For fourth graders, earth science lessons come to life at Penn State

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — For the second year in a row, fourth graders in the State College Area School District have been learning about the earth sciences with the help of geosciences experts in the Penn State College of Earth and Mineral Sciences (EMS).

These students are learning about plate tectonics, erosion, fossilization and sea-level changes in the classroom through lesson plans their teachers produce with the help of Penn State faculty members and graduate students. Even at this early age, they are already beginning to better understand the world around them and how it came to be, and how it continues to change.

After classroom exercises led by fourth grade teachers district-wide, they head to the EMS Museum & Art Gallery, a visual playground that turns core concepts into moments of real-world and lasting discovery.

“The museum has so many tie-ins,” said Elizabeth Hajek, professor of geosciences at Penn State. “Students see context for fossils they may have encountered around the region as well as the importance of earth materials for energy, water and environmental health. It’s really remarkable how thoughtful and intentional the curriculum design is. And with rivers, rocks and fossils, it’s also fun, too!”

Hajek is one of the EMS faculty members working with teachers Lynn Darlington, of Spring Creek Elementary School, and Emily McAleer and Kimber Hershberger, of Radio Park Elementary School, for their “Our Changing Earth” curriculum. EMS faculty members formed the partnership after watching some of their own children attend a museum field trip a few years ago. They saw how the young students’ eyes lit up at some of the museum’s attractions and wanted to expand on what the students were learning during the visit.

“Their science curriculum is super impressive, so it was fun to get to see what the students knew and, during those discussions, we realized that our department could support their curriculum,” Hajek said. “We developed a complementary curriculum to their classroom lessons and the museum experience.”

Attractions such as exotic gemstones of blue and white hues, massive mastodon tusks and giant topographic map walls are easy on younger eyes. So is the stream table, which gives children a time-lapse of things they might notice in their own neighborhoods, such as sedimentation, fossils and erosion.

“It’s a great visual of how dynamic rivers and coastlines impact where sediment is deposited, land is built or eroded and where fossils are preserved,” Hajek said.

What might that fern on their favorite walking trail look like millions of years from now? It’s not just up to the imagination at the museum, which features common fossils from the region.

“We give the schools teaching kits that include real fossils from the area, like trilobites and brachiopods. However, when they come to the museum, we can share more fragile specimens, such as fossil ferns, some elaborate ammonites and trace fossils,” said Chris Widga, director of the EMS Museum & Art Gallery. “We also use some of our signature paleontological exhibits like the sauropod leg and the trackway from southwest Pennsylvania’s Jerome Mine to engage their imaginations.”

The classroom is a place to learn about how fossils form. The museum is a place to see and touch them, especially during the kid-favorite scavenger hunt.

“It has been both wonderful and meaningful to collaborate with Penn State to enrich our district’s curriculum,” McAleer said. “The trip and the opportunity to work with graduate students are always highlights of our 'Our Changing Earth' unit. The hands-on activities provide invaluable learning experiences, and our students gain so much from this engaging and memorable opportunity. We are so thankful for the collaboration with Penn State.”

Hajek said it’s just one of the ways a land-grant institution can help improve K-12 education. Through their teachers, students are learning a lot about the state’s geologic history, including its time underwater and the last Ice Age. Penn State faculty are on hand to help with some of the finer points of the earth sciences.

Hajek said the kids aren’t the only ones learning. Graduate students are learning how impressive fourth graders are at science while they fine tune their approach to communicating to a new audience.

“Our students are finding creative and interesting ways of explaining different concepts, like the mantle is warm and gooey like chocolate that melts in your pocket, or deposition of sediment is ‘putting it down’ in the same ‘depositing’ money in your bank account is putting it there for safekeeping,” Hajek said. “For them, it’s a lesson in making their high-level expertise accessible for a general audience.”

The EMS museum is open on weekdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is free.