Field Placement #2
January 22, 2008
I observed my first science lesson today for the recycling unit. It was about “sorting.” The lesson only lasted 20 minutes, and I now know what my CT was talking about when she told me her lessons are brief due to the class’s attention spans. The class was very attentive at first, when my CT pulled out her white lab coat, probably because they knew that meant they were going to get to do an experiment. This experiment involved the sand table and a handful of magnetic letters. My CT asked the class what tools they could use from their science kit that would allow them to sort out the letters from the sand. The students immediately picked the strainer, but didn’t realize they could use magnets as well since the letters were magnetic. My CT then told the class that you could use magnets as well, without really letting the students draw this conclusion on their own. I would have probably done this differently and would have tried to scaffold the students more and allow them to reach their own conclusion as to using the magnets by asking them “What else could we use?” and ask them to pay attention to the properties of the letters. I would put a letter on something magnetic, so that they could see its properties. I don’t think many students even knew that the letters were magnetic to begin with, so they didn’t think to use magnets to sort them out from the sand. My CT demonstrated to the class how to use both tools to sort, and then had students come up to the sand table, two at a time, and try for themselves. This is when students began to lose interest-while they were waiting for their turn, and after they went. After they had their turn, they began goofing off with their peers and stand up to look out the window, etc. I feel like there should have been something to do for the students who were waiting for their turn, so that they would still be thinking about the idea of sorting, rather than goofing off with their peers. Despite this, overall I think that this lesson was engaging for the students since they seem to enjoy working with the sand table. I am wondering though if this is a full science lesson? When I think about science lessons, I usually think of something more than just showing students how to sort. Maybe also talk about why we would need to sort things, etc? I am still getting used to how short lessons are in kindergarten and am a little concerned for when I will have to teach a lesson.
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Monday, January 21, 2008
Back to the Classroom!
Field #1: January 17,2008
Today was my first day back in the field since before Christmas and it felt good to be back. It was comforting to go back to the same kindergarten classroom where you know the teacher, all of the students, the norms of the classroom, classroom procedures, etc. The students were very excited to see me, which made me feel great to be back. I feel as if maybe I do make a difference in some of their lives just by being there.
I talked to my CT and the other kindergarten teacher regarding the science and social studies schedules for the rest of the semester, and I found out that the two kindergarten classes switch in the afternoon, four days a week, for either science or social studies. My CT teaches social studies, and the other one teachers science. My class does science Mondays and Tuesdays from 1:30-2pm and social studies on Wednesdays and Thursdays from 1:30-2pm. I found this interesting because it seems as if these two subjects are regarded as the least important, at least at this grade level, since both are only done 1 hour a week. Literacy and math are more heavily focused on at this grade level, probably because learning the alphabet along with some phonics, and counting are very basic fundamental concepts that must be started at this age. Although I totally agree that literacy and math are very important, I think that it would be beneficial to have a little more time devoted each week to science. After doing the Classroom Science Survey, I found out that the kindergarten teacher who teaches science does not really like science! (She told me this.) I am wondering how this will reflect in her teaching of science…I am curious to see.
It probably doesn’t help that the curriculum she is given is devised by the district and seems very thin. It was only one small binder of materials, compared to the numerous materials given for Language Arts and Math. Is this the districts way of saying that science is not important for kindergarten? The teacher is responsible for gathering any additional materials that they want to use for science, however since the teacher doesn’t seem to have an interest in it, she doesn’t seem to have much besides videos that the students watch. There is only three units for the whole school year, which include:
1. Weather
2. Recycling
3. Animals
I am wondering what other kindergarten classes in other school districts have for science.
Are all schools this way? From what I remember from my experiences in kindergarten, I remember a more hands-on approach: playing with a water tank, a sand box, bubbles, going outside, etc., not videos. I guess I'll just have to wait and see what happens in this classroom the rest of the semester!
Today was my first day back in the field since before Christmas and it felt good to be back. It was comforting to go back to the same kindergarten classroom where you know the teacher, all of the students, the norms of the classroom, classroom procedures, etc. The students were very excited to see me, which made me feel great to be back. I feel as if maybe I do make a difference in some of their lives just by being there.
I talked to my CT and the other kindergarten teacher regarding the science and social studies schedules for the rest of the semester, and I found out that the two kindergarten classes switch in the afternoon, four days a week, for either science or social studies. My CT teaches social studies, and the other one teachers science. My class does science Mondays and Tuesdays from 1:30-2pm and social studies on Wednesdays and Thursdays from 1:30-2pm. I found this interesting because it seems as if these two subjects are regarded as the least important, at least at this grade level, since both are only done 1 hour a week. Literacy and math are more heavily focused on at this grade level, probably because learning the alphabet along with some phonics, and counting are very basic fundamental concepts that must be started at this age. Although I totally agree that literacy and math are very important, I think that it would be beneficial to have a little more time devoted each week to science. After doing the Classroom Science Survey, I found out that the kindergarten teacher who teaches science does not really like science! (She told me this.) I am wondering how this will reflect in her teaching of science…I am curious to see.
It probably doesn’t help that the curriculum she is given is devised by the district and seems very thin. It was only one small binder of materials, compared to the numerous materials given for Language Arts and Math. Is this the districts way of saying that science is not important for kindergarten? The teacher is responsible for gathering any additional materials that they want to use for science, however since the teacher doesn’t seem to have an interest in it, she doesn’t seem to have much besides videos that the students watch. There is only three units for the whole school year, which include:
1. Weather
2. Recycling
3. Animals
I am wondering what other kindergarten classes in other school districts have for science.
Are all schools this way? From what I remember from my experiences in kindergarten, I remember a more hands-on approach: playing with a water tank, a sand box, bubbles, going outside, etc., not videos. I guess I'll just have to wait and see what happens in this classroom the rest of the semester!
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
"A Private Universe" Response
Today in class we watched a video entitled, “A Private Universe.” It made me realize that a lot of people hold their own preconceived theories about concepts and that you must recognize them in order to change them and correct them.
In this video, a sample of Harvard graduates and a sample of high school students were asked the same thing: to explain the seasons and the phases of the moon. I was very surprised to see that many of the Harvard graduates held the same misconceptions that many of the high school students had, even after all the additional science courses taken. For example, both participants explained the reason for the seasons was due to Earth’s elliptical orbit, that the Earth is closer to the sun in the summer and farther in the winter. One high school girl even had her own preconceived theory about how the Earth travels around the sun, in a figure eight-like shape. It wasn’t until after she identified her misconception that she was able to alter it correctly in class. It actually made me think back to SME 301, where we had to take a pretest and see what we initially thought about a concept, and then after the unit, identify our previous misconceptions we held. This definitely helped me because at times I didn’t even realize I thought that way until I was forced to look at my misconceptions.
Another thing that surprised me was when the interviewers were interviewing the high school students, their teacher acted like “how can they not know this?” Obviously she did not know her students well enough to realize that most did not fully understand basic science concepts. This video made me realize how important it is to take the time and get to know all of your students well, in order to help them identify their misconceptions and then correct them.
In this video, a sample of Harvard graduates and a sample of high school students were asked the same thing: to explain the seasons and the phases of the moon. I was very surprised to see that many of the Harvard graduates held the same misconceptions that many of the high school students had, even after all the additional science courses taken. For example, both participants explained the reason for the seasons was due to Earth’s elliptical orbit, that the Earth is closer to the sun in the summer and farther in the winter. One high school girl even had her own preconceived theory about how the Earth travels around the sun, in a figure eight-like shape. It wasn’t until after she identified her misconception that she was able to alter it correctly in class. It actually made me think back to SME 301, where we had to take a pretest and see what we initially thought about a concept, and then after the unit, identify our previous misconceptions we held. This definitely helped me because at times I didn’t even realize I thought that way until I was forced to look at my misconceptions.
Another thing that surprised me was when the interviewers were interviewing the high school students, their teacher acted like “how can they not know this?” Obviously she did not know her students well enough to realize that most did not fully understand basic science concepts. This video made me realize how important it is to take the time and get to know all of your students well, in order to help them identify their misconceptions and then correct them.
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