Science Strategies: How do I start to add new ideas?

 Many Co-op instructors stick to the textbook.  Apologia science textbooks are a complete curriculum. The instructors often invest their Co-op time working through the experiments from the book. The kids read, do study guide questions, and take tests at home.  There is nothing wrong with this approach.  I started teaching Co-op, science classes after school, in the lab, at the public school where I taught.  (I do know how rare this situation is!). I already had ideas because I had been teaching all manner of science classes for awhile.  The first time I taught from Apologia, the families were enrolled in MODG, which has strict requirements for labs, lab reports, and number of modules completed. (MODG requires 2/3 of any textbook to be completed, as a minimum.)  Did I adhere to the labs?  Yes.  However, in some cases I had a different lab with more detail, or an extension, or was inquiry-based.  (Even the first time, I made the DNA Extraction experiment in Biology an inquiry-based lab.)

How do you branch out and still remain faithful to the experiments in the Apologia textbook.  Let me take the DNA Extraction experiment.  The first time, we did the lab exactly as written.  In fact the first edition of Apologia’s Biology textbook uses onion rather than split peas.  Once we did the lab as written, we branched out.  What if we changed the detergent?  What if we chilled the alcohol?  Could we try KCl instead of NaCl, or sea salt in place of iodized salt?  Just do the experiment as written before you try a variation.  Another example is the Biological Key experiment in the textbook.  We do this exercise verbatim.  Then I bring out other dichotomous keys to practice.  

Sometimes, I just don’t like the experiment.  The Apologia Chemistry (third edition) has Experiment 5.2, Solubility, which compares salt in water with salt in vegetable oil.  Huh.  You could do this as a demo with the group before launching into a Solubility Rules Lab (Here is a summary of the solubility rules.)  Frankly, I do this a lot in Chemistry because I’ve taught the course so many times.  I have many opinions on the subject. 

Try the lab in advance.  Do you like it?  Could you take one more step and improve on it?  For example, do the Osmosis experiment in the Biology textbook and then try the classic Diffusion Lab with cornstarch, iodine, and baggies.  Take things in stages.  Don’t feel as though you need to improve every lab.  I use the Chemistry experiment, Width of a Molecule, verbatim; it’s a great lab.  What happens if the lab doesn’t work?  Admit defeat and move on.  My friend, Sharon, another Chemistry teacher, was adamant about testing every. single. experiment before the lab.  Great advice for novice instructors.  Go ahead and add to your experiments!