Final Bonus Blog

Final Bonus Blog

Choose one standard (one from your unit is fine or any other) and write one good essential question for a unit or lesson that addresses this standard. (Worth up to 5 points on your final grade.)

Why do we characterize the basic needs of a plant to be air, water, light and nutrients?

Essential questions should promote and encourage critical thinking. Teachers should provide students with questions without including a specific “right or wrong” answer. It is important for students to extend their own learning by exploring various concepts.

My question above is created for a plant unit. This question outlines the basic needs of a plant, however, students must extend their learning to take what they know about the basic needs of a plant and justify what the needs actually are and why these needs are essential to plant growth.  

Module 8: Article 2

Crawford, E. O., Heaton, E. T., Heslop, K., & Kixmiller, K. (2009). Science learning at home involvingfamilies. YC Young Children, 64(6), 39-41. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/197623210?accountid=11824

Science Learning at Home Involving Families

Students not only learn at school, but we often can extend learning within their homes, especially with the support of our families. Teachers can easily get parents involved in the learning process by simply holding multiple conversations, or placing items in the weekly newsletter. The article, Science Learning at Home Involving Families, is a really informative article for teachers, but it also provides specific things parents can do at home with their children to motivate students while learning science.  All of the activities listed promote inquiry learning. The students are able to explore these concepts by utilizing things they may already be familiar with. They are encouraged to participate in activities at home and explore with their families. For example, students can explore properties in the bathtub that float and sink. Students can start a rock collection and examine properties such as color, weight, size, texture. The possibilities are endless.

As a teacher, this year I am planning to include weekly science activities in my weekly newsletter. I found this article to provide me with opportunities to get parents involved in their child’s learning. I can’t think of a better way to get them involved at home while learning science. The article provides standards for students that can be adapted from pre-school to fifth grade. Then it breaks up the standard by providing the families with activities they can do at home to engage student learning, while promoting inquiry exploration. At the end of the week I could ask how many of my students participated in the weekly science activity. We could come together on the carpet and discuss everyone’s findings, and compare and contrast the various scientist experiences. 

Module 8: Article 1

Saçkes, M., Trundle, K. C., & Flevares, L. M. (2009). Using children's books to teach inquiry skills. YC Young Children, 64(6), 24-26,31. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/197637640?accountid=11824

Using Children’s Books to Teach Inquiry Skills

How can teachers integrate literature and science while allowing our students to be in charge of their own learning? The article, Using Children’s Books to Teach Inquiry, does a great job of providing early childhood educators with the books and ideas they need in order to provide for inquiry skills within their own classroom. The goals teachers should keep in mind while using literature to promote inquiry skills are: reading, discussing, and building upon the content knowledge. This article provides a chart with 11 books for teachers to use in order to maximize student learning. These books have been compared with typical science text books in order to make sure they are not teaching misconceptions. It is often hard to find effective children’s literature with few misconceptions of the science content.

 One book that really stood out to me was, What Makes a Shadow? It is through this book in which we can see various inquiry skills being utilized and tested. After reading the book, students can explore how light interacts with various objects, determine which object create darker shadows, describe the relationship between shadows and the light sources, and identify the factors that create the size of the shadow. Targeted inquiry skills include: asking questions, making predictions, exploring cause and effect, discussing and drawing conclusions, describing events and observations, and lastly, making comparisons.

As a first grade teacher, I found this resource to be very beneficial. It integrates reading with inquiry, and that fascinates me. I find that my students love reading, and using the appropriate children’s literature is a great way to promote student excitement and engagement prior to letting them explore on their own. Students will be engaged in higher order thinking skills and will be provided with many opportunities to create their own connections.  The chart provided in the article is a great timesaver for any science teacher. It provides for authentic instruction and provides students with the skills they need in order to be effective scientists. 

Bonus Blog 3

How are constructivist teaching and traditional science teaching alike? Give some specifics and examples.

I have found there to be more differences than similarities between constructivist teaching and the traditional methods of teaching, which is what was mainly displayed throughout our concept map. However, both types of teaching revolve around learning. It is important that teachers teach keeping the students in mind. Standards and curriculum drive our teaching. We establish essential questions and goals to be fulfilled by our students. Both types of teaching include assessments, activities, and teacher questioning. Even though our students are encouraged to accomplish these tasks in a variety of ways, they are still found in both types of teaching. Whether the learning is teacher driven or student driven they are still being set up to succeed. 

Module 7 Backwards Design

In my experiences in elementary school, I do not remember having much science at all in our classrooms. When we did have science, it was very short. I do not think they used Backward Design. Our typical less is as follows: First my teachers explained the objective. Next, they asked us questions about what we already knew. Then we worked to complete an activity. Lastly, we took a test to see what we knew. This was a content specific lesson plan… it was boring, and repetitive.

Thinking back to high school and even my college courses, I do not remember my teachers using backwards design. We came to class each day ready to take notes from the projector. Each day was the same routine, just new content. My teachers never described the goals for the day, or introduced new topics. Later always came the test. The test was a major part of our grade, it was all or nothing. You either knew the content, or you didn't. In these situations it would have been nice to have formative assessments to encourage me that I knew the material, but to also guide future instruction. 

As a student, I remember thinking that the objective was not really that helpful. I just thought of it as a bunch of “fancy” words. It would have been more beneficial to think of them as learning goals, and then the following instruction may have been more relevant. It also would have helped it the teachers had set expectations for us to follow throughout the lessons. I believe my teachers just stated the objective because they were told to do so, but they were not measured or very relevant to our learning. 

Backwards design is a great way to change how teachers teach, but also to change how students learn. I am a goal oriented person. I need specific goals to function. In backwards design, both the teacher and the student are presented with tangible goals the drive instruction. Students are able to become involved in the learning process. The teacher is able to implement activities and assessments that align to the learning goals. Backwards Design is a great tool to use in order to modify instruction for your own classroom. I think that it would be very beneficial in a science classroom. 

Module 6: Article 5

Digital “Gamification” in the Classroom: A Growing Teaching Trend

By Marcus A. Hennessy, CEA (ret)

http://lessonplanspage.com/digital-gamification-in-the-classroom-a-growing-teaching-trend/

Marcus Hennessy writes to explain a new trend in education. He writes and explains how game consoles are being integrated into the classrooms in order to extend learning. Hennessy writes, “A middle school in New York applies The World of Warcraft (WoW) in-School Project to bolster at-risk students’ skills in digital literacy and leadership.” 

The University of Colorado reaches out in order to teach computer science to middle school students by recreating popular arcade games. Hennessy even explains how students in Singapore use the Nintendo Wii console to explore their country’s history. The new trend in education is to use “digital gamers as educational tools.”

With technology growing and becoming the new focus in our lives, it is important that we utilize it in order to maximize teaching. It lends creativity and engagement to the learning process. The Joan Cooney Center released a survey of 505 American teachers who are implementing “educational gaming” into their classrooms, and found that 60 percent of the teachers believe that the game systems are fostering collaboration and a deeper understanding of new content areas. 70 percent of the teachers believed that the gaming systems motivate struggling students within the classroom. Another 60 percent of teachers believed that the digital games help to personalize and to differentiate instruction. They are able to work through the lesson at their own pace, while instead of unlocking levels, students are able to unlock different content areas and further explanations.

The use of educational gaming has increased within the past decade, alluding to the term “Gamification- The use of integrating digital games into the education systems.” Several benefits have been noted of “Gamification”. Gaming makes boring subject areas more fun and engaging for all students, and it increases and encourages student performance (students are eager to show off what they know). Gaming provides teachers with a digital way to track student progress and offers immediate tangible rewards like certificates.

However, not all educators are embracing “Gamification”. Some educators argue that the students are showing difficulty when transferring the gaming skills to standardized and paper based tests. Another down fall is that at this time, teachers are often paying for these games out of pocket, which can quickly become a burden.

I think that “Gamification” would be a great way to get students involved in the learning process. This could be incorporated into our scheduled computer lab time each day, or even through small groups. I think the trouble is creating the games in ways that appropriately assess each learning standard. Another downfall, as mentioned in the article is the cost. As a teacher, I would not want to pay for these games, but it would be great to ask as PTA grant or create a technology fund to fund the gaming consoles. We could even get a few systems for each school or grade level to be checked out as it would be a learning process.

Our students are surrounded by gaming consoles. I think that it would be a great idea to incorporate something they are so familiar and comfortable with into our classrooms. In science we could use the consoles to outline the rules and procedures before creating the experiments. Virtual experiments could be tracked using trial and error, and students could easily record their findings. I think that “Gamification” would be a neat advancement in the world of education.  

Module 6: Learning Styles

Student	Characteristics	Instruction
1	v  Girl v  Bodily kinesthetic v  Dynamic v  Spatial	v  Integrate songs, and stories into instruction v  Allow her to create drawings and illustrations v  Give personal freedom within centers in order to aid exploration v  Allow for action packed centers for example, when teaching vibrations give rubber bands and have her experiment on her own
2	v  Boy v  Accommodator v  Logical mathematical v  Analytic	v  Allow him to have choice of activities to complete v  Create an adaptive environment to maximize learning v  Loves math- integrate math problems during science v  Thinks very critically and likes to offer solutions- PBL would be a great lesson for him
3	v  Boy v  Creative v  Accommodator v  interpersonal	v  Intuitive- allow for hands on experiments v  Allow for him to make a game to play with the class called “Hot Seat”. He will create and ask questions to the class (whole or small group) v  Loves interacting with his peers and responds well to group activities
4	v  Girl v  Gifted v  Musical v  creative	v  Use songs to help teach and reinforce content such as raps v  Create a concept map to see her connections that take place while learning v  Allow her to make a model of a plant cell- making models is a good way to express her creativity
5	v  Boy v  Practical v  Verbal/ linguistic v  Diverger	v  Create a chart and make multiple connections to the real world v  Write to explain why something happens v  Promote learning with lots of literature on the subject v  Include a listening center to extend learning
6	v  Girl v  Assimilator v  Interpersonal	v  Allow her to create models in order to demonstrate her understanding v  Her role in her group should be the discussion leader, she is very inquisitive and is a strong leader
7	v  Girl v  Intrapersonal v  Converger	v  Does not like to work in groups v  Create a checklist in order to assess her own progress as she works v  Allow for a  plan to be created and implemented
8	v  Boy v  Diverger v  Visual/ spatial learner	v  Show a rubric prior to beginning a project. He likes to look at the whole picture rather than in parts v  He likes concrete examples and learns by observations v  Graphic organizer s help him learn
9	v  Girl v  Naturalistic v  Accommodator	v  Inquiry based lessons keep her attention and allow for her to investigate on her own v  Expert in classifying things v  Hold class or demonstrations outside every now and then to create a new learning environment v  Loves the choice of activities and is usually very spontaneous
10	v  Boy v  Intrapersonal v	v  Include rubrics prior to beginning the lesson and go over all expectations; v  Allow him to create his own personal goals before the lesson and implement a timeline to help him stay organized v  Does not like to work in groups v  Make real world connections to how the lesson will help his life

Everyone learns in different ways. It is important for us to remember this as teachers, especially when teaching science. Hammerman writes, “Multicultural education advocates the belief that students and their life histories and experiences should be placed at the center of the teaching and learning…and address multiple ways of thinking.” Students may or may not be able to connect to the content based on their own previous experiences or what they have been exposed to while growing up. It is important to embrace new cultures and understanding in order to create a rigorous and engaging learning environment. Here are ways we can “embrace and celebrate” multiculturalism within our own classrooms: we can do this by assessing what are students are familiar with. Another way to improve multiculturalism is to expose our students to scientists from a variety of cultures. It may be easier for them to make multiple connections to his or her own life, as well as the life of his or her peers after being exposed to scientist they can relate to. It is important for us to investigate various cultures in which have impacted our nation’s history. We can expand learning by integrating a variety of literature. By comparing and contrasting in science students become more familiar with multiple connections.

We can create a multicultural classroom, but we also need to “know the learner”. The learners are the ones we cater to as teachers. It is important for us to know how our learners learn, what interests them, and things we can do to maximize learning. Once we identify how our students learn, we can easily integrate activities into our lessons. While student teaching we called these “Contextual Factors”. These factors were the very first page of our lesson plans. We assessed the learning type, special needs, ethnicities… It really allowed me to effectively analyze my classroom.  Now, I find that this is one of the first things I incorporate into my teaching. I check out and analyze how my students learn as well as what they enjoy.  I do this by giving several attitude quizzes and multiple intelligence tests that I have found for elementary school children. The tests are short and written in a way my students can relate to. These factors set the tone of my teaching and lead to a supportive learning environment.