Active Experience for Active Children, Science (2nd edition)

I started reading Active Experience for Active Children, Science today and found some great information about the benefits of collaboration in helping children construct meaning.

"The range of skills that can be achieved with adult guidance and peer collaboration far exceeds what a child can learn alone or in whole-class instruction." (Seefeldt 14)

It's so important that we as educators provide endless opportunities for students to interact with one another as they interact with the content.

Ch.4 Science as a Process

Chapter 4 had a lot of great ideas/activities that focus on developing process skills. I particularly liked the science notebooks and the Science Circus.

Science notebooks: Have students keep a notebook just for science. This will integrate writing and science, as well as art. Students can write reflections, ask questions, make predictions, sketch observations, and come to solutions/conclusions.

Science Circus: Set up several stations where students are asked to perform particular tasks and record their findings. Without realizing it, students use process skills when observing, inferring, measuring, recording, predicting, and investigating. Not to mention...it's FUN!

Teacher As Mediator

I really liked the ideas shared in Ch.2 with regard to teachers playing the role of mediator. We don't always need to give students "specific" directions. We don't need to constantly "direct" them. I think it's important, especially in science, for children to have the freedom to experiment, explore, and think outside the box.

Furthermore, when we allow students to hypothesize, explore and experiment, we, as educators, get a glimpse into their thought process. It's important for us to know what they're thinking and how they "construct meaning" if we are to guide them in their discovery.

Another New Favorite Quote

"Grasping terminology is not the same as understanding the concept of being able to apply it in a real-life context." -Robert E. Yager (1991)

Ch.3 The Teacher as Mediator and Facilitator of Student Learning

Janice made a great point regarding students and their learning. If students are to construct new meanings by building on their prior beliefs (constructivism), we need to view them as knowers. I realize that I mentioned this before, viewing students as knowers, but I thought I would emphasize it again. Students know "stuff," and it's important to remember that when teaching. Help them take the "stuff" they know and apply it to science to deepen their knowledge.

My Great Science Teacher: Update

I just thought I'd give everyone an update. I heard back from Mrs. Medeiros yesterday. She was touched that I had emailed her and she had so many encouraging and positive things to say. Sadly, she is closer to the end of her teaching career, than the beginning. This year is her 24th! year. I feel so blessed to have gotten a chance to be one of her students.

Science Journals

Having students keep science journals is also something I would like to do. That way, as Janice said, they can focus their attention on nature and natural events they encounter in their daily experiences. All too often we go through life without really looking or seeing things for what they are. I would like my students to explore the world around them and be excited to look deeper to discover things they never knew.

Draw-a-Scientist Activity

I absolutely loved the draw-a-scientist activity and will definitely use it in my classroom. In this activity, students draw what they think a scientist looks like. As a class you can look at different student drawings and compare similarities and differences. Most importantly, you address common preconceptions about who can be a scientist. At the end of the lesson you can have all students look in a mirror and tell them that they can be scientists.

When I do this activity in my classroom, I would like to follow it up by having a scientist visit my classroom, so we, as a class, can interview them. On a side note, the scientist invited would be one that differs from the preconceived idea of what a scientist "looks like," or who he/she is.

My Great Science Teacher

After reading chapter 2, I was inspired to email the wonderful science teacher I had in junior high. Her name is Mrs. Medeiros. Not only was she enthusiastic about the subject matter, but she was in-tune with and invested in her students; she cared. In her class I dissected my first frog and worm, learned how to draw a bar graph, and helped plant and maintain a school garden. Thanks Mrs. Medeiros! I will never forget you.

Ch.2 Locating Your Scientific Self

Wow. I'm blown away again. There is so much truth in what Janice has to say regarding teachers and how their attitudes affect students attitudes.

In junior high, I had a wonderful science teacher. We did hands-on science on a weekly basis and it was evident she loved what she did. I loved science in junior high, and even considered studying medicine and becoming a doctor. At the time, I didn't attribute any of this to having a great science teacher.

However, then high school came. My science teacher always spoke in a monotone voice and seemed to walk around the room like a sloth. Even when we were dissecting, or doing other hands-on activities, it wasn't fun. I hated science! Surprisingly, I didn't attribute that to my teacher either. I just thought, "Hm...maybe I don't like science."

Looking back, it would have been nice to go into both of those situations with eyes wide open. Now that I am "enlightened" I will do my best to be enthusiastically authentic when teaching all subjects, including science!

Incorporating Technology into Science

I especially enjoyed Janice's ideas about incorporating technology into science. I guess because this is something I was trying to wrap my mind around myself. Here are some ideas:

1. Use technology to collect data
    Ex. Collect real-time weather data as a class
2. Use on-line and software-based simulations and interactive websites
    Ex. Google Earth; Google Body; Net Frog
3. Tools for expression
    Ex. Multimedia presentations (i.e. PowerPoint; iMovie)
4. Means of collaboration
    Ex. On-line discussion forums; blogs (like this one); webinars; etc.

Discovery Learning

When we teach our students science, or any other subject, it's so important to look at them as active "knowers". They have prior knowledge that they bring to the table. The sooner we, as educators, know what they know, the sooner we will be able to help them make those connections to new information.

1 of my new favorite quotes

"Science advances, not by the accumulation of new facts...but by the continuous development of new concepts." James B. Conant (1966)

Ch.1 An Invitation to Teaching Science

Before reading Ch.1 of Janice Koch's Science Stories, I did look at science as a long list of facts to be memorized. Maybe that's why, in high school, I didn't enjoy science. Janice describes sciences as "...a process, a set of ideas, and a way of thinking." This approach to science sounds much more appealing to me, as a student and as a future educator.

Science Stories by Janice Koch

This book will serve as the primary source for research, 

in addition to direct observation and supplementary texts.