Ask a Scientists

Recently, with the help of my new neighbor, I have become very interested in gardening. That is something that I have never done, but always wanted to.  I have a large amount of land and have planted numerous gardens all over the place. Well, my neighbor did most of the work. :) I enjoy the color of the flowers and find myself sitting in my new garden just looking at them. 

My new found interest led me to ask the question, "Is it possible for chloroplasts to be removed from the plants so that they can be a different colo other than green?"  Needless to say, my question was not answered.  I do, however think this site is a great tool for the classroom and can be used in many ways.  It was interesting reading responses to other questions and I learned quite a bit from that.

Future Meterologists

The topic that I consider to be incredibly relevant to my students is one that they tend to be incredibly interested in and one that continues to depend on technology in the professional and educational world.  That is weather.  Living in a city such as Chicago, we experience every season and every type of weather system with the exception being hurricanes. Although, we do not experience the full extent of hurricanes here, they do affect our weather systems and are still of great interest to students.

The following websites are ones that I have found to be great resources in classrooms for teachers, students and parents that will motivate and increase students’ interests are:

http://www.weatherwizkids.com/

http://www.theweatherchannelkids.com/

These resources not only provide a wealth of kid friendly information about all kinds of weather, but they provide activities as well. Many of these activities can be placed into small centers for group work for students to explore on their own. The weatherchannelkids.com website allows students to interactively create a weather forecast. Students can create a 5-day forecast using weather information from the area where they live.  This site also has a section called “careers in meteorology”, which can encourage students to explore ways to make this a career in their future lives, which is great because this is an industry that is always advancing and is always in high demand.

These sites not only have interactive activities and games to engage students, they also provide tips to the students for keeping their families safe during dangerous weather conditions. Therefore, many of the students in many cases may be more knowledgeable than the parents in these issues. Students also learn the advancements in technology and the technology used in predicting the weather.

The weatherchannelkids.com is my favorite tool of the two. One activity that I would plan around this site is having the students get into groups and work together to predict the weather and create their own 5-Day forecast. Weatherchannelkids.com has a section where students can build their own weather forecast.  To start the activity, I may show a few clips of weather forecasts on news broadcasts, have the student recognize the vocabulary that they here. Then, I will tell them use the tools to interactively create their own 5-day forecast, which they can report over the school’s television system each week.

This tool will engage students because students enjoy activities that they can create on the computer. Also, the students will enjoy pretending to be meteorologist.

Challenges:

I would have to figure out how to make this a group activity where all of the students will be included in the activities. It will be hard for students to use this tool for homework if their families do not own computers or have internet access at home.

A New Experiment

I answered the following questions:

How might you set up this or a similar experiment for students in your classroom? How could you make this experiment more fun, interesting, or engaging for your students? How might you design this experiment so that it is relevant to students’ lives?

In my classroom this year, we have a serious popcorn issue. Our school sells popcorn everyday as a fundraiser for the sports department.  Since our lunch period is one of the later ones in the day, the students complain that the popcorn is always cold by the time we get to the lunch room. My students despise this. They want to have hot popcorn, just like the students who are in the earlier lunch periods.

In my classroom, I would have the students make insulators that they believe will keep the popcorn warm. I would put them into groups and have them test three different types of insulation with warm popcorn. I would provide the materials such as cloth, foil, boxes, etc. for the students to work with.

This is the project that would definitely engage the students because they will be solving a problem that they complain about daily. Therefore, this experiment will be relevant to their lives.

Guided Inquiry Instruction

           Guided inquiry includes a question or purpose that is designed by the teacher, but the students are in charge of establishing the methods of testing of the teacher posed question.  I decided to focus on the question, “How do surfaces affect the momentum of marbles?”  I chose this particular question because it directly relates to a structured lesson that I recently implemented in my classroom, where the students answered the question, “Does Height Affect Velocity?” I believe that this question could be a great way to move the students into guided inquiry because this question is a continuation of what the students previously did, therefore they will already have a great understanding of the prior knowledge needed for this experience.  For this reason I thought that this experience would benefit my students.

            I decided to use three different surfaces to engage in this experiment including tile, carpet, and concrete.  I created a slope with a ruler placed on a book that measured 6cm high.  I completed four trials with the large marble and four with the smaller marble. I placed a meter stick at the end of the ruler to measure how much impetus was gained by the marbles has after completing their journeys down the ruler.  I discovered that the flatter or smoother the surface, the more momentum gained. 

            I believe that attempting to choose surfaces and coming up with an easy way to test went very well for me.  The challenge that I experienced in this experiment was finding a leveled concrete area because the marble kept rolling sideways. There was also wind involved in affecting the momentum of the marble. 

            I could modify this experiment by using a variety of marble shapes adding the idea of mass into the equation.  For my class in particular, I would make this experiment for relevant to them by using toy cars instead of marbles I think this provides a more realist test.  I would also combine this activity that I mentioned earlier where the students tested velocity.  I think that would be a nice move from structured inquiry instruction to guided inquiry instruction.  Student should learn that the surface does affect momentum of a moving object.

Science Lesson

I want to start by apologizing to my cohort for the lack of student samples. There were some issues and I had to use a previous lesson instead of the one where the samples were saved.

The lesson that I implemented came after a unit taught on weather.  I wanted to combine weather with materials science.  In Chicago, the weather is a extreme factor of everyone's life.  Since we here experience every single season, I wanted to allow the students to test materials and how they hold up in our climate year to year. I do this project in my class each year and I video each year to give ideas to my new classes so that they can decide which materials to test and how to test. The students take on the titles of scientist, architects and builders. It is up to them to decided which materials they will use to build based on which ones will hold up in the weather of Chicago's climate.  The students get to choose from different types of wood, brick, woods of different width, etc.  They can use heating devices, freezers, and water to simulate the seasons.

The students in my classes always have a great time with this project. Since the project take extended time to complete, I have to make sure that the students do not neglect other subjects because all they want to do in science during this point.  I have to make sure that I set boundaries because the students will go above and beyond.  The students this year enjoyed the project and showed great enthusiasm in their presentation where they presented their charts and findings. I enjoyed being a faciltator in the lesson with them.

Science Inquiry Experience: Summarize Question 9

When I teach these concepts to my students, I do not focus so much on the consequences of global warming. I sort of quickly summarize the effects of green house gases, then I spend more time teaching and demonstrating the many ways in which the students can do their part to treat our world better.  I participate in a special program called Earth Force, where we partner with an environmental agency to teach students about biodiversity and green living.

Question 9 started by asking what would happen if the polar ice caps melt. I discussed the fact that rising sea levels could threaten ecosystems, which can results in the extinction of species. Droughts and floods would increase, which could affect the growth of crops. Lastly, death and diseases may spread throughout the planet.  These are all worse case scenarios.

Question 9 also asked what other questions I have about the science inquiry experience. I would love to get some ideas about how to teach global warming to my younger students without scaring them to death. I want to make them aware of the truth, but in the past I have spent more time teaching living a green lifestyle rather than telling the students that we humans are killing our planet and because of that our children and grandchildren will suffer the consequences. Suggestions?

Stem Lesson for Diverse Learners

I must say that I have been quite taken back by this lesson format. This format is extremely in depth and would probably take tons of time to create for each lesson.  I do not know if I missed some resources or am just not getting it.  The template was malfunctioning. I have used this template in other classes and did not have these issues of red lines and font.

The 5-E strategies seemed simple enough at first. But, when I saw the break down about the specific strategies that should be used for each one, I became confused.  Any strategy that breaks down what is needed to be learned is helpful, especially in the planning process, but I need to do a bit more research on the 5-E’s so that I may gain a complete understanding.

This process is very different from the way I usually plan. The lesson plan format required for my school area is very student specific. Teachers are required to differentiate instruction so there is a section for different group levels. Each group level gets its own plan for the lesson.  There is also a section for modifications and accommodations for special needs, ELL and gifted students.  All subjects are included on one plan. 

I have implemented the lesson from my plan. It was important that my co-teachers had a copy of the plan before the implementation so that they may be prepared to help the students.  Also, when I present this lesson again I will be sure to discuss in greater detail how I want students to behave with the materials before they get them in their hands.

Again, I will need more coaching on these strategies and format in order to move forward with it.  I hope that I will be more successful in the applications to come.