Hi Everyone,
This week, we will finalize your groups and work on the lesson plan, use a brainstorming technique to begin your presentation abstract and talk about your midterm debate, Reading about Using the EMIT Model for Debating Controversial Issues. Additionally, we will talk more about Diversity of Life and the deadlines for applying to present at IdEAFest. Be sure to read : Science Matters: Achieving Science Literacy (SMASL) Ch 1, 2. Blog about the class activities and your readings this week. ALL POSTS NOW DUE BY SUNDAY NIGHT.
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Tuesday: I thought Tuesday was a very productive day. Our group put our thoughts together and came up with a solid plan for the lesson plans. I think the action component is a great experience for students in majors that would not otherwise do something like this. It is challenging to think like a 3rd or 5th grader, trying to remember what I thought about and retained when I was that age. My father died when I was in 5th grade so my thoughts and perceptions may have slightly differed from other kids my age. It will definately be interesting to "go back to that age" for a short period of time, and see how they react to what we have to show them.
ReplyDeleteScience Matters Chapters 1 & 2: The first 2 chapters of this book took me back to high school. As a business major, I have forgotten about some of the basic science principles that are taught to "beginners." Some of these basics include: motion (uniform and accelerated), force (Newton), gravity, and The Scientific Method. Chapter 1 was a refresher in the basics of what each type of scientist's work contains, and that there are 4 general labels of scientists: physicist, geologist, chemist, or biologist.Other basics that were covered include work, energy (potential and kinetic), power, and heat. The last part of Chapter 2 entices me to want to read more. The discussion of alternative energy sources is something that I am very interested in, as well as global warming. The statistical information stated was very interesting; the fact that almost half of all easily recovered petroleum has already been used up and that supplies will decline sharply in the century we are currently in is somewhat a scary thought. I will be very interested to learn more about alternative sources of energy, the cost of these alternative sources compared to current costs, long-term benefits, which countries currently utilize or do not utilize any of these alternative sources, and which countries are or are not headed in the direction of alternative more efficient energy sources.
This week on Tuesday and Thursday we looked at the different ways we could approach our lesson and how to teach it to the kids in the after school program. On Tuesday when we did the word web, that really helped us narrow down our topic. It's been a little difficult because my group has had some absences from being sick to getting teeth pulled, but we're all on board. Our group is looking at the geology of the Galapagos islands, and the fact that there are penguins there and how they got there. I bet not everyone knew there was penguins in the Galapagos! (which is right near the equator) I'm sure that not everyone in my group is an education major like myself, so the actual teaching of the lesson sparks some nervousness, but we decided that getting the kids involved and actually have them being the penguins would be the best way to teach them. And, we all think that they will really have fun with that.
ReplyDeleteTuesday
ReplyDeleteI did not make it to class, I heard most of our group did not either.
Thursday
we kicked it into gear and made our rough draft of a lesson plan. We have some good base ideas on how to intrique the students into learning about our brown tree snake.
Chapter 1 Knowing, this summarizes why i am in the science field. So many things to discover and name with the laws of previous scientists. The things that people found out with such basic instruments is amazing. Newton's Laws of Physics and the planetary eliptical pattern, even the complexities of the world started to make sense with the laws of scientists discoveries.
ReplyDeleteChapter 2, Energy
Energy is neither created nor destroyed in any reaction, it is always conserved. Potential and Kinetic energy is the basis for my physics class last semester in how much energy an object can obtain and use during movement and such. In this chapter we learn that their is such measurements for energy in the form of heat and that small statements start to emerge for certain reactions that don't follow the rules or have not been exactly true or seen yet. The ship concept of the energy of vibrations in the ocean should be able to power the ship but yet we have not designed a mechanism to do such yet.
Science Matters: Chapter One
ReplyDeleteChapter one introduces the idea that science is predictable. For instance, one will know that the sun rises in the morning and sets in the evening. However, towards the end of the chapter, the book introduces the idea that some science is chaotic, like the weather. Scientists can predict the weather to the best of their ability, but that doesn't mean they are going to get it right. As well, the chapter highlights on some very important scientists; Newton and his theories of motion, Galieo and his theories with gravity, Halley and his predictions about the "Halley" comet are just some that are covered. Finally, the chapter also talks about the different fields that are in science and how they differ from eachother. These fields include Physics, Chemistry, Geology, and Biology. This chapter seems to be giving the reader a taste of science before they delve into much deeper topics.
Science Matters: Chapter Two
This chapter was all about energy. More specifically, it focused on the laws of thermodynamics: "Energy is conserved" and "Energy always goes from more useful to less useful forms." The chapter how energy can be transfered, such as with the example of a rollar coaster. It also talked about heat being transfered through conduction, convection, and radiation. As well, it talked about the fact that energy is also lost, such as when energy is lost through friction. Finally, the chapter discussed new forms of energy like wind energy and solar energy. Altogether, this chapter reminded me of Physical Science for Elementary Teachers class that I took a few years ago, and the activities that we did in it.
Class Activities/Discussions
Tuesday (02/02/10) - Our group worked on trying to narrow down our topic for Ideafest. We are doing our topic about competition, and we know that that will be a topic that could be pretty exciting to do with students. As an education major, the outreach project will probabaly be my favorite part of this course, and I am excited to go out into the schools and work with students.
Thursday (02/04/10) - Unfortunately, I was not in class on this day because I was sick. Thankfully, my group filled me in on what happened that day, so I am caught up.
Class Tuesday and Thursday: My group decided on the topic of competition. This is a great topic for any age group due to the fact that everyone competes on different levels all the time. We also figured this topic would be more interesting to the kids and that it would be fun to teach as well. I really think the activity we came up with is going to be great and really get everyone involved.
ReplyDeleteScience Matters, Ch 1 & 2:
Chapter one has a lot to do with predictability. It starts off talking about the little routeen things people due and if they were to not complete these what some of the predictable consequences would be (i.e. not wearing a seatbelt could lead to death of in an accident). As predictable as this is it is known as science. The chapter goes on to talk about astronomy, chemistry, and so on. It also explains Newton's laws in a simplistic manner that a non-science field seeking student such as myself could understand.
chapter 2
This chapter was all about energy. It helped that in my astronomy class we are studying energy, how heat is lost, and also light. This gives me a broader understanding of this material.
The text also talks about the future and the trouble humankind will have generating energy without exhausting our fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and natural gases. Fossil fuels will not last forever.
Rose Hervagault
Tuesday and Thursday our group was able to really dive in deep with our presentation and think of some activities the kids will really enjoy and also help them comprehend the message. I'm a little nervous to give the presentation because I don't think they'll be able to grasp the importance of the issue, but at least they will be getting familiar with it. The readings for this week were interesting yet very familiar for me. Being in the science field, I already know many of the famous and innovative people the chapter talked about. Also a major focus in my field is renewable energy resources and also the impact current coal, nuclear, and oil plants have on the environment. I'm pretty excited to read on and see what new techniques are being presented.
ReplyDeleteThis week, class time was dedicated to working on our action component presentations. On Tuesday, I was the only one present in my group, but I found several useful websites for us to use as part of our research. On Thursday, we continued to do research and also made a rough draft of our lesson plan. We came up with a lot of good ideas for activities to do with the students so it should be a fun presentation.
ReplyDeleteScience Matters:
Chapter 1- Chapter 1 focuses on the "knowing" of science. One of the main focuses was on the work of Isaac Newton and his three laws of motion. His first law states that "every body continues in its state of rest, or of uniform motion in a straight line, unless it is compelled to change that state by forces impressed upon it" (9). His second law reads: "force equals mass times acceleration" (10). And finally the third law states that "to every action force there is an equal and opposite reaction force" (12). This chapter also discusses the importance of the scientific method when conducting experiments. I thought this chapter gave a good starting point by discussing the basics of science and laid the foundation for what is to come in later chapters.
Chapter 2- This chapter focused on energy. Everything we do and see requires energy. Energy is conserved and it always goes from more useful to less useful forms. There are several types of energy that were discussed in this chapter including: kinetic energy and potential energy. A lot of the information provided in this chapter reminded me of previous courses that I have taken. When taking Physical Science for teachers, we discussed a lot of the same information and conducted experiments. Towards the end of the chapter, alternative energy sources were mentioned. In my previous IDEA course, I had to give a group presentation about alternative energy so I know the importance of these sources.
On Tuesday our group really struggled with narrowing down our research topic. However, when Thursday rolled around we seemed to get a better grasp on where we wanted to go with our research. The word web appeared really useful in organizing our thoughts.
ReplyDeleteChapter one
This chapter was really just a refresher from what I learned back in highschool. There was the breakdown of the different areas in science, the talk of the birth of early science, and the early scientists who pioneered the way we research today.
Chapter two
This chapter got a little more in depth, but really just seemed to be a repeat of my earlier science courses. I did enjoy talk about alternative fuels. I frequently have researched this topic and found the end of the chapter really interesting.
This last week in class we came up with a narrow topic for out IDEAfest project. Our main topic is how the island fox and the burrowing owl compete for food on the California channel islands. On Tuesday we made a word web to narrow down our topic and identify some key points we needed to teach to our audience. Thursday we wrote a rough draft on how to teach our topic to 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders. Our group decided to talk about the competition for food between the island fox and the burrowing owl. We decided to include a game to help the children remember the main topic. Over the weekend I started making a simple game to get the kids moving around the class room.
ReplyDeleteThe first two chapters of the book Science Matters are a basic overview of laws and theories that have been invented by scientists of all types. The book explains different branches of science and groups of different scientists within those specialties. It's a geology, biology, physics, and astronomy book all rolled into one! This got me thinking about my project. Maybe talking about how important energy is to animals would help them to understand why humans and animals need food in the first place to survive. I think this book might be a good reference in the future for helping us expand the significance of our topic.
Our group made large strides towards our lesson plan and overall presentation. Tuesday we dicussed every possible idea regarding our topic and kept some ideas we felt would add to the students thought process. On Thursday our group finished our rough draft for the lesson plan and now can move forward to the construction of the presentation and towards the completion of the content standards.
ReplyDeleteThe first two charpter of Science Matter gave a brief review and explanation of some of the most recognizable theories and laws. It touched on the different types of sciences and how each affects the world. So far I found the book to be interesting and insightful, while remain simple and easily understood.
Derek Maassen
My group got a lot of work done towards our lesson plan and presentation this week during class. On Tuesday we did a word web to discuss what we wanted to talk about in our presentation. On Thursday we spent a lot of times trying to think of activities that we could do to get the kids involved when we go teach the elementary students. I like this project we are doing where we give a presentation to young students because it is different from the normal class work I do as an accounting major.
ReplyDeleteThe first two chapters of Science Matters talked about the most common scientific theories and laws known by most people. These chapters remind me of high school as all of the topics being talked about were things that I learned in high school science but have not used since. The second chapter brought up some issues that I hope to learn more about such as global warming. I’m looking forward to what the book will talk about next.
Ch.1-2: Chapter one introduced the idea of science and how it is used by people. It talks about the scientific method and how it can be used. It also discusses some of the basic concepts of science like Newton's laws and how scientists viewed the world in the past. Chapter two discusses energy and how it impacts us. It also talks about new energy sources and how they could be used.
ReplyDeleteClass: Most of our group was gone on Tuesday, but we did make a lot of progress on Thursday. We talked about our presentation and how we can make it interesting for kids in grade school. We also found some interesting data on our topic that should help us with our presentation.
This week in class was helpful in contributing to our lesson plans for teaching the elementary children information on island diversity. The time in class to work on our lesson plans and ideas was incredibly useful.
ReplyDelete"Science Matters" is a great book that teaches scientific literacy through easy to understand dialogue and basic scientific information. The chapters we read were on Knowing (the universe is regular and predictable) and Energy (energy is conserved and always goes from more useful to less useful forms). The chapters are great for those who know little about the subjects, as well as for people who know more about them and are given a review. I found the sections on energy and Newton particularly interesting, as they explain complicated laws of energy in very simple terms so that anyone could understand them.
I really enjoy this book so far and look forward to reading more of it throughout the class.
The chapters in the "Science Matter" book were a great way to introduce scientific literacy. Being a science major I think about science all the time and how it relates to the world around me. However, for those people who do not think about science regularly, this text really provides an entry into the science world. The first two chapters were easy reads that introduced the basic laws of science. The examples given in the text were easy to follow and understand, and I look forward to reading more from this book.
ReplyDeleteClass Activities:
I wasn't able to make it to class on Tuesday but was told my group researched our outreach project. On Thursday, we were able to come up with an activity for our outreach activity. We were able to complete a rough draft of our lesson plan and have a better idea of what our action component will look like.
Weekly Readings:
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed the overview of the scientific information. I also enjoyed how the chapters incorporated the importance for the public to be aware of the scientific knowledge. I enjoyed the way that the scientific information is broken down in simple terms, and how each topic would apply to every living creature on earth.
Weekly Activities:
I enjoyed being able to use class time to work on our outreach project. As a group we accomplished to put together a simple, yet powerful presentation.
We spent this week working on and brainstorming ways to develop our outreach lessons. Our group is looking at doing our outreach lessons and IDEA Fest posters on the geology of the Galapagos Islands. The action component of this class will be very beneficial to students who are Education Majors like Brittany H. and myself. I'm looking forward to it. I missed one day this week due to teeth pulling, of the wisdom variety. I think class may have been more fun :)
ReplyDelete