Activity #8-Final Post

Final Post (Creating your own teaching ideas)

1. Create your own teaching ideas.

• Must Identify and Meet 3 Next Generation Science education standards within the K-2 grade band.
• Engagement in practice is language intensive and requires students to participate in classroom science discourse.
• Obtaining, evaluating, and communicating evidence
• Repetition in different contexts, is necessary to build familiarity.

• Must be original work
• The concept covered in the lesson is Sink vs. Float.  For this lesson I would have a bucket of water and 7 different objects.  I would have each student come up to the table where they would place one of the objects in the water bucket.  Each student will also have a worksheet that shows a picture of the object and next to it, they would have to write whether the object sinks or floats.  By having a student drop the object in the water, as opposed to me will help keep the students engaged.  Also, by including different objects it will help in repetition for the students to really understand the concept. Also, by writing the evidence down, they can evaluate it and talk about it with their classmates as well. 

• Must be scientifically accurate and appropriate for the directed grade level.
• Grade Level = Kindergarten

• Must have an accompanying worksheet with at least 7-10 questions related to each activity.  Answering these questions should be related to meeting the scientific standards.

• The students will engage in this activity by being the ones to put the objects in the water and seeing first hand what will happen.  The students will also have to participate in the activity in order to get the right answer to write on their worksheet.  The activity is also repetitive but with different objects so that students can understand that some objects float and others sink.  They will also be writing down and obtaining the answers on their worksheet and evaluating and discussing the outcome with their classmates and me.

2. How has your understanding of science and chemistry in particular, changed due to your experiences in this class?

• My understanding of science and chemistry has changed due to this class was by doing simulations I never really realized there was that much of a difference between liquids, solids, and gases.  I also never realized that basically everything in our entire life and world is made up of  chemicals, which after thinking about it, everything is made up of something, I just didn't know what it was until now.  I really learned what things are consumed of and what exactly is going on inside of the states of matter. 

3. What was your most challenging concept covered, and why?

• My most challenging concept covered was atomic structure.  I think why I struggled so much with that concept was because they were things that I can't see, and I knew some of the information from high school, but even then it was hard for me.  Making the models makes it much easier to understand but it's difficult when they are physically something that you will never see like oxygen or helium and what the atomic structure is.

4. How could you facilitate future learning to your students who might also find learning about science and chemistry challenging?

• How I could facilitate future learning to my students who might also find learning about science and chemistry challenging is by explaining to them that atomic structures are things that you don't generally see, but they are things that we can make as structures for better understanding, and having them make models similar to what we made for this class, because I think for a lot of people that by physically making a 3D model it can help to grasp a concept.

5.  As you think about your future in education, give 3 ways you think you'll be able to implement the skills you've learned in this class (it doesn't need to be chemistry content based).

• Time management- making sure that you set aside enough time for students to take their time with the lab and have fun with it.
• Thinking outside the box- letting kids take their own "wheel" with labs, because looking back on other students simulations that they did, we all did them a little differently or had our own ideas on how to make an atomic structure. I think it makes it more of their own work, and the "teachers work"
• Ask for help when you need it-Going into this class I was a little weary because I hadn't taken chemistry since my sophomore year in high school, and here I am going to be a senior this year, so it had been a while.  However, my aunt is also a teacher and she does a lot of tutoring and such, so I went to her for some help with questions that I didn't quite understand or even if I wanted to double check an answer with her.  People are there to help, and don't mind giving it, so just don't be afraid to ask for assistance when you need it.