Effecting Change

Currently I teach fourth grade and I only fit in science three times a week, for thirty minutes each day.  This is my first year back to elementary school because I have been teaching middle school physical science for the last five years.  The challenge that I face is that the elementary school that I teach at is mostly focused on math, reading, and writing.  I find that this is consistent throughout the district that  I teach in.  In the past, I would get students in middle school and it would be apparent that they were years behind in science content and had not been exposed to much, if any scientific inquiry.  Now that I am at the elementary school, I feel the enormous pressure that is being placed on me to focus on math, reading, and writing.  Next year I am committed to do science 5 days a week.  It is important to me, as an educator, to prepare my students to become scientifically literate adults.  I need to play my part at the elementary level to get students excited about science, to explore their curiosity, and to expose them to hands on inquiry based experiments.  Everything I have learned about STEM careers reinforces the importance of this mission.

What's Our Sputnik?

I agree with Friedman that when Russia launched the Sputnik satellite into space, this event sent our country into a state of urgency to become more educated, innovative, and competitive.  If we view the rise of China to become our economic partner and competitor as a kick in the pants to grow as a nation in education, innovation, and competition,  at this point I think we will be disappointed.  


As a country, it is in our best interest to use our resources to become independent of foreign oil.  We are spending so much tax money on the war on terror and with our economy being in the state that it is in, we need to shift our thinking and prioritize how our money is spent.  We are running out of time and money.  Should we give countries a chance to work out their differences before we go in and give handouts to people that don't even want us in their country?  It is certainly the American way to be involved in everything that doesn't involve us.  On the other hand, when civil rights and women rights are so lacking in some parts of the world, is it our ethical responsibility to help?  I would say yes, if we have extra money after taking care of our schools, police departments, fire fighters, children that live in poverty, etc.


I found an article on line about global competitiveness.  Here is a quote from the article that confirmed what I  was thinking.  "Over the last decade, the world has changed dramatically," said José-Marie Griffiths, chair of the NSB committee that oversees production of the report. "It's now a world with very different actors who have made advancement in science and technology a top priority. And many of the troubling trends we're seeing are now very well established."  The United States in not making science and technology a priority and we will soon be paying for it.  The article listed some organizations that are working to keep the United States competitive. 


SAVI  This organization promotes communication and collaboration globally amongst scientists, engineers, and educators.


NSF  Completes scientific research on ways to build innovation with technology, entrepreneurs, and the business community.  Also in the process of providing classes and new technologies to people that previously did not have access to them.


SEES  Focuses on innovation for clean energy development and how to improve with technology rapid response to extreme events.


http://www.nsf.gov/nsb/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=122859&org=NSB&from=news   

Tennis Ball Globe

My lesson included students making a model on the Earths' plate boundaries.  Students colored in and analyzed a simple map with the continents, oceans and plate boundaries.   Then students completed a map that they colored, cut apart, and glued to a tennis ball.  Then students were required to construct sentences that they shared out using the globe to guide them.  Next, as a class, we completed some of a Venn Diagram comparing and contrasting the difference between the flat map and the three dimensional globe map.  Students then finished the Venn diagram in partners.  To wrap up the lesson and access student learning students completed a 3-2-1, three things they learned, two questions they have, and one connection.  They also completed a 4 question multiple choice assessment.

Students were engaged and loved coloring, cutting, gluing, and constructing their tennis ball globes.  This three dimensional globe gave my English Learners a concrete visual representation of the Earth science concept, plate boundaries.

The hardest part of the lesson for students was when they had to apply the concept of ocean and continents to the map.  At first students were not able to differentiate between which part to color blue for the oceans and which part to color for the land.  Another difficult part of the lesson was when students worked in partners to finish the Venn diagram comparing and contrasting the flat map to the sphere map.  

Natural Disasters

Studying natural disasters help students to understand what they are, the potential damage they can do, and how unpredictable they can be.  It is also a chance to teach students how to relate to other people that have been affected by natural disasters and then ideally to get students thinking about what they can do to help people in need after a natural disaster.  To get students to want to help others, I think first you need to teach the science behind what happened and get them to have a good understanding of the scientific content.  Next move instruction into how it has affected the people in the region of the natural disaster.  I think students need to see model teacher behavior by seeing the teacher concerned and helping the affected area.  Discuss with students how good it feels to help someone and that giving away something to someone in need has a tremendous internal reward.  My students are fourth graders and I think it is important that they know the reality of life about  natural disasters in terms of how unpredictable they are.  Natural disasters can happen anywhere at any time.  It is a fine line because I do not want to scare students, yet I do want to expose them to what happens when an area is damaged due to a natural disaster.  I would connect students to a community organization about relief efforts by having someone from the Red Cross come in and explain how people of all ages can help their organization.  To take it to the next level, the class could brainstorm and decide on a plan that they could implement to help the area that has been affected by the natural disaster.

Ask A Scientist

I posted a question using Ask A Scientist and have not heard back yet.  I am excited to see how the scientist answers because all the information that I have found on line states that there is not a consensus among the scientific community.  My question is about what is special about the cells in the brain to cause consciousness.

I would use this website with students when they ask me a question that I don't know the answer to or if I would like them to find the answer to a specific question on their own.  It is important that students know that when they don't know the answer to a question, they can research and find the information on line as well as use the Ask A Scientist web site as a resource.  There is so much information available today that the main goal should not be to know it all, but to be able to find it.

Web Presentation Tools

The first presentation tool that I experimented with is the Prezi application.  I thought the tutorial  in our class resources helped me know what to do before I even tried it out.  After I signed in and started a new presentation, it became clear right away how user friendly it is.  There are tutorials to use and I was able to navigate easily and find out how to do what I wanted.  I liked how it was easy to link words and pictures to one another and put them in a certain order.  I particularly like how easy the editing wheel is in terms of movement, rotation, and sizing.

The next presentation tool that I explored is the raptivity presenter and this is from the webtools4u2use website.  This is an application that adds interactivity with power points and I played around with how to set up panning cards.  It was easy enough to follow, although I prefer the Prezi application.

I am exited to use and explore this website more because there is so much information on how to improve presentation slide shows and how to use slide shows to increase motivation and engagement with students.

Periodic Table Internet Investigation

The content area of physical science that is my focus for my internet  investigation is the periodic table. The periodic table of elements is a “big idea” that students need to understand in order to know what everything in the world is made up of.  It is also the basic knowledge for more advanced chemistry.  My online search relating to the periodic table was successful because I found many sites that would help students be proficient in the 21st-century.

I will start by listing four sites that I have already used.

http://www.brainpop.com/

Brain Pop has short 3-5 minute cartoons about specific scientific content with Tim and his robot friend Moby.  These are perfect to get students excited and interested in science content.  There is also a ten question multiple choice quiz that comes with each cartoon.  

http://streaming.discoveryeducation.com/

This is through the discovery channel and provides short clips of content as well as movies that are of various length.  This is an excellent way to give students the visuals that they need to learn the science content.  Many of the movies come with lesson plans to go with the content, clozed movie notes, or quizzes

http://sciencespot.net/Pages/classchem.html

I love this site, it has lesson plans, experiments, and short cartoon clips to teach scientific content.  The kids really like this one.

http://education.jlab.org/beamsactivity/6thgrade/elementbingo/elementbingoclassset.pdf

This is a set of 36 element bingo cards, I have used this and the kids love it!

Here are some new ones that I found

http://www.ehow.com/way_5797909_fun-ways-teach-periodic-table.html

This site gives me ideas of ways to support students understanding through inquiry activities as well as increasing student motivation and interest.

http://www.funbrain.com/periodic/index.html

This site has games that teach the periodic table.

http://periodictable.com/

I really like this one because it provides the periodic table with actual photographs of each element and when you click on an element you get detailed information on that particular element.

Besides the ones that I already use often I would say that I like http://periodictable.com/ because I think it takes the abstract idea of an element and gives students an actual photograph of what that element looks like.  This is an excellent 21st century tool in terms of looking up current information on line. One activity I would use with this website is to have students do a periodic table scavenger hunt using this website as their resource.  This would be a great way to get students excited about the periodic table while helping them to become familiar with it.  All of these web sites help prepare students to be scientifically literate citizens by teaching them science content,  getting them excited and motivated about science, and having them use technology to learn.

Some difficulties that can occur are when my LCD projector bulb burns out or the internet  is not available.  The Brain Pop and the United Streaming sites are purchased by my district, so when the subscriptions are up, sometimes they are not available for some time.