CARBONDALE (WSIL) 鈥� The Weather Academy hit the road again traveling to Carbondale Middle School to teach 6th graders,聽who teachers say haven鈥檛 had a lot of experience with hands-on science activities.
Yvonne Windings, 6th Grade Physical Science teacher at the Middle School, says her students are starting to dive deeper in the curriculum.
"My role is a pretty large role in the school.聽They are very limited in their science curriculum up to this point, so I鈥檓 the first major full class exposure where they have science every single day and so that鈥檚 kind of a big deal," Windings said.
She says that she loves teaching science because of the hands-on interaction,聽"By the time they come to me they鈥檙e not sure if they like science so that鈥檚 my first job is to get them to like science, get them to love science and the way to do that is to bring in the hands-on activities like the presentations today."
So far she seems to be doing great job getting them interested in the subject.
Jonathan Jackson, a 6th Grade student, says he enjoys the interactive learning.
"I am excited to do more hands-on [activities] because it鈥檚 fun.聽Of course, it鈥檚 better than just sitting at your desk just reading a textbook, actually get to sit down with your friends, you know, do a little experiment and have some fun and everything," Jackson said.
Windings said the Weather Academy also helped because it corresponded with what her students are currently learning in class.
"Some of the things that we did here are the real world exposure activities so not only to prepare them for the seventh grade material for next year but it also goes along with our unit and so try to incorporate real world activity into our forces and into our energy transfer and to how wind moves and why and those kinds of things so it was perfect for today," Windings said.
Multiple students say they can鈥檛 wait to move on to the upper grade levels so they can experience more science in action.
"I want them to know that people are here to support them and to teach them but also to love them through it.聽That was my goal to teach them with love and then hope that they get the academics along the way," Windings said.
