It was a dream come true. Walking through Woodland Primary and Pleasant Valley Elementary in Vancouver, Washington, evidence of scientific investigations was everywhere. FOSS boxes were in use in every classroom. Aquariums, terrariums, graphs, drawings, and recordings of investigations were present in equal measure to displays of math and language projects. How does this happen? Behind every successful science program is a busy science materials center.
"Hey, volunteers can inventory the kits. It will be easy!"
Paracelsus was a 16th century physician who was the first to realize that a chemical can be safe at a low dose but poisonous, or toxic, at a higher dose. He came up with this hypothesis: The dose of a chemical determines the type and severity of the body's response to it.
If FOSS kits are well-used, there should be no concern for dust on the outside of the boxes, but it is the "dust" (also called fine particulates) inside the boxes that has our attention once more.
Sometimes you need a third eye to penetrate dense subjects and see them clearly. That current ran through the week-long FOSS middle school workshop on the campus of Northeastern University in Boston the second week in July.
Over the last two years I have been deeply embroiled in a struggle over the content of the Massachusetts Mathematics and Science and Technology/Engineering Curriculum Frameworks. Much of the debate has centered on the role of inquiry in mathematics and science instruction.