In the same survey, though, more than half of the 506 parents involved in the survey acknowledged they could use more help to assist their child's knowledge in science.
The survey, conducted by the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) and Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, revealed that only 15% of the parents considered science a subject they felt "most comfortable" talking to their children about. This information is in agreement with the 77% of teachers that said that parents don't feel comfortable talking about science with their children. So, what are parents to do?
The NSTA Science Matters initiative Web site has a great list of tips available to parents who need some ideas on how to engage their children in science. The list includes activities such as going to the zoo and museums, talking about science-related news stories that happen in the world around them, and doing science experiments at home.
Pitsco Education is unique in the fact that it is not exclusive to teachers or schools with large orders. We cater to anyone that has an interest in hands-on STEM products. Parents, please feel free to browse our Web site for ideas and activities that you might want to do with your kids. Most of our products are available in single kits as well as class packs.
If you would like to receive our catalog, please click here. To view the press release on the survey, visit http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-05/gn-nsf050710.php. To read more tips from Science Matters, visit http://www.nsta.org/sciencematters/tips.aspx.
The beauty of learning hands on is that it encourages alternative thinking - thinking that leads outside of the textbook or outside of the classroom even. It opens possibilities and provides experience and a deeper understanding. Hands-on learning allows students to come up with alternative solutions and recognize that there is more than one way to do the same thing.
The Pitsco T-Bot II is a very amazing educational tool, teaching students the concepts of hydraulics, simple machines, and the fundamentals of robotics. It consists of a series of syringes and tubes that, when filled with water, control the movement of laser-cut pieces connected together to make a robotic arm.
This product, like most of the Pitsco products, comes unassembled, and the students build the T-Bot II to perform activities with the completed hydraulic arm. A STEM video and a Teacher's Guide are available that help both the teacher and the students to use this product.
Last month we asked teachers to send in activities, to both Pitsco and Hearlihy, that they have created using our products to share with other teachers. We received a really innovative idea using the T-Bot II as a guide that we wanted to share.
This version of the T-Bot II comes from Don Butler at Maize High School. Don, we appreciate your sharing your idea with us. Thank you for providing a hands-on experience for your students, and I hope that Pitsco will continue to inspire you to create alternative forms of learning and thinking. Don wrote about his creation and provided the images below.
I developed this head and used the same principles as the T-Bot II hydraulic arm. The whole head rotates, the head moves up and down, the mouth opens and shuts, and the eyes rotate. It still needs tweaking but was enjoyed by my robotics class. It took two-plus weeks to construct. I made patterns for the individual parts and supplied students a set of pre-sized plywood pieces and a bag of needed hardware. They did the cutting, sanding, and assembly. I am currently working on an eagle that will work on the same basic principle but on a 3-D format.
Share your activities with other teachers and we will post them on this blog. Send them to Product-Tips@hearlihy.com.
If you have ever picked up any of our great catalogs and mailed in the order form, you might have noticed that Pitsco is located in beautiful Pittsburg, Kan. That's right, Kansas. Though Kansas is centrally located in the continental United States, it doesn't mean we have a lot of opportunity to see our customers, nor do our customers get to see us.
We do get to see our customers at the conventions we attend every year, and we are grateful for that. Being able to visit with our customers is always a great experience, but we wanted a way to be in contact with even more customers and meet even more teachers and educators. How were we going to do that being in Kansas?
So, we decided to join Facebook. Why not? What better way to get to know our customers and for our customers to get to know us? We hope that this will be a great way for customers to find out the latest in education news and get links to great resources and various promotions, contests, and of course funny pictures. Who doesn't love funny pictures?
So, check out our page, become a fan, look at our pictures, tell your friends, and get to know us. We'd love to get to know you too!
Our page is at http://www.facebook.com/PitscoEducation. You can also follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/pitscoed.
Whether you are looking to supplement your drafting supply closet or launch a technical drafting program, we have everything needed to build your classroom. Not every class is the same, so we have a large range of products to complement any classroom.
Complete drafting kits are available at affordable prices. We've combined our best products into a convenient kit. If you don't find the prepackaged kit that you want, we can customize a kit for you. So, you can create a unique kit that is exactly what your students need.
Our drafting machines come in a variety of sizes, and our parallel rules are designed for smooth movement. We have an assortment of quality drafting tables and flat file storage systems for your classroom. The Archi-Board and Perspective Drawing Board are excellent teaching tools to introduce perspective drawing or help students that are struggling with the concept of vanishing points.
We offer a full line of software, workbooks, and videos to enhance your lesson plan and provide a mixture of support material for drafting, engineering, and architectural design. Consumable supplies are reasonably priced and are readily available to ship as needed.
Building your classroom doesn't have to be complicated. We are here to recommend the perfect drafting product for your particular requests and assist with anything you need.
Call our friendly customer service team at 866-622-1003 or e-mail any questions to Product-Tips@hearlihy.com.