The first steps

Lynn Poole points out the country's increasing need for engineers, scientists, technicians, and researchers. Dr. John Woodburn, assistant director of the Johns Hopkins masters in teaching program, offers courses to working teachers wanting an advanced degree. He maintains that teachers can interest children in science by exposing them to the phenomena of nature, asking questions, teaching them to notice things around them, and showing them the scientific principles in everyday things. To illustrate, teacher Jacqueline Wolfe performs a simple experiment, and students in her fifth grade class from Woodmore School in Baltimore, MD, observe, hypothesize, test tentative hypotheses, and verbalize final conclusions. Dr. Woodburn suggests that other teaching aids, such as microscopes, telescopes, blocks, and models, also stimulate young minds.