Final Vision Statement

          Open exploration of the world around us begins the process of learning. When a student of any age wonders about the inner workings of the world, they are creating questions to further their construction of knowledge. Socrates once stated, “Wisdom begins in wonder.” The student is in charge of their learning and will take on a series of steps to create a deeper understanding. Along with the student-driven learning approach, educators are in charge of finding out what their students previously know, letting students explore their questions and having them negotiate their understandings with voice. A positive environment for the exploration of questions will foster the motivation to learn.

            Self-motivated learning is a major connection between the constructivist learning theory and the inquiry approach. In the Krajcik article discussing the constructivist learning theory, it expresses that when a student has the passion or curiosity to learn something, it reflects authenticity and is more deeply ingrained. It also mentions the main components such as active engagement, use and application of knowledge, multiple representations, and use of learning communities. It was Vygotsky who believed that learning as leading development, as stated in the “Theoretical Foundations for Constructivist Teaching” article. This means that a student will develop quicker and greater once they have learned about the world around them. It also mentions the importance to incorporate the subject of language when exploring science. Inquiry is driven by this learning theory and touches on the integration of language.

          Science is most effectively learned through the inquiry-based approach. The inquiry-based approach for science includes the five essential features of engaging in scientifically based questions, gathering evidence, formulating explanations, evaluating explanations and communicating and justifying these explanations. Each step is equally important and creates the foundation for all conceptual knowledge. This approach was created for students to learn just as real scientists do. Inquiry is the process a student takes in order to construct deeper understanding, however the teacher must typically initiate the process.

The initial step for a teacher in a science-based classroom to take is probing the students for their current knowledge. At times, their ideas may be off the mark or otherwise known as misconceptions. Probing for these misconceptions if the formative assessment that a teacher must take in order to know where to go with a lesson. It is effective for the teacher to use the questions and answers provided by the students to create a pathway for the students to explore. An example of this could be through the use of concept maps, which can be altered throughout the learning process. Concept maps help create focus on the “big ideas” which drive the scientific approach. Here they would present any misconceptions or questions they have regarding the overall topic.

The “Misconceptions Die Hard” article expresses the importance for addressing misconceptions prematurely in order to redirect students towards properly conceived knowledge. Throughout the students’ learning process, it is also important to evaluate their understanding through a variety of assessments whether through self-evaluations or teacher and student conferences. It also mentions the significance of applying knowledge gained to the student’s real lives in order to continue passion about the topic. In addition to “Misconceptions Die Hard,” the “Teaching for Conceptual Change: Confronting Children’s Experience” article mentions working with student misconceptions. The following quote grasped my attention right away, “"For nine winters, experience has been the children's teacher." I have and still truthfully believe that students need to experience the world around them and take note of their observations in order to really learn. Whether the students are experiencing science within nature or through hands on experiments regarding physics, their authentic tasks create a deeper connection of science to self.

One of the major advantages about the inquiry-based approach is the fact that it leaves flexibility for where the students are on academic and skill levels. The big ideas are the initial building block for each student but how each student arrives there is dependent on their individual approach. This suitably supports differentiation because the learner must pose a question of their choice, explore and create explanations from their own gathered data and in the end must negotiate their claim. If a student seems to be moving faster through the process, it would be useful to mix in other factors or areas to explore while the another student may gradually approach the process one careful step at a time. Regardless of where students are within the process, students must be able to wrestle with their ideas with themselves as well as using their resources to negotiate their ideas. This will solidify their understanding long-term.  

Exploration has always come very natural to me. In the beginning of learning about the scientific-based approach of teaching and learning, I felt that I knew everything about it since I was so passionate about the subject of science and exploring the world around me. However, I have learned that there is much more than just observing, experimenting and discussing. I have learned that incorporating language within science helps to solidify the students’ understanding through their voice on paper. The “5 Good Reasons to Use Science Notebooks” was one of the first articles that put into perspective the importance of integrating the two subjects. While enhancing literary skills, science notebooks can be used for ongoing assessment as well as a template for student thought. This relates to the overall umbrella of communication.

Communication through written language is just as important as oral language within the classroom. Students must be able to negotiate their ideas with themselves, either in their head or on paper, but maybe more importantly with their peers. This allows for practice and the emphasis on justification. Explanations come from the initial exploration of questions. The students will then pay attention to other discoveries to challenge proposed ideas. My personal discovery about teaching science was to allow for student negotiation and not feeding student understanding with “correct answers.” Through my experience at Wickham Elementary in a 3-4 classroom, negotiation showed to be a vital method for the students when they were deciding which type of rock was which in a variety of instances. Without the direct instruction of my partner and I, we were able to challenge the students’ misconceptions as well as their correct answers in order for them to evaluate their explanations.

Learning of the inquiry-based approach of science as well as practicing it within a practicum experience has truly brought life to my ongoing passion of science. I believe that even though I was confident in understanding certain processes and important features unique to science, I have still grown in understanding how to apply such concepts. I now can relate to a variety of assessment strategies, classroom experiments, questioning strategies and relatable science topics such as those from School of the Wild or the peer teaching lessons. I still believe that enthusiasm and passion drive the efforts of productive learning, so those will be present in my future classroom.

As a teacher, it is important to foster an environment that allows for open negotiation of ideas whether it is reflectively or with peers and/or outside resources. This environment will remain positive and with the reminder that ideas are challenged, not people. Questions are the leading force to exploration, either presented by the teacher to initiate thinking or by the students to further and deepen understanding. Constant motivation to learn about the inner workings of science in the world will be maintained through the relation of big ideas to the students’ real lives. It is important for the students to be in charge of their own learning when constructing knowledge around a big idea. In order for teachers and students to assess their learning and show value to student voice, the use of writing in many forms will be applied to solidify their ideas. Day by day and moment by moment, inquiry-based science classrooms resort to the flexibility of big idea concepts to cultivate confidently engaged learners in the process of building their conceptual framework.

SLPE Reflection

            Learning about teaching is a long enduring process that involves a variety of practices to be used within the classroom. However, the list seems to be infinite and not relatable until the time has come to actually use them in the real world. This science lesson planning and enactment project was a perfect way for me to implement some of the practices for a run of trial and error. Although I have learned in great deal about the inquiry process, it was not until this project that I got firsthand experience to seeing how the process can be done.

            The first day came with a belly full of butterflies but heart full of excitement. My partner and I had met many of times to perfect how we wanted to introduce the different rock types to a 3-4 Wickham Elementary classroom. With anticipations of covering research, presentations and modeling all in the first day, we jumped right into the mix with lots of student discussion. Questions and initial claims were thrown out there with some uncertainty, so the students were very eager to begin researching their specified content. The students showed a great deal of communication throughout the whole process, whether through writing on sticky notes or discussing with their group members. Once the groups shifted from small group to large group, the class got a little more rowdy because the tasks were not as challenging or individualized. It was good to see which students knew how to delegate who does what but there were also signs of a few students who liked to sit along the sidelines and let everyone else take action.

            Overall, I would say the first day went very smoothly. The only real issue that arose was the fact that we weren’t able to get to all of the things we had originally planned on getting to in the first day. We only really got to half! This showed to us the high amount of student interaction and discussion going on. There really was not enough time and all of the kids were fully engaged up until the last minute. This taught us to be flexible and plan day by day for the next lesson.

            Our next lesson was three days later. My partner and I decided to alter some of the preconceived plans in order to get everything in. Instead of having the students begin day 2 with discussing which rock was which from the original hand out and then creating them out of clay first then edible material, we had to begin day 2 with the presenting of group posters. We had made layered Jell-O the night before to symbolize sedimentary rocks, got junior mints for igneous rocks and still had the taffy for metamorphic rocks. After the kids presented and we discussed some of their thoughts about which rocks were which, we went into the students getting the edible “rocks” and observing them. The students used their senses to observe the materials and referred to the posters made to decide which edible rocks represented which type of rock. This ran to the very last minute as well, so thank goodness we were prepared for a change!

            The second day was a Friday so I feel that it contributed to why the kids were extra energetic. It was a great thing when we wanted them to do the activities, however it was hard for them to sit still and be polite when the other groups were presenting. Also, we weren’t given their expectations for presenting so the teacher had to stop the class and review that with them, versus us. As for them meeting our stated learning performances, the students did a GREAT job! Through the process, the students conducted research and became experts on specific rock types, worked in groups to create posters, created visual representations in which were the pictures drawn for the poster versus the clay because we weren’t able to get to that and they created the metamorphic edible rock while tasting the representations we brought for the others in order to classify these rock types in the end. Our last few minutes of the lesson were devoted to classifying the edible rocks into their types and then addressing any final theories or questions the students had. Many students were eager to share their voice in front of the classroom so I was thrilled to see that we conducted a positive open forum environment for the students to feel comfortable enough to express themselves.

            From this experience, I learned a great deal about planning for science lessons. I was able to finally go through the process of defining a big idea and creating certain outlets for which the students will go to make meaning of the big idea. Also, I learned that it is imperative to be flexible and that making changes every day is a realistic occurrence for teachers. I also learned that students really enjoy talking so giving them the time to express their thoughts and opinions will allow students to negotiate their understanding. I also learned that students really like to take ownership of what they have learned, especially through visual representations. The kids enjoyed making the posters and were very prompt to sharing which part they added to the whole. This taught me to incorporate student-made work around the classroom as much as possible so that students feel valued and can track their understanding.

            As I mentioned earlier, the biggest struggle with this lesson was timing. We foresaw the students breezing through all of the activities so we did not want to be underprepared. However, the opposite occurred and there were too many planned activities and things had to be removed. I think that it was a good idea to be prepared for more because deleting is easier to do on the spot than adding. As for modifications of the current lesson, I would like to have seen more writing used. The only time that the students wrote in any form, was when creating the visual poster. Half of the group wrote the interesting facts while the others drew illustrations about their expert rock. I like the idea of incorporating a chart that asks for beginning thoughts, thoughts during the process and then final thoughts/how have thoughts changed. Having this in writing can help deepen meaning as well as gives the students and teacher a way to assess understanding. Otherwise, I thought the lesson was actually very engaging and the students left the classroom with a new understanding of the types of rock. Of course, there is so much more for them to learn; especially only touching on the topic in two 45 minute periods! A quote that I feel symbolizes this experience for me is by Paulo Freire, “Whoever teaches learns in the act of teaching, and whoever learns teaches in the act of learning.”

Talk about Misconceptions

Stumbled Upon this and got a few cracks out of it.

http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/2vIa6O/parents.berkeley.edu/jokes/science.html

Education Findings

My mom sent this link to me so I thought I'd share it too.
Check it out:
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/201111040405/NEWS02/311040046

Also, I watched a special on CNN tonight called "Fixing Education" by Fareed Zakaria. It expresses the difference in education between the top 2 performing countries, South Korea and Finnland to the United States with alarming statistics.
This link it to an atricle summarizing the special but I suspect the film portion will be posted soon.

http://globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com/2011/11/05/gps-special-fixing-education/

School of the Wild

 Reflection

     On a cold October Friday, I was fortunate enough to experience the School of the Wild at the MacBride Nature and Recreation Area. Of course four of us girls got lost in the process of finding the groups in the area, so when we arrived, we jumped in on a lesson in the garden. What a great place to start! Gardener Jason was extremely knowledgable and passionate about the garden, which rubbed off onto the 6th grade Solon students. There we learned about basil, tomatoes, squash, garlic and much more. One of the best parts about it was that we got to taste test! During this lesson, we did mostly learning versus teaching of any sort. Like the article of Environmental Education, we were getting immersed in the first step of awareness, "increasing student knowledge about the environment." We followed behind and listened to the information that the gardener gave us as well as watched how he interacted with the kids to keep them engaged. He had them try the things he would present, such as tearing off the basil in the right area so that it grows properly as well as standing on a rock and kicking your leg up like a karate kid to show balance (for fun). It was fascinating to see how he told jokes, made real life connections for the students to understand the concepts and how he was constantly on the move to keep the kids alert and interested for more.

     After the garden it was lunch time, so we had a break to prepare for our activities. Since the grade had been split up into four groups prior to lunch, us four girls were able to join a group that was going to the area next that related to the theme of our activity. I'm not sure what it is about lunch and recess, but man do they go hand in hand! The kids had SO much energy after lunch when it was my time for the activity! That was helpful though. I presented my activity and the kids actually enjoyed it greatly. Despite the few resources (hoops) and low number of students, the students were able to grasp my activity just fine. The students understood the concepts being presented about migration which taught me to always assess where student's understanding is prior to an activity. Here the students were interacting with the objective of knowledge from the Environmental Education article. The activity went quick and it was time for SPIDER POND!
     I was very excited to visit Spider Pond. I love nature, I love canoes and I love exploring the depths of an untouched pond. The instructor of Spider Pond led us to the shed in which we got our PFDs and of course, being an ex-canoe instructor, I just had to quiz the students on PFDs and canoe safety. (this pond was not going to be dangerous, this just happens to be second nature for me now... how great). We sent out on our way down a wooded trail to the quiet hallows of Spider Pond. When we arrived, the instructor gave us a tutorial about what Spider Pond was all about. Here the students were introduced to the issues ecosystems have with humans intruding and causing problems. This is the third step in environmental education, attitudes; to learn of the values and gain feelings of concern for the environment (Braus, Wood p. 5-6). We then discussed that our goal was to find anything amongst the pond that was interesting or moving; like a frog! We took turns in the canoes and pulled ourselves along the ropes across Spider Pond to explore the duck weed covered ecosystem.

     We learned lots about that ecosystem such as how frogs "hibernate," that bubbles come up to the surface from trapped methane gases and how the vegetation collects at the bottom of the pond creating a form of "muck." As I participated like a student, I also observed what kind of things the students found interest in as well as how the instructor went about explaining things. I noticed that the students learned best when given visuals, such as the duck weed particles in hand and the "seaweed" like vegetation. Also, they asked more questions once they felt comfortable with me and knew that I was curious and passionate about the whole experience.

As for the instructor, I admired his abundance of questions. Whenever he was explaining something, he prodded the kids with questions that led them to the answers rather than him lecturing about the content. Also, he would have students look at things in more than one way; i.e. canoeing as a human and canoeing as an animal in the waters. Unfortunately, it was past our time which meant the fun was over.

     In that quick amount of time, I made new friends in the elementary aged form, frog form named Bob and educator form but more importantly engaged in a lesson about nature that will forever stick within my memory as something that I want all of my students to experience. I find great relation of my experience and hopefully of the Solon students, to this quote; "Experiential learning has been shown to increase retention, motivate students to learn, and encourage group cooperation... nothing can replace first-hand experiences to help students understand their community, natural systems and environmental issues" (Braus and Wood p. 9).

Below is the activity that I did during my experience. I copied it from my word document because I couldn't figure out how to upload an attached word doc.

School of the Wild

Allie Meyer

Migration Activity

*Birds migrate south so they avoid harsh winter weather.

Materials:
*Hoops (if accessible)

Activity

1.    Divide hoops so that half are on one end of the field representing wintering grounds and the other half on the other side representing their summer/nesting grounds.

2. Discuss with students the reasons why wetland habitats are being lost. For example, could talk about the impacts of drainage, drought, fire, pollution and contamination of water, urban expansion, conversion to farmland, illegal hunting and diseases.
3. Students will then represent the thousands of water birds that migrate back and forth across the playing area as the teacher signals.
4. The hoops represent wetlands that can only hold two birds (people) at a time. If the birds cannot find a place to land then they must die. They must move off to the sideline.
5. The students on the sideline can then call a disaster that might lead to another loss of wetland and therefore the removal of another hoop, for example, an area is drained for an urban housing development.
6. Some of the dead birds can then become hunters or diseases that might result in loss of bird life.
7. As the story progresses and there are more on the sideline than migrating birds, students on the sideline can join in the migration by thinking of suitable conservation activities that might result in the saving of a wetland. For example, they could think about replanting boggy areas, fencing wetlands, purchasing wetlands as reserves, regulation of hunting to particular areas, and restoration of wetlands.
8. Conclude the story when you think the issues have been explored. 

Questions:

What did this activity demonstrate?

What are your feelings and thoughts about their experience?

Discuss the links to lost habitat and loss of animal life?

Why are wetlands important areas to migrate birds?

Quote

"Every production of genius must be the production of enthusiasm."

- Benjamin Disraeli

Quiz Question

1. What is their swinging experience and why?
*Their swinging experience will be crooked. That means the outside of the trapeze (longer string) will wobble more when the swinging occurs because the shorter side will be the constant and going straight back and forth.

Trapeze

1. What is your personal experience with swinging on anything like a trapeze?
* I used to have a swinging bar on my play set that was very much like a trapeze that I would swing on by either my arms or by the bending at my knees.
* I have also been able to create more momentum that a trapeze does when on a swing to get higher.


2. What applications to "real life" do swinging objects have?
* Swings first off
* Pendulum
* Rope swings into water


3. What is your prediction about what will happen if two people are on one trapeze and only one is on the other and the one switches to the other? Explain (in terms of mass)
*I think that the momentum of the trapeze with two people will be greater due to the change in mass which then changes the rate of acceleration.


4. What understandings or ideas do you have about the science of back-and-forth swinging objects?
* I understand that gravity brings the objects down each time they reach their highest point of acceleration. Also, the momentum will begin to slow down unless a constant force is applied that continues the same momentum.


How does the weight of a swinging object affect the frequency of its swing?
Prediction: The greater the weight, the greater the frequency. (As more washers are added, the swing will increase, going back and forth. It will take longer (more strides) for the heavier to complete its trial.
*I think this because when I have been on a swing, if I create more weight which is known as a force, the higher I get as well as the longer (time) I go.
RESULTS:
Unfortunately our results are somewhat unconslusive. The averages are:
1 washer: 11.13
2 washers: 10.94
3 washers: 11
4 washers: 10.75
This could have very well been due to human error because the time was kept by eye watching the second hands on an analog clock. Also, the angle of the pendulum's first start was from the side and not the front so it could have been that it wasn't 100% accurately dropped each time.


Explore on own-> Change up materials and what questions do I come up with?
Changes: Used a large washer and found that on average there were 10 swings.
Questions:
*Does it actually have to do mostly with the rate of accerlation at the beginning?
*What would happen if we started the swing at a higher angle?
*Does the length of the string have any affect on the rate of frequency?

BB&W "Science Story"

My experience with BB&W and ideas within "science story":
*I can relate to the lesson by Ms. Travis the most because the BB&W activity done in class was set up most like this. There was some direction, given the sheets of paper and already laid out materials but each step was not fully represented by the teacher while requiring one specific result at the same time as everyone else. Of course we looked at a few different sheets that directed us differently (pink and yellow) but both had us figure out how to put the circuit together which taught us about the construction of it as well as allowed us to demonstrate our understanding of it.
*I and hopefully most nowadays, can say that Ms. Stone was too teacher-oriented therefore resulting in a class that only mirrored her actions rather than engraining a deepened understanding. On the flipside, Ms. Travis showed a great lessson; probing the students with questions that guided discovery and the freedom for students to wrestle with certain findings.
*A strong point that I have learned from previous readings about inquiry is that it is best to let students do the inquiry process first and then conclude with scientific explanations such as vocabulary.
*Something that I liked about Ms. Travis' strategy is one that we were able to carry out in the BB&W activty done in class; relating to prior knowledge. In class, we were to chose an answer to a question regarding BB&W purely based on what we already knew (regardless if we were to be right or wrong) and then try to solve the answer by our inquiry. This is like what Ms. Travis did with her students when she had them list what they could get to create a pound of electricity at the store first before the inquiry process even began.

Think about labs experienced, reading and own personal experience/ideas to create your

Ideal BB&W lesson 
First, the students need to get their minds sparked of the idea of electricity with some probed questions such as, "What things do you experience every day that use electricity? Are there things that make electricity?"
The students will individually create a short list in their science journals and then after a few minutes be asked to share their ideas. I will put the responses up on the board so everyone can see what the class has come up with as well as the similarities between objects that create and use energy.
Depending on the responses, probe the students in questioning things they would find in a grocery store or at home that could make a homemade battery/circuit. Have them write down these ideas and pose a question about what makes electricity occur? Such as how a circuit need to be to create electricity. After that, move to:
Activity
Materials: lemon, copper penny, silver dime, knife, science journal
Procedure:
*Have students in groups of 2 (or 4 if materials hard to obtain)
*Give students preparation directions:
1. Roll the lemon a few times on a counter to get the juices flowing.
2. Clean a penny and dime with soap and water using an old toothbrush.
3. With adult supervision: Use the knife to make two parallel slits very close together in the lemon (a pinky width apart).
4. Insert the clean copper penny in one slit and the clean silver dime in the other slit. Be sure the coins do not touch each other.

ENGAGE: Have students pose a question as to what they are supposed to do with the coins in the lemon? Hint: What can you do to create electricity (since that is our topic)? What will they need to do in order to create a circuit that generates electricity?
**This is more student-centered because the student directly poses a question.
EVIDENCE: With the use of their questions above, they will create an experiment to formulate responses that explain their question(s). All groups could be different, all could be the same.
**This is more student-centered because every group is unique and creating an investigation that relates to their previously made question.
EXPLANATION: Students (groups) will formulate an explanation from what they gathered through their evidence that supports or goes against their original question.
**This is more student-centered because the students have a unique way to use their evidence in order to explain their findings but is not 100% so because they should be prompted with Why did this happen? How can it be done differently?
EVALUATE: Depending on the processes chosen by the class, students will try other techniques that their peers found to be useful and if totally off the mark, I will pose this:
 * Make a prediction as to what may happen as your tongue touches the two coins. Record your predictions in the science journal.
**This is more student-centered because the groups are all individual and will rely on the findings of their peers in order to alter or enhance their original investigations. BUT if the groups are off the mark, then it will be more teacher-centered because the *prediction above, is giving them another possible explanation as to what is to be done with the lemon and coins.

5. Now, have 1 student from each group touch both coins with their tongue at the same time. What happens?
COMMUNICATE: Before recording observations in their science journal, have the student who felt the electricity explain the feeling to their partner. Each group should then discuss with another pair to see if they got the same results. Also, as a teacher pose these questions to get the students talking about how electricity works.
1. What is the power source?
2. What other fruit can be used instead of the lemon?
3. List the circuit parts.
**This can seen as right in between student and teacher centered. The students are openly talking, therefore quite possibly creating own arguments to solutions. However, the teacher must pose some questions that get the students on track to what and why things were happening.

*Adapted from http://scifiles.larc.nasa.gov/text/kids/D_Lab/activities/battery_3rd.html

Activitymania

The first science class lesson as a student in the elementary education program came straight out of a plastic tub in a 6th grade classroom at Kirkwood Elementary. At first, I thought to myself, "Oh wow, what a nice thing for the teacher to have access to! They have all of the equipment first hand, direction sheets printed out and result lists ready to go." This was during my Orientation course so I only got to see the students once a week but made a point to ask them what they learned since the last time I saw them. (obviously hinting at what in science did they learn, so I could get an idea about the topic I had most interest in) Unfortunately, so many of the responses were inconclusive and taught me that esstentially they learned 1 or 2 things, not so much concepts/big ideas, but details they remember from the activities they did in class. I found this to be alarming since they had so many resources to explore scientific phenomena and discover the relationships of the natual world around them. After reading "Activitymania," I have been able to synthesize my uneasy observation. They were not given enough opportunity for inquiry.


As the article states large on its first page(s), "Students learn the difference between "doing science" and doing science activities." As I related to an experience above, students need the concept of inquiry such as formulating a question, creating an investigation, formulating explanations, evaluating or reflecting on explanations and communicating their proposed explanations. Another difference between activitymania and inquiry is that assessment should be an on-going and authentic process (formative assessment) versus the immediate and specific answer assessment of activitymania.


It is easy for me to say now as an idealist that I really want to utilize these techniques of inquiry in my future classroom. They show that the students are really getting engaged, being in control of their learning and actually formulating knowledge from their investigations. Something from the article that made me realize that I will have to work on perfecting is my defining of conceptual goals and relationships of students' lives PRIOR to chosing which activity is appropriate. I find nothing wrong with small group, hands on activities; as long as they require the students to do the thinking and creating. Of course, if it is a more complex subject matter, I will propse the scientific explanations necessary, but once the inquiry work has been completed.
I plan to utilize the table illustrating the differences between activitymania and inquiry in my future when creating lessons so that I know what I should strive to be and what I need to avoid being.
A way to end like the wise:
"This movement will better ensure the development of scientifically literate citizens who will use science when making decisions to solve tomorrow's problems," (p. 18).

INSES ch. 1 & 2

I want to begin by saying thanks to the creators of this article because it finally mapped out what exactly inquiry is and how it is defined in the formal world of education. As an overview, I was able to apply the concepts of the 5 essential features of inquiry through the examples of the scientist observing dead trees amongst the Pacific coast as well as the 5th grade class observing the three trees. I enjoyed reading about their processes and being able to connect each essential feature to their steps involved.

A point from chapter 1 that I think is extremely important for all humans alike to keep in mind is that ALL humans, young or old, smart or dumb, are curious! I say screw the old saying of "Curiosity killed the cat," and think that it is an essential feature to work with when truly trying to learn or understand something. For years, humans have used the trial and error method that have taught people either not to do things because it ended up bad, or created some of the greatest scientific findings known today.

I also appreciated the clarification that inquiry is NOT the end all, be all of science education. It mentions that highly-structured and open-ended inquiries both have a place and that lessons must have an eye for both.
Chapter 2 also helped me realize that inquiry is not simply a learning goal for the students but a teaching method that a teacher must understand in order to create a classroom of fully engaged students.
I find the NSES standards to be somewhat bland in the fact that they are vague and run on but at the same time if they gave me a specific lesson plan for each grade/curriculum I would forsee myself being even more aggrivated. Even though the large number of explanations for each standard become tedious, I am glad that they offer a list for variety in order to mix up the amount of structure to the extent of student driven investigations.

The 5 myths at the end of Chapter 2 helped so that I did not leave this article having some fogged overlapping misconceptions about the concept. However, I still feel confused with how they are trying to promote inquiry so hard when the myths somewhat say well we promote it buut you need to have a variety of instruction, or it is also important for the teacher to instruct and so on. I understand but it is still hard for me to find a distinct line between inquiry-based instruction and noninquiry-based.

I guess this leads me into the Learning Cylce: Exploration->Invention->Discovery.

Circuits Lab

What is the smallest number of wire strips that is needed to make the bulb light up?


A. One strip of wire


Explain thinking about how to light the bulb:


If you have one wire that has its ends exposed (no in the protective coating), you just need to have a metal connector (i.e. paper clip) that conducts electricity attached to one side and the battery, and one end that touches the other end of the battery which the lightbulb is attached to as well.


Pink Sheet:
Electricity must have a complete circuit to work.
Creating electricity with wire, battery and lightbulb= put lightbulb on one end of the battery where a wire is and have the wire loop around to the other end of the battery; creating a full circuit and causing the lightbulb to light from electricity.




Circuits Labs
Pink Lab strengths=
*student-centered
*inquiry based
*More challenging/thought provoking
*engaging questions
Weaknesses=
*time consuming
*doesn't provide additional help
*doesn't provide background knowledge of concept(s) EX: vocabulary


Yellow Lab strengths=
*students understand learning goal
*can be completed more quickly
*gives alternate routes to solving the question
*shows diagrams/pictures of examples
weaknesses=
*not as engaging
*doesn't require students to create own questions
*doesn't allow students to dictate the process to the "solution"




NSES Standard:
Physical Science Content Standard B
-As a result of the activities in grades k-4, all students should develop an understanding of light, heat, electricity, and magnetism.
Benchmark:
- Electrical circuits require a complete loop through which an electrical current can pass.


Learning Goals (what students should know):
-TLW understand and be able to construct a closed circuit that produces electricity


Learning Performances (what do you want students to do to show they know):
-The students will perform the first step in creating a circuit with an energy source (D-cell battery), small 1.5V bulbs and a thin wire. From here, they will utilize a variety of materials to alter the intensity of the circuit, such as different sizes of batteries, different wires (coil vs. straight) and differnt volt lightbulbs. They will also need to show the maintaince of a circuit by putting different objects in between what they have found to be the connector (wire to battery) to see if the circuit remains closed. (EX: paperclip, paper sheet, etc.)
-Here the students are able to show their understanding in a variety of ways what a circuit is, that it produces electricity (shown through the lightbulb) and are able to construct it firsthand.

Magnet Lab: Standards

1.
Standard/ Benchmark
Content Standard B:
-As a result of the activities in grades k-4, all students should develop an understanding of
  -Light, heat, electricity and magnetism
Benchmark
-Magnets attract and repel each other and certain kinds of other materials.


Learning Goals: What should Students know
TLW recognize that there are forces in the world that we cannot directly see but have an affect on things we do see.


Learning Performances: What do you want students to do to show they know?
Students will perform an activity that involves two previously magnetized needles. First they will place one needle point and one needle eye side by side on a piece of paper. (the point is magnetized, not the eye)  Next they will place both eyes side by side.

 2. The students will be able to show and understand that when two sides of the same charge are together, they repel and when opposites are together, they attract. They will be able to understand that magnets have a force that cannot be seen by the naked eye but they can see the needles move as a result of the force.

magnets

1. Real life applications to magnets:
-collecting nails in workshop
-screwdrivers have magnetic tips to hold nails
-magnetic poles; compasses align with polarity of earth
-MRIs
-clothing sensors
-looking for coins/metal in trash, sand, etc
-credit card has magnetic strip
-MAGLEV trains; track
-rollercoasters


2.Experiences have had with magnets:
-using them to hold things on refrigerator/blackboard
-picking up nails with magnet pole in dad's workshop
-binding
**Experiment shows iron/steel is the only thing that breaks the magnetic field
Once magnets are attracted to magnet, then moved away, remain "magnetize" because the electrons are aligned. Therefore, this paperclip becomes a magnet, having poles which repel the opposite side of the magnet that originally was attached.

3. Ideas have about science of magnets:
-opposites attract
-same repell
-Metal is NOT the only thing to sticks to magnets
-Today's nickel ($ coin) does not actually have the element of nickel in it, therefore does not attach to magnets

Exploring Magnets (on own):
Magnetism is a force created by electricity, known as electrons. These electrons have a negative charge.
-Superconductors for creating electricity are strongest magnets made from coils of wire.
Aluminum, steel-iron, nickel and cobalt can be powerful magnets too.
Questions
How can one small magnet pick up hundreds of things such as nails?
Is there anything in a living organism that can be magnetized?
If a bar magnet is cut in half, how do the poles transfer to the new pieces and create new magnets? How do they maintain their magnetism?
What are the specific elements required for a material to be categorized as magnetic?

Results to Investigation:
I assumed ALL metals would NOT break the magnetic field. I found this assumption to be false because only iron/steel maintain a constant magnetic field. It was hard to figure this out on my own, because during the experiment we got results that concluded otherwise, saying that other elements passed the magnetism through. From my prior knowledge, I thought about things in my life that I have been able to attach to magnets and assumed that they wouldn't break the magnetic field. I find this interesting because I hope that this is a precursor to how I address misconceptions with my future students while having them focus on relating previous experiences to new.

"Challenge Me"

One of my strongest beliefs that I have acquired through learning about the constructivist learning theory as well as through various education classes, is that learning is done on the deepest level when done first hand by the learner and expressed through communication. With that said, through the activities in class including dissecting the NSES standards and the Bread Mold Growth experiment, I have gained new knowledge in some areas. Since I had to study a specific standard of NSES with a group, I worked practiced comprehension, discovery and social communication skills that I plan to teach my students. This also goes along with the Bread Mold Growth experiment I mentioned above because we had to work together and wrestle with our ideas about predictions and results. I plan to store those activities in my "teaching science" brain folder and refer back to them when creating futher lesson plans.

However, not everything is perfect about such strategies and the NSES. I feel as if I have been taking in these activities and being able to store them in my mental log, however they have yet to really brighten a new light to me. I admit I am yet to be a science teaching wizard, but since it is more my "jam," these things come naturally and clear to me. Some thing that I found new or interesting were the strict guidelines placed by NSES and Iowa Core. I am nervous to put my passionate ideas about exploring and discovering science into play and then realizing that I have to alter them so much to fit a standard that an over arching power thinks is most important. I just feel as if there are so many standards for just the science portion and as much as I would LOVE to only teach science, that is not reality and I will have to incorporate the standards in my lessons for reading, language arts, math AND social studies. Now that sounds like headache to me. I just hope to gain more strategies and skills through the semester that will make creating lessons and activities that fit standards a thing of ease rather than a tedious chore. Not to glorify it too much, but isn't teaching and learning supposed to be about exploring and putting meaning into the wonders of the world? I guess we shall see..

Iowa Core Website

This is not the first time I have visited the Iowa Core website, and definitely forsee it to not be my last. For the previous times I have, I have searched it with intent to find standards to apply in lesson plans purely for class assignments and have not taken the time to explore.

New findings:
*Webcasts- haven't used one before and am interested to see what topics they continue to add
*FAQ- always a great quick reference guide when in doubt
*Background- Until now, I wasn't sure of the motivation and purpose of why it was implemented as well as what it is trying to ultimately accomplish. I hope to see this benefitting Iowa so that it continues to excell rather than staying stagnant and actually riding on the bottom of the scale.
*Educator's Tab: There are a ton more options of links after clicking on the Educators PK-12 tab that give a variety of resources and helpful hints into bettering the curriculum and education of Iowa students.

Actually, I could go on and on about what I discovered once I actually took the time to explore the page but I won't because that would take far too long. Long story short, there is an endless amount of resources and information that aids not only educators but parents and students as well that I hope truthfully increase the level of education back up to Iowa's standards. There are always some areas of concern and questions regarding the intent, however if people utilize it correctly and wisely progress should be made.

As for Science, grades 3-5:
Earth and space, life and physical sciences all play a major role in the focus of the level of education. Each of which include 4-5 essential concepts and/or skills that students need to "Understand and apply knowledge of." I also found it interesting that there is a tab for age level as well as a tab for "By Disciple" that includes "Science as Inquiry." This page to me was somewhat confusing at first, but once I figured it out it seemed to be quite useful for my future as a science educator.

As the exploration has just begun, the journey shall continue along with fun.

MOSART Tutorial

Initially, the idea of going through an hours worth of tutorials sounded super tedious to me. Honestly, the first half ended up being but I came to the realization that this was because I did not go into it with the right mindset. I actually finished it in this mindset and forgot about it. I went back to the website again and found the information was actually extremely useful and relateable! This just goes to confirm that anything is possible with a PMA! (Positive Mental Attitude, thank you YMCA Camp.)

I like that MOSART brings up the basic understanding of what a misconception is, that everyone holds some form of misconception regardless of the subject and that there ARE possible ways to addressing them and redirecting them. Something that I have been studying more intently is the learning theory of constructivism. This is so directly related because it talks about how students are not just blank slates and that the reason they create misconceptions is from their build up onto prior knowledge/own-theories. It has become fascinating to me why students (people) create and stick to certain ideas they have about phenomena and as my sister is the queen of, being able to justify why they are right.

Another aspect that I found useful is the ending part of MOSART: Assessment Resources for Teachers. I only recently have begun my dive into the world of formative assessment and for the subject of science, I believe misconception probes are essential. Therefore, the test inventory is going to be something I refer to as much as necssary and find practical for the curriculum being taught. I have some more exploration of this site to do, but as for now I am finding meaning and acceptance that I shall hold on to.

Notes from 9/6

How many students need to know the content before we move on??
*What is the BIG idea? If truly relevant to life of child, must have 100% knowing. If 100% of students are not going to learn it, what's the point of teaching it?
EX: Bread Mold- be wise on what to buy, what molds and what doesn't, be aware of food quality, etc.
IF students are stubborn to their one notion of understanding, let them explore as long as it takes them to reach the level/area of understanding that you're requesting.
Take the time to actually teach students the information that way you're actually using time wisely vs. touching on basics year after year after year.


Powerpoint:
Slide 1- Misconceptions, Alternative Frameworks
Can happen right along with right or correct conceptions
Can simply be a mix up of two concepts or facts and only need clarification
Stick around because it is easiest to add to rather than rid of

Assessment Strategies (Keeley article)
3 Stages:
1. Pre-Formative= Diagnostic- to find out students' existing ideas-> Elicitation Stage
2. Formative= monitor student learning and/or to provide feedback to students on their learning ->Exploration and Concept Development Stage
3. Summative= to measure extent to which students have achieved learning goal-> Application stage

Keeley's book gives a few lessons with topics & probes! Differentiation too.

"Introduction: Assessment and Probes"

I never truly understood the importance and variety of assessment until the Methods of Mathematics course I took this summer. After learning that summative assessment was thankfully not the only way to test, I found a greater understanding of why teachers assess. This article also guided me towards common and useful tips to gauge student achievement and self-reflection.
I like that the variety of assessments can come in the form of any sized group questioning, student interviews, observations, informal conversations, journaling (*a favorite), performance tasks, and even traditional forms like quizzes and summatives tests (p.1). "...assessment practices should focus on making students' thinking visible to themselves and to others by drawing out their current understanding so that instructional strategies can be selected to support an appropriate course for future learning" (p 2) is a quote that I found most comprising from this article.
Something that became clarified to me is that assessment, aka probes, is for learning, not of learning. It is never too late to make alterations in a lesson and it is always best to make everything work in its best form in order to aid the students at full potential. I keep finding great quotes that summarize the article as well as beliefs that I have gained through all of the readings. For example, "...you must know what your students' starting points are so that you can provide experiences that support the development of correct conceptual understanding," (p. 4). I am glad to see the incorporation of the questioning strategies, whether they are straight forward or vague enough to get students truly thinking.
Whether it is assessments or probes, the student and teacher must be engaged and maintain a level of communication of understanding in order to provide further learning opportunities.

"Teaching for Conceptual Change: Confronting Children's Experience"

Right off the bat, I love the first sentence, "For nine winters, experience has been the children's teacher." I believe that experience is always a person's teacher, not just for a period of time or in a specific area (like winter.) I also like the fact that Deb O'Brien allows her students to reflect on their experiences and pinpoint where their misconceptions have formed and from there, fix them. We have discussed the issue as well as importance of misconceptions being brought up in classrooms. It is important for students to see what is a correct analysis or interpretation of information rather than simply opinion. One of the great ways I am truly fond of that O'Brien addressed this was having them find out/exlpore the mysteries first hand. This draws the students to the overall theme from this reading, "conceptual change."
Another interesting point mentioned in this reading as well as in others related is the fact that children will actually begin to understand information when they begin to wrestle or test their limits of knowledge. This aids to the belief that students need to be at the center of teaching/learning of a subject, otherwise known as inquiry-oriented. However, I agree with a statement in the article that even though these are the idealistic classroom set-ups, many today still rely on the textbooks for facts that get "absorbed" by the blank slated students.
 I would like to say that I am a constructivist, like the article talks about, because I explore the wonders of the world and create my own understanding through experiences whether it is by assimilating or accomodating my overall knowledge. It is not 100% mandatory for every teacher and learner to be this way, but I do believe that it is essential to have some skills in constructing personal knowledge. Finally I agree with the methods listed for teachers to actively promote students to create new thinking patterns: "stressing relevance, making predictions, and stressing consistancy." As long as students can wrestle with prior knowledge and not be stubborn on altering their preconceived notions, they will become a deeply educated student.

"Theoretical Foundations for Constructivist Teaching"

If I were to make a summative response over this article, I would like to retitle it "Quick Guide to Education." This article encompasses concepts and ideas that are taught through the Ed. Psych. course as well as in merely every education course offered. There is absolutely nothing wrong with the information, it is just repetition for a student half-way through the program. With that being said, any guide book is a quick and easy reference to a topic that can otherwise be extremely extensive and I intend on keeping this within my "files."
Some further clarification that I gained from this article is that Piaget views development as leading learning while Vygotsky views learning as leading development. The way the author worded it and put them simultaneously together, I was able to make sense of their differentiation. I must say that from this, I am leaning towards agreeing more with Vygotsky. Granted a three year old is not going to understand why the seasons exist because they have simply expereienced them all but I do believe that a child will excel mentally and potentially physically once they have absorbed and made sense of their surroundings.
I have to admit, I enjoyed Figure 2-3 (Social constructivist teaching suggestions) and Figure 2-4 (Constructivist strategies for teaching) so much for the fact that they were so inclusive, that I just printed them out and will continue to hold them in my binder of useful things. They encompass the basic strategies/concepts that I have ever learned through education courses. A few final things I found interesting from the article were that they mentioned a few of my favorite things together: experimentation and problem-centered activities. Hoorah! In one section it also talks about the use of language in the classroom and it relates to me because I find that essential for all classrooms and I fully intend to have a classroom FULL of posters with vocabulary, quotes and diagrams of all sorts.

Private Universe

What are my best understandings about?            ((Classroom Exploration))


1. How the phases of the moon occur?
The moon is in constant orbit around the Earth. Due to the tilt in the axis of the Earth, the sun reflects light off of different portions of the moon. There are four phases of the moon:waning, waxing, full and new.
*The sun reflects light off the moon's surface depending on where the moon is in orbit around the Earth; creating different amounts of of surface showing towards the sun and to the Earth.

2. What causes the seasons?
This also depends on the orbit of Earth and it's tilt of the axis. When the Northern Hemisphere/pole is leaning towards the sun at most, in it's rotation, the Northern Hemisphere experiences summer and the Southern Hemisphere is then experiencing its winter. This goes vice versa for when the Southern Hemisphere/pole is at most facing the sun, the Southern Hemisphere is then experiencing summer while the Northern Hemisphere experiences winter. Spring and Autumn occur during the transitional periods between full leanings.

3. What causes a lunar eclipse?
When the sun gets in between the orbit of the moon and the Earth so we are unable to see the moon. ((BAD WORDING!))
*When the moon passes directly behind the Earth and is in direct alignment with the Earth and sun so that the sun is unable to illuminate the moon.


Notes about astronomy:
Galileo argued that the Earth is in the middle saying the sun is in the middle. This is called the heliocentric theory.
In OUR universe, the sun appears to be unmoving. The northern hemisphere faces the North Star: Ursa Major. We always tilt pointing toward it. Takes one year for Earth to orbit the sun.
The Earth's axis is 23.5 degrees.
Four imaginary lines on Earth: Equator, Prime Meridian, Tropic of Cancer and Capricorn.
Prime Meridian is made up by humans, irrelevant to science.
The tropic lines are the points on the Earth where the south (Capricorn) gets direct sunlight: the Winter Solstice. Tropic of Cancer is north.
Equator/Equinox: Equal days of sunlight and night.
Moon: The moon appears to rise in the East and set in the West. When the moon is directly between new and full, we call it the quarter moon and then in between full and new is three-quarter moon. Waxing= getting bigger, waning=getting smaller.
Solar eclipse is when the moon is in direct alignment between the sun and the Earth, so parts of the Earth cannot see the sun.
The moon's orbit is in a slight tilt enough to create eclipses.
"Once in a blue moon" = 2 full moons in a month
Pluto go booted because of its size as well as it does onto fall into the Solar Systems' orbital plane in agreement with the Sun.

*I will actually learn science in its entirety once I teach it.

"Misconceptions Die Hard"

The best technique to addressing misconceptions is nipping them in the bud before they bloom. An effective approach to doing this is compiling a list of common or previous misconceptions that can be addressed to the class in the beginning when asking what students know about the content. This comes with effective teaching strategies that instruct students on the content areas through various forms such as closely monitored labs, probing questions and frequent formative assessments. I agree with the article that a student's preconceptions of any subject matter can interfere with their learning of science content, however it is the teacher's job to redirect their attention towards the clarification of such confusion. If a student is completely misled, that is fine because at times, students learn best from their mistakes. However, as a future educator it is my belief that they must learn conceptual understanding through a series of connections to previous knowledge and repetition of new.


The study in the article struck me as interesting and somewhat expected. Students today struggle the most with science content retention. This may be due to the fact that everything is so easy for them and that they do not have to think about how things work as they are using them. The relation of science is not as directly applicable to their lives unless they have a passion for it or a motivating teacher to open them up to the world. I found it interesting that the common areas of no understanding were the looped wire, crumpled aluminum and jar lid with holes. What about these specific items were the most confusing? All items are found in most typical homes in some form or another. The fact that the college aged students were not far higher in comprehension of the subject areas struck me as alarming because they are the ones with the "most education" and closest to the "real world." With a study and findings such as this I must ask, what is the point of elementary and secondary education if it is not retained throughout life? Or is this just the outlying issue with science? This is to be explored..

Response to Krajcik's Social Constructivist Model of Teaching

I am not so sure whether it is that I have been constantly taught the social constructivist model of teaching or if it is because I truthfully agree, that this theory sounds pretty darn good. All of the main components; active engagment, use and application of knowledge, multiple representations, use of learning communities and authentic tasks, work right up my alley of an ideal effective classroom.


After working in various settings with children whether it being in an after-school reading program or a fun summer camp, I have found that students learn the best when their exploration is self-motivated. In agreement to the social constructivist theory, students need to get hands on in a variety of creative ways while communicating about the content with others. As for the teacher, it is their responsibility to probe the children with questions that do not force feed information but allow students to arrive at an understanding on their own. I am curious, is scaffolding just a fancy word for the expected form of teaching? I mean, what is teaching without scaffolding? Nowadays, it is forbidden for teachers to spit out answers and merely have students recite the responses. Must I explore the world of scaffolding more than what is given to me in this social constructivist theory or will I have it good and down once I have memorized and acted out the given strategies? I guess we shall see.


The diagram posted in the reading on page 57 that shows the level of involvement with concrete materials and the percentage of retention really set in for me when I directly applied it to myself. I went through each "material" and thought back to previous times and found that the things I remember the most began with field trips then deomonstrations and it was the most prevalent with experiences I conceived myself. An example is when I was at YCamp as a camper and got myself into Stingy Nettles. Let me tell you, they were VERY uncomfortable! Luckily, my leaders were knowledgable to tell me about Jule Weed's magical juice and sent me on a hunt for it. From that moment on, I told every camper of mine as well as other leaders of the world's joy and never had to experience that discomfort again. I remember every detail about that experience to a tee because I created it first-hand and continued with it from there on out. Students of all ages and levels can gain similar understandings just as I did and will benefit at most with self-exploration.


If the social constructivist model of teaching has been coined as the official name for this theory, then I will continue on using that name, but if that is just the flossy title used to sound official, then I will continue on teaching students to be interested in their own self-fulfilling education.

"Rising to Greatness"

Initially when I read this article title, I thought it was going to be about how great the education system is in Iowa and that becoming a teacher here was the best choice! Too bad I was very mistaken. As an Iowan, I have always prided my state on being a top-performer in educational statistics and found it quite alarming that since the 1990s, we have not only stayed stagnant on our achievement levels but even declined in certain areas. I remember as an elementary student loving the week of ITBS (Iowa Test of Basic Skills) because that meant we got tastey snacks and I got to fill out tests that were a breeze for me. Are students today missing out on the snacks and therefore getting worse scores? I think this may be.
In reality, I agree with the Iowa DOE that the state has become too comfortable with strategies they used back in the day and while everyone else around the nation and globe have put in the effort to find new and improved techniques, we're staying put. The comment by Jason Glass that I found to be extremely encompassing ends with, "If you aren't getting better, you are getting worse."
I question however, is it the issue that the teachers are not able to teach a variety of learners or that the variety of learners cannot come to an agreement that school needs to be taught in a streamlined way?
 What have we changed from the time that we were in the sufficient levels? Are these things that we need to go back and re-alter?
I have also wondered that is part of the reason the U.S. falls much lower on the achievemnt scale compared to other countries such as China and India due to our focus on a wider spectrum of education including community and societal understanding?
 Is it an issue that we have learned to take pride in our country's diversity and promote differences?
Despite my devils's advocate of questions. I do believe that such statistics show truth to problems occuring that need action taken immediately in order for our country to produce the best of the best. I cannot say where I will be teaching in the future, but I hope someday that I will be in Iowa and that I can say my state's education system has gone up since 2010 and possibly back to where we were in the 1990s! It is going to take us educators to not only see the issues but create means to fix them and better yet techniques to avoid problems from the get go.
Whatever it takes, which is why I am in school to learn, we need to get back on track and get the ball rolling to greatness! If not for Iowa's sake, for the children's.