Trade Book

This was my first experience creating an animoto based off of an educational book. I have used animoto in the past to introduce myself and my interests to my peers. Animoto is an easy to use device that allows you to create a video using text, videos and pictures. You can add music and create your own theme or use one of the many themes animoto offers.

I created a book trailer using animoto to grasp students attention and excite them to read the book. It is important to find a book that will inform the students with information on the topic that they don't know but also a book that has illustrations that will grab a child's attention and want them to continue reading. While creating my animoto I made sure to ask children questions that they may or may not already know the answers to in order to create wonder, interest and fascination. I chose the book The Magic School Bus Inside the Earth by Joanna Cole and Bruce Degen. I chose the book because as a young student I enjoyed this series immensely. The author and illustrator have collaborated for over twenty years bringing humor and child like curiosities alive with in the world of science and learning in their books. The books were published twenty years ago but since the continued popularity they have edited the books to revise the facts and make them more up to date. The stories are based in a classroom setting allowing children to relate to the stories. Many different children are displayed in the story allowing children to see a character that mirrors them, and see characters that mirror other children within their classroom.
 
I introduced the book with a few questions, prompts and pictures to excite and engage students. I think creating a trade book is an excellent way to get students involved, it is a creative way of grabbing children's attention but also asking questions pertaining to the book and their individual knowledge on the topic. It allows teachers to reveal misconceptions on the topic and resolve them during the reading. Trade books are an excellent way to introduce a topic or book. Students can also form animotos for many different activities. Since it is so easy to use it doesn't require much adult supervision and support.

Check out my animoto and try making your own!

 

 

Sound Science

Sound Science is an article by Aaron J. Sickel, Michele H. Lee, and Enrique M. Pareja about the 5E learning cycle lesson. The article discusses the three important structures of science that teachers must keep in mind when teaching; science content, inquiry processes and skills, and the nature of science. View the visual I created based on this concept. It is crucial to use all three of these teaching methods because one or two is not enough to help students understand science as a human endeavor. The article is about developing a 5E lesson specifically set out to help students understand that sound is produced by vibrating objects. A group of fourth-grade students both in public school classrooms and at a summer science camp take part in this study.

The process begins with Engage. The students are introduced to everyday objects that make sounds, they are asked questions like "What do you think causes these things to make sounds?" This is crucial in revealing common misconceptions and knowledge gaps that the children may have. This is the time when teachers make observations about what the children know about the topic already. At this point the teacher can judge where s/he must start with the lesson, make sure all students have prior background knowledge on essential information and identify gaps in knowledge or misconceptions in order to correct and fill those gaps. The  students are made aware that observations can be collected not only by looking things up, but by using different senses.

Next students explore the topic. Students are equipped with their senses and a science notebook, they are instructed to investigate the cause of the sound. During this lesson the teacher set up different stations so students can observe all different types of sound. They suggested incorporating music and instruments from various cultures. At each station students use their 5 senses to collect data. At each station investigation prompts should be given to keep students on task.

After students create and observe various sounds the class comes together as a group to explain their findings. Students share and consider each others investigations in order to develop a clear explanation. During this time the teacher must prompt students asking how they came up with their findings. This will allow the teacher to assess if the students are understanding the task at hand. This also shows students the importance of collecting data and how their data serves as evidence to their explanation.

Students test their explanations and gather more information to add to their understanding of the topic. In this study, since the students had misconceptions that sound was produced by a force, the teacher introduced the students to sounds not produced by a visible force. The teachers stretched a balloon over a metal can and poured salt onto the balloons surface. They began to place music out of a speaker close to the metal can, the salt began to bounce up and down. The students were able to think back to their previous experiments and explain that the sound is cause by vibrations which is why the salt is "dancing". During the elaborate portion, students develop an understanding how scientist develop and construct explanations from collecting data and having supporting evidence to back up their claim.

Throughout the lesson the teacher should be informally assessing the students. At the end of the lesson, the evaluation portion, students should commit to an explanation about their topic. Teachers should be able to assess for mastery level understanding of the topic at this point.

The article describes a lesson following the 5E steps. The students in the article simultaneously learn science content and do inquiry while learning how scientist construct claims. Teachers must balance lesson goals in a higher attempt to form mastery skill levels for students.

Science Fairs

Science fairs are becoming considered one of the best learning experiences children can undertake. Conceptually, a science fair project is very straightforward. A student chooses a scientific question he or she would like to answer. Then the student conducts research in the library and on the Internet on the question to give the student the background information he or she needs to formulate a hypothesis and design an experiment. After writing a report to summarize this research, the student performs the experiment, draws his or her conclusions, and presents the results to teachers and classmates. What makes a science fair project such a great learning experience is that it involves so much more than science.

Science fairs stimulate student interest in science and provide students with opportunities for research and active inquiry. Fairs give students the opportunity to publicly recognize other students' completed projects and provide students with opportunities to share their work. Learning some scientific facts or principles is a valuable benefit for students doing the science fair projects, but the primary objective is to teach students to think. Students participating in science fairs are doing more than learning something new; they are using and extending knowledge gained previously through other experiences. Science fair work plans help students organize and review background information gained through previous library research on topics of interest. Past experiences will also help students make decisions on the importance of information to their topics. 

Science fair projects provide students the opportunity of learning more about topics of personal interest, while also demonstrating both factual knowledge in written reports and procedural knowledge through the research process itself. The more a student knows about a topic, the easier it is to learn more about the topic. Together, prior knowledge and newly acquired knowledge enable students to generate, analyze, and assess the impact of their findings, as well as connect what they learn to experiences beyond the science fair project.

I participated in a science fair when I was in third grade. My topic of interest was volcanoes so I decided to create a model volcano as my experiment. The science fair was very important to me and thirteen years later I still remember it very vividly. I began by researching and going to Barnes and Noble with my dad to purchase many books all about volcanoes. I purchased books that were above my reading level, this introduced me to new vocabulary and terms. The project advanced my scientific knowledge about volcanoes but also gave me the opportunity to work on literacy skills while researching. I worked with both my parents as well as my teacher on the project. This allowed for parent-teacher contact and cooperative learning between the home and school. I had the opportunity to use my artistic talents to create a paper mache volcano. Through trial and error I found a way to make the volcano erupt. 

My experience in a science fair is one of my oldest memories pertaining to science. It was a wonderful experience and should be viewed as a unique learning opportunity. Students have an opportunity to go beyond the planned science curriculum to pursue individual interests and talents, and to examine practical problems with hands-on activities that link science with other parts of the curriculum. Science fairs provide students with opportunities to reflect and make sense of their total educational experience.

Check out this short video about the steps of preparing for a science fair!

Reflecting on Field Work

Teaching Science and Technology allows teacher candidates to explore and teach science through the use of technology inside the classroom. The candidates work in a group of six and collaborate idea's to form a lessons to teach the class. As a group they explore technology based options that will assist in the expansion of their lesson. Collaboratively with my group, I created an inquiry and cooperative lesson plan on Rocks and Minerals to teach a 6th grade class.

During my first experience teaching the class, I taught an inquiry lesson about Rocks and Minerals. This lesson was designed for the student to explore the properties of minerals by performing tests and experiments on various specimens by following the steps of the inquiry process.

The students explored the characteristics of minerals through visual observations and performing experiments. The students discovered which minerals were in their bag based on the evidence they collected. The student learned how to collect evidence, analyze, make inferences and effectively come to a conclusion based on the evidence they collected. The students were given a scientific bag containing minerals and a chart, the students were instructed to write a conclusive statement based on a rubric about which minerals were in their bag they were evaluated by thus rubric. Students were divided into groups and worked as a team to identify two minerals in their mystery bag. The students learned how to identify minerals and classify rocks. The students followed the steps of the multi-step procedures of the scientific method to solve the mystery. The students took measurements on color, streak, hardness, luster, transparency and fracture versus cleavage.

I began by pre-assessing the content that the student learned during our ice breaking activity. I gave students a handmade sign I created as a tool to check for understanding. The sign had a green thumbs up, meaning I understand or agree, and a red thumbs down meaning I disagree or I don’t understand. I made use of the color green, meaning go, and red, meaning stop, and used icons rather than words for the students who need reading accommodations. I developed a slideshow that used minimal amounts of words, instead I used pictures to go along with the topic I was describing to accommodate to those visual learners. I assisted a student during our slide show who is classified as ASD. She needed assistance following along, to accommodate her needs my fellow teacher candidates continued teaching the class at a typical speed while I worked independently with the student until the direct instruction was complete. At this point we introduced the students to our Voki, Ms. Mineral. The voki presented a problem, she had recently discovered a large amount of minerals but she needed help identifying them. The students were asked to help her identify her new discoveries. To accommodate students with auditory processing disorders or students who are visual or kinesthetic learners we provided the students with a typed letter from Ms. Mineral stating the same things she presented in her recording.

I divided students into groups of three forming six different groups. Teacher candidates were stationed at each group and helped facilitate the tests on the mineral samples. Each group identified the color, streak, hardness, luster, and fracture/cleavage of each sample and noted these identifiers on their Mineral Identifier Chart. I supported and monitored the student’s interactions within my group. I assigned roles to each individual student and allowed all students to review the results of each test and come to a group decision. After performing the tests, the students compared their charts to the reference booklet information in order to identify which mineral samples they had. After the given time and all groups are finished, I gained students attention towards the front of the classroom.

I expected students to present their finding in front of the class. I explained the behavior expected by presenters and the audience. The student reported their findings about the rocks and minerals by telling the class what they had in their scientific mystery bags. One person from each group was assigned as the speaker, they were responsible to tell the rest of the class the name of the mineral and to share how they came to that conclusion and explain the steps they took to come to the final result. As an independent practice students wrote a letter to Ms. Mineral. In their letters, the student were responsible for telling Ms. Mineral what minerals were in their bag and what tests they conducted to find out which they had. The student were given a rubric and were graded based off thus rubric.

The lesson was based off of an introduction, introducing the topic to the class and giving direct instruction about the topic. The lesson developed through the use of Ms. Mineral when the mystery was introduced. Students were evaluated by their ability to evaluate and collect data based on the scientific 

method for their minerals. Students were given an independent

task in order to check for understanding.    

During my second experience teaching the class, the students had a mineral show. This lesson focused on expanding the student's knowledge of identifying minerals by engaging them in cooperative learning in a group task. At this point the students will have learned about the characteristics of minerals and how to identify an unknown mineral specimen. They should also know that geologists perform tests on minerals to identify them. During this lesson the students demonstrated an understanding of how to research and identify minerals and present their ideas to the class. The students gained a better understanding of the mineral they identified. The students learned how to work together to complete a group task. Based on their mineral discoveries from the prior class the students had to research the mineral and create an advertising poster about their mineral. The students then had to vote for the mineral they would be most likely to buy based off of the poster created. The students were given a mineral, mineral information card, poster board, craft supplies, and a task to work in a group of geologists. Student created an advertising poster promoting/advertising their mineral. Students followed the criteria illustrated on the rubric. To prove mastery the students had to receive at least a 3 out of 4 on each section to prove their understanding, each student proved mastery.

I introduced the topic by reviewing the content. I explained to the students that they will be working in their geologist groups to advertise their mineral at a mineral show. I explained that a mineral show is when many geologists from all over the world come together to try and sell their minerals. I supplied the students with pictures of what a real mineral show looks like. This helped the visual learners visualize what a mineral show actually looks like. I explained that their task is to work together to use the information provided to create a poster promoting their mineral at the show. Teacher candidates joined groups to assist in student collaboration. To monitor cooperative learning I rotated from group to group making sure the students are effectively working together and collaborating. I facilitated individual accountability by explaining that each student has a specific role within their group. I made it known to the students that they each must complete their role effectively and are individually contributing to the success of the group.  I fostered positive interdependence by explaining how each role is very important when working together in a group. I explained to the student that each group member will have a specific role and you all depend on each other when working toward the common goal. I also made it clear that the success of the group is dependent on the participation of all group members, that each role is important in order for the group to successfully complete the poster. Group processing was facilitated by having the students work together in their small groups. The students, working together to achieve the same goal, are responsible for their own work and the groups work as a whole.  The students reflected on how their groups worked together on their independent practice assignment by answering the question “How did you and your group member’s work together to complete the poster?” Face-to-face interaction was encouraged by having the students working together and giving each student a role. During the face-to-face interaction the students provided feedback to their peers as well as encouragement and motivation. During this lesson the student developed multiple social skills. One of the social skills was working together and collaborating. Working together and collaboration requires listening, turn taking when speaking and cooperation among all group members. Another social skill the students developed is presentation skills. After creating their advertisement, they presented their poster.

As an independent practice the students filled out a raffle ticket stating which mineral they would buy and why they want to buy that one. The ticket will also ask them to identify their role in their group and how their group worked together to complete the task. We concluded with a class vote on which mineral is most useful.

Teaching Science and Technology allows the teacher candidates to explore and teach science through the use of technology inside the classroom. As a group I collaboratively worked with the teacher candidates in my group to create and execute two interactive lessons on rocks and minerals. The students mastered the goals based on our lessons. We followed the steps of inquiry to form sequentially based lessons that would assist students learning the topics.

Astronomy through time

Traveling through time is always interesting. Individually we created a glogster with articles about current topics of space, check mine out in my previous blog post! It is all about the planets in our universe!

 After creating the virtual collage I found common words found in my articles and created a word cloud with them. Word cloud is an amazing tool to introduce a lesson with. On word cloud you can choose different designs to fit the topic of your choice. I decided to do a picture of the earth for my word cloud, other groups did clouds and rocket ships. Its easy to use and a good way to identify prior knowledge on the subject and potential misconceptions about the subject. As the  teacher you can assess prior knowledge by asking if they recognize any of the words, what the words mean and where they have seen or heard the word previously. Teachers can also ask the students if they can think of any other words not on the word cloud that relate to the topic, this could be a method of identifying misconceptions.

As individuals we created the word cloud then joined together as a group of two than a group of four to collaborate on and create a time line about discoveries within space. We used Tiki Toki to create our time line. It was rather difficult to use this website at first. The website offers many possibilities, including creating a background, adding pictures, links and text as well as create a time line that is three dimensional. It is an amazing resources that can be used in the class as a visual. Tiki Toki can also be used by students to create a time line about a given time period. Exploration and assistance of this tool for children will definitely be needed.

I really enjoy that as a class we have the opportunity to collaborate and work as a group with everyone in the class. Thus far I have worked with about 75% of the students in my class. It gives us all the opportunity to meet one another and share our resources. It is so important to form collaboration skills across networks.

Astronomical Discoveries

As a class we have been working diligently outside of the field on new assignments to further expand our abilities to be wonderful science teachers. The past two weeks we have been focusing on astronomy. Astronomy has always been my favorite science topic. Previously, before I transferred to the Mount, I attended a community college that offered two courses on astronomy. I took both and loved it. The teacher created the class to be very hands on which is my learning style choice. He allowed us to attend school at night to observe the sky through his telescope. He made the class exciting. 

I was enthused to hear our current topic. During our first session doing space we created a virtual collage of astronomy articles. I chose to create one based on the planets in our solar system. I found a recent article on each planet and organized it in a coherent manor on glogster.

Check out my Glogster. Glogster is a really easy to use website that allows you told hold links about a topic in one easily accessible location. It allows you to create crafty backgrounds to match the theme of the articles. As a teacher, you can assign students a topic to research and allow the to gather different articles on this virtual collage. As a teacher, introducing a lesson could be very helpful with this tool. It is easy to access, easy to use and a great space to gather information from different sources on one engaging document. 

On Thursday we split into groups of two. We were assigned a topic to research. Elizabeth and I were assigned to work together on Neptune. I have never had the opportunity to collaboratively work with Elizabeth. I like that our groups change every topic and we are all having the opportunity to work with different people. This is a teaching method I will take advantage of in the future. It allows all the students to collaboratively work together. Switching groups also allows for different bonds to be made between classmates and different views to be exchanged between each other. 

Elizabeth and I presented our research on Neptune via PowerPoint. We combined groups and added Danyela and Bridget to our group. As a group we must create a word cloud based on our articles than create a virtual time line. We have been introduced to a number of different virtual applications to assist in our teaching experiences. I'm excited to continue learning more about how technology can benefit me as a future teacher and my future students as learners. 

Virtual Class

The first snow of the season, October 27th. Due to the inclimate conditions we held a virtual class. The virtual class was a great alternative. It was our first time using it so we spent a monitory of our time setting it up but now that we all know how to use it, it is a very easy tool to use during cancellations. We were all able to video chat as a class. Through this website we could all activate our microphones and speak to each other as well as type for those of us who didn't have microphones. 

I don't consider my self to be very technologically inclined, but this class has allowed me to interact with a variety of different technological tools that will assist me in my future career. Technology is increasing in its importance as the years go on and it is crucial to include in a classroom. It is also a wonderful tool to use in the classroom. I'm very impressed with how much I have learned thus far and how many amazing tools I've found. 

Curtains Closing

The final day of field work. It's a bitter sweet ending. Although we're all happy the stress is over we will all miss our experience with the sixth graders. This experience has opened my eyes to the realities of teaching. It was my first experience ever teaching in front of an entire classroom. It is so nerve racking and stressful but it has eased my nerves for my next experience teaching like this. It has opened my eyes to the realities that the students face and struggles they face in school. Being in a school faced with a high poverty rate, many issues arise with in the classroom. Between monitoring students language, not having wifi or not having the proper equipment because of school budgeting it can be very stressful. While talking to the teacher she informed us about how many supplies she has brought in to her classroom, including a wifi router.

School budgeting is an issue in every school and is something that must be thought about before your class starts in September. I read this article about the severity of this issue. It is reported that nearly 90% of the items needed for the teachers classroom is payed for out of their pocket. 10% of teachers reported spending $1,000 for one academic year, majority spent $500. It's outrageous that teachers must pay out of pocket for the supplies they need to do their job properly. I hope school budgeting is used more properly and appropriately soon.

Take the quiz and see how tech savvy you are!

I got a 68%. I'm getting there! 

The Finale

Today group 4, the final group, began teaching. The teacher candidates had to teach about plate tectonics. I completely forgot everything about that topic, until they introduced it today. The students were very chatty today, which unfortunately took away from their lesson a little bit. A lot of their lesson was refocusing students. They did their best quieting the children down, but there was only so much they could do. One criticsm against them was that the teacher raised her hands and everyone instantly quieted down and that they should have done that as well. I strongly disagree with this critic. The difference between a teacher and a substitute teacher, which we are basically portraying in fieldwork, is enormous to a student. There is no student that has the same respect and will corporate the same with their teacher verses a substitute. My peers attempted to use the schools terminology, such as "give me five" but it didn't have the same effect on the students for obvious reasons. Besides the behavior issues which were an uncontrollable event, the students still gained the knowledge the candidates were teaching. The lesson concluded with a critical thinking question which I thought was great. If the student can use critical thinking and come to their own conclusion it is obvious they understood the lesson. Overall every group has done a great job. Some of us it was our first time, others their second but overall everyone shined. I'm very eager to see what our final day of field work has to hold and how group four will finish the show!

Teaching like a Pro!

Another great teaching day complete! Today was group two's second day teaching. Today's lesson really tied everything group two had taught together. The students were all given 3 different play-doh colors. Once again great choice of manipulative's.



Since the students don't use these type of things in class often it excites them and interests them, and they were very excited today! It's so crucial to introduce objects that grab students interest, it creates a more engaged learning environment. A lot of students learn by doing and supplying hands on activities expands their knowledge greatly.  Group two made great usage out of materials.

The students were given instructions to create a rock, classify it as igneous or sedimentary and leave a clue to the observer to guess its classification. 

Students used the steps of inquiry to solve the question. 

The teachers did not model or tell the steps of inquiry to the class, they were given a worksheet following the steps. My group made a similar mistake, the purpose of explaining it to the class is to allow for multiple opportunities for students to hear directions and to receive directions in different formats. It's beneficial to provide different formats of direction because all students learn differently, some auditory and others visually. The opportunity we have to teach the whole class and observe other teacher candidates is very crucial. It's all a learning opportunity for us to prepare us for edtpa and the future in general. 

Group Two's First Experience

Group two completed their first lesson plan. Having went already I know how nerve raking it can be up there. Everyone is in the same boat and we are all bound to make some mistakes! They did a great job for their first time. The teacher candidates all spoke loud, clearly and evenly. It was great that everyone had an opportunity to take control of the lesson and speak. They engaged the class by asking questions and having students respond to pictures and vocabulary words in their slide show. Their slide show needed some improvement. The words and definitions came in together, there was not transitioning between slides and there were too many small font words. It seemed like the PowerPoint was used as a tool for themselves rather than the students.

We made the same mistake in our first lesson. I hope group three and four can learn from our mistakes!


The candidates did a check for understanding by asking students to raise their hands. It is a quick and easy way to check to see that all are understanding the concept. At first the check was being used properly but it got less purposeful as the lesson went on. One candidate asked the students to raise their hand if they agreed with a student, less than ten raised their hands. The lesson went on with out addressing the other 13 students. The first time is very stressful; between timing, getting students under control, and just being up at the front it's a lot to take in. Overall I think the group did great. The teachers brought in little white boards for each student. I thought this was such a great idea. Students don't usually use those tools in their classroom so it instantly engaged and excited the students. It was a great choice and I can't wait to see what they have planned for their second day! Awesome job Group 2!!!!

Collaboration

What does collaboration mean to you?

Collaboration is just a word holding a definition until a group of people make it mean something! To collaborate is to work together as a team, discuss ideas, and achieve a common goal. Group projects has always been something I dreaded doing. I always ended up being the one stuck with all the work while no one else said anything. I remember my first semester in college I was assigned a group project and presentation. My group all exchanged numbers and planned to meet up in the library on numerous occasions. I was the only one to show. I ended up completing the entire project and presenting in front of the classroom by myself while my group stood to the side and then thanked me after class for pulling together such a wonderful project. Everyone got an A because of my work. I was furious and hated group projects since that day. When I heard we had to do a group lesson plan and teach as a group I became very nervous. After meeting with my group I felt completely different. Everyone had such great ideas to contribute. We all had the same common goal in mind and would do anything to achieve it. We always showed up for group meetings, we met after classes, before classes and even had a Sunday pizza dinner together while completing our planning. Everyone contributed evenly and we all came to mutual agreements. Everyone had different experience that contributed to our lesson and made it better. It was great to work with such awesome future teachers. Luckily four of us will be in Social Studies Methods together next semester, so hopefully we teach as a unit again next semester!

Second Day Teaching

During my groups second lesson plan we recreated a Mineral show for the students to participate in.  We began by reviewing previous material we covered during our direct and inquiry lesson. Students actively participated in the lesson. We introduced pictures to the students and Shannon shared her experiences at a mineral show. We broke up into the groups we were previously in and created advertising posters of a mineral we classified. The students were very excited and collaborated ideas of how to decorate their poster and what facts to include. The students in my group created a poster on silicon, here is the completed poster.

Here is our competition...

After students complete the poster they had a brief amount of time to look at their classmates and cast a vote for the mineral they would purchase. At this point the class got a little hectic. It was not as organized as we originally planned and it took extra time to get the students back to their seat. We gave each student a participation award and the winners received a metal.

And the winner is.....

The First Day Teaching

The first day ever teaching an entire class and being the first group to go, can you imagine how nerve racking it was? We prepared for our first lesson for a week and a half. We met up after class, before class and even on the weekends. We were completely prepared and ready to go. Upon arrival, we are struck with the bad news, "there is no wifi". It felt like that was the worst news I have ever gotten. Our updated PowerPoint was threw google slides, it was perfect but now pointless since we couldn't access it. We had to use a previous unedited PowerPoint. The wifi issue really threw us off, but we were able to improvise and continue our lesson. The students engaged in our direct portion of the lesson plan. We transitioned to our inquiry lesson by using a voki Ms. Mineral. Since there was no internet access we read a letter from Ms. Mineral explaining that she has a mission for us. We broke up into groups and identified two minerals by using a variety of different tests. We originally had groups picked for the students but since the power point didn't work we didn't have that slide and it turned out the teacher had groups for the students already. There is a lot I wish we knew that the teacher didn't tell us till after our first lesson, I guess that's just part of being group one. One teacher candidate went to each group and helped the students identify the minerals. My group was very interested in the minerals but it took much longer to complete all the tests then expected. We should have changed our timing a little and it would have helped if students didn't show up late. At the end of our lesson we ran out of time and had to give the students homework as their independent practice. The students were given a worksheet to write a letter to Ms. Mineral explaining the minerals they had in their group. The students loved the concept of Ms. Mineral, I was really surprised since they were in 6th grade but most of them believed she was real and was very interested in knowing more about her.

  






 Dear Ms. Mineral....

Overall the first day turned out to be a little unorganized, even with all of our preparation. It was disappointing that we didn't have internet but it was a learning lesson for all of us. Internet is a very valuable resource that can be incorporated in a classroom but do not rely on it. Some schools don't have internet at all, and sometimes the internet is just laggy. Always have a backup plan and other options available that aren't internet based. Now we know how to prepare for our second day teaching.

The First Group

Field work preparation has begun. I am apart of the first group, it is very nerve racking to be going first. We are doing rocks and minerals as our lesson plan. I found a collection I had of rocks and minerals, which is a very handy tool to use during our lesson. It gives the students the opportunity to perform a variety of tests on the minerals and a chance to observe them. Hands on projects like this one is the reason I loved science growing up. It is wonderful that we have the tools to provide the students with this same experience. My group members are all wonderful, we collaborate ideas together and are able to come to decisions as a group. We all have the same availability which is very helpful. Everyone is working so hard together and we all have the same goal in mind. I'm proud to be working with such great peers.
We met the students for the first time on Thursday and it went very well. We introduced a few of our mineral and rock samples and created a "Sixth Grade Geologist" poster.

The students were very excited and were ready to learn. All of the students actively participated in conversation and shared their prior knowledge and what they want to learn about rocks and minerals.

After seeing the excitement from the students it was very comforting and it helped us prepare for our first lesson plan.

Through the Eyes of a Woman

Make a list of famous scientist through out history....

1) Albert Einstein
2) Isaac Newton
3) Charles Darwin
4) Galileo Galile
5) Thomas Edison
6) Benjamin Franklin
What do these scientist have in common?

They are all males!
Can you name one female who was a scientist?
I couldn't, so I googled it.

1) Marie Curie
2) Rosalind Franklin
3) Lise Meitner
4) Ada Lovelace
5) Barbara McClintock

All of these women have impact the world of science. We often forget or never learn of these historical figures. In class today we all were asked to draw a scientist. Not surprisingly most of our drawing were of men with crazy hair and big glasses. After looking at everyone's drawing we all discussed the similarities between the drawings and pointed out the stereotypes associated with the profession. It was very interesting that even though most of the class is women, most of us all drew men.

 

I used this video in a past project to display the negative connotation that "like a girl" has and the activity that we did reminded me a lot of this video and the stereotypes of "only man occupations".