Article Review: Discovering Flowers in a New Light

   There are always new and advance means of technology that help teach topics within science. Teachers think of way to help the students learn more efficiently and gain more information then how they normally teach. In the article, Discovering Flowers in a New Light, we look at a classroom  that has come up with a new and advance way of teaching the structure of flowers. They incorporate new technology and use the 5 E's in mastering their lesson, which are engage, explore, explain, elaborate, and evaluate. Within the article they go through the 5 E's through out their lesson plan.
   This lesson used digital microscopes on a computer screen to look at the specimen. This was the advance technology that they incorporated to improve their lesson. When using the digital microscope the whole class was able to see the specimen all together. They had the students practice with the use of the digital microscope giving them an object to use. After the students became familiar with the technology they then continued on with the lesson.

Engage:
   When using the first E, they read to the students or had the students read a book about the process of flower growth and structure to get them more familiar on the topic and access their prior knowledge. It also included language arts due to the books connection to the topic being taught. When going through the book they also asked the students questions.

Explore:
    They were to sketch what they thought a flower looked like from memory. They sketch the structures and as much detail they could remember.  They then gave the students a certain flower to look at. It was mentioned that if you gave them a rather large flower that they will be able to distinguish the structures and detail better.

Explain: 
     Students were then asked to answer a couple questions, putting them in groups from here on out,  based on the flower they viewed and sketched. This helped focus on their observations, as said in the article, and had them explain what they saw. The questions would then start into conversations between classmates. These questions included, what part is that?, what do you think the function of that structure is?, and what have you observed that made you think that?

Elaborate: 
      The students would then get couple more flowers, including the one they have originally observed. They would then look through the digital microscope and find similarities or differences in structures and functions.

Evaluate: 
    Teachers assessed the students by groups to present their findings to the class. They were to show their findings by using snapshots taken by the digital microscope.

  After reading this article, I found it to be very interesting to see the new technology that is being put to use in the classrooms. I also love the idea of having books incorporated into the lesson as well. Not only did they do science but also Language Arts. This lesson is an example of the improvements made in the classrooms and lesson, which is by the aid of technology. I would definitely recommend a teacher to read this article. It can help if you are looking for new technology in science or if you need an engaging lesson to teach on flowers and their structures. 

Here is the link to the article if you would like to read it and learn more!

Misconceptions?

      This week we learned about misconceptions in science! Many student tend to believe or create myths in their minds and it is up to us, as teachers, to help the students learn more information about the topic to turn away from those misconceptions or build upon them. In class we paired up with a partner and made a list of misconceptions for dinosaurs and violent weather. My partner was Amanda  and I was shocked to see that most of our misconceptions that we had when were little were very similar.

Some of our misconceptions on dinosaurs and violent weather were:

1. Dinosaurs were made up or just story parents told at bed time. 
2. All dinosaurs are violent and dangerous.
3. Thunderstorms were going to destroy my house and I would not have a home. 
4. Intense rainstorms were going to blow me away. 

       

     Students are going to create many more misconceptions on many other different topics. I work in a Daycare with a lot of two year olds and I have noticed they they even have misconceptions on many different topics in science and other subjects. I always ask them where they came up with their ideas and they always tell me different ways. Some learn it while watching cartoons or books. However, most of the books that they read are fictional. After coming up with some misconceptions we had as children we were asked to answer a couple of questions about them. These questions, as teachers, are a good way to figure out how and why students come up with them. 

The questions we had to answer were:

        

•   What does this say about the misconceptions with which our students will come to our science classroom?
• What is the purpose of identifying student misconceptions?
• How does identifying student misconceptions relate to constructivist teaching?

Here is the link to our answers and what we thought! Misconceptions that students create are out of our control, but we can guide our students to the truth and identify them when we notice them!

My fieldwork Experience

A couple of days ago our class had finished our last day of fieldwork at Bishop Dunn Memorial School. This was such a great learning experience not just for me, but for my colleagues as well. We all learned so much as a class and I am sure we will carry this experience throughout our learning and even when we do become teachers. Even though we did finish our fieldwork, we did not finish our class and I am excited to see what else is in store for us going forward!

Lesson Plans 

During my time at fieldwork I got to see two types of lessons, a direct lesson and a inquiry lesson. Since we were split into groups of 3 or 4 I was able to see how each group did their lesson and the different ways of teaching the content with the lesson plans. Direct lesson is the direct teaching of the information. You are giving the students the information on the topic and then giving them guided practices to then challenge their knowledge on what was just taught. In inquiry lesson, you are providing the students with a problem to solve and they will go through the steps of inquiry to solve it. While watching my groups present, I was able to see how much the students progressed and how much they loved all of our lessons! 

Another part of this experience that I learned a lot from was creating the lessons. Each lesson has a different format. For direct, it is introduction, development, guided practice, closure, and then assessment. When creating a inquiry lesson, you use the format of the 5E's, which are engage, explore, explain, extend, and evaluate. After we would create our lessons Dr. Smirnova would give of feedback on what we should work on and how to improve our lessons for the future. I think that it was a great way for us to see where we need improvements on that way we can better ourselves as teachers. It also helped when actually teaching our lessons. 

Below is the link to my group's lesson plan for Direct and Inquiry lesson! 

Direct Lesson 

Inquiry Lesson 

Reflections & Feedback 

Not only did we create and actually teach our lessons to a classroom of students, we were observed by our fellow classmates. We were expected to watch each group and fill out a form and answer questions based on each groups teaching and lesson. We were also at the end of creating our lessons were exceptions to reflect and add questions for us, as a group, to reflect on at the end of teaching. I thought everyone did an amazing job teaching their lesson. Especially since, for most of us, it was our first time teaching in front of an actual classroom. Each group work extremely hard on their lessons and did the best they could! Below is a link to each of my observations on each group, including the reflection of my own group!

Group 1 (my group) 

Direct Lesson 

Inquiry Lesson 

Group 2

Direct Lesson 

Inquiry Lesson 

Group 3 

Direct Lesson 

Inquiry Lesson 

Group 4 

We were unable to see their direct lesson. 

Inquiry Lesson 

Music & Sleep!

This week our class participated in the BDMS science fair! I had to use my interests and conduct a science experiment. After conducting the experiment we had to create a poster board and send it in to BDMS. For my experiment, I looked at music and people's ability to sleep. I always used to sleep with music on, but as I got older I stopped. I always wondered how I was able to sleep without music after all this time while throughout my teenage years  I have been listening to music. 

      When starting to conduct my experiment, I had two participants. The first participant listens to music every night she falls asleep, whereas the other participant did not. Both participants were required each night to listen to different types of music and one night without any music. This helped determine what kind of music or if no music helped the individual sleep at night. After all the data was collect, I concluded that both participants slept better when listening to relaxing classical music. To collect the data I had my participants keep a journal. When they woke up the next day they were to record their feelings within that journal. There were certain questions that they were to address and those questions included: 

   1. How did you sleep? 

2. What type of music did you listen to? 

3. What type of music do you enjoy? Did you enjoy this one?

Then after the day is done they will write in their journal one more time to answer the following question: 

4. Were you exhausted throughout the day? 

5. Did you take a nap? 

      

      When collecting data and conducting this experiment I did not use any resources on the topic or any other websites for this project. For this experiment I knew what I was doing and my information on the topic I was focusing on. I used past experiences as well as my friends past experiences to further inform myself. If I were to elaborate more on this experiment I would have fully explained what I have done and the process. I also would have explain in depth more on my research as well. Below is a picture of my science fair project! 

       I thought this project was very enjoyable. I loved how I was able to do whatever experiment I found an interest in. I also enjoyed the process of the experiment and going through the scientific method.  I felt as if I was an actual scientist figuring out a problem. You can accommodate this kind of science fair project to meet the needs of different grade levels abilities. When doing it in a higher grade level you can go more in depth with the project by actually doing more research on an individuals brain and how it works to figure out exactly why it is we can sleep with or without music. For younger grades you can do what I have mainly done. Conduct the experiment based on past experience.
 

     I think science fairs are a great part in student's education. It helps them become creative and help

them understand the scientific method better. Throughout the project you are going through the scientific method. You will formulate the question, which is do individual sleep better with music or without. Then you will do research on the topic based on grade level. You could look at the human bodies brain and figure out why this is happening or look through the past and look at people's past sleeping habitats and how that can be incorporated to this experiment. The next would be to figure out a hypothesis. What way do you this people can sleep better in? Do you think the person who listens to music sleeps better or the one without music? You would then conduct your experiment. I mentioned above how I conducted the experiment and thats who you would go through that section of the scientific method. Then collect the data and draw conclusions through what you have found. Did the participants sleep better with the music? Then you would report. Was your hypothesis correct? These are the steps I followed throughout my science fair project. I throughly and carefully made sure I completed each aspect of this method to get the full results. 

When I become a teacher I hope that my school has science fairs and if they do I will definitely encourage my students to participate in them. If they don't I would try and have my class have their own mini science fair. This way they would get a chance to participate in one just like it and get that experience!