Tutoring a 13 year old in Science

[Rodrigo Istalindir]

A friend of mine is tutoring a 13 year old inner-city girl. The girl used to love science, but is having issues with her current science teacher and has gone from doing passably well to 'I hate science'.

My friend is looking for suggestions, techniques, books, anything, that she can use to help the child keep up in school, but also re-kindle her interest in science. Having no children myself, and being a guy, most of my suggestions have run along the lines of learning new ways to make fire. Not terribly helpful in this case.

Anyone have any suggestions?

 

[alsih2o]

Ok, at first I thought this read "Torturing a 13 year old..." and I thought "Not another torture thread!"

Make it real, get sandbox on her.

Do the experiment, then prove why it happened.

Search the web for "Sandbox physics", some people like numbers and symbols, but everyone likes the lab.

 

[Umbran]

Anyone have any suggestions?

That depends largely upon exactly what issues the student is having with the teacher. We could give more focused advice if we knew what part of the experience was turning this student off to the whole thing. Can you be more specific?

 

[Rodrigo Istalindir]

I think the quote my friend relayed to me this morning was "the day before was a good one because "she (the teacher) only muttered she hates us once."

So I guess she's got a burned out teacher that doesn't want to be there, doesn't like many of the kids, and is doing the bare minimum to get by. The kind of situation where most of our parents would have been screaming at the principal already, but that's not going to happen here.

My friend asked me for advice because I always liked science and was pretty good at it. But I was always a 'take it apart to see how it works' type (especially in biology ).

From what I've been told, the girl used to like science class. But the current teacher is just teaching to the test, and blowing off the fun but subversively educational stuff that gets kids hooked on science. I thought maybe someone here with kids in that age group could suggest some books or inexpensive educational kits or such that might be appropriate for that age. Mu suggestion of a block of sodium and water bucket didn't go over well

 

[physicscarp]

What kind of science is she learning? Life science? Earth science? Physical science?

If it's physical science, like chemistry and physics (only the basics folks!), then there are lots of demos/activites that he can do with her geared toward the material that is being covered in class. Some of the ones that my kids (9th graders) find really interesting...

When discussing chemical structures and chemical bonds, I use a balloon (or comb) that has been charged with static electricity to bend a thin stream of water, then we discuss how in covalent bonds, the electrons aren't shared equally, leading to a charge imbalance. Magnets are another great tool to get acorss the idea of a chemical bonds. (I swear, bending that stream of water seems like magic to most of them. It is always one of the coolest moments each year)

In a recent discussion about gravity and acceleration, I asked which would strike the ground first, a rock or an apple. Once most of the kids answered the rock, I took the two items and dropped them from the same height, showing that the hit the ground at the same time. To further drive the point home, I dropped the rock and a piece of paper to show the difference, and then took the single sheet of paper and crumbled it up into a tight ball, which then struck the ground at the same time as the rock.

There are lots of others that seem to generate those "Aha!" moments. Look for the things about science that fascinate you (or your friend) and then guide her to the explanation of it.

 

[der_kluge]

Ask her "what makes a rainbow?".

I had to write a "how something works" paper for technical writing in college. And for some crazy reason, I decided I would write how a rainbow worked. I actually had no idea before I researched it. Turns out, it's really quite fascinating.

There's a ton of science going on there, and it's all really quite interesting, and easy to relate to.

 

[physicscarp]

Have your friend take a look at www.sciencespot.net. I've used this before, and I spent free time during parent/teacher conferences today checking it out. He should be able to find loads of activties/lessons/experiments for her to do on this site.

 

[tarchon]

Ok, at first I thought this read "Torturing a 13 year old..." and I thought "Not another torture thread!"

Make it real, get sandbox on her.

Do the experiment, then prove why it happened.

Search the web for "Sandbox physics", some people like numbers and symbols, but everyone likes the lab.

Not when you get to be a scientist. That's when you realize the lab is the place you go to find out something doesn't work.

That's what, 7th grade? From what I can recall, school science on that level was a jumbled mishmash of natural history trivia... I guess I'd look at the science of whatever she's interested in. Light and sound are always good, can't beat the son et lumiere.

 

[Turanil]

I don't know what happens to this girl. Yet I know that as a schoolboy i had absolutely no interest in sciences, since this was so boooring. Then, I recently read this book (World Building) and thought that if I had read it when I was a teen-ager I would have wanted to become a scientist. Okay, you need to have an interest in scienc-fiction to really appreciate the book, but then it is so well written it helps you love real science!

 

[RangerWickett]

This may sound foolish, but what about talking to the teacher, and seeing if you can rekindle her interest in science?