Fieldwork in Mrs. Benfer’s 5th Grade Science Class

Overall, fieldwork was a wonderful experience for me, I was able to meet a bunch of great children and help them out with their science units. My student’s name was Emily and she liked to play soccer on the weekends and was the middle child in her family. She said she liked science and that she had a good average when I first started to work with her so I rarely had difficulty explaining concepts to her and she caught on quite quickly.

The first fieldwork session, we were able to pick a student that we were to work with for the next few weeks on their chapter 12 unit Changes in Matter. I was surprised that I had actually remembered some of the vocabulary words such as matter, chemical change, chemical reaction, mixture and solution; but I had to ask my student to explain to me solute and solvent. This reminded me that sometimes my students may know even more than I do and that it is important to always ask questions in order to find out what kind or how much prior knowledge they acquire before starting a specific unit. Emily knew a lot of the chapter due to the fact that she has said that she read the chapter before starting the unit because she knew that the class would be starting that unit next. This surprised me for the reason that I had never suspected a student of her age to be that excited to learn about science, especially something as challenging as chemistry.

The second chapter my student and I worked on together was Different Kinds of Chemical Reactions. Emily once again did great with learning the chapter; I was able to come to this conclusion by observing her answer questions on a worksheet her teacher had given her. The worksheet was passed out and Emily had gone right to work without any help needed; as I looked around the classroom I noticed that a lot of my classmates had been helping their partners with the worksheet. I had asked Emily if she needed anything from me and she just asked me to look over her worksheet when she was finished to make sure her answers were correct. This taught me that she is an independent learner, is always up for a challenge and truly cares about her work and knowledge by wanting to make sure she had answered the questions correctly.

MOON WORDLE

MOON PHASES

Video of devastated Japan, quake damage, cities swamped by tsunami

TSUNAMI'S??
Last week while we students of Mount Saint Mary College were home or on vacation enjoying our spring break, there was a devestating occurance in Japan. A tsunami hit Japan's northeast coast early friday morning killing an estimated 500 people. As I turned on my television to watch what had happened I founf myself wondering "what causes a tsunami in the first place?" According to Geology.com, A tsunami is a large ocean wave that is caused by sudden motion on the ocean floor. This sudden motion could be an earthquake, a powerful volcanic eruption, or an underwater landslide. The impact of a large meteorite could also cause a tsunami. Tsunamis travel across the open ocean at great speeds and build into large deadly waves in the shallow water of a shoreline. Above I have found a youtube clip of the devestation that occured and aftermath of this terrible tsunami.

Weeks Discussion Questions

WEEK 1

When asked what an example of someone exhibiting a scientific way of thinking was, I responded with:  a person who is walking outside staring at the trees thinking about the leaves changing. This would be a scientific way of thinking because they are pondering about nature and how the leaves turn colors, fall off the branches and then re sprout in the springtime. When motions such as these are running through one's brain, it is safe to say they hold the ability to reflect science onto everday matter such as the leaves on a tree.

With these motions though sometimes comes misconceptions. A time when I had a significant misconception or alternative conception about the way an object worked was when I learned how a lawnmower cut grass when I was young. I remember my dad flipping over the push mower when I was small because something got caught in the blade and I had looked at and asked how it cut the grass by just spinning in a circle. My dad then explained to me that the blade touched the grass when the lawnmower was right side up and that it spun in a circle very quickly which then trimmed the blades of grass.

Learning about the lawnmower and how it worked gave me the ability to apply this newfound knowledge to real life. I am not able to realize how the grass is shaved away and may even be able to tighten the blade if it becomes loose now that I am aware of how it works. It is important for students to not just recite what they have learned but to demonstrate it in a new context. This is true because when students have interactive learning and write out notes instead of just highlighting notes in a textbook they have a higher percentage rate of remembering and retaining the information rather than the normal highlighting.

In my own life, technology has helped me learn a tremendous amount. Youtube is a great invention due to the fact that anyone can just type in “how to…” and whatever you need will pop up and teach you how to complete a specific task. Another way technology has helped me learn is by visiting various websites to gather information from; it is easier to look up facts through the internet rather than to have to purchase a book or encyclopedia about a certain topic.

WEEK 2

When thinking about my “scientific self” I think of myself looking at the world in a different way, a scientific way. Instead of just looking at the snow falling from the sky, my scientific self would think about the clouds and how they are accumulating precipitation and then how they are letting go of it which would be the snow falling. I feel scientific when I think of how the icicles outside of my window formed last night. I believe that I became thinking scientifically when I started school. I cannot think of a specific teacher whose positive or negative feelings about something influenced my own reactions but I do know that when teachers are excited about teaching a topic it makes me excited as well.

I feel that I made a crazy scientist because when we were young, scientists usually had wacky white hair, a lab coat and different colored chemicals in beakers bubbling and fizzing. I think they were portrayed this way because that will spark children’s interest and grasp their attention more than a man in a lab coat looking at a microscope would. I can name Marie Curie who was a female scientist who invented uranium and then actually dies from it unknowingly realizing that it could kill her. I believe her daughter and father dies from it as well. I cannot think of any minority scientists.

I believe that I have many opportunities to explore nature especially in Upstate New York. There are trees and mountains all around us containing millions of different creatures as well as the Hudson River being a habitat to many different types of organisms. One would be able to study all of these different types of animals by living in this area with ample nature to explore.

WEEK 3

I think that this quotation from an experienced science teacher means that in the end, students need to make an effort to try and learn because she can’t do it all for them. I agree with this quote because sometimes it can be challenging to grasp the attention of every student in a classroom and if they aren’t willing to meet their teacher half way, if they don’t want to learn something the teacher can’t make them. I have definitely written statements in essays or exams because I knew that is what my professor wanted to see. In history I had a very conservative professor so in my papers I would write from a conservatism point of view even though sometimes I thought a bit more avant-garde than he had. I feel that I had done this because this professor in particular was a bit old school and was sometimes hard to reason with.

If Mr. Wilson hadn’t let his science students explore the icicle story they may have never fully understood the real meaning behind the icicles. Some people may think that it is a waste of time to let students explore on their own at first but in reality it is beneficial for students to make their own alternative conceptions.  Considering that I live on the south shore of Long Island and the beach is down the street from my house, I would bring in sea shells or maybe crab legs from the seashore if I was teaching my students about the ocean or oceanic animals.                                                                  

WEEK 4

The difference between inference and observation is actually quite simple. An inference is a reasonable explanation that we construct on the basis of our observations. They can also sometimes lead us to set up further investigations. An observation however is a perception of an object or an event using as many senses as possible. In everyday life, an example of an observation would be looking into a beaker and noticing that the liquid inside of it is blue. An inference would be looking at the beaker, noticing the liquid id blue and then going on to say that it is probably blue because food dye was put into the substance. One way in which I use the process known as classifying in my daily life would be when I hang up m clothes in my closet and put away my shoes. All my heels are lined up on one shelf, sneakers, flats, boots and sandals all have their own respective shelves in my closet. Also, my clothes are classified as well, my chiffon shirts are all together as well as my sweaters, jackets, long sleeved and short sleeved shirts.

It is important to engage students in planning (rather than just conducting) an investigation because this will get them excited and anxious to perform the actual experiment and the students may in fact have some suggestions pertaining to the experiment. If the students are engaged from the beginning they will be thinking about the experiment and may just come up with awesome ideas for learning. If my classroom was given a video microscope to use for two weeks, a station activity I might set up to make good use of this tool could be the students examining hair strands. Students with different thickness and color could put their hair strands underneath the microscope and the class would be able to examine the differences and similarities the strands hold. This could be used if teaching a lesson on genetics.

WEEK 5

I remember studying scientific topics that related to my local environment when I was in elementary school. A topic we had gone over was something that happened to be in most of our backyard, and that was the Great South Bay. I am from the south shore of Long Island and every year there was always a unit on the ocean, partially because it is about 5 minutes from our homes, and it was always the most fun unit because we were able to have hands on activity with nature. We also participated in learning about trees and went on various nature walks on an island off the coast called Fire Island. Our class walked through the trees on the boardwalk and tried to identify each tree we came across. I believe that this is the best way to learn being that the science is all around you which constitutes to interactive and hands on learning.

I believe that it is extremely valuable for students to make connections to their “daily lives” while learning. When I was walking through the boardwalk looking at all the trees I feel that I attained more information and knowledge than I would have if we would have just learned about the trees and memorized facts in the classroom. Also, when we were tested on the material I related it to the field trip or to trees in my own backyard and really knew the material. According to the constructivist theory, students learn best when they generate knowledge from an interaction between their experiences and ideas which promotes learning in a great way. This would be done by having field trips, having speakers come into the classroom or bringing objects into the classroom that students can hold, touch, smell and feel.

There are many different theories on how to teach students so they will obtain the most amount of knowledge. Howard Gardiner believed in “naturalistic intelligence” which is basically the ability to find patterns and relationships in nature. I do believe that some people “have it” and some just “don’t”. Personally I don’t think that I am that type of person because I am not very interested in nature, biology, zoology and I am not exactly a camper; but I do think that some people just acquire those personality traits and become in tune with nature in a way that others are not.

Although I am not a nature person, I do feel that it is vital for children to learn about nature and green science in the classroom. It is becoming a huge part of our world today with “green-technology” taking a front seat in the technological world. I have seen classrooms where teachers have set up recycle bins and where students had assignments to set them up at home so their families will recycle as well. This is a great way to introduce students to why “green-technology” is important and why it is much needed in today’s world.

HOW DID EACH WEEK OF CLASS GO?!

The first week of Science Methods class was both fun and interesting, which is great because that really sets the tone for how the rest of the semester may be. Dr. Ludmilla had us make name tags for ourselves so she could learn our names quickly and match our names to our faces. I thought this was great because it really shows that our professor wants to get to know us.

We did a few activities that made us think of our own experiences as science students from when we were younger. This made us realize what kind of teachers we would like to be when having our own classrooms which I feel, will make us better teachers knowing what makes children excited about science.

Inquiry. This was a word we discussed the first day and what it seems like the course will be based off of. According to Websters Dictionary this means: an examination into facts or principles. For me, this means strarting an adventure into being the best science teacher we can possibly be for our future students. The fact that Dr. Ludmilla is so excited about embarking on this journy with our class makes us all that much more excited and worry free. The first day of class was definitely a positive and exciting experience.