Science comes to life every day in Steven Kirkpatrick’s classroom. The fifth-grade Castle Hills Elementary School teacher is committed to bringing real-life examples of science in action to his classroom as often as he can. Some of those examples have fur, while others have scales.
“If I stand up here and talk to them all day long it means nothing to them,” said Kirkpatrick. “My motto in the classroom is, ‘If you can’t touch science, you can’t learn science.’ I try to do everything hands on.”
There’s no shortage of hands-on learning in Kirkpatrick’s classroom. Hamsters, gerbils, mice, rats and lizards are part of the curriculum, and students like Jocelyn Baldez absolutely love it.
“A lot of our mysteries and lessons are based on our animals,” said Baldez. “We just did an experiment about the gecko’s scales and having the opportunity to actually hold one and feel the scales is so fun. It’s a fun experience.”
Kirkpatrick believes the animals are teaching his students a lot more than life science, they’re also embracing responsibility. Students volunteer to help clean their habitats, feed them and care for them over school holidays and breaks. Kirkpatrick can tell this engaging, immersive style of teaching is making a difference when his students find themselves looking forward to school every day.
“It makes learning more fun,” said fifth-grade student Matthew Daines. “Some days we get to do an experiment with them, and we learn about science with them and that makes it exciting.”
The animals were provided at no cost to the teacher by the Education Service Center (ESC) Region 20’s Living Science Materials Center. Kirkpatrick and his students are preparing to add a snake to their classroom community in the coming weeks, proving that passion and inspiration can arrive with or without scales.
