Is SciSpark for you?
- Is your child currently in grades 6 – 8?
- Do you like being a part of your child’s education?
- Do you like talking with your child about what your child is learning?
- Does your child enjoy thinking? Does your child enjoy solving problems? Does your child enjoy asking questions?
- Do you think that creative thinking and problem-solving are crucial skills worth developing?
- Do you want to give your child an edge in taking exams?
- Do you want to prepare your child for later success in college?
“It is unfortunate that, in the classroom, we often teach as if creativity is not important, as if science deals only with well-structured problems with known answers and a single way to find the “correct” solution.” Robert DeHaan, 2011.
“When we teach children about aspects of science that the vast majority of them cannot yet grasp, then we have wasted valuable educational resources and produced nothing of lasting value. Perhaps less obvious, but to me at least as important, is the fact that we take all the enjoyment out of science when we do so. For far too many, science seems a game of recalling boring, incomprehensible facts.” Bruce Alberts, Editor-in Chief of the research journal “Science”, 2012.
If you’ve answered “yes” to these questions, and you’re either a parent or a teacher, or both, then YES: SciSpark is for you!
SciSpark is designed to be used alongside any standard science curriculum. Our goal is to show students what scientific thinking is really all about, and what makes it fun and rewarding to do real science. We emphasize creative thinking, critical thinking, and problem-solving, not memorization.
Each month SciSpark will offer a series of activities to stretch the mind and get every student to “Think Like a Scientist.” Most of our activities come in the form of downloadable PDF files, but every now and then they’ll be based on a video that we’ll post on-site.
Membership in SciSpark includes the following:
- A new Super Spark activity each month. These investigations are open-ended activities that, over the course of a year, teach students every aspect of the scientific process, especially how to think more creatively about what they do. These are not “cook book” labs in which students follow directions to come up with the “right” answer. It is the open-ended nature of these activities that give students a true taste for science, and what goes into obtaining the body of knowledge that we call science. SuperSparks deal with every aspect of scientific thinking, including hypothesis generation, experimental design, data presentation, and brainstorming.
- A new Mini Spark activity each month. These have the same learning objectives as the SuperSparks but are shorter, mind-teaser types of activities that can be used to initiate a family or group discussion. They’re great fun, and carefully designed to stimulate creative thinking and problem-solving.
- A new science investigation activity each month based on a current event. These Science Around You activities encourage students to think about what is going on right now in the world of science, and in the world around them. SciSpark members have access to a Student Response Board (see below), making the Science Around You activity interactive for our members.
- Members receive a special Teacher’s Guide each month, to help them guide their kids through the various activities.
- If enough members request it, students will be able to share their thoughts and ideas on a Student Response Board and become an important part of a real learning community.
- And every now and then we’ll publish a special bonus activities–a nice surprise at no additional cost.
We’ll send out a notice directly to each Member and all other followers at the start of each month, as soon as the new activities are posted.
Our primary target audience is middle-school students, but most of our activities will also work for high-school students, and with adult guidance most can also work for younger students.
We hope you'll sign up today to get all the benefits of SciSpark membership, and join our learning community..
About Jan and Tony
Jan Pechenik
Jan A. Pechenik is a Professor of Biology at Tufts University, where he teaches marine 
biology and investigates the development and metamorphosis of marine animals, ranging from polychaete worms to colonial seasquirts. In addition to the more than 125 papers he has published on these and related topics, he has also published several papers concerning science education.
On course evaluations, students say that they worked harder in Jan’s courses than in most other courses, but that they learned more in his courses and enjoyed them more, too. Jan also directed the Writing Across the Curriculum program at Tufts for 6 years, and has published 2 textbooks, one on invertebrate biology (Biology of the Invertebrates, now in its 6th edition, McGraw-Hill) and one on scientific writing (A Short Guide to Writing About Biology, now in its 7th edition, Pearson Longman).
He has also developed 4 hands-on science activities and games that are currently being sold by several major science education companies. SciSpark.com is the next episode in his quest to show students what scientific thinking, and the true nature of scientific research, are all about.
He received his M.S. in Biology from M.I.T. and a Ph.D. in Oceanography from the University of Rhode Island.
Tony Lacertosa
Having always had a strong curiosity about the world around him, a career in science was a natural pursuit for Tony. After earning his B.S in Animal
Sciences from the University of Maine, Tony continued his education at Hofstra University in NY where he earned his Master’s degree in Environmental Biology and his teaching credentials before going on to have a successful career teaching science.
During his more than 31 years as a respected classroom educator, Tony taught a large variety of science courses to students in grades 7-12 and at a community college. His experiences include working in an alternative school program; creating and implementing a college level Earth Science course for the high school in which he taught; teaching college prep, general level, and special education inclusion courses; coaching a competition-focused science Olympiad team to winning trophies at the county and state levels; authoring and coauthoring a variety of laboratory manuals for student use; training and mentoring new science teachers; and having a steady flow of students whom he tutored in both biology and earth science curricula.
Today, he remains very passionate about using science education to not only teach students a body of knowledge but also to train them how to think, organize their thoughts, ask questions, and draw logical conclusions from the “investigations” they perform—skills they will continue to use for the rest of their lives, whether or not they become professional scientists.
Though he is no longer a classroom teacher, Tony will always be a science educator. He has devoted his entire professional life to helping young people understand science and the scientific process and wants to continue doing so. It is for this reason that Tony is so excited to be a part of SciSpark.
Join us today, and “Get the Spark!”©
© 2010, 2011, 2012 SciSpark.com
