Highlights from the readings...

Chapter 5 touches upon green science. Green science involves teaching students about conservation , alternative and renewable energy, and sustainable practices that reduce each individual's environment footprint (Koch, p.144). Students today are very technology focused and spend much time indoors playing video games and working on the computer, which in turn can cause serious health problems. It is important for the teacher to recognize this issue and encourage students to go outside and get excited about nature. Gardner in 1999 even added another intelligence called "naturalistic intelligence" or "nature smart" because a large body of evidence suggests that immersing students in the local environment enhances their understanding of the natural world and develops an appreciation for nature. Two great pieces of literature to inspire green science are the Giving Tree and The Lorax. Electronic resources for a green science programs are: The Green Guide, and The Green Schools Initiative. A great way to get kids excited about nature is to take them on a field trip :)

Chapter 4 discusses science circuses. Koch describes science circuses as several stations at which visitors perform certain tasks and record their results or reactions. For our science circus we did not have students record results or reactions but I wish we had. We could have provided students with like a mini passport that had each station highlighted on a different page. If the student completed the station they could get a stamp on their passport. The page would have space for the student to draw or write what happened and about the science that was involved in the experiment. The science circus is great way for students to practice scientific process skills. Students are able to make an observation, an inference, create a hypothesis, measure, record, predict, compare/contrast, and investigate. Each station can offer all or some of these scientific process skills.

Chapter 14 discusses ideas for professional development in teaching science. One idea is to do research on science topics that you wish to know more about. Another idea is to keep a science journal yourself for in-class and outside of class activities. Join a science teacher chat room, trust your own judgment if an investigation is interesting for students or not, and use exemplary science instructional materials (Koch, p.399). I loved the poem at the end of chapter about inquiry science and I want to share it with you....

Investigate and you will find,
New information of some kind,
Question all your observations,
Understand through your explanations,
Integrate what you have discovered,
Reflect and share what you have uncovered.
You are doing science!

Science Circus

On Wednesday night my class put on a science circus night for Linda Vista Elementary school. The night was a success! Each student group had their own table set up around the room and each table focused on a different science concept. Students and parents could walk around the room and visit the different stations. Some of my favorite stations were the "Magic Flower" "Lava Lamp" "Pepper Star" and the "Magic Goo." The magic flower is a flower made from paper, and the students can fold the petals into the center, and when placed in water the petals open up. The Lava lamp was cool because it was just water and vegetable oil and then an alka seltzer was put into the picture and it made a cool reaction. The pepper star showed that when your finger was soapy it repelled the pepper. Click the link to read more about the pepper star: http://io9.com/5668221/an-experiment-with-soap-water-pepper-and-surface-tension. The magic goo was made from water and corn starch. It is a great way to teach kids about solids and liquids.

Our station was on Foil boats. The students had to make a boat out of foil and see how many pennies they could put on the boat before it sank. The students were able to re-do their boat to try and fit more pennies on it. Our booth was a success! Our booth was always busy and it had a line for most of the night :) The kids totally got competitive with each other over how many pennies they could fit on their boats. We put the high score on the board and many students could come back to try and beat the high score. Our station was appropriate for all age ranges of children. For the older children we encouraged them to think about denisty and buoyancy when creating their boat as well as surface area. And for the young children they were able to see how bigger boats shaped as rafts were able to hold more pennies than small boats. Parents would sometimes help the student make the boat as well. Parents were also getting competitive with each other! If students were having a difficult time creating the boat we would refer them to the poster:

I think a science circus is a great way to get parents and students involved and excited about learning science. I think it would be a great event to take to my next student placement or school where I get my first job. Teachers could pair up with other teachers from their grade level and do a fun experiment highlighting a science standard in their grade. It would be a chance for teachers to interact with parents and for students to see parent involvement with the school. It is so important for the student to feel both support from the teacher and the parent for the student's learning process.

A Day in the Forest

In my last student placement my teacher taught ELD through animals in the rainforest. The kids could not have been more excited to learn about bats, leopards, and scarlet macaws. The rainforest or any type of forest is a high interest topic for students. Teachers can use this enthusiasm and excitement for animals in the forest to discuss the science and nature of trees and their environment as well. Did you know that sponges and gum were made from trees? Me neither! I had no idea. But trees actually make a ton of our resources. One great activity to do with kids is to fill a brown bag full of goodies trees make (i.e. Hershey kisses, pencils, paper, fabric, pencil, cork, gum, crayon, sponge). Ask the students to separate the items in the bag of things made by tress and things not made by trees. But there is a trick! Surprisingly everything is actually made by trees! This then would be a great opportunity to spike student's curiosity and let them discover on their own what else is made from trees. Allow students to explore their questions in the computer lab. I love the idea of having a question board in the classroom! Put students questions on a big piece of butcher paper, or better yet, let them write the question. Then throughout the unit as we figure out the questions, fill in the questions with answers. I love this idea that students and teachers are collaborators (Koch, p. 197). Both are on a mission to get their questions answered! Figuring out your own questions "is the basis of any inquiry in science, and it is the way students can develop their own inquiry skill" (Koch, p. 196)

A great idea to bring science inquiry into the classroom is using owl pellets. The students will have a great time pulling apart the pellet and seeing what they can find. Teachers can use the owl pellet to prob students to start asking questions about owls, and then lead into a unit about owls! If you can't get owl pellets or are grossed out by the idea here is a website where kids can do a virtual owl pellet dissection: http://www.kidwings.com/owlpellets/flash/v4/index.htm

Our last class we spent outside in the Fullerton Arboretum! It is beautiful and I was so sad I never knew it existed until last week. What a wonderful place to take students on a field trip. There is a big grassy field where you can have a picnic, class discussion, or even play field games! The students would have a wonderful time exploring the environment! We saw turtles too! Here is a link to the Fullerton Arboretum: http://fullertonarboretum.org/home.php

In the book readings for the week on Chapter 13 I loved the idea of assessments using technology and building an electronic profile. What a great way to incorporate 21st century skills into science. One of the ideas for an assessment was having a child create a concept map on a unit of study. Another idea was for the students to create a cartoon drawing that encourages the other students to think about that specific concept. Presentation software like Powerpoint and Prezi can be used to collaborate ideas on a specific topic. When I was in elementary school I used PowerPoint a lot and I loved the opportunity to come to the front of the class and present my presentation. I think it would be a good idea to allow students to work in groups and collaborate on information and then present using a PowerPoint. This will also help students work cooperatively.

What can we find in the Garage?

I had never really thought before that my beliefs about learning would affect how I would teach my students. I can now see that there are two types of teachers and two types of beliefs. One type of teacher trusts her students and the other one does not. I hope to trust my students. I acknowledge that my students are knowers, and that they have their own ideas, and that they are capable of constructing and carrying out investigations on their own (Koch, p. 267). The other teacher still cares for her students and wants them to succeed but this teacher believes students need modeling and authority, she believes she must have all of the right answers or she is not doing her job (Koch, p. 268). She does not trust that her students can be in charge of there learning process. What worries me about this teacher attitude, that the teacher knows all of the answers, is that the teacher is not going to be able to hold that child's hand through life. The teacher must teach the student how to fish, not give them the fish. She must give the students the tools to figure out the answers for themselves.

This week in class we experienced a great science lesson that allowed us as students to take control of our learning. We were given a bin full of supplies (batteries, Christmas lights, foil, tape, ext.) and we had to figure out how to make a closed circuit (how to light the Christmas light). Our teacher did not tell us how to make this, she gave us no instruction. Before the lesson began though we were challenged to figure out how a little chicken was chirping. We figured out as a whole group that it was chipping when it was in a closed circuit. Our teacher lead us to this answer, but she did not tell us. I loved this idea! We as students felt more accomplished that we figured it out on our own. Our teacher gave us confidence in ourselves and our own learning ability. This is a picture of me and my group trying to figure out how to light the Christmas light:
Did you know that a diaper can hold up to five cups of water?? I had no idea either. My guess was 3/4 cup. I was way off! I had no idea that a diaper is full of these little white crystals could expand when water is in them. What a fun experiment to do with kids! Check out this link to show kids that when you open up a diaper you found polymers: http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/experiment/diaper-secret

Here are other science experiments you can do with the water absorbing crystals in the diaper:
http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/experiment/water-absorbing-crystals

How to Ask the Right Questions...

Millions saw the apple fall, but Newton was the one who asked why.

-Bernard Baruch

If you don't ask, you don't get.

-Mahatma Gandhi

The scientist is not a person who gives the right answers, he is one who asks the right questions.

-Claude Levi-Strauss

No man really becomes a fool until he stops asking questions.

-Charles Steinmetz

There are hundreds of famous quotes on the importance of asking questions. As a teacher I hope to ask questions to my students that will engage them further in the lesson and will challenge their thinking processes. I hope my students will ask questions of me and of their peers to further their inquiry as well. When learning science it is so important for teachers to ask open-ended questions. Koch (2010) discusses three important types of questions to ask students in inquiry based science lessons. The first is to ask students questions that invite students to action (294). These types of questions are like, “What do you think will happen? How would you change this experiment if you repeated it?” The second type of question is to assess students’ ideas and previous knowledge (294). These types of questions are like, “How do earthworms take in their food? How would you describe the way the earthworms move?” The third type of question is to check for understanding (295). This type of question is like, “So what do you think is going on here?” This type of question allows the student to think critically.

Koch (2010) also offered four key tips to good questioning. I found these tips very helpful and I want to remember them for when I become a teacher.

1. Ask questions only if you are TRULY interested in knowing what the students are thinking. (Don’t just ask a question without any meaning behind it!)

2. Design questions to help students construct their own answers (i.e. Open ended questions)

3. Be okay with the silence! Allow appropriate wait time

4. Never answer your own questions. It is better to leave a question unanswered for a while than to answer it yourself (I have a habit of doing this and I want to stop it!)

Koch also goes in depth about wait time. Studies have shown that “longer wait times raise the quality of the student-teacher interactions and the level of the discourse” (296). I do not know why but I have always been afraid of silence, especially in the classroom. I love to talk and it is so hard for me to even silence my thoughts in my brain, but I need to learn to be okay with the silence. I need to learn that silence in the classroom means students are thinking about their thinking. Even in our group discussion in class this week, we had moments of silence. People were reflecting on their previous actions and coming up with new ideas. Sometimes people need to work up the courage to speak in the classroom as well. I think it is important for the teacher to communicate to her students that silence is totally okay and it is encouraged.

Trusting the Squid!

I loved the idea from the readings to value students’ thinking. “Creating an atmosphere in where there is a sense of trust makes it possible to help the students reflect on their new experiences and use those reflections to modify their prior knowledge” (68). I hope to create a trust with my students. I want them to take risks in their learning and to challenge their previous ways of thinking. It is so important for teachers to understand how students learn to help create a safe and trusting environment. Teachers need to create science experiences that are engaging, encourage them to express their ideas, listen to students, ask questions, encourage reflection, and scaffold student learning (92).

During our science lesson this week, we were able to dissect a squid! It was so much fun! The lesson was engaging, we asked questions, we listened to each other, and we reflected on our dissection. Science activities like dissecting a squid allow the teacher to build a trust environment with her students. Science can become an experience rather than a lesson. This type of activity also allows students to discover and learn on their own. I love that idea that the teacher is more of a mediator.

I want to use this blog post to write down the steps that we did when dissecting the squid to help me remember when I want to go my own dissection with my class.

1. Draw a picture of what you think a squid looks like.
2. Read information about squids. Students can re-do drawings
3. Given a squid in groups of two. Also given a diagram of the inside of a squid
4. Dissect Squid . Observe.
5. Cut squid down the middle.
6. Peak inside tentacles. Look at the mouth, Pull out mouth/stomach
7. Pull spine out (Cartilage). Use as a pen (Poke a hole in the ink sack).
8. Clean off Skin. Wash in soap water. Eggs. Bread Crumbs. Fry. Yum!

Week One: A Day in the Kitchen

"Lessons taught in the classroom are enriched by hands-on garden and kitchen activities, while concepts that arise in the kitchen and garden are meaningfully discussed in the classroom."
-The Edible Schoolyard, Berkeley, California

This week in science class we learned about how everything in our daily lives, including preparing a meal in the kitchen, involves science. Science in the kitchen can be from wondering why an egg doesn't have a little chick inside of it when making scrambled eggs to the reactions of putting together different ingredients in soup. Science is in our everyday lives, and it is the job of teachers to help our students reflect on their experiences and generate scientific questions.

From the readings, I learned the value of teaching science. The book read, "that many of today's jobs require some scientific knowledge, and even our everyday decisions-from what to eat to which vehicle to buy-can be affected by our scientific understanding or lack of it" (7). Science is in our daily lives. Science allows students to be critical thinkers and openminded. Students learn that it is okay to change their minds when confronted with new information. I loved the quote at the beginning of the reading that "science is basically an area of knowledge created by people-men and women-who devote much of their energies to exploring some part of nature and trying to make sense of it" (3). If science is based off of what human beings question and discover, then it is our job as teachers to help our students get excited about learning science.

Some teaching strategies I found useful were:
-Understanding that children are active knowers, constructing ideas on the basis of experiences, and taping student's prior knowledge plays a crucial role in learning about science (11) (a.k.a. Create experiences for your students!)
-Create hands-on experiences (connect to students' own lives, let them reflect on experiences, give them conceptual goals) (16)
-Give students meaningful science experiences (16)
-Understand that learning science takes time (23)
-Taylor lessons for your specific class to make lessons more engaging (i.e. Low SES students make a model using food/RESOURCE: Science Experiments You Can Eat by Vicki Cobb) (27)
-Listen to students' thinking and regularly engage them in conversations about their ideas (21)
-Model digital-age work and learning (29)
-Model digital citizenship and responsibility (29)
-Do not have a negative attitude towards science, because it inadvertently discourages students (41)
-Discourage science stereotypes (42)
-Interview a scientist (i.e. bring in a scientist to the classroom and have the kids ask the scientist questions!) (48)
-Be reflective (49) "Research shows that a deliberate, conscious, inward look at teaching and learning can promote your professional development as a teacher."
-Have students keep a science journal and YOU as the teacher. Share your journals with the class regularly. (52)

Science is a wonderful subject because it is a platform for active learning where students can question the world together, learn to ask questions, discover new ways of thinking, and create new experiences. Teachers need to have a positive outlook on teaching science and realize the powerful influence of science in our daily lives.