Science in a Can – Event/Duties Description

2007-08

What is it?
Science in a Can is a science enrichment program that is offered to Kindergarten, 2^nd and 4^th grade students at Central School. Students bring home a weekly age-appropriate science experiment. Most of the materials needed to perform the experiment are contained within the can. Any other materials that might be needed should be readily available at home. Children are encouraged to complete at least 4 of the 6 experiments, and those that do, receive a “Science Achievement Certificate”.

Each experiment sheet gives the child a problem, asks him/her to come up with a hypothesis, and then gives instructions for conducting the experiment. The child is then asked to record the results and draw a conclusion based on what happened. All the child’s answers go on a worksheet provided in the can. An additional sheet explaining the science behind the experiment – written at an adult level – is also in the can so that parents may refresh their memory, if necessary, and offer an explanation to the child. Each student at each grade level conducts the same experiment at the same time.

When?
The program is scheduled during a 6-week period when it will not coincide with any academic testing. (Beginning mid January 2008) Experiments are offered to students weekly. The science cans will be distributed to students typically on Friday and must be returned with completed experiment sheets by the following Tuesday.

Budget/Costs?
$250.00 was budgeted for the 2007-08 school year.

SIC Committee Chair Duties
It is recommended that two persons co-chair the SIC Program. The co-chairs share the responsibilities for running the 6-week program. Duties include: writing/revising experiment sheets and/or replacing experiments if necessary, purchasing and stocking supplies, sending out introduction letter to parents and teachers at the beginning of the program, making copies of experiments and parent guides weekly to go in cans, recruiting/training 1-2 volunteers per grade (to fill cans with experiments, deliver cans to classrooms and retrieve completed experiments and cans to prepare for the following week), logging completed experiments and recording parent comments, creating individual “Science Achievement Certificates” and delivering them to teachers to distribute to students that completed 4 of the 6 experiments.

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