A handbook for starting and running a Community Science Workshop
Manual Home
3. A CSW’s Contents and Layout
4. CSW “Curriculum”: Projects, Activities, Exhiblets, Specimens
6. Leadership, Operation and Development of the CSW Organization
We are often asked about our curriculum at CSWs. The pat answer is, “Our curriculum is the entire universe!” with arms spreading heavenward. We intentionally do not have a written curriculum. What we have is an enormous repertoire of projects and activities, specimens and exhiblets. Some of these are documented and many are not. The repertoire is closely linked to our material spaces: the piles of alluring junk containing densely packed concepts and phenomena. The repertoire is being constantly expanded according to the needs and interests of participants and staff. Some parts of the repertoire are unique and original. Others are common STEM favorites that work well and can be amplified in the CSW environment.
Those of us that have been doing this for a long time know certain projects that are synonymous with CSW. Here are a few from current staff:
Such projects and activities are at the root of CSW content. We can do them as self-standing projects, or build units and sequences around them in various dimensions. We can alter the projects according to the age of the students or the desired focus of the class. The key elements involved are immutable:
A bit more info on that final point. Using tools can be a part of the goal in designing the project for programs with set projects. Sometimes the tool use needs to be contrived; for example:
Projects for use during school-day classes are often a bit different from the ones used at afterschool and especially drop-in sessions. School projects often need to be aligned lockstep with the state standards, fit into a shorter than desirable class period, and in general have little opportunity for continuation at future sessions. Thus, these projects tend to be simpler and closed-ended. Still, we try to let the kids use one or more power tools and give opportunities to use their creativity whether with altering the design, decoration, or encouragement to take it home and continue experimenting with it.
Likewise, several activities (non-make-and-take projects) are classic CSW:
These activities can’t be taken home in most cases, but contain similar principles: broad opportunities to try many possibilities, explore to the depth of the students’ interest, and use mostly common materials. A couple of other immutable principles for exploration activities are:
A key feature of CSW exploration activities is that they are taken straight from the portfolio of real scientists. There is little difference in pedagogy or principle between dissecting a squid at a CSW and dissecting a human cadaver in medical school. When students observe the nuanced structure of a flame, how a candle goes out under different conditions, and the almost mystical re-lighting of a just-blown out wick, they are learning with the self-same methods of Michael Faraday 200 years ago. Many of us CSW veterans can do the same activity hundreds of times and still be jazzed, still learn new stuff, and still infect the kids with our personal excitement. That’s a testament to the value of these activities, and the intense pleasure and satisfaction of approaching nature with the mind of a scientist.
Another staple exploration activity is taking apart scrapped electrical and mechanical devices such as printers, projectors, hard drives, kitchen gadgets, and various lab equipment. Often the most interesting thing is the motor or moving mechanism, so computers and laptops are less interesting in that sense, and cell phones, modems, and solid state drives are much less interesting. Still, we encourage kids to open up anything (after unplugging it and discharging any large capacitors; see below) and subscribe to the tinkering philosophy, “If you can’t open it, you don’t own it!”
Looking inside the machines we have come to rely on so completely is to unmask them, to let their innards be known for what they really are: a complex conglomeration of materials working together toward a specific purpose. We can identify some of those materials and hypothesize how their properties make that machine work. Taking something apart is empowering. It is taking a stand, screwdriver in hand, and shouting, “My world is knowable, and I shall know it to the extent that I can!”
That said, it gets harder and harder to trace what is actually going on in today’s machines. The best devices to dissect are older ones, with more clunky mechanical interfaces. But even with today’s high-tech stuff some conclusions are possible. Even in a solid-state laptop it is possible to identify the battery, the speakers, the microphone, and often the memory chips. Online images and information can help a lot.
It is also an inescapable fact that those materials hiding in that gadget were procured and assembled by people with titles of designer and engineer. The kid dissecting the dead video projector may be a future designer of a future video projector.
When taking apart a plug-in machine, we often leave the power cord attached but unplugged, take off the cover, have everyone stand back, and plug it back in. Then it can be possible to see what’s going on, and even tweak the works with a plastic probe. Old tube-type TVs are particularly dangerous and should only be opened around someone who knows how to discharge the capacitors and avoid the high-voltage areas. Likewise, microwaves have some high voltage areas as well as exceptionally toxic materials in the magnetron. It’s possible to learn how to avoid these microwave hazards with online information, and reap the reward of two giant ceramic magnets and the lazy susan motor that gives a safe but eye-opening tingle when you spin it while holding the wires.
An exhiblet is sturdier than a “project” but not as solid nor as expensive as a professional museum exhibit. There is in fact some overlap between exhiblets and projects: if the parts for an exhiblet can be procured cheaply enough, every kid can have one. They are fully hands-on with very little direction or graphic info necessary.
CSW Founder Dan Sudran had many exhiblets at the Mission Science Workshop since the early days, and they are a natural and integral part of a CSW. They attract and hold attention with a fascinating presentation of one or more phenomena. Many times real experiments can be carried out with exhiblets, and entire realms of science can be explored with several exhiblets showcasing overlapping concepts.
A mega-generator of exhiblets since 1991 is the Little Shop of Physics (LSOP) out of Colorado State University Fort Collins. LSOP is a GACSW-allied organization with several CSWs actively collaborating and sharing ideas. LSOP was also the key inspiration behind Physics Buses: converted school buses stuffed with exhiblets, originally created by Erik, founder-director of Ithaca CSW. Several other CSWs have started Physics Bus operations at their sites, and several hundred more exhiblets have been designed and created.
Another early pioneer of exhiblets is Sciencetoymaker, who organized a small-town, Middle School version of LSOP in the early 2000’s. We know that there are likely other exhiblet-makers and exhiblets on display in community spaces around the world. Just as we’d like to connect with folks running other CSW-esque spaces, we’d definitely like to connect with exhiblet folks also.
In 2023-2024, GACSW and the Exploratorium teamed up to secure a federal Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) grant to develop exhiblets for general use. A great number of new exhiblets were created, many of which were adapted from popular Exploratorium exhibits. Some popular CSW exhiblets were amped up and broadened. We analyzed and documented the whole concept of an exhiblet, their joys and benefits, and how to propagate them. The Exploratorium webpage on that project is here, and a brief guide to making them yourself is here.
In practical terms, CSW exhiblets serve several purposes. First and foremost, exhiblets put you in the front row of intriguing phenomena that we believe everyone should experience. If you wanted to demonstrate the phenomena without exhiblets, you would have to set up and take down the whole apparatus each time someone wants to see it. With exhiblets, the phenomena are crackling away in the corner all the time. These phenomena are nuggets of the greater universe that may not come up in everyday life, so when they do, they light up faces and minds.
Exhiblets are also a sponge activity for kids who haven’t decided exactly what they want to build. Many project ideas come from playing with exhiblets, and some of the exhiblets can be built on a smaller make-and-take level. Students in classes that visit the CSW are given 15-30 minutes to explore the exhiblets each time. Adults waiting for their kids to finish whacking some crazy project together often get lost in the exhiblets. At high attendee events like family nights or street fairs, exhiblets are just the thing. The very image of exhiblets is fundamental to a CSW. They are part of what makes it more than just a workshop; more than just another STEM program.
Many of us spend copious amounts of our spare time developing and reproducing exhiblets. Those of us with mobile programs know that it is good to have two versions of an excellent exhiblet. Some of us have pondered: if our duties were completely taken over by someone else, would we not simply spend every day churning out new exhiblets?
A universal truth: exhiblets will break and need to be fixed. One magnificent educational opportunity is to involve an interested kid in helping to build or fix an exhiblet. Interns should be roped into this early on. Fixing anything is an opportunity for learning and wonder, exhiblets extra specially so.
Most CSWs have a whole table or more of rocks, crystals, fossils, shells, petrified wood, insect collections, pelts and bits of fur, teeth, bones, and complete skeletons of various animals. Welcoming words and images beckon to passersby. Hand lenses ready at hand enable deep observation and exploration of these items.
Often at these touch tables, the information needed to fully understand a given specimen is unavailable (Where did this rock come from? How was it formed? How old is it? What is it made of?). Still, the questions are more important than the answers, and can lead to further learning when another similar rock is discovered.
The best specimens are the ones gathered from the right around the CSW. San Francisco has an enviable expanse of serpentine, belched up by the underlying subduction zone. Greenfield has fossils from nearby Arroyo Seco. Fresno has Sierra granite.
Dan developed bone specimens to a new level. He was always collecting dead things and learning how best to preserve their parts. The options are many: burying them for a few months for worms to eat, leaving them on the surface under a metal screen for bugs to eat, soaking them in buckets of water and then scraping them off, setting up a bug-proof chamber and getting ahold of some dermestid beetles, or, perhaps easiest of all, tossing the dead creature in the deep freeze, and taking it out for occasional showings.
Bones are incredible learning resources—there are some inside of each of us! We do our best to have no barriers in front of our bone displays. Dan had the epiphany that bones and skeletons are to be handled, toyed with, tinkered around. This is in sharp contrast with most museums, where bones are only viewable from a distance. Only by manual experience can you really appreciate what is going on with a bone, how a bone’s form and function are related. And when you’re dealing with mostly small varmints and domestic animals, there’s no reason to hold back curious hands. Thus, many of his skeletons became “bone puzzles:” a box of bones that can be put together and taken apart, or anchored to a simple structure where the puzzle can be put together by kids into articulated form.
San Francisco CSW has a cow, a horse, an ostrich, a mountain lion, a dolphin, and the jewel in the crown: a baby grey whale complete with vestigial pelvis. Most of these masterpieces were gleaned from willing farmer’s lots, left alone over extended time for cleaning by bugs or worms, and then prepared for display. Many a passerby wondered at the sights and smells that emanated from Dan’s backyard.
Live organisms are also a key part of the CSW curriculum. Kids come alive with animals. Holding a reptile is a formative experience for young and old. Bonding with our cousins of other species, classes, phylums, and kingdoms is an important step in understanding life and what it takes to keep it living.
Here is a partial list of animals seen at existing CSW:
While it’s good to map out what kinds of critters you want to have at a CSW, in many if not most cases, critters find their own way to CSWs. An amazing number of people have reptiles, fish, or small furry mammals that they don’t want anymore, and a CSW is a great place to continue the captive lives of these creatures, now with a big step up in observation and interaction.
Before getting creatures that are independently mobile, it is worth thinking about how you will go about locating them in the inevitable event that they liberate themselves from your cages. At some CSWs the number of animals at-large sometimes rivals the number in cages. In general it’s not a big problem, but coming across a snake in the restroom, for example, can be a shock to one’s system as well as hazardous for the snake.
Outdoor wild animals are also important members of CSWs. On the list above, wild birds, bees, and butterflies can be observed with the right conditions around a CSW. All sorts of bugs and worms can be found and studied in the wild. Binoculars and hand lenses expand the possibilities, and catchers and keepers for insects are great building projects.
Speaking of bugs and worms, some of the most interesting things to be viewed with a microscope are microbes swimming in water. A nearby source of not-too-clean water should be identified for regular retrieval of these life forms. Mosquito larvae are fascinating to raise, as are a diversity of paramecia and amphipods. Just realizing that cleanish looking water can be swirling with life is a real eye-opener, and it’s interesting to discuss drawing lines between plants, animals, protozoa, bacteria, etc.
In the plant kingdom, CSWs support potted plants, garden flowers and veggies, hydro- and aquaponics, and chia pet arrangements. We revel in how unique and special it is to witness any seed germinate. As of this writing, we humans are still far from creating even the simplest forms of life from scratch, so all of life has come from other life, all the way back to that first simple cell.
Planters simple and complex are common make-and-take projects, and various arrangements allow for the act of germination to be witnessed. Plants can be coaxed to grow in various interesting ways: loop the loop, tied in knots, through the tube, etc.
One more kingdom of life is fungi! CSWs do several activities with yeast—including making bread, a fascinating scientific process most people take for granted while pulling the loaf from the bag!—and several CSWs have mushroom growing operations. Don’t overlook the unintentional mold specimens growing in your staff lunch area!
Museums often have an entire department devoted to graphics and information presentation. Many CSWs have but a few lines scrawled on or near our exhiblets and specimens. One reason is that authentic experience is the top priority for us, and words often get in the way. It is a much lower priority to have kids walk away with the ability to articulate concepts with the correct terminology. After all, sometimes that’s all they get in school, so why waste time and space with it at a CSW?
Still, it’s good if a bit of information on exhiblets and specimens is available. For specimens, that includes what they are composed of and where they came from. For example, if the age and finding location of a fossil is known, let visitors know too. In terms of exhiblets, if there is something hidden or unclear, make a short note or sign to inform the observer. Additionally, there should be super brief information on how to make the exhiblet work if it’s not clear. Often this can be arrows and diagrams; no words needed.
GACSW is creating a database of basic information and explanations for many of the exhiblets in CSWs. How this info is used is up to the individual CSWs, but one key use is for staff to understand some of the basic concepts behind the exhiblets. The information can also be useful for older youth or adults who are keen to learn more and are persistent with their questions.
We believe there is a serious risk of “explanation” shutting down exploration. Unfortunately, sometimes curiosity is fragile, and an unthinking blast of information can wipe it out. If a kid verbalizes a question (Why is the ball not falling out of the stream of air?) it must be clearly recognized that in general they are not at all looking for any sort of coherent answer. And if the friendly bystanding adult happens to have extensive knowledge of fluid dynamics and begins pontificating on Bernoulli, Coanda and balancing forces, there is little chance the kid will connect, and a very real chance they’ll walk away uncomfortable.
Many of us have seen these missed opportunities happen, and work hard to avoid these sad situations. Often the far-and-away best response to a question is not to start the answer at all, but to repeat the question, validate it, and nurture it: “Yeah! Why is that?” And then make darn sure to keep the focus entirely on the kid and the phenomena, not you and your knowledge. Be in the moment with the kid, see if you can learn something from their observations, and accompany them in their exploration.
If you think a few terms and explanations are in order, it is critical to make sure the question is well rooted. After all, an answer without a question is worse than useless. Conversely, once the question is rooted, you can’t stop the kid from getting the answer. In that case the kid may pester you ruthlessly until you give an explanation, at which point, there is nothing at all wrong with a mini-lecture as long as the lecture ends with more questions, more experimenting to be done, and no sense of satisfied finality. There is always more to learn.
Some of us have commercial posters up on our walls, often rejects from schools, but these were usually chosen quite carefully. Information overload is a very real problem, so unless the posters enhance the aesthetics of the space or offer information to be used in programs, it could be that the best use for a hand-me-down poster is to make a rocket or helicopter out of it. Maps or diagrams of skeletons or photos of volcanoes, etc. make great wall coverings, images to generate wonder and discussion, as opposed to information as such.
Gone are the days when the average teacher could come to school and spend the day inspiring kids with a random fascinating science nugget, say tadpoles, a locally found crystal, an electrostatic generator, or a kitchen chemistry explosion. Of course there are benefits to having students across the state on more or less the same topic, but if you’re not careful, you lose the magic and spontaneity. There’s nothing like working through a textbook to turn kids off to science.
We use CSW projects, activities, specimens, and exhiblets to complement and enhance curricula in schools. It is not our top goal, but in several of our programs, we walk in step with the mass formal education system, and everyone appreciates when we choose a topic that meshes with what the group has been learning. It is a known fact that if you want to support teachers, you don’t offer them some random activity. Rather, you listen to what they need, which is typically what they’re supposed to be teaching. It is then necessary to find out what they have planned already, or what they generally do in the way of hands-on activities around the topics they are supposed to address. Then you can choose a nice complementary activity that fits well with the CSW resources and you’ve given the teacher quite a leg up.
Elementary teachers face another challenge: science content often stands in competition for time with all the other subjects they’re required to address. (Of course, it needn’t be in competition: science is a lever for language and literacy! Nothing inspires creative writing and focused reading like an engrossing science project.)
Elementary teachers also tend to be the least prepared to facilitate science learning in terms of their formal credentials, and often shy away from it. CSWs can play a critical role in building elementary teachers’ confidence to do real science in the classroom and explore together with their students. It’s a critical message for them to hear: you don’t have to understand everything, or even much at all, to accompany the student in the learning process. When little hands and minds are working with real stuff involving real concepts, the results can only be positive.
It is important for CSW staff to know the local science standards well. The Next Generation Science Standards (NSGG) have been adopted in some form by 49 states, and represent broad agreement on what scientists and educrats think kids should know about science concepts and practices. Compared to many other sets of standards in the past, the NGSS integrate hands-on and experiential learning to a much greater degree. It used to be that teachers had to go way out on a limb to justify allocating precious class time to hands-on stuff. With the NGSS, it’s required.
That being the case, CSWs can best support classroom teachers with projects and activities that go along with the NGSS topics for that grade level. NGSS have three dimensions:
If you can align the topic of your project or activity to the DCI, the other two usually match up without much effort.
Dan spent a lot of time and effort earnestly seeking the best ways to support teachers. He often lamented the system that had their hands tied, as he saw it: administrators who didn’t see the value in authentic personal exploration, and teachers looking for the easiest path to the final bell. He insisted that CSWs should support teachers to get better, not just step in and do a slam-bang job once in a while, while the teacher stands impressed at the side.
That ends up being quite a trick sometimes, because slam-bang is something CSWs do very well, and kids love it. So a complex strategy needs to be developed in which the fabulously fascinating CSW project is followed with more limited activities, involving not too many tools or special materials; activities that a teacher can pull off year after year in their own classroom without much support. If you can set up that tenuous situation, you will have made a lasting change for that teacher and great learning opportunities for hundreds of future students. Indeed many CSWs have developed great relationships with teachers and work with them on an ongoing basis to make science come alive in their classrooms.
(First an irrelevant but nevertheless irresistible story: In the early days of the Mission Science Workshop, a teacher training was being done and the CSW facilitator leading the training was putting down commercial kits: “I don’t like kits: they’re expensive, uninspired, limiting, often not very interesting, and they all come out the same!” Later a teacher came up to commend him: “I really appreciate your honesty in not hiding your dislike of kids!” Oops!)
One idea that’s been tried in a few CSWs is to create basic kits that can be used by teachers to expand or continue with what students did on a CSW visit or classroom presentation. Many curriculum companies contracted by school districts offer kits and packs of manipulatives, but teachers are often not well-trained on them and sometimes the activities are not all that interesting. CSW kits can be stellar in comparison, but school districts may not want to duplicate resources.
During the pandemic, many CSW sites began serving their communities through kit creation and distribution; basically offering bags full of the parts necessary to do a given project or set of CSW projects. The kits typically came with a write-up including basic directions and explanations, as well as links to a video showing how to do it and other relevant information.
Most of us were not that satisfied with this arrangement for various reasons:
It’s a drag packing hundreds of kits. If we wanted to work on an assembly line, we’d go to Detroit. Greenfield CSW was packing 1,200 per week during the height of the pandemic. They began calling themselves the Greenfield Community Science Sweatshop. Packing kits en masse requires devoting a good bit of space and time, and can be fairly stressful, as one missing part could sink the whole project.
Feedback was spotty at best. Nobody knows what happened with most of those kids receiving kits. Related to that, we couldn’t gauge the uptake of any given skills or concepts and couldn’t do the normal teaching around the projects.
The kits usually had to be prepped much further than normal, in that it couldn’t be assumed that houses held the normal tools of a CSW: hot glue guns, pliers, hammers, cardboard cutters, etc. Alternatively, super simple STEM activities were put into the kits so that no tool work was needed at all, which is a bit of a shame, because that’s a big part of what we do at CSWs.
Nevertheless, some of our partners loved the kits and continued to request them long after the virus had subsided.
CSW kits were popular for various reasons:
Some of us gave the ongoing kit requests a flat “No,” while others continued to oblige. Kits can bring in great revenue and can be done in such a way as to work around other CSW programs and not require additional staff. Plus you can get a heck of a lot of kids doing hands-on stuff if you make thousands of kits.
Some of us moved over entirely to creating class kits. It’s quite a bit easier to pack 20+ items in a box than to make 20+ bags. Sometimes we can do in-person trainings so that we are sure teachers will get the idea. Further, setting teachers up with elaborate science project kits is a form of training and support for teachers to get more comfortable doing these things in their classrooms. With schools you have a relationship with, it is possible to put a lender tool box into the agreement, so classes have all the basic tools they need.
When considering whether to offer kits, it’s good to keep the following things in mind:
It’s a huge logistical challenge: thousands of individual parts, some of them requiring precision prep (drill the ¼” hole 2 ⅝” from the edge of the board).
It requires space to prep, space to store, and vehicles to deliver.
Parts will be invariably forgotten or mis-packed, so it’s best to have staff on call as the kits are being used in classes, ready to rush over with the missing part.
There is a big benefit to doing it at scale: it’s nearly as easy to make 20 class kits as it is to make 10, and the cost of making good write-ups and videos is the same whether one or one thousand kits are made.
It is critical to ensure that the final product is top quality. In addition to all the logistical efforts to pull off the actual kit development and packing successfully, a top quality product is another nonnegotiable. An excellent project works, kids love it, and it’s full of science content and learning opportunities. Basically, you have to shoot for being way better than commercial kits are, or you’ll lose your market.