In the lab, above the world: Meadows Elementary’s Joanne Michael brings the varied wonders of science to her students
Science specialist Joanne Michael talks about bug genetics with a third-grade student at Meadows Elementary. Photo The young geneticists had decisions to make. Six legs, or four? Curly legs, or straight? Green or brown? Maybe most importantly, would their insect have a tail? “Six legs!” exclaimed a mop-haired blonde boy wearing a Green Bay Packer jersey. “I want green legs!” said a little girl with a plaited pony-tail. The Science Lab at Meadows Elementary School was abuzz with trait discussions. Each student worked with his or her “elbow partner” — the kid on the same side of the four-person desks — taking turns choosing the characteristics of their bugs. The blonde boy with the six-legged inclination, Ronnie, had nobody on his side of the table, and so his teacher, Mrs. Joanne Michael, was his partner. Each had to take the opposite of his or her partner’s choices. “I want my insect to have a tail,” she told the class. “So mine is going to be a four-leg, green curly-legged insect with a tail. Which means Ronnie’s insect is going to be a six-leg brown, straight-legged no-tail insect.” The Science Lab is in a mobile classroom at the back end of the Meadows campus. Mrs. Michael, who…
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