The First of Four

Today the first group presented to our after-school program.  There are about 16 students ranging from 3rd grade to 6th grade.  We started with our cooperating teacher speaking to the students about what she expects from us as the teacher candidates and what she expects from them as the students.  The first group presented the lesson topic physical and chemical changes in matter.  The group first did some experiments to demonstrate physical and chemical changes.  They added sand to water and got no change, added salt to water and got no change, ripped up an index card to show a physical change, and added baking soda to vinegar to show a chemical change.  They also played a great video that explains the different types of matter and their properties.  When they moved into their inquiry part of the lesson they set up four stations.  The stations were making a bouncing ball, a lava bottle, goop, and tin foil boats.  The students had to record the process they were doing and if they had made a physical or chemical change.  The students loved these stations and ever engaged with the teachers at the stations.  The students had a good time at their first night of our after-school program. We will have to wait and see what next week will bring us.

Learning The Ropes

Today we met with Tiffany Davis the librarian for the Mount's Curriculum Materials Center.  The librarian spoke to us about all the resources that the curriculum library has for us to use.  Within the library they have both fiction and non-fiction books for juvenile(K-5) and young readers (6-12).  The library also has manipulative sets for varies activities and both student and teacher additions of text books.  She also discussed with us two databases to use when researching  articles, Education Research Complete (Ebsco) and ERIC (Ebsco). This was my first time in the curriculum library and having someone to explain the functions and tools of the library was a great feeling.  Know I do not feel as lost when it comes to finding materials.

Link to the Mount Saint Mary College Curriculum Materials Center

After meeting with the librarian we moved to to a meeting with our cooperating science teacher.  She stated that we would have around twelve students from the 3rd and 4th grades.  She then used a term I had not heard before called "Hand & Mind".  When the hands are exploring the mind is working.  By engaging students in exploratory learning they internalize the knowledge with a deeper understanding.  She asked us to make our lessons not "Paper & Pencil" but "Hand & Mind".  To get the students engaged with the activity and see what the discover about the world around them.
She then asked us to do a science fair project.  She wants us to put ourselves back in 7th grade.  When you do this you then experience the process just as your students will.  We will follow the same criteria and rubrics that her classes will follow.  We will follow the scientific method to conduct an experiment.  Our experiments will be displayed with the rest of the students on February 19. 

Scientific Me

My earliest memory of science is from fifth grade.  The lesson was on different sources of energy.   I was introduced to wind power, solar power, and different fuels.  At the end of the lesson, the teacher asked the questions can you get power from anything.  She then gave each group of student a three graphic organizer with a list of objects on one side and yes/no boxes on the other. Each graphic organizer had a different title:  hypothesis, test one, and test two.  She also gave each group a set of wires connected to a light bulb.  When she set the box of objects in the middle of each group she asked us to fill out the hypothesis sheet.  The objects were potato, metal spoon, plastic fork, rubber band, plastic duck, paper clip, safety pin, a penny and piece of wood.  Without touching any of the materials, we were to guess which objects would turn on the light bulb.  After that paper was filled out, we set it to the side and took out the paper with test one written on it.  Now as a group we were to test each object by connecting both wires to the object and seeing if the light bulb would light up.  As we examined each object, we were to check either the yes or no box.  When the first test paper was done, we put that to the side and took out the paper that said test two.  Our teacher told us that good scientist always tests their experiments more than once. We ran our tests on the objects again but in a different order.  When we were finished filling out our test two papers, we cleaned up all our materials and as a group discussed our findings. We had to put the objects into two groups:  conduct electricity and does not conduct electricity.  We had to compare our hypothesis page to our findings.  I remember that our findings were the same as our hypothesis except for one object.  We stated on our hypothesis page that a potato would not turn the light on, but it did.  After we had discussed all our finding as a group, we presented to the class our results.  This was one of my favorite science topics I can remember from school. 

    In the elementary grades science was one of my favorite subjects. As I went on in my schooling science became more facts and rules, than experiments and exploring.  I remember not liking science through middle school and the first part of high school.  It was not until my eleventh-grade science class when I started to like science again.  In eleventh grade, I took a class called environmental science.  This class focused on how our daily living impacts our environment.  I remember we spent a lot of time outside observing nature, measuring rain and snowfall, finding patterns in weather, and conducting experiments on things like dredging rivers or effects of pollution on water and land.  My favorite part of this class was our final project, which was to design an ecosystem for the big courtyard that is surrounded by our school.  In the project, you need to have a balance so all living things could live without human intervention.  First we spent a week of class time in the football field to measuring the space, observing the amount of light it got, have much rain it received, and the temperature.  Then we spent a week of class in the courtyard were we observed the same criteria as the football field.  When we were done, we compared the results.  From our results, we had to decide on what type of ecosystem we would design.  The range of ecosystems was very diverse.  Some of the ecosystems people pick were the desert, rainforest, forest, grassland, and freshwater.  I designed a freshwater ecosystem based around a central pond in the center of the courtyard.  In this environmental class, I learned more about ecosystems and pollution.  I remember being personally invested in this class because I felt that the material I was learning could make the earth a better place. 

    As I look back on my science experiences, I feel that the classes or lessons that stuck with me were very hands-on and interactive.  For me being able to figure out the answers on my own by trial and error resonated better for me.  If a teacher had stood in the front of the class and told me that a rubber band and a plastic fork do not conduct electricity, but a potato and a paper clip do conduct electricity I would probably have remembered it for a short amount of time.  When I conducted the experiment, I got to find my results, and I developed the confidence of being able to find information on my own.  I also found that when the teacher makes a lesson personal, I would understand the lesson in a deeper way.  In the environmental class, the teacher always would give us suggestions on how we could individually help the environment and that each person could make a change in the world.  By making the learning about the importance I could make in the world, I felt that the material I was learning was critical.  It also made me feel that even if I could change in even the smallest way, I was helping the world.  I think it is interesting that I do not remember any of my classes that were taught just with facts and memorization.  These classes did not give me the opportunity to discover the material in an interesting way.  When I had to read and repeat, I did not internalize the information.  I think that each student needs to be able to personal internalize the information to understand their world.

    Science to me is the study of the way everything works and is found in your everyday life.  It covers everything from the smallest atoms to the biggest solar systems, and science is always being tested and changed.  From my experiences, I believe that science should be hands-on and interactive.  I am very appreciative of the teachers I had that made science personally for me.  I understand that facts and theories are relevant, but a teacher’s job is to find an interesting way to teach them.  My hope is to be an interactive science teacher.  I would like to be able to make each student feel at what they learn in science can be used in their everyday life and by finding an interest in science can help you change the world.