Last week, several hundred general and special education teachers, as well as therapists and paraprofessionals, from across the East Baton Rouge Parish School System participated in the district’s Exceptional Student Services Expo at McKinley Middle Magnet School.  This was a professional development program that included various workshops on teaching children with special needs.  Topics ranged from being an effective teacher and positive behavior strategies to how to handle the angry child and physical therapy for the severe/profound.  At the “Scientific Inquiry All Year Long with Next to Nothing!” workshop, presented by Janie Braud and Stacy Hill of the district’s Curriculum and Instruction Department, participants were shown how to build inquiry skills through curiosity with hands-on science projects.  For instance, Spanish immersion teacher Luz Hernandez of South Boulevard Elementary School (pictured) tried to blow up a balloon that was inside a large cola bottle.  She was unable to do so, however, because there was no hole in the bottle, which already was filled with air and could not be compressed enough to make room for the balloon.