Day 138 - Sean Musselman, Burlington Science Center

Lego League Bringing Students of All Ages Together:

Drop by the Francis Wyman library on a Monday afternoon and you’ll witness some of the most incredible learning and mentorship taking place between Burlington students. Approximately twenty fifth graders work in groups of two and three, constructing robots of all different designs and purposes. Alongside them sit volunteers from the Burlington High School Robotics Club, providing guidance and encouragement but providing the freedom for the younger students to experiment, create and test their own unique machines.


Marshall Simonds student, Michelle Pothier with club participants brainstorming what’s next for their robot. “The club’s main goals are to introduce kids to basics of design, problem solving, what is a robot and how do robots work” says Gerry Pothier III, an alumni of the club who sits beside Michelle Pothier, a middle school robotics team member assisting students assembling a “capture and throw” robot. “The biggest challenge for the kids is to bring a concept they have to reality and communicating with their teammates how they want to do that.”



Constructing the robot using LEGO Mindstorms robotics kits purchased throughgrant by the BEF in 2010. Club coaches and Francis Wyman teachers, Cid D’Amico and Anne Rigby are quick to admit that their role is largely supervisory. They point to the volunteers as the real cogs that move the club forward. From their perspective they see another side to the learning taking place.
“This club is really bringing kids together, forcing them to work alongside partners… work with each other,” says D’Amico a fifth grade teacher at Francis Wyman.


Fifth graders program their robot with guidance from BHS volunteers. The Lego Robotics club is now in its third year at Francis Wyman. It was originally started with the help of the Burlington Education Foundation, spearheaded by the Pothier family who had students in Francis Wyman at the time.

“This in itself is an incredible experience for a high school student,” says Roberta Pothier. ” One of reasons we started a program in the Francis Wyman was to show the younger students what their capabilities are now and in the future.  My daughter was in the 5th grade at the time the program started and is [now] an active participant on the high school team. We have started a program on a smaller level at the middle school this year and hope to expand that in the future.”
The Francis Wyman Robotics Club is an eight-week program that runs through the end of the school year. Keep your eyes open on this blog for final robot designs from our budding robotics engineers!

Day 126 - Sean Musselman, Burlington Science Center

How Much Does the Gray in an Elephant Weigh? Supporting Science Practice through Children's Literature:

 One of my favorite storybooks as a child was, "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs." As a youngster, its imaginative storyline and humorous illustrative details kept me pouring over the pages and reaching for it again and again. Over the past several years I have spread my joy for this story as a gift at baby showers and birthday's for young readers. Besides taking pleasure in writing, "hope you grow up to be a great 'meat'eorologist!" on the inside cover, the author's soft-edged storyline highlighting the challenges humans face from extreme weather events are particularly relevant given climate projections for our next generation. Never mind the fact such hurdles for humanity come from precipitating food!

This week I found myself looking for a change-up at the local Barnes & Noble. With my former selection feeling a bit stale (nyuk-nyuk) I combed through the newer titles in search of a suitable replacement. I ultimately came across an enchanting rhyme book titled, "How Much Does the Gray in an Elephant Weigh?" by Erik Van Os, Elle Van Lieshout, Alice Hoogstad, and Mary Chris Bradley. The story follows a grandfather and his grandchild through a zoo. As they observe each animal, the grandfather openly wonders about the characteristics of each animal. Why does the giraffe have brown spots? Do the zebra's stripes go up or down? Do polar bears "beat the heat" with frozen treats? While many of the questions can be characterized as silly, the accompanying illustrations and clever rhymes will undoubtedly keep young readers interested and coming up with unusual predictions for answers!

Better still, the grandfather (and author by default) models one of the eight science practices being emphasized in the Next Generation Science Standards. Of course, "asking questions" has been at the foundation of scientific inquiry for a long time. But as science educators we are constantly looking for opportunities to model these practices and give students the chance to try them out for themselves. By reading picture books to kids that model these practices we are supporting student scientific literacy and a life-long love for reading simultaneously. Such picture books can also act as springboards to an investigation or exploration. This concept is by no means novel. The NSTA has been publishing recommendations for science and literature tie-ins for years, publishing monthly and annual recommendations.

There are plenty of titles available for kids that support science (the Ms. Frizzle series stands out in my mind as an obvious choice.) But I often find myself identifying books for the exposure to science content they provide. As our standards focus more on the practice of science I'll have to keep a keener eye out for books that include characters who are curious and exploratory, observe carefully (Encyclopedia Brown?), collect data and put their predictions to the test! If you have any already in your early reader repertoire please share in the comments below!

Day 78 - Sean Mussleman, Burlington Science Center

How Much Liquid Water in a Foot of Snow?:

This past weekend’s blizzard covered New England with several inches of snow and will be remembered as one of the largest (and longest!) storms to coat Burlington in memorable history.
The snow could not have hit at a better time for our elementary schools though, as many of Burlington’s fourth graders are either wrapping up or just starting their science units on weather and climate!

A question often asked by students (and adults) is how much liquid water is there in a foot of snow? When learning about matter, students learn how matter contracts as it gets colder taking up less space, and expands as it gets warmer (taking up more space!)

But water is not like most matter. Thanks to water molecules electronegativity its molecules organize themselves into a special six-sided arrangement that produces a perceived hollow crystal interior. When ice and other forms of solid water are heated up, the arrangement breaks down, the hollow space collapses and the water “melts” into its liquid form. As you can see in the diagram below, liquid water ends up taking up less space than solid water and is therefore more dense than ice!

This phenomena has a profound effect on our Earth! Since ice floats the tops of Earth’s bodies of water freeze over while marine creatures live below. If ice was more dense (like most matter) ice would sink to the bottom, crushing marine creatures below and leaving our seas and rivers relatively lifeless!

Consider trying this experiment with your students or children and see if you get the same results! We are familiar with many different “kinds” of snow (light and fluffy, wet and sticky to name a few!) Do all of these snow types melt into the same amount of water? Does location matter? Allow your students and kids to explore the possibilities and maybe devise their own experiments!

Day 35: Sean Musselman, Burlington Science Center Staff

While many fifth graders at the Fox Hill school were off on their overnight field trip to Camp Bournedale, a group of young scientific minds stayed behind and participated in “Camp Foxy.” After the first day, in which students watched a live webinar with astronauts from the International Space Station, we dove deeper into rocket science with a project aimed at bringing all the STEM disciplines together answering one simple question: “What angle should we launch a rocket to make it travel the furthest distance?”

At what launch angle will the rocket travel the farthest?

Students were asked to predict which angle they believed would launch their rockets the farthest after sharing what they already knew about the topic by considering how they throw sports equipment such as baseballs or footballs long distances. They were then put to work assembling their own rockets to experiment with! When all rockets were ready the students democratically selected a launch site. The weather was good so we went out to the school’s front walkway to experiment.

Constructing straw rockets!

Students were very excited to try their rockets out and experimentation did get a bit messy! It was great to hear students deliberate over whether launches were “fair.” One unexpected problem we faced as teachers were some unexpected results! Despite the students’ short statures there was enough height provided to the initial launch point that students frequently fired their 20 degree launches further than the 45 degree angle, leading to puzzled reactions from some students when their results didn’t match up with their ‘sure-thing’ predictions.

Measuring launch to landing using metric measuring tapes.

After lunch we added a third goal by asking students to communicate what they had learned and how they had learned it via a short “Show Me” presentation using some iPads available in the school. The Show Me app leaves some to be desired in the way of editing work and their was a limited amount of time remaining in the day for kids to brainstorm, outline their presentation, and then make the final work. That being said students gave their best efforts.

Sydney’s Rocket Presentation



Eric’s Rocket Presentation


Sonny’s Rocket Presentation Part 1 and Part 2

Teachers were learning during the activity as well when it became apparent that an elevated launch point (as a results of students standing during their launch!) eschewed data and led to some puzzling conclusions for students who started the day with “sure-thing” predictions. Fortunately, some discussion was had between students and teachers about how “fair” or valid the results were. These were conversations that helped the students better understand their results while giving teachers valuable experience to reshape the lesson for future classrooms!

Using the “Show Me” app to communicate our results.