Why Does Static Cling?

For my research article review I decided to read Why Static Clings by Laurie Naab and David Henry. The authors felt it was important to conduct this study, and write this article because they wanted to address common student misconceptions about static electricity and magnetism. The main purpose of this article/study is to address students misconceptions and help students change their misconceptions through hands on activities and discoveries independently. Many teachers teach students about static electricity by rubbing a balloon on their head as an example, but the real question the authors are asking is do the students know WHY exactly this static electricity occurs.

This article explains possible misconceptions of students and lessons that can be used to help students get rid of these misconceptions about static electricity. Using the 5E learning-cycle, teachers will be able to help their students understand why static clings. Students were encouraged to make predictions within their investigation and also to make observations. Hopefully, throughout this experience, students will become aware of their misconceptions that they might have had, and eventually learn the right information to correct them. Its also important that students explain there predictions and how their thoughts changed based on their observations and what they learned through the lesson. 

This article provides many ideas for four days of engaging students in learning about static electricity. It is suggested that day 1 is used to engage the students with static electricity and to find out any misconceptions the students may have about static electricity and magnetism. The common balloon can be used to bring up these misconceptions. Many students believe that static and magnetism are the same. This article suggested that the students explore deeper into this topic with the use of tape and eventually magnets. The students went through a series of investigations to make new discoveries about static electricity and magnetism. The final steps include evaluating the students to understand what they found out by asking the original question. By evaluating the students, the teacher will be able to see the progress the students have made by the changes in their answers. These lessons were inquiry based lessons. They were successful because the students were able to create their own understanding about static electricity through observations. They were able to get rid of their misconceptions and create a more accurate model of static electricity in their heads. These students were also able to follow the scientific method by gathering information, making hypotheses, recording data, and debating evidence. They were able to create new ideas throughout their journey by making observations. 

I enjoyed reading this article because tons of information about a specific science phenomenon and it addressed the misconceptions that most students have about it. Before I read this article I did not have a clear understanding as to why static actually clung, but this article helped me to understand it and even get rid of some of my own misconceptions.  This article also included some fun and engaging lessons to include in the classroom to teach students how static clings. Research articles are great to use in the classroom as a resource because it provides the students with a brief overview of information on one topic. Students will find it interesting to read a research article because it discusses one topic and focuses on that area. Research articles also provide interesting information to further each students learning. They also incorporate literacy into the subject of science because it helps students with their reading and writing skills. Students can create a project or write a response to the research article about the important parts or the misconceptions that have been cleared for them. This is great for practicing writing skills. Teachers can benefit from research articles because they provide a lot of information about a topic to use during a lesson and in the classroom. Research articles are a great tool to use and can be found almost anywhere, including online!

Severe Storms

Hurricanes, Floods, Blizzards, Tornadoes, Thunderstorms

This week we created mini lesson plans in groups on topics related to earth science.  My group decided that we knew the least about weather, so we chose the topic of severe storms.  We used glogster to create a virtual poster board.  This was my first time using glogster and I had a great time creating this poster to share with the class. I think this is a great tool to use in the classroom because students can collaborate and communicate with their peers to create a virtual poster board to share with the class. 

We put a picture of each weather disaster that we taught about on the poster as well as a fact about that storm. Then each member of our group chose a topic to explain to the class. To pre-assess our students knowledge we asked questions verbally before we started to see what our students knew about severe storms. Throughout the lesson we stopped to check for understanding to make sure that the class was understanding the material.  At the end of our lesson we used a kahoot quiz to close our lesson and to see what our students learned and what they still needed to work on understanding.  Kahoot is a great tool to use in the classroom because it is extremely engaging for the students. Every student gets to participate individually. Although it is a quiz, to students it seems like a game because you are using technology.  I had a good experience creating this mini lesson plan.  I did think it was a little challenging because instead of planning a lesson that takes up 50 minutes we had to create a lesson that would fit into 10 minutes.  This was hard because you have to choose the most important material to share with the class during this time. Overall, we covered each topic with the most important material and used different types of technology to engage the class. I had fun working with my group members and I am looking forward to creating more mini lesson plans. 

Time to Reflect!

It is time to reflect on my journey through teaching science in the 6th grade class at Sacred Heart Elementary School!

For the past four weeks I have spent my time teaching and observing in a science classroom. This experience has been wonderful and has offered me so many different learning opportunities. At first I was very apprehensive about teaching in front of 40+ people, but after my first time doing it and seeing how fun it truly was I believe I have conquered my fear. Teaching an entire class for the first time will always give me butterflies, but through this experience I have learned how great the feeling of accomplishment is after the fact and how rewarding it feels when your students grasp the content. The children of Sacred Heart's 6th grade science class have inspired me to be the best teacher I can be and I hope that one day I can inspire my students as well. I learned how to handle stressful situations and to always be prepared for the unexpected. I also learned how to accommodate and work with students of varying levels. This experience was very beneficial to my improvement. I am very thankful that Dr. Smirnova gave us this wonderful opportunity to teach a whole 6th grade science class. 

The first lesson we taught was direct instruction. From watching the group before me I learned how important time management, behavior management, and inclusion of every student is. For this lesson we taught about igneous and sedimentary rocks.  A direct instruction lesson is teacher-centered rather than student-centered. During this lesson, the teachers instruct the students and teach them the key information with limited student interruption. We decided to teach our lesson using a powerpoint. (Our powerpoint is attached here.) We started by pre-assessing our students knowledge by sharing with them pictures from the book A Rock is Lively and asking them if they could share any knowledge they had about rocks. This helped us to understand what knowledge the students already had about rocks and any misconceptions they may have. This part of the lesson also helps to engage the students for the rest of the time. During our instruction we failed to provide our students with a note packet to follow along with, which is an improvement that we can make for the next time. Our powerpoint was filled with pictures and colors to keep the students attention. In a direct instruction lesson it is very important to include check points for understanding to make sure that the students are getting the content of the lesson. Throughout the lesson we verbally asked questions to the students and asked them to respond on his or her dry erase board that they had at their desks and to simply hold it up in the air. The children loved this because they were able to use markers on their boards. At the end of the powerpoint we included a guided practice. As our guided practice we held up a rock for the class to see and asked each student to observe the rock silently and write down on their board whether they believed it was igneous or sedimentary and hold it up in the air when they are finished for us to see. Then, we would share with the class what type of rock it actually was. To close our lesson, we passed out a sticky note to each student and asked them to write down one new fact that they learned during the lesson and to place it on the poster board in the back of the classroom on their way out. The last part of our lesson was an independent practice activity in which each student was to finish their rock drawing that they created on the first day we met and write one to two sentences on what type of rock it is and why. This independent practice was to be done independently. This independent practice allowed us as teachers to understand what our students had learned from the lesson.  After reading through our students responses I could tell that they had a great understanding of the material. 

The next lesson that we taught was an inquiry lesson. Inquiry-based learning starts by posing questions, problems or scenarios rather than simply presenting established facts or portraying a smooth path to knowledge. The students will identify and research issues and questions to develop their knowledge or solutions. Inquiry lessons support and develop problem solving and critical thinking. Inquiry based learning is based on the 5Es and the scientific method. The 5E's are engage, explore, explain, elaborate, and evaluate. Students use their prior knowledge to come up with explanations for their experiences. They are able to explore the through facts and materials. They have opportunities to represent their developing understanding, by remaining actively engaged in the learning process. Finally, they are able to elaborate and explain the information that they have discovered. In addition, the scientific method is used in which students follow 5 mains steps. These steps are: ask a question, form a hypothesis, conduct an experiment, analyze results, and make a conclusion. We reviewed the scientific method with the students in order for it to be fresh in their minds while they were solving the problem we introduced to them. To begin our lesson we used a word cloud to pre-assess our students knowledge. We asked the students if they recognized any of these words and if they could define any of them. 

For our inquiry lesson plan we gave each student Play Doh and asked them to each make a rock; they could decide whether they wanted to make it igneous or sedimentary. Before we started, as a class we came up with the question that we would be solving, which was: "Is this rock igneous or sedimentary?" Each student created their rock and then wrote a clue on an index card to leave at their desk for their peers to use while figuring out what type of rock it was. When the students were done making their rocks we used numbered popsicle sticks to reveal which rock the student would be observing. Once the student chose his or her popsicle stick each student carefully moved to the rock that they would be observing. Each student filled out the rock tracking sheet that we provided for them with his or her hypothesis, analyzation results, and conclusions.  Throughout our lesson we used a powerpoint as a visual for the students to follow the steps we were taking through inquiry. At each table there was also a small book that we made that consisted of the word cloud, directions to follow, and the steps of inquiry. To close our lesson, we had each student share with the class what type of rock they created and the student who observed it was to check whether they observed what type of rock it was correctly. As teachers we encouraged our students to share their conclusions and discoveries with the class. As an independent practice, we had each student answer a few questions on what type of rock they created and write a short summary on his or her journey through the inquiry process of solving the problem. Overall, I think the class really enjoyed this lesson. They were able to use Play Doh to create their own rocks and act as scientists to solve the problem we presented them with. It gave them an opportunity to use the skills of the scientific method and the inquiry process. (Our inquiry lesson powerpoint is attached here.)

Overall, this experience has helped me in becoming a better teacher. I learned how important it is to make a lesson engaging and interesting for each student in the class in order to keep them on task and focused. We learned during our first lesson to keep the writing on each slide to a minimum and make the writing 24 pt. font. We also learned that we should have more check points for understanding that engage or students and keep track of the progress that they are making. During our inquiry lesson plan we learned to leave more time for each student to give a better explanation as to why they created the rock that they did. It was great to receive feedback from our peers and Dr. Smirnova because it allowed us to improve on our teaching skills. I believe that next time we should give ourselves more time in planning and preparing so we can provide the best lesson possible for each of our students. I learned how to support and adapt instruction for all learners. I also learned how important it is to move around the classroom while instructing in order to support interaction during instruction. We each made sure that we circulated around the room during both lessons in order to provide the best instruction for each of our students. 

I am so thankful that I had the opportunity to work with my group members in creating two lesson plans for our 6th grade students. We all worked together to provide the best instruction possible for each student in order for them to reach their goals. We collaborated with one another as well as empowered each other to be the best teacher we could be. We learned to successfully teach as a group and did a great job in doing so. Through practice and constructive criticism I know that one day I will be a great teacher and cannot wait for that day to come! I am very excited to continue my journey of becoming a teacher!

Did you say virtual class??

Virtual Class

Due to inclement weather on Thursday, we had class virtually instead of in the regular classroom setting. This was something new to me because I have never had class in a virtual setting before. 

At first, I was uneasy about this virtual class because it was new to me, but after getting logged in and seeing how it was set up I enjoyed it more than I thought I would! 

After being accepted into the chat, I was able to see Dr. Smirnova on the screen and hear her giving directions to the class on what steps to take next. Each student was able to turn their audio and video on, allowing each student's voice to be heard and even his or her face to be shown. Of course, there were ways to mute your microphone and video in order for everyone to have a turn to speak and to allow Dr. Smirnova to teach. Dr. Smirnova made sure that we each knew how to operate the website and felt comfortable in doing so. I think this was a great alternative to having class during bad weather. We were able to have discussions via speaking and typing in a chat group. 

This allowed us to communicate with our peers and ask any questions that we had. 

Dr. Smirnova was even able to record the entire virtual class and leave the link 

on eclass, this way we could go back and view it if we missed something!

I think this decision to have a virtual class was great. It gave us all a new experience with technology and the use of a different classroom setting. I think this is an extremely useful tool and I look forward to using it again or even with my own class one day!

The Rock Challenge!

Igneous and Sedimentary Rocks

This week on Tuesday my group taught our direct instruction lesson to the 6th grade science class at Sacred Heart Elementary School. My group put in endless hours of preparation for this big day. Up until this point I have only worked one-on-one with a student; I have never taught in front of an entire class. Naturally, I was extremely nervous leading up to the big day. My group decided that direct instruction would be a great first lesson because we would be teaching the class most of the important facts and information that they need to know about igneous and sedimentary rocks.

On Tuesday, we taught out direct instruction lesson to the class. First, we decided to pre-assess our student's prior knowledge by showing them pictures in a book called A Rock Is Lively and asking the students if based on what they just looked at, could they recall anything that they already knew about rocks. Next, we used a powerpoint presentation to share with our students the important facts and information that they needed to know about igneous and sedimentary rocks. By the end of the lesson, we wanted our student's to be able to recognize and understand the differences between these two rocks. Throughout our lesson we conducted different checkpoints for understanding where we asked a question to the class and each student would answer on the dry erase board provided to them and hold it up in the air. This allowed us teachers to have a better understanding of how our students were comprehending the information we were teaching them. The students loved the dry erase boards because answering the questions was like a game to them; it was fun! To close our lesson, we had each student write down a new fact that they learned during the lesson on a post-it note. On their way out of the classroom they were instructed to stick it on the poster board that we made in the back of the classroom. As an independent practice activity, we had each student finish his or her drawing of a rock that they made on the first day of class and write two sentences about what type of rock they drew and why it is that type of rock. Overall, the lesson went well, but there were many different aspects of the lesson that my group could improve on. We took the constructive criticism that we received and used it to prepare for our next lesson on Thursday, which would be our inquiry lesson.

On Thursday, we conducted our inquiry lesson in the 6th grade class. First, we pre-assessed our student's knowledge by showing them a word cloud and asking them if they could recognize any of the words or describe any of them. Next, as a class we created the question that we were going to be solving. This question was: "Is the rock that I am observing igneous or sedimentary"? During this lesson each student was to make their own rock out of Play Doh and then observe one of their peers rocks and solve the question using the steps of inquiry. The students had a lot of fun creating their rocks and then solving the problem as a scientist. They used clues, research, and analyzation skills to solve this problem, all by following the steps of inquiry. The students behavior during the lesson was very good. Each student walked around the classroom carefully and listened to the directions without having to be told twice. To close this lesson, we had each student stand at their seat and share with the class what type of rock they made. When each student shared with the class, you could see on all of their faces that they were extremely excited to share with the class. You could also hear the joy in the student's voices when they found out if they solved the problem correctly. As an independent practice we had each student fill out a paper with some questions about his or her rock, as well as, write a short paragraph on what type of rock they made and what characteristics make it that kind of rock. This lesson went very well in comparison to Tuesday's lesson. We took the feedback that we received and used it to make our inquiry lesson better, although there is always something you can improve on!

I had an amazing experience teaching this 6th grade science class. My favorite part was seeing the excitement in the student's faces when they learned something knew or solved a problem! I was able to learn many different things to make my future lessons great. This wonderful experience made me even more excited to have my own classroom one day!

You Rock!

Lesson Planning on Rocks

This past week the first group taught their lessons to the class on Tuesday and Thursday. On Tuesday, this group chose to use an inquiry style lesson to have the class discover different types of minerals. On Thursday, they used a cooperative instruction style lesson to engage the class by working in groups to have a mineral show! This group was the first to go, which can be nerve racking, but they did a great job! By observing this group teach the class I was able to learn from their positive and negative actions! I provided the group with some suggestions that could help improve their lesson that I noticed, as well as what I think they did well!

For the past week I have been working with my group on creating our lesson plans for Tuesday and Thursday on igneous and sedimentary rocks. We have worked together to create a direct instruction lesson and an inquiry lesson plan to help our students understand the differences between igneous and sedimentary rocks, as well as new facts to add to their prior knowledge. I feel very anxious about teaching the class on Tuesday and Thursday because I want to give my students the best instruction they can receive. 

On Tuesday, we plan to teach our students many different facts, definitions, similarities, and differences that we see between igneous and sedimentary rocks. While we are teaching our lesson we plan to use dry eases boards to check for our students understanding. We will ask the class a question and the students will answer on their dry erase board and hold it in the air for us to see. After we have taught our students everything they need to know about igneous and sedimentary rocks we plan to conduct a guided practice activity where our students will observe different rocks and distinguish whether it is an igneous or sedimentary rock. After we have finished, we will close our lesson by having each of our students write down one new fact on a post it note about something new that they have learned during our lesson. They will stick this on the poster board we have created about rocks on their way out. For independent practice our students will take home their drawing of rocks that they created the first day we met and write two sentences describing whether it is an igneous or sedimentary rock. On Thursday, we plan to have our students go on a mission to make their own rocks made out of Play Doh and then create hints for their peers to use in solving the problem. Each student will choose a popsicle stick with a number on it, which will tell them which rock they must go to. Once they reach their destination the student will use the hint to decide whether it is an igneous or sedimentary rock. This is going to be a fun and engaging activity for all of the students! Although I am nervous, I am excited to share with my students new information for them to learn! 

First Day Of Fieldwork!

Fieldwork Day 1

On Thursday, my class had our first day of fieldwork at Sacred Heart Catholic Elementary School with the sixth grade class. I have never been to this school before, so it was fun to be in a new setting. This class consists of 19 unique students. 

For this class, our group's goal was to get to know our 

students and see what they know about rocks. To accomplish this goal we first introduced ourselves and then asked the students to say 

their name and something about themselves or a hobby they like to do. Next, we had each student write down a fact they knew about rocks from their prior knowledge and then place it on the poster we made consisting of a bubble map about rocks. Then, we shared the pictures from the book A Rock Is Lively and asked our students what they observed as scientists. The students were very observant and pointed out the fact that rocks can be classified based on their characteristics. The students found the rock that looked like a watermelon the most intriguing because they had never seen that before! Finally, we had each student draw on one half of a paper a picture of a rock based on their prior knowledge and what they had seen in class that day. Eventually on the other half of the paper we will have the students write down something they have learned about rocks to go along with their drawing. 

This was a successful first day of fieldwork and our students enjoyed the activities that we did! I am looking forward to working with this class throughout fieldwork and watching them reach their goals while having fun exploring science!