Science Talk

Field #6
February 26, 2008


Today I did my science talk with the whole class during science time. Overall, it went pretty well and students generated some concepts and ideas that we will definitely touch on in our three lessons. My particular lesson ties Christina’s and Carly’s lessons together. Christina’s lesson is on parts of a plant, Carly’s lesson is on what plants need, and mine will be on how plants grow and change. During the science talk, we asked students the question, “How do you think plants grow?” We had hoped students would mention parts of the plant (i.e. Starts as a seed), what it needs in order to grow (i.e. Sunlight, water, etc) and how it changes (grows a stem, and then leaves, etc) all by answering this one question. Students did a good job explaining what they already know, even though some were misconceptions. One student thought that you needed to plant an apple seed and give it apple juice in order for it to grow into an apple tree. Many other students agreed with this. Carly will have to address this in her lesson on what plants need. This science talk was a useful activity to do so that now we, as teachers, know what needs to be addressed more in our lessons. I never thought about doing this before, and probably wouldn’t have if it weren’t an assignment for this class. After doing a science talk and experiencing how easy and informal something can be as a pre-assessment, I plan on doing this in the future when I have a classroom in order to better address what exactly my students need to know about a topic based on what they already know.

You Can't Catch Me....

Field #5
February 12, 2008

We did not do any formal science lesson today, but the students did spend time making their Valentine’s Day boxes out of recycled cereal boxes, just as my CT told them 2 weeks ago. The teacher and I ripped off the tops of the boxes so that it would be easy for students to go around and put their valentines in during the party. Students spent time decorating their boxes with construction paper hearts that they glued on.

Although we didn’t do much with science, there was a big activity than took up most of the afternoon that really engaged students. Most of the day was spent doing “The Gingerbread Man” activities. I especially liked how the day was organized around 1 or 2 common ideas. It seemed like today was organized around 2 “Big Ideas:” Valentine’s Day and “The Gingerbread Man.” This is similar to what we have been talking about in TE 402 about big ideas in science: have a big idea that resonates throughout many different lessons. For this particular lesson, in the morning, my CT read the students a different version of The Gingerbread Man called The Gingerbread Baby. For the past couple of weeks, she has read the class different versions of this classic tale to the students and they have been looking for similarities and differences between them. After lunch, during the time when the classes usually switch for social studies and science, both kindergarten classes read The Gingerbread Man again. This time, a paper gingerbread man cutout fell from inside the book onto the floor with a note that said “You can’t catch me, I’m in the gym!” This started a chase for the gingerbread man. Both kindergarten classes were told to be quiet in the halls or else we might scare him off. Students knew that he was quick from the stories that they read, and every time we got to where the last note said he was, we were either too slow or too loud and he ran away, but left us another note telling us where he was at. We went all over the school: in the gym, to the library, the computer lab, the office and back to the classroom where the students found some crumbs near an open window. Looking out the window, you could see a gingerbread man atop the snow pile outside. He was just too fast for us. We couldn’t catch him because he’s the gingerbread man, the teacher said. All the students wanted to grab their coats and try to catch him, but then the teacher called their attention to the bags of gingerbread cookies that he left for the class and they were quickly distracted with eating. We then did a math lesson in graphing with the cookies. Each student took 1 bite out of the cookie and then had to graph what part of the cookie they ate first: the head, an arm, or a leg. We found that most students bit the head off first. I really liked how one big idea of the gingerbread man could include a literacy lesson as well as a math lesson.

Use Your Senses!

Field #4
February 5, 2008

This week at my field placement my CT didn’t have anything planned for science, but she did an awesome job thinking of an activity for the students to do on the spot. Since the current unit is “sorting,” she asked the students how could you sort things using your 5 senses? The students then generated the 5 senses on the board- see, smell, hear, taste and touch. The activity students were assigned to do was to find an example of something for each of the senses. For example, something you could smell. Students cut pictures out of old magazines and glued them onto construction paper. I went around and asked students which of the 5 senses each picture represented and wrote the word “see, smell, taste, hear or touch” under the picture.

I liked this activity because it gave students an opportunity to analyze and think about what sense they might use on certain real-world objects in pictures. Since we are still learning about the Michigan Curriculum Benchmarks in TE 402, I once again looked at the benchmarks to see how this lesson might fit in. The USING benchmark that fits in with this lesson is SCI.IV.1.E.1- Classify common objects and substances according to observable attributes/properties. Students are classifying (sorting) pictures of objects into one of the 5 senses as an example of a property that they can observe using that sense.

I think that introducing the 5 senses into the sorting unit is a great idea because then you can build on this lesson from just finding an example to actually sorting real objects using the 5 senses. I remember back in elementary school when I learned about the 5 senses. We had to try to figure out what object was in the box or bag by using our senses other than see. I could shake the box to hear what sound the object made, smell the object, touch it with my eyes closed, or sometimes taste it. Based on these observations, I had to develop a conclusion as to what object was in the bag or box. This is an example of a CONSTRUCTING benchmark for elementary students: SCI.I.1.E.2-Develop solutions to problems through reasoning, observation, and investigations. I think students would really be engaged in this type of hands-on, minds-on learning activity. I know I did when I was their age.

Questions for Inquiry

Questions are important in order for good teaching and inquiry to take place. Good questions get students interested and excited in whatever you are teaching. A good question needs to be engaging and makes students motivated to learn more about the topic and find out the possible answers to the question. For example, if we were to develop possible questions for benchmark SCI.III.4.E.1 about fossils they could be "How do we know dinosaurs existed?" or "How do we know what a pteradactyl looked like?"

Light and Shadows

In your own words, what would you like to see a student do that would tell you that this student understabds each benchmark? What would it look like if a student was using this knowledge to accomplish this task in this context?

I would like a student to use a specific example (such as shadow puppets) to explain to me how the shadows are made and why the shadows get larger or smaller depending on the distance from the light source. I would like the student to explain this by using evidence supplied by their demonstration. By demonstrating and explaining, this will show me that the student uses direct evidence to explain how shadows are made.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

Field Experience #3
January 29, 2008

This week at my field placement, we talked about recycling and re-using in science. I really liked how the teacher used real-world examples to teach this lesson. She brought in her recycling bin from home with recyclable materials, and also used the Granger paper bin, a plastic grocery store bag, and a trash can for her lesson. The students learned what type of materials should go in each. The teacher passed around the objects and the students looked for the recycle symbol to see if it was recyclable or not. They then decided as a class which bin the object would best fit.

After becoming acquainted with the Michigan Curriculum Science Benchmarks last week in class, I was curious to see if I could find out which benchmark this lesson that corresponded to. After browsing through the benchmarks, I eventually found SCI.V.I.E6: Demonstrate ways to conserve natural resources and reduce pollution through reduction, reuse, and recycling of manufactured materials. The key concepts included materials that can be recycled. Real world contexts include collection of recyclable materials, plans for recycling at home and school, and ways of reusing and reducing the use of paper.

I definitely saw how this lesson was organized around this particular benchmark. For example, the teacher talked about the different materials that are recyclable and which are not. She showed them the symbol to look for on recyclable materials and talked about which container the material should go in: the recycle bin, the Granger box, the grocery store bag (for pop cans and bottles that you can get your deposit back on) or the trash can. The asked the students if they were going to help their parents at home with recycling and they all said “yes!” She also told them that since they all now know what materials go in each box, that recycling and reusing are in full force in the classroom, and if they are unsure of where to put something, they are to ask a classmate. This was their plans for recycling at home and school. She also briefly talked about reusing, but I think it will be covered more in-depth in a later lesson. The plastic grocery bag was an example of reusing, since she said it could be reused to carry your returnable cans and bottles back to the grocery store. The students also discussed other uses for the grocery bags such as garbage can liners or containers for their school lunches. They also discussed how newspapers are reused to make new paper. The students saw how this happens in a video they watched the previous day. The teacher left the students excited for future lessons when she told them that they are going to reuse newspapers to make celebration hats for their 100th Day Celebration that is coming up soon, and reusing the caps of milk jugs and attaching sponges on the back to paint their hats. I like this because this means that recycling and reusing aren’t just going to be concepts that are taught once, but rather used in the classroom on a regular basis. The teacher ended the lesson by reading the class Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. I think this was a good way to settle the students back down and bring together everything they talked about in the day’s lesson.