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!