11/20/08 Work Day

On Thursday in science class, we were asked to bring our laptops to class so that we could work on our final lesson plan. We discussed the requirements for the final lesson plan and signed up for grade levels. My group picked 4th grade to work with. We are required to do a lesson on measurement and link it to the 3rd and 5th grade lessons. That was basically all that we did on Thursday.

11/13/08 Work Day

Today in science class, we discussed some things that needed to be made clear, such as our second lesson plans and the science fair judging.
After we discussed those matters, we got to working on our second lesson plans. Tessa and I had already finished ours, but we realized that we would need to make a few minor changes to it. Since Tessa and I had already done the lesson plan we just talked about what we could do for our next lesson plan and about the changes that we need to make to the second lesson plan. We didn't get much done, since I hadn't brought my computer to class and our lesson plan was on my computer. However, we did make some progress.

Discrepant Events

A discrepant event is when you expected certain results, but got completely unexpected results instead. Discrepant events are important to use and have in the classroom because it is a learning experience for students. They learn how to find out why the results of an experiment turned out differently than they expected. Discrepant events are great teaching points because the teacher can address and discuss with the students why something turned out the way it did and not the way everyone expected. Students can reflect on their answers and figure out why things turned out differently.

11/6/08 Potato and Sodium Experiment

Today in science, we viewed a PowerPoint presentation on the 5E Model. We learned all about the 5E's and what they are and how they help students learn. After we learned about them, we were given the task to set up the procedure for an experiment involving potatoes and salt. Our group decided that our experiment was part of the explore phase of the 5E Model. We decided our procedure should involve the students getting their supplies and then adding 1 Tbsp of salt with 1/2 cup of water to a potato. Then we would have them add 4 Tbsp of salt with 1/2 cup of water to another potato slice. Finally, the students should add 1/2 cup of plain water to another potato slice and see what happens between the three. The students are to record their observations and they should arrive to the conclusion that the potato with the most salt floats, while the lower sodium potato floats a little bit, and the potato with just water does not float at all. Overall, science class was extremely fun today.

The 5 E Model

After reading the article about the 5 E's, I realized how important it is to use these in my future classroom.The 5 E's include: Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, and Evaluate. These five stages are important to use in the classroom because they offer a variety of ways to help students learn. The engage stage is where students use their prior knowledge and make new connections. The explore stage is where students get a hands-on experience. The explain stage is where the students talk about what they are learning. The elaborate stage is where students expand on the things that they have learned. The evaluate stage is where the teacher assesses whether or not the students have learned the material. When teachers use these five stages in the classroom, they ensure that their students will learn new things and build on different competencies. Some day when I have a classroom of my own, I will be sure to use the 5 E's to help my students understand the content that they are being taught.

11/4/08 Assessment

Today in science, we had one more presentation to see. It had to do with the four seasons and what we do in each season, such as how we dress. They had a handout that we were allowed to color and the video of the changing seasons was really cute.
We also got to shoot off our bottle rockets that we had not been able to do previously due to time constraints. One of the rockets shot really high into the air and some of them fizzled out. Our bottle rockets drew a little crowd that watched what we were doing.
After the last presentation, we talked about assessments. We viewed a powerpoint on the topic of assessments and learned all about formative and summative assessments. We learned all about assessments and how to use them and when not to use them in the classroom. It was a very interesting class period.