authentic scientific education

Today, teachers are finding it more and more difficult to keep biology students engaged during classroom lectures. Traditional teaching techniques simply don't cut it in today's tech-savvy

society. Humans are naturally curious, it's simply how we're wired. Unfortunately, traditional teaching methods have failed to tap into this curiosity. In fact, the inquisitiveness of young minds is often diminished by instruction that inadvertently discourages inquiry and discovery.  As I explore different sites to learn about how to teach our students  by using authentic science

experiences, I discover some great sites.  The first site is NASA Quest Challenges. NASA Quest Challenges are FREE Web-based, interactive explorations designed to engage students in authentic scientific and engineering processes http://quest.nasa.gov/index.html

 This site allows the students to explore different areas, and learn about planets, cells and more.  It also, gives some great lesson plan ideas to educators.  I will be using this site in the future. Another site that I use now helps me teach my students about various subjects.  I have used several videos from youtube, recently I used a variety of videos on DNA and the replication of DNA and RNA http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfZ8o9D1tus&feature=related. This site also, show examples of other students work.  It is really fascinating to see what students can develop in their work samples.  A couple more sites that I looked at includes: Read more:

http://www.articlesbase.com/science-articles/hands-on-learning-providing-students-with-an authentic-learning-experience-2697159.html#ixzz17xpu7bpK . There are other great sites to

explore, like most educators the problem is finding time to explore the different sites.

Insulator or Conductor?

As I conducted my experiment of what would be a better insulator.  The materials that I tested

was foil, cotton wash cloth, paper towel and multi-purpose sealing wrap (plastic wrap).  The

reason why I chose these materials is I knew plastic is a good insulator, where metal or foil

would be better  thermal conductors, because heat passes through them quickly.  Material like

plastic, cotton are good thermal insulators because heat does not pass through.  I found that the

plastic wrap and the foil kept the water hotter.  I was a little surprised about the foil, I realized

that the reason for this is that the foil kept that temperature longer.  I did a similar experiment

with my students.I discussed with my students what are good heat conductors, they came up with

metal because heat passes through metal quickly, which allows the heat to go through to heat up

the food. As with wood and plastic (good insulator) that traps heat and keeps things hot. To

reinforce this concept, I took a cup of coffee and ask my students what cup is a better insulator

and a better conductor, a ceramic cup, paper cup or a styrophone?  After the students discussed

this, I had them complete the experiment.  The following results before the experiment out of 16

students:  10 ceramic, 4 styrophone and 2 papers.  After the experiment the students realized that

though ceramic is a good conductor it is a poor insulator because the heated molecules from the

water transferred to the cup making the cup hot, cooling the water.  The paper cup did not keep

the water hot nor did the cup make a good conductor.  They realize that the best cup for an

insulator is the Styrofoam cup. A polystyrene cup keeps the heat in and keeps the coffee hot.

Exploring pendulum movement

I chose to answer the question which pendulum will come to rest more quickly-a lighter pendulum or heavier pendulum?

    As an educator, I believe that before we teach our students a concept we first must develop an understanding to the concept.  According to Buxton & Provenzo, Jr. (2007), educators need to understand and develop the skill of guiding students to an understanding of science concepts without prematurely telling them what sense they should make out of inquiry experience. I accomplished this task by exploring the different site available to me that was listed on Walden’s University web site.  I also explored Newton’s Cradle and the principle related to it. As I played with the Cradle I experimented with it and with my niece’s ages 14 and 16.  I asked them if they had ever played with a pendulum or a cradle (not a baby cradle).  I described to them the Law of Conservation of Momentum in a closed system like a cradle, the momentum in a given direction is constant, that if I take a ball at one end of the cradle and let it go the ball at the other end will react because of the force that was pushed against it and it will bounce, the momentum of the ball hitting the balls in the middle will continue until there is no more force.  While the balls in the middle will stay stationary, as we played with the cradle I asked them what will happen if I used two balls instead of on.  Their reply was that the ball at the other end will react to the force and move.  They were amazed when they observed that the instead of just one ball at the other end move, there were two.  We played around with this for another twenty minutes.   I explained that since the ball at one end had the same mass as the other ball at the other end, the result will be the same even if we had a hundred balls as long as the balls were the same mass, same size and there was no deviation.

     I started with this demonstration of a pendulum to show my nieces how one works.  I then asked them if they could tell me what could affect the movement of pendulum.  I discuss them about what gravity is, which they already knew, what momentum is, what mass and velocity is.  We made a pendulum using a string a ball and a pencil.  It looked pretty rough but I was amazed that it worked.  I discovered along with my nieces how to make a pendulum that worked through trial and error.  The first couple that we had made didn’t do the experiment justice.  As I research how to improve the engineering of the pendulum I discovered a great site, http://phet.colorado.edu/en/simulation/pendulum-lab  that allowed us to experiment what factors could affect the movement of a pendulum.   This is a great site to explore with all of your students.   I haven’t taught my students this concept yet, but when I do I believe that I will be better prepared than I was when I introduced this to my nieces. My goal when teaching this lesson will include: the students will be able to answer and describe what the Law of Conservation is?  What is deviation? What is momentum? What affects the momentum of a pendulum? What is mass? They will also be able to understand the concept. I will allow them to make the mistakes that I made, and encourage them to refine and optimize their designs. They will develop new understanding, and gain insight into and an appreciation for science and the technology world.

9. Extended Questions

    a. What happens if the polar ice caps melt?

         With the melting of the polar ice caps we are facing several events that can change how we live in

this world.  The first, the fact that with the melting of the ice caps we are not putting more water into

our oceans, what we are doing we are changing the physical properties of the ice from a solid into a

liquid.  There is more mass in water in a solid state than compared to water in a liquid state.  The

problem is our oceans are a mixture of H2O and NaCl.  With the melting of the polar ice we are putting

more of pure H2O into our oceans.  I believe that this could and will eventually throw the natural

balance off.   Our world is on a balance beam, with the melting of the polar ice, we could and have seen

an increase of weather changes.  This will also upset the food chain, many of our food products like fish,

shell fish etc. all depend on the carefully balance mixture of compounds that are found in the ocean.   

     

Reflection of my students

As I reflect on the lesson plan that I formatted for this class,  I have to also reflect how my lesson went with my students.  We are learning about cells.  I introduced to my students to what a cell was, and how cell(s) make up organisms.  The students seem to know about cells from their previous Science classes.  When I had them describe the organisms that they could see in and outside the classroom, the students seem to be uninterested.
I brought out a jar of pond water, asking them what types of organisms live in pond water. Taking it a step further I took a drop of pond water.  Asking the students is there life in this drop of water.   Half of the class said yes, some said no, others said don't know.  They were amazed of the organisms that I was able to show them.  Engaging our students is a must.  We need to use a variety of tools, resources and creative thinking to educate our students.  There are great sites to explore. I am finding new sites every day. Using these sites with the students encourages them to explore the internet, to find a discovering that they can share with the class teaches not only them but the rest of the class.

Earth Science Week is coming up

This year, AGI is sponsoring three national contests in conjunction with Earth Science Week 2010. Students, scientists and the general public are encouraged to enter the Earth Science Week photography contest, "We Depend on Energy." Students in grades K–5 are encouraged to enter the visual arts contest, "Energy on Earth." And an essay contest, "How Energy Powers the Planet," is open to students in grades 6–9. For more information on these contests and the full program, visit www.earthsciweek.org/contests. The American Geological Institute is a nonprofit federation of 47 geoscientific and professional associations that represents more than 120,000 geologists, geophysicists, and other earth scientists. More details are at www.agiweb.org.

Welcome to Scientific Observers

I am looking forward to exploring the world around us. Just think of what we can contribute to each other and our students!!!!