Bonus Blog

S5E1: Students will identify features of the earth caused by constructive and destructive forces.  

An essential question for this standard I would use in a unit or lesson plan would be:

Why is it important for people to understand how the earth changes naturally? 

Module 8

Teaching Science to Young Children:Practical Advice

Right from the beginning of this webpage I was fascinated because I never realized that science in the past didn't take place in the elementary classroom. I was taught science in elementary school and just assumed this was the case for everyone before me. Our world is very technical and in order to understand and compete in our society science is very important. The advice most valuable to me was that we should teach science skills rather than just the facts. Experiments are the best way for students to experience science in a fun and exciting way. Hands-on activities need to be incorporated into all units so that students are given the opportunity to explore their curiosity. 

Teaching Young Children Science: Three Key Points

I am glad that the science education world has changed from learning the science to doing science because personally I am more a visual learner. The memorization of facts was very difficult for me and would stick with me long enough to take a test but that was it. Experiences with science are long lasting because of the ability to observe, explore, create, predict, and so much more. When discussing doing science you can see the importance of the 5Es in the lessons: engaging, exploring, explaining, elaborating, evaluating. As a teacher when developing a lesson, it is important that I understand the developmental level of my students and that they have the abilities needed to perform the task at hand. Through this understanding teacher can facilitate "play" that enables them to learn through exploration and especially if the task is chosen based on the interests of the children. Next teachers must be aware of student differences when it comes to their learning. Whether a student is visual, auditory, or through written work learner. These different methods should be incorporated as to reach all learners. Lastly, teachers also need to be aware of their students background and culture. We need to meet students where they are so that we can build off familiar experiences into the unknown. If students are using various technological devices at home we should also incorporate these into the classroom. Through the use of the 5Es teachers are able to conduct science in a way that sparks the curiosity and problem-solving strategies in the students. Teachers of science are not meant to be there will all the answers but rather be there to guide questioning that gets the child thinking and wanting to explore. The goal of science education is to create rich minds through rich experiences. 

For the article reviews, I chose two newspaper articles from the ProQuest search on "Science for Children." 

Summary:
Science For Children: A lecture on the subject of "Heat, Visible and Invisible"

This article starts out by discussing how the human existence came in two stages which were prior to writing and post writing which is also known as pre-historic and historic periods. One thing that was known in both pre-historic and historic time periods was how fire was created. Before learning to write, savages could bake bread and create fires without written instructions. Over time more was discovered about fire in that air was needed in order for fires to remain a light. Oxygen is needed to make a candle burn. Various different experiments are described about different substances that were lit on fire and then exposed to more oxygen to see what would occur. In all the cases, the fire remained very powerful due to the exposure to oxygen. The professor who was conducting these experiments wanted the boys to visualize what was happening and make their own assumptions on science. Professor Tyndell's hope was that the boys and girls who came to his lectures would be able to experience and understand science themselves. 

Reflection:
When reading this article I gained insight into how teaching of science was like during the late 1800s. Science then was also meant to be "done" as we have been talking about rather than memorizing. Science is meant to be tested and explored in order to make deductions on what we are experiencing. The profesor being analyzed in this article was desciribing a way to bring science to life for his students and how to see why there are needs for fire to happen on this earth. He went into detail about why our body functions the way it does to process oxygen and create carbonic acid. It was very interesting to me to read the different experiments conducted by Professor Tyndell.  

Science for children: A lecture on the subject of "heat, visible, and invisible". (1878, January 20). New York Times, p. 5.http://search.proquest.com.proxy.kennesaw.edu/docview/93656075/fulltextPDF?source=fedsrch&accountid=11824

Science For Children: The Winner's in Life's Race: or the Great Backboned Family

Summary: 
Arabella Buckley wrote a book about her beliefs in the science world. She is not what you could call an evolutionist because she does not include genealogical charts because she wants more researched scientists to prove this instead. She translated the Latin words into English as to make it easier for children to understand. For example the vertebrates are the "back-boned" family. Her book is about philosophy as to engage students at their level to create curiosity. She goes into great discussion about the fish in our oceans and who are the dominate groups and why. She discusses how fish have changed in order to adapt to changes in the seas. The article then goes on to describe different parts of Buckley's book and why the pictures are profound to portray the information that is written. Buckley's book was written to tell about the order and development of the different kingdoms of life. Her writing is meant to be easy for children to understand her philosophy. She is different from many evolutionist in that she still thinks there is a higher creator as well. 

Reflection:
While reading this article about Buckley's book, I realized how complicated science can really be for children. As we have read in this weeks module, we must approach students with what is known to them before we can introduce new vocabulary and concepts. Background knowledge is important for learning new ideas and concepts. Buckley took a complicated subject of the animal kindgdom and transformed it in a way that children would be able to understand. We must be able to do the same with our students. This doesn't mean that you "dumb down" or change the information being presented but you approach the material in the best way for the students to understand. 

Buckley, A. B. (1883, February 25). Science for children: The winner's in life's race . New York Times , p. 5.http://search.proquest.com.proxy.kennesaw.edu/docview/94081703/fulltextPDF?source=fedsrch&accountid=11824

Module 7

Do you think any of your science teachers used Backward Design to plan instruction?  Why or why not?

I'll be honest I have the worst memory when it comes to my past learning experiences but I will do my best to reflect on what I remember from my science school days. I think when I was in high school my anatomy teacher used backward design because she would give us a "study guide" on the first day of our unit so that we knew what vocabulary and "big ideas" as all the websites from this week have spoken about were so that we knew what to expect and she knew what was needed to prepare us for the assessment at the end. I don't think that my biology teacher felt the same way. I felt as though when the test came around that there were concepts on the test that I had never heard of before. This being said she obviously didn't do many of the backward design 101 concepts when it came to assessment. We only ever had end of unit assessments, wasn't used to inform instruction, and they were typically multiple choice which doesn't assess in multiple ways. Whereas in my anatomy class we would have quizzes throughout the unit, some constructed response portions, experimental quizzes, and then some multiple choice work. Looking back at these two courses, I loved my anatomy class and hated my biology class. I am sure much of my opinion had to do with the fact that I achieved much higher in the anatomy class due to the teaching being of a higher quality. I couldn't tell you what my teachers in elementary school did when it came to instruction and how well prepared I felt at the end of a unit. I think that backwards design is very important for teachers because it prepares them for the "Whereto" as Grant Wiggins explained and gives the teacher a guideline as to what do I need to do to get my students to learn and remember this content to the fullest extent. Teachers can't just teach what they want along the way and hope that the students will learn the "big ideas" through osmosis. Teachers must have a purpose when it comes to designing a lesson to make a learning goal. I know there are great teachers out there that start with the end in mind before writing their lesson plans for the unit. I think it's very important to reflect on our past experiences that were good and bad to help guide our own teaching. As the you tube video states "as teachers we want to make sure that all students succeed" and this should be what guides our work every hour of every day. 

http://www.schooltube.com/video/9648a7ef1382477fae85/Backward-Design
http://www.arps.org/users/ms/coaches/backward%20design%20101.htm
http://www.grantwiggins.org/documents/UbDQuikvue1005.pd

Article #5

http://www.livescience.com/37766-type-1-diabetes-reverse-vaccine-tol3021.html

"Reverse Vaccine" May Fight Type I Diabetes  by Joseph Brownstein 

The current science event I chose to write about is the reverse vaccine for people with Type I diabetes. What happens when you have diabetes is that antibodies in the body attack the cells that make insulin. What has been developed is a treatment called TOL-3021 which uses a circular piece of DNA to attack the antibodies that would then attack the cells that produce insulin. A 12-week program was done and the people involved remained the same levels of insulin or went up. The reason it has the name "reverse vaccine" is because vaccines go in your body and switch on your immune system whereas this treatment is turning off part of the immune system. The process is to turn off the part of the immune system that is attacking the pancreas but nothing else. One conclusion found was that after the injections were made then the insulin amounts went down so it's not a permanent fix. This treatment has potential to become much more useful for other autoimmune diseases as well where the antibodies are known that cause the diseases. There is more study needing to be done to figure out the long-term effects. 

I decided to read up on this science event because I have a very close family friend who has Type I Diabetes and has struggled with his health for a long time. He gives himself shots everyday for his insulin since his body no longer produces enough and if there was an alternative to this I think he would jump on it. I think diabetes is such an unfortunate disease because Type I seems to come to young people who aren't overweight and unhealthy. If there was something that could help cure this disease it would be a great achievement in the medical world. I also liked reading this article because it shows how much research goes into findings for treatments of diseases or medicines before they are sent out for public use. This is a comforting idea because you want to know what is going into your body before you do so. The scientific process for experimentation with using different variables and trial-and-error is there for a reason. It is amazing to me that someone out there thought this was a good idea for this certain disease and went with it. I hope that the continued research and observations are able to lead to some success. 

Module 6

Write a reflection for your blog that reveals your understanding of how and why (if at all) diversity should be considered as science lessons are developed.

We are wanting to help our students make connections from our teaching and their culture. Especially if some of our students are different from the majority their cultural differences should be considered as to not seclude any students. Culture "drives the behavior of individuals" as the video stated. I can relate to this because you use your knowledge of your life to help you make connections in your learning. We must make it easier for our students to use their cultural differences to enhance our classroom community. Cultural ideas are made through observations. My students may be culturally different from me so it is good to have them enhance my life by helping me understand what it is like at home for them and for me to share the same. I liked how the presentation said that culture is "learned, shared, symbolic, integrated, and norms can change over time." This is important to remember because our students are going to pick up on cultural ideas differently than others. I find that science is one of the subjects that is most important to make connections to our lives because it is involved in our daily lives all day long. Being able to be part of our world we must understand what is around us. Diversity should be considered in our plans to help make our students learning most meaningful and able to associate it into their daily lives. There is such an achievement gap between African Americans and Hispanics and whites but it is starting to be narrowed which is great news. This needs to continue happening so that all students are achieving at the same level and I think the best way to do that is to help students understand each other and the differences between each other. The academic gains in the gap are happening in the early years but not in high school. This is a problem because elementary teachers need to help prepare our students to be lifetime learners. I agree with this statement that "good will must be accompanied by pedagogical knowledge and skills as well as the courage to dismantle the status quo" when it comes to teaching a variety of students. Our culture is evolving which means our teaching must evolve as well. I think it's important to consider diversity when it comes to planning for my science course. 

When it comes to how to teach my students in science I think it should be considered as chapter 3 states "the strategies offered in the planning model for differentiated instruction provide numerous opportunities for students to use develop all of their senses as tools for learning and to be actively involved in developing concepts, skills, and dispositions (p. 29)." As the chapter is titled, knowing your learners is important if you want your students to achieve success in the classroom. Students come with their preferred learning styles which you need to observe to figure out so that you choose activities for your plans that are best for their learning. The reason why we use diversity is because "understanding the different ways that children interact with and process information enables teachers to better plan instruction and modify teaching so that all students have an opportunity to be successful learners. There are so many different people who have researched different learning styles that obviously we should take these into consideration when we plan for science. Whether we use Kolb's, McCarthy's 4MAT system, Gregorc's, Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences, 8 intelligences linked to science, or Sternberg's view, us teachers need to use diversity in our teaching so that we can approach our students where is best fit for them to be successful and long-time learners. 

10 of my previous students profiles

Robbie: Accommodator, dynamic learner, and concrete random. Activities that would be good for him are choice boards, and experiment with no definite answer that he can work on by himself. 

Martin: Converger, common sense learner, and concrete sequential. Activities include the need for rubrics, models before starting, and activities given in a given order upon completion of parts. 

Natalia: Diverger, Imaginative learner, and abstract random. Activities include group work, one-on-one time with teacher in conference setting, and freedom to create visuals to go along with an activity. 

Joseph: Assimilator, analytical learner, and abstract sequential. Activities include problem-based learning activity, time to research after performing an experiment to compare results, journal reflections after performing a task, and group activities that include discussions. 

Shannon: Diverger, imaginative learner, and abstract random. Activities would need to be done in groups, ability to choose her own group, time to work with the teacher to discuss what is being done, and feedback would need to be given compassionately back. 

Alexandra: Accommodator, dynamic leaner, and concrete random. Activities would need to be choice board types or including a rubric. She would need to be given more time to work independently. There should be an extra activity provided for any activity to help her take it to the next level. 

Lila: Converger, Common sense learner, and concrete sequential. She needs group activities where she has the opportunity to be the leader. Rubrics must come with every project or multi-step activity. Structure of the expectations must be consistent across all content areas and the use of modeling when explaining the coming assignment. 

Antonio: Assimilator, analytical learner, and abstract sequential. Rubrics must accompany all activities so that an order is being done. He needs to be able to run his information found by the teacher to clarify he is on the right track so check-in points are necessary. He must be able to work with students in a discussion setting as well as reflecting on his learning. 

Ingrid: Diverger, imaginative learner, and abstract random. Illustrations or creative outlets must accompany all assignments or larger projects. She must be given feedback throughout her work through conferences with the teacher. She also needs to be able to work in groups of her own choosing. 

Kristen: Accommodator, dynamic learner, and concrete random. Technology must be present on a choice board. Choice boards must have at least 6 options for her to choose from that have a variety of outlets for her to use. She needs activities that lean themselves to exploration like experiments that could go more than one way. There should be times for her to choose independence over group work that allows her the freedom to extend her activities as she wishes. 

Module 5

S5E1. Students will identify surface features of the Earth caused by constructive and destructive processes.

c. Relate the role of technology and human intervention in the control of constructive and destructive processes.
Examples include, but are not limited to

• Flood control, (dams, levees, storm drain management, etc.) 

Problem: You are at a school that has a river that flows through the property. There is a problem with flooding on school grounds and we need your help to figure out the best way to fix this problem. You are asked to apply your skills as scientists to study the problem and present your ideas to organizations working to solve these problems. 

Authentic Assessment: Students will use the internet to research different types of technology and human intervention to prevent flooding. They must research atleast 4 different types and describe how and why each of them are used by using some form of graphic organizer or concept map. They will come up with a list of best places for each of the interventions to be used. From the information collected they will decide which intervention or technology would be best for the school property and must create a presentation to convince the school board to implement this type of intervention. The students can use powerpoint, prezi, or glogster to present their information. They will then present this to the class and at the end of the presentations the class will take a vote on what the best intervention would be based on the information presented. 

Rubric for Assessment 

	Needs Development	Approaching	Meets	Exceeds
Information gathered	only 1 intervention is researched with little to information provided	2-3 interventions are researched with basic information provided	4 interventions are researched with basic information that is sufficient to make a decision provided	information presented on all four areas is complete with examples of where to find them and how they are created/used.
Graphic organizer/Concept mat	only 1 intervention is present	2-3 interventions are present	4 interventions are present	4 interventions are present and connections are made between the different types
Technology use	No internet resources are used to gather information	Minimal technology used	Various technologies are used to find information	Information gathered from internet, books, and personal interviews of specialists in the area
Presentation	Lacking all parts to make an educated decision from presentation	Presentation is satisfactory but lacks excitement and engagement	Presentation is engaging and information presented in an easily understood manner	Presentation is engaging with various types of multi-media used

Article #3

http://proxy.kennesaw.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eric&AN=EJ904926&site=eds-live&scope=site

Is the crisis in Science education continuing? By Grady Venville

Summary: This article was written for Australia in 2007. This article summarized why Australia's science education was in crisis which the four reasons were that students were creating negative attitudes towards science, the lack of students joining in higher education science, shortage of skilled science workforce, and a shortage of qualified science teachers. The article goes on to analyze the decrease in students taking higher educational science courses in the Western World through the years 2002-2007. The trends of enrollment in the last year of high school decreased in all areas except for psychology. The three areas of most decrease were Biology, Human biology, and Physics. On top of that the students entering college were decreasing in the amount that were entering for science courses. This same trend applied to some art courses as well. It was noted that students were choosing to enter the workforce rather than to get higher education. What was most difficult was the needs for science education workers in the workforce was increasing throughout all of Western society when it came to technology and engineering fields. The main reason students weren't choosing these fields was due to poor grades, difficulty, boredom, or disengagement to the curriculum. The age in which you had to stay in school for also increased which may have had a factor on what students chose to study that were wanting to enter the workforce right after high school. It was found that 15 year-old Australians were ranked in the lowest in the world for science interest. The author sees the gap widening due to the increased need for science personnel. 

Reflection: The reason I chose to read this article and write about it is because I find it interesting to learn about education in other parts of the world. I realize that it was published in 2007 but that doesn't necessarily mean that the same trends aren't occurring today. I graduated in 2007 as well which made it more relevant to how I was feeling back then. I know from personal experience that I didn't enroll myself in any difficult sciences my senior year because I knew I wasn't going to go into a field that was science intensive in college. From what I noticed with many of my peers they did the same thing that year. I think by the time you get to your last year in high school you are burnt out and see light at the end of the tunnel so you choose courses that might interest you more. I think students get rejuvenated again when they get to college because you have every decision in what you take in college. If you don't want to have a lot of math courses you pick a field that doesn't require that many. The same is obviously true in other parts of the world. This is striking to me though because of all the advances made in technology and science over the past 10-20 years that people aren't wanting to head into science fields. It has been changing constantly which I don't see slowing down anytime soon which I find to be very exciting. What I take away from this article is that as a primary school teacher it is my job to get my students excited and interested in the study of science. I am helping to lay the groundwork for what they will one day become. Science education needs to also continue to be engaging and meaningful the older our students become in order to keep them interested. 

Article #4

http://content.ebscohost.com.proxy.kennesaw.edu/pdf25_26/pdf/2011/ESF/01Jan11/55811382.pdf?T=P&P=AN&K=2010882037&S=R&D=rzh&EbscoContent=dGJyMNXb4kSeqLQ4yOvsOLCmr0uep69Ss664S7eWxWXS&ContentCustomer=dGJyMOnb7Em549%2BB7LHjfPEA

Science and medical education: is it time to revisit Flexner?
By: David Weatherall 

Summary: Flexner was someone who went into medical schools in the USA in the early 1900s to research how they were running and what they were teaching. His first stop was Johns Hopkins which was structured similar to some schools in Germany due to the first president having spent time overseas. For most of the 20th century medical schools had a very similar structure but at the end of the 20th century it went through a reorganization to include an organ-based curriculum. In 1993 even more changes were evolving in the medical teaching world. The change was to have students exposed to more patients and patient families from the beginning to help build communication among doctors and their patients. This was happening because with higher technology advances they saw the communication of doctors starting to decline. Medical advances with DNA and the human genome project have made it possible that in the next 20 years people will be able to know their susceptibility to diseases and that prescriptions will be set based off the genetics of a person. Many advances in cancer treatment have arisen too but the understanding of how people react to different infections is still of major concern in relation to the environment. Evolutionary biology is going to become even more important in the coming years due to the spread of disease in the future. The question is why do you think doctors need to have more biological background than in the past. The struggle is that medical education is already so long and costly is there time for biological sciences to play a huge part again as originally proposed by Flexner. It is going to become more prevalent for doctors to understand and be knowledgeable on the genome transformations as to guide their patients through it. A huge part of being a doctor is not only the knowledge of science but the art of compassion towards patients. For the future years this article suggests an introductory course of about 6 months for biological sciences alongside patient care could be the start to helping medical doctors progress alongside the science. Harvard has introduced this idea into its first year medical introductory courses which have been very well received by the students and staff. The learning of biological sciences is said needs to be continued throughout their studies whether it be in small group sessions or large group. These ideas would continue throughout the years in school to best prepare the future doctors of our world. 

Reflection: I chose to read an article on Medical education because I find the function of the body to be very fascinating. I never felt strong enough in school to go into the medical field but I enjoy reading about advancements made and new understandings as to why things happen to people. I didn't realize that when you went into medical school that you didn't have a basic biology course to start off your career in medicine. I guess it would make sense to go right into understanding the anatomy and how it works but as we have noticed over the past 20 years there are lots of diseases that we don't know the origins from. This leads us into the importance of having a good background on biology. As with many other fields of study, medicine is constantly evolving and new information is coming to the forefront. I have several friends in medical school currently and I would be interested in hearing from them their experiences with the biological sciences introductory courses. I also can understand why there is an emphasis made on bedside manner with doctors because no one likes to go see a doctor they can't relate to or feel uncomfortable questioning. I know I don't teach anatomy in fifth grade but I do teach life sciences. Again as I said about the earlier article, as a teacher of young children we are responsible for building interest and understanding in the basics of our world and science. I want to be the teacher my kids look back on that got them excited about school and curious about our world. This is something I really want to work on this year as I get to focus on two subjects with science being one of them. 

Bonus Blog: Homework

Do you (or would you) give homework? If so, why and what format would you use.

I have always given homework due to this being an expectation in my school and among my grade level. I usually assign homework in math and reading/language arts. Mostly math to keep practice going but I try to keep it as review of concepts in the past and not something we just learned that day. This way students have had time in class to become proficient and the homework is there to reinforce tools learned previously. I don't like overloading the students with homework because at the end of the day they are kids. They work so hard during the school day that they need some down time when they get home to build social skills and enjoy outdoors when they get home. I don't find it particularly beneficial to give them homework on a new concept learned that day because they might practice it incorrectly when they get home. I do find it beneficial for students to have some sort of reading homework each night to force them to read. I don't always trust that students will read every night when there isn't an assignment attached to it. Whereas this way they are having to read and keep working on their literacy skills. There is research around the importance of reading at home and so this part of "homework" I put a lot of emphasis on for my students. As a teacher, I try to get as much done during the school day as to not to overwhelm my students when they get home. Because of the setting I teach in, my students often times just don't do their homework because they don't want to or their parents aren't home at night to make sure they do it. This is a terrible cycle because they don't care that they have to miss out on a few minutes of recess because they didn't do their homework. I haven't quite figured out the right trick to motivate those that don't take homework seriously. I feel as though if homework is done the right way and presented correctly than it can be beneficial to student learning and instruction.