On a recent morning, the students in Ruth Dorsey’s fifth-grade homeroom class at the Oakdale Elementary School are performing indirect observations – a series of tests on a given box, and then, based on their observations, hypothesizing what is inside. They are not always correct, but it’s the gathering of evidence that really matters, Dorsey says.
For science periods, Dorsey’s class doesn’t work out of a textbook. Everything is “hands-on,” and for this exercise Nicole Manning puts a ruler to the box, finding it is 9 inches by 2 inches by 2 inches.
Manning is working with three more 10-year-old girls: Elizabeth Dillon, Makayla Fedorchuk and Emma Tolley. The group weighs the carton together, determining it is 26½ grams. Then, for the “magnet test,” they initially find that a yellow magnet does not stick to the box, so they mark it down as “not attracted.”
They shake the box, deciding there are multiple, sliding items inside. Manning thinks they are pebbles; Fedorchuk insists on seeds.
Then Dorsey comes over, takes the magnet stick, and rhetorically asks if she can feel the items sliding across as she moves the stick beneath the box. So prompted, the girls re-examine the box and realize they can in fact feel the magnet pulling items within. Dillon manages to hold the magnet on top of the box without it falling. It is clearly “attracted.”
“That’s why you don’t want to make rash decisions,” Dorsey concludes. She asks the group if it wants to change its hypothesis, and the girls decide a charm bracelet is inside, “because it’s magnetic and sounded like one,” Dillon explains.
Dorsey later says that it’s “the discovery piece” of teaching science that is really stimulating.
“I don’t know who gets more excited at that point, the children or me,” she says.
At Oakdale Dorsey, Mary Ann Beakes and Liz Tavalone work as a fifth-grade team. Dorsey teaches science to all fifth-graders, Beakes covers social studies and Tavalone teaches math. The trio and supporting Oakdale staff were recognized at the last School Committee meeting, where Principal Holli Armstrong reported that 88 percent of the school’s fifth-graders scored proficient or advanced in 2009 MCAS exam, placing Oakdale 16th in the state out of 897 schools in that category.
“I know that you’re passionate about your work. We really appreciate your efforts and leadership in science,” Superintendent of Schools June Doe told Dorsey.
Dedham Transcript staff writer Edward B. Colby can be reached at 781-433-8336 or ecolby@cnc.com.
Class notes
School: Oakdale Elementary School
Grade: Fifth grade
Teacher: Ruth Dorsey (12th year at Oakdale)
Teacher assistant: Judy Nickley
Class size: 22 students
Popular book: “Diary of a Wimpy Kid,” by Jeff Kinney
Awesome movie: “Hancock”
Can’t-miss cartoon: “Phineas and Ferb” on the Disney Channel
Stay awake for subject: Gym
Can’t wait for that day of the week: Saturday
Gobble it down snack: Muffins
Best place to hang out in school: Playground
Best place to eat in Dedham: 50’s Diner, 900R Providence Highway
