Making connections! chapter 5 reflection

I can recall NUMEROUS times that my teachers made connections to our local environments in our classrooms. It is those times that i actually feel stick out to me the most. I remember burying two things in the ground in fourth grade, paper and Styrofoam, this was really cool because it made us realize that this product can harm our earth because it can not be recycled as paper and plastic can me. If people pollute our earth with this product the earth has no defense against it and can not break it down over time. Other connections we had were in feild trips that we took to local places where we got to actually become one with nature. Get out there in the forest and learn about leaves, animals, bugs, plants, and everything that the environment has to offer. In highschool we had a pond outside of our school, the teachers took advantage of this having us go out there and collect samples to use within the class. This was really awesome and i remember wanting to learn more about it.


The main and most crucial point of making connections to students with the content and their daily lives is that students learn better if they can relate to the topic. In doing so teachers must keep in mind culture, the environment and the wide variety of activities that can be implemented. There is also talk that students are put off by fact based approached, with this knowledge educators must change their approach. Understandably sometimes it is about making sure the students understand facts, but do it in a meaningful hands on approach. Bring it into the students daily life through science corners, engage them with clear simple and exciting activities they can get hands on with and intrigued. They must give a reason for the students to want to explore, an invitation to discover and they can involve many things such as literature and relate even o other subjects like history. Of course using relevant problems that the children face in their everyday lives will be a huge part of making these connection, along with not only giving the hands on tools but visual representations.

Science is green. It should be used for green purposes! What good is science if we are not doing good with it.

I would say natural intelligence is special, to me it would mean the natural ability to develop and learn what the world as to offer. We are not born with knowledge, but we are born with capabilities to soak in knowledge and learn. Some people are not as lucky as others and develop slower or are not born with the ability to learn as fast as others.

I love this picture, I think it is a perfect representation of who we are as people and what we need to encourage as educators. Students come to us with the natural instinct to want to know more, to want to understand. We must foster this need to understand and use it to our advantage.

The most important reason to teach green science is to build respect for this eart so that students understand the seriousness of the problems that we face. They need to learn to conserve energy and not waste because it actually harms our planet, our animals, and will effect future generations.

I recall going on a feild trip to Washington D.C when I was in 7th grade, I was able to visit all of the museums, but i do not remember the teachers really engaging our minds into the things around us. We were shown the things told to walk around, but I actually do not remember learning anything on that trip. We were allowed to look at all of the things quickly and move on. If the teachers took more time to show us things and really get our minds thinking i feel as though it would have been a much more meaningful experience.

Make field trips meaningful... get students involved and they WILL LEARN!

Technology! Collaboration! Environment! Diversity! ... being the best teacher you can be!

Todays class was AMAZING! When i first walked in I was confused to see other students and did not know what was going on. However i was pleasantly surprised by how much i learned during this seminar. Many of the students that attended learned how they can use the tools on the internet to conduct research, I however feel like i learned sooo much more. Learning about all these web sites that can make my experience as an educator and my students experience for more rewarding and even more educational. There are so many tools that are one web 2.0 and other websites that allow educators to implement technology and teach students through tools that will catch their eye and keep them interested. It also provides educators with a world of information and ways to store that information. The best part about all this is that it is a COLLABORATIVE world at your finger tips. Working together is a huge part of learning, 2 minds is better then one. and being able to manipulate these websites together, by not just viewing knowledge but editing and adding to the knowledge is an amazing part of the technological world today.

 

This video clip takes you on a tour of the wonderful site of Diigo. GO CHECK IT OUT. Here is the link in case the video does not work.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RvAkTuL02A

This picture represents in my mind the power of collaboration. We all hold a piece of a puzzle and when we combine those pieces we can create powerful things that can improve the world we live in. 

Learning about how to be a good presenter is something that is highly important when going into our own classrooms. Yes of course it is important to engage any audience when presenting along with many other things to make sure your presentation is great. But when your in a classroom teaching students a good presentation may be one of the most crucial aspects of teaching. For students to learn they must want to learn, want to listen, and be interested in the lesson at hand. First and foremost you must engage your students, they must want to learn so creating an initial activity to grasp their attention will set the standard for the rest of the lesson. As an educator you can do this by a video clip, a demonstration, anything that really activates their prior knowledge and encourages them to want to learn. Making sure that the entire time you are clear and have a good teacher voice that keeps the students listening. Making sure that you know your subject, students will only learn if you are teaching them thinsg properly, also when a teacher does not know their subject they will not be confident which will affect how the students feel. Students are intrigued when the teacher comes off passionate and how can you be passionate about something you know nothing about. Once a presentation is over educators must some how check to make sure that students understand.

 You can see in this presentation the students are engaged, they want to learn. Making things intriguing for students is highly important.

We learn science and integrate science into our every day life, in school, in problem solving, in our normal everyday decisions. As teachers we need to make connections between these, which can only enhance the education of students. Teaching standards and skills that are implemented into the curriculum by the state and then use that to integrate students every day lives. When students see something as a part of who they are, as a part of something within their lives they are more likely to want to learn. Also keeping in mind diversity and the connections that we need to make to different cultures because different cultures view things far differently then  others. 

 This picture I think shows that there are so many diverse cultures within our school today, as educators we need to keep in mind all of these students and educate them equally because it is those hands that will eventually be working together to make our world a better place.

 Among all this we need to keep in mind our environment, this is a crucial part of education today because of the vast growing environmental problems we are facing within the world today. We need teach our students the importance of conservation and renewable energy, make them understand that they can make a difference and teaching them small steps of how they can within the classroom will dramatically effect how they live their lives.

http://www.teachingtips.com/blog/2008/06/23/50-ways-to-go-green-in-the-classroom/

This website consists of many teacher tips of how to implement going green in the classroom. There were many things on here that we can do in our everyday lives to make a difference along with in the classroom for students. 

A powerful approch; Inquiry Based learning!

            Teaching science is a process that involves concepts, issues, ideas, and of course time. The most important aspect of teaching is how do we give the best education possible to students keeping all of that in mind. "Inquiry-based science can be a powerful approach to learning scientific concepts and keeping wonder and curiosity alive in the classroom" (Ranklin, 2011. pg 9). It is this type of teaching method that provides students with one of the most meaningful experiences they can have in the classroom. Allowing them to take ownership in the process builds their curiosity and most important there understanding in the world of science. However, even though this is one of the most powerful tools a teacher has there are obstacles that can hinder this method.

Inquiry falls into many of these categories, making it a strong approach to teaching science.

            Inquiry learning goes hand in hand with every beings innate urge to explore and understand the world around them. It is this urge that fuels some scientists to pursue research in their field, but how do we use this desire in our own classrooms to get our students to want to discover and learn. Unfortunately in every classroom teachers are given only a small allotted time to teach specific subject, trying to implement inquiry based learning and staying within the specified time is not an easy task. When students are making discoveries and learning at the same time you do not want to stop them, so teachers must do their best to make it a meaningful experience and of course consider time.

Inquiry does take a substantial amount of time, however the students can learn how to carry out many procedures within science. How to question. How to work as a team. How to problem solve. And in the world one of the biggest tool is how to integrate technology.

            The process of carrying out inquiry based learning is something that must be taught in the classroom. Even though we are born inquires, we do not have the natural ability to carry out investigations properly (Rankin, 2011). To really use inquiry based learning to its fullest potential teacher must build the students ability to carry out process skills that go along with any investigation. These process skills are things such as observing, questioning, hypothesizing, and evaluating. To teach these steps the teacher can build the skills over a period of time, first having them observe something and write down every single thing they saw. Building these skills are the crucial foundation, that will follow them throughout their lives. These process skills also allows the student to take ownership of their research which makes the process far more meaningful and more educational. Among the process skills building a question for research is very important, how do we as teachers initiate these questions. We do sometimes want the students to come up with their own questions, however we may need to direct and guide their questioning and discoveries based on specific concepts being investigated. This draws a fine line between how much freedom we provide our students and how big of a role we play in their investigations. "Nurturing the growth or all the process skills throughout the school year is essential if we want students to learn to reason scientifically, develop claims backed by evidence, and explain their findings" (Rankin, 2011. pg 9).

Nurture their investigation and give the students they are curious about so they want to make discoveries.

            Inquiry based learning is not the only way to teach science, depending on the lesson at hand, the tool or instructional approach to teaching a lesson will fluctuate. Whichever approach deemed appropriate still must keep the students in mind. Educators must keep their students intellectual development at the for front of any activity, so we can prepare them to be successful in this increasingly growing complex world (Rankin, 2011).

            Given many different articles to chose from, "science and children" was the one that popped out at me immediately. I am going into education for the children, and to do everything in my power to give them the best education possible to prepare them for the world ahead. Teaching science comes down to how meaningful can you make the experience for the children. Children will learn more and understand more if it is meaningful to them, and they are curious about the activity at hand. Being an educator I need to find the best and most productive ways to do this for my students, so that they understand and may even love science. Science should be looked at as exciting and a world of opportunity, not just formulas and lab coats. Therefore how can I not use this article in my own classroom. I have learned so much about building science from the ground up, teaching the process skills in a way that interests the students. Once they have built all of these abilities they can really make their own discoveries and learn through doing and investigating. If a teacher tells a student "when air heats up it expands" this hold no meaning to the child. Showing them a balloon fill up because of air expanding from heat will build curiosity. It is that curiosity that will drive students to find out the air is expanding and they are more likely to remember the experience.

            Teaching science in a increasingly complex world is not an easy task, but if we can make every experience meaningful for students we can build their understanding. Inquiry based learning really is the heart of making discoveries and learning new things in the realm of science. As educators we must open the eyes of students and allow them to wonder and discover the world around them. With these discoveries students will learn and be able to comprehend concepts, rather than simply memorizing them for a test.

This is a growing world, technologically, culturally, and intellectually. As educators we MUST support and prepare our students for this world.

Resources

Rankin, L. (2011). Pathways to inquiry. Guest Editorial, 8-9.

POP POP POP!

WILL THE BALLOON GO POP POP POP!?!?

This activity really got my scientific brain thinking... Is the blue solution really magic?? Is it just the placement of the pin that made the balloon stay intact??

Last class we did more then learn about the power of knowledge and what knowledge truly means, we actually got to be hands on in an experiment where we were given the opportunity to collaborated with a peer. We all will be given the chance next class to show the class what we learned giving us ownership of our discoveries and increasing our chance of retaining the knowledge we learned.

SCIENTIFIC WAY OF THINKING! 

We were able to go through the process... the process that leads students to develop a high level on understanding. A process that as a future educator i want my students to be apart of.

 The process 

    We asked questions- As a class we were shown a demonstration of an ordinary balloon being popped by an ordinary pin. Then we were shown a solution, a solution that we were told was magic!  Was this actually a magic solution? Did it really make the balloon stronger so it wouldn't be affected my the pin? These are all questions and curiosities hat we developed and we want our students to develop in the classroom. These questions that they develop on their own will give them the motivation to try and discover their answers. Once we asked questions we were asked to make predictions/hypothesis's of what we think really happened to those balloons. My group came up with a few hypothesis's

 If the blue solution is MAGIC- if the blue solution is placed on the side of the balloon and pricked with pin, the balloon will NOT POP!

If the blue solution is NOT MAGIC-  if the blue solution is placed on the side of the balloon then [ricked with a pin it will pop.

BUT why did it not pop in the demonstration- This is the discovery that we had to make, so we set up our investigation.

Materials

 

Creating our experiment

With our materials and our scientific brains working we experimented and tested each one of our hypothesis's

OUR FINDING

THE BLUE SOLUTION IS NOT MAGIC!

We found this out through testing, observing, and evaluating. Once we made this discovery we reflected as a group and figured out how we would represent this to the class.

Being a participant in this experiment was really exciting and I was able to gain insight on how to gain the interest of my students. I also found ways to get them motivated to experiment and make discoveries!

Knowledge IS understanding!

How much do we really learn when we are engaged in different activities. This is an eye opening activity that we did in class today, I was amazed at how high my numbers really were compared to how much someone actually learns when they are lectured, read, even discuss. This initial activity is something that will stick with me in not just science, but all my classes like math and even literacy. We retain and learn things by practice and being hands on and mostly by teaching others. I will make sure i allow students to teach one another, engage them in demonstrating and constructing their own knowledge.

LET THEM BE THE TEACHER AND TAKE OWNERSHIP IN WHAT THEY HAVE LEARNED!

Within our class where i am a student I am put in positions where i am the scientist. I feel like a scientist making discoveries and constructing knowledge. This is very important when going into my own classroom, all students should feel as though the are scientist. This not only will help them in developing understanding of science, but it will build a positive image of their scientific self.

ALLOW STUDENTS TO ANALYZE, PREDICT, OBSERVE, EVALUATE, DISCOVER!

 

This idea of alternative conceptions I feel is very powerful, when students make predictions or believe something is a certain way it is not wrong. It is not wrong because the student may have a different experience, different view point, or even taught a specific way that is leading them to chose those answers. It is with that knowledge that i will bring into my own classroom and never fault a student for their alternative conception, instead i will encourage them to discover the right answer. This along with the 5 E Learning cycle will be a huge part of my classroom, engaging students, having the explore, allow them to explain their findings, elaborate on their findings, and evaluate what they have learned.

 This light bulb does not just represent a child learning something, but it represents their understanding. This light bulb is the one i want to go off in all my students.

CHAPTER 3 REFLECTION Discovering... not just knowing facts

Chapter 3 really made me start thinking about how important it is to engage students minds in science. Allow them to make predictions and never make them feel silly for those predictions, instead help them investigate if what they are thinking i true. Among making discoveries within the class it is important for students to build on the knowledge by having them write stories that reflect what they had just learned. This is essential in building that knowledge and comprehension, but to be able to put that knowledge to use in the real world. Along with showing comprehension, this chapter really shows how to build that understanding. Being able to to just answer questions on a test does not show that the child understands anything, they memorized facts and can just throw them out of their memory once the test is over. Keeping those concepts and facts in their mind by building an understanding is important. The constructivist belief is that we must engage students in activities so that they can understand and really internalize what is being taught. This engagement starts at the beginning of a lesson when trying to activate prior knowledge, then asking students what they think is occurring within the initial demonstration. Getting their minds thinking and interesting in trying to figure it out is very important in engaging students. When they build questions and want to figure out the answers, they in turn want to learn and explore. These initial ideas and thought are also important because it gives the teacher an idea of where the students thought are, no answer is wrong because  this alternative conception of what is happening is stemming from their prior experience.

The following picture show a huge difference in testing and exploring. I feel as though it is a good representation of how much students are gathering from their journeys in school. When they take a test do they truly understand and in the other picture you see the faces of the students and how they seem t o be internalizing the information.

Versus

A huge part of the teachers duty isn't to just tell students the correct answer, instead they need to become mediators and guide their understanding so that they make discoveries.

Within the icicle story i enjoyed that the teacher allowed the students to make their own inferences which built there own questions about things they want to explore. I think this is a great idea for teachers to do in the classroom. I know that sometimes specific things need to be learned and questioned, but maybe finding a way to guide students to those questions on their own will make the process more meaningful because it holds ownership to them. Also, I really thought a crucial teacher tip was embedded in this experiment which is to allow the students the opportunity to make mistakes. Mistakes are actually very beneficial and can only help them build the knowledge and understanding of how to fix those issues they face.

Also bringing the ice into the classroom from outside is a perfect way for teachers to show the connection between the world around us and the activities within the classroom.

Research in other parts of the world

Class was very interesting today, we were lucky enough to have someone come talk to us about her research in Russia. It was very interesting to learn how they conduct research in Russia compared to here in the U.S. There were a lot of things that were very similar and of course there were things that were fairly different. What shocked me was the free education that students recieve there, compared to the thousands we spend here. It was also nice to see the motivation and dedication that she has put into her work and studies. This is a great teacher tool for me going into education, bringing outside experience and knowledge into my class can only be beneificial to my students. Guest speakers have always been really interesting to me as ive grown up, it is good because they usually speicialize in one thing and can give students a piece of knowledge that i can not. After the presentation going through the E-folio an setting them up was a process i found to be helpful. Once i was done practicing and setting up the pages it became like second nature and i was very fast at setting up pages compared to when i first started and was very confused. This is important for me as an educator, we need to practice and get experience doing all types of things so that we can share the knowledge with our students. If i go into a classroom and i am confused by a website or anything for that matter, my students will not benefit. Setting up these simple web pages makes me really think about all the research and technology that has gone into making this process simple. People must take years and years to set up web pages like all the social networking sites like facebook.

With all this talk about global warming and the weather we have been have been really thinking about what is going on in our environment. The last time i remember having such a bad winter was i believe in 1996. When i watch shows about the polar bears losing their habitat, it makes me wonder why is it warm there and its horribly cold here. I really want to look into why there is such climate changes and what there is to come in 10 or even 100 years. What is the world going to look like for me and future generations. It also makes me wonder, if we have all this technology at our finger tips why isnt there more being done. Or possibly i am being niave and more is being done then i think.

http://www.globalwarmingsolutions.org/?gclid=CP3F6pHv-6YCFcnc4AodAyKHGA

Unfortuanetly i am not able to reflect on chapter 3 at this time due to still not being able to access the book. I hope that this changes fairly soon and i can catch up with everyone. Sorry that it is not included.

SNOW and science?

All this snow is making me thing, How is snow formed? What is the science behind snow? I looked and looked for video clips and came across one short clip that I found short and sweet that answers my question.


I also wanted to leave a link to my most fond memories in science class from when i was young, he is the man we all know as.. BILL NYE THE SCIENCE GUY! If you have never seen his videos you should check him out. I remember learning a lot from his clips because he made science interesting and really cool. http://www.billnye.com/