Elementary students learn science through science kits, books, and hands on experiments. A topic is introduced, discussed, and then the student completes a experiment. Science can be a stressful subject for a teacher because there is a lot going on with lots of materials so the environment that students work in must be safe and organized. The teacher must be prepared for every lesson and practice experiments ahead of time. They should be able to answer or research all the questions that might come at them during class discussion. Must importantly they should grasp the interest of every student in some way in order to make science fun and memorable
January 22, 2012
After revisiting my past experience with science and reading a few articles it is clear to me that I want to run my class in a constructivist manner. Science is a hands on subject and needs to be learned through engaging activities. Information will be presented in a way that is not overwhelming through scaffolding. I want my students to learn information and perform well on tests but remember the information after the test and not have misconceptions about science.
January 29, 2012
Everyone has misconceptions about a lot of things in life. I have a ton of misconceptions about science that I did not know I had till reading the articles and taking the quiz in class. It is important to address these misconceptions in a way that shows evidence to the correct answers. Each student will enter the class with misconceptions and it is important to address these before they end up in college with the same misconceptions.
February 5, 2012
I still agree with my statement that science is learned in many ways one being hands on experiments. I like how in the sweater article the teacher didn't just tell her students that the theory was wrong but instead allowed them to try their own experiments. The students were allowed to test their misconceptions they had and were able to base their thinking off what they found or hold onto the misconception. Teaching science could be difficult because I feel like you have to go with the flow. If a student brings up a misconception you may have to dump your lesson plan and go off of what the students give you. Another example of going with the flow was shown in class this week. Technology doesn't always go as planned so you have to be flexible with everything.
February 12, 2012
The idea of students learning best through their interests and hands-on activities was backed up by the two articles we read this week. Inquiry process of learning is using knowledge you already have to explain a question that was brought up. It is important as a teacher to react to the students interests and have a discussion with them. Allow them to create a hypothesis, experiment, and draw conclusion about a topic even if it was not in your lesson plans for that day. Even though kits are still used in elementary schools they do not have to be thrown out. You can use the kits with the inquiry process in order for your students to get the most out of learning science.
February 19, 2012
When I was in elementary school science consisted of doing experiments and collecting data. Come to find out there is so much more to the learning of science. Inquiry was a word that I was unfamiliar with in terms of science until this semester. There are 5 features of inquiry. 1. Learners are engaged by scientifically oriented questions. 2. Learners give priority to evidence, which allows them to develop and evaluate explanations that address scientifically oriented questions. 3. Learners formulate explanations from evidence to address scientifically oriented questions. 4. Learners evaluate their explanations in light of alternative explanations, particularly those reflecting scientific understanding. 5. Learners communicate and justify their proposed explanations. This seems overwhelming but after watching the video and splitting up each section, it is not so bad. It takes an awesome teacher to do all these steps effectively and I hope to be one of those. As a teacher you need to get their attention, have students collect data, let them discuss with others their findings, research, and communicate with different audiences. Inquiry takes time but it is an efficient way of learning.
February 26, 2012
Every lesson should include all the features of science inquiry. I believe in order for you to truly have every feature you have to be more towards the left side of the inquiry continuum with more student focused learning. I believe that if a student is doing an experiment they are going to need to explore on their own. The students should be able to make mistakes in order to learn from them. In elementary school I was told step-by-step instructions for every experiment, which I did not learn from. Even though teacher based experiments still have all 5 features of inquiry it does not teach the students everything they need to be learning. Teachers have to understand that students are going to get frustrated with more student centered and less help from the teacher type of experiments. Between the pink and yellow circuit lab I learned more from the pink one because it made me think more. I was not given pictures or step-by-step instructions for this lab and relied on the group members and myself.
March 4, 2012
Assessment is a topic that teachers could have misconceptions about. You should always be assessing whether it is a formal assessment or a one question quiz put into a google doc to see where your students are. Teachers should be assessing what the students are doing and what artifacts students produce. Teachers are not the only people who could assess, students can assess themselves as well as their peers. The most important assessment is a formative assessment, which can come from the Paige Keeley probes. The formative assessment shapes where you are going with the curriculum. There are also summative assessments that can be used. The most important thing to remember when it comes to assessment is the assessment and rubrics must be linked to the learning performances! A good website to use in order to produce rubrics is rubistar.4teachers.org. This website allows you to pick the topics you want to assess the students on and splits it up into different point values. Effective assessment criteria are contextualized, multidimensional, students being actively involved, valid and reliable, accommodates diversity, consistent with learning theory, and measures meaningful understanding.
March 28, 2012
Technology is taking over the classroom more each and every year. Dragon Speak is a great software to implement in the classroom for students of any disability. Students that struggle with typing can simply speak into a microphone and the computer will type for the student. Of course, students performance in writing and typing skills will be altered but with the use of Dragon Speak there is a fair and level playing field between all of the students. Dragon Speak has strengths and weaknesses to its software. Its strengths are that it makes that playing field level for all students and allows greater independence for the student. Some weaknesses are it can be pricey and schools might not be able to fund the money. Another weakness is that Dragon Speak can be difficult to initially set up. The independence it can give a student is a huge step for a child.
April 23, 2012
Teaching science is not an easy task when it comes to kindergarteners. We taught the lesson of plant growth and life cycles of plants. We included the steps of inquiry in order to be as much student oriented as kindergartners can be. We allowed them to plant their own sunflower seeds, make observations at their own homes, be involved in a celery experiment that showed how water is absorbed, gave them worksheets for them to color and complete, and lastly we read them books based on plants. The things that my group struggled with the most would have to be class control and time. Kindergarten has a short attention span and you have to take that into consideration when creating a two-day lesson. We wanted the students to be involved as much as possible but this took some one on one disciplining. Time was something else we struggled with. We had too much planned for each day and had to cut an experiment out. You have to remember that it takes kindergarteners more time to complete a worksheet than you would think. I really enjoyed being able to take what we have been learning all semester and actually be able to perform it.
April 23, 2012
Teaching science is not an easy task when it comes to kindergarteners. We taught the lesson of plant growth and life cycles of plants. We included the steps of inquiry in order to be as much student oriented as kindergartners can be. We allowed them to plant their own sunflower seeds, make observations at their own homes, be involved in a celery experiment that showed how water is absorbed, gave them worksheets for them to color and complete, and lastly we read them books based on plants. The things that my group struggled with the most would have to be class control and time. Kindergarten has a short attention span and you have to take that into consideration when creating a two-day lesson. We wanted the students to be involved as much as possible but this took some one on one disciplining. Time was something else we struggled with. We had too much planned for each day and had to cut an experiment out. You have to remember that it takes kindergarteners more time to complete a worksheet than you would think. I really enjoyed being able to take what we have been learning all semester and actually be able to perform it.
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