Effecting change at the school level

I feel that science takes a back seat to the rest of the subjects in elementary schools these days. I make an effort to make sure that does not happen in my classroom. I also try to encourage my colleagues to do the same. One way that I am trying to help encourage them to be more proactive is inform them about the scientific-inquiry approach to teaching science. I have shared with the the articles and readings that I have had to do for my class, and they seem very interested in them. They have asked me keep sharing the info that I have with them. I am also working on grants to get more science equipment for my school.

Our New Sputnik

When the Russians launched sputnik it caused America to put an emphasis on science education. We did not want to be left behind in exploration of space. Now things have changed. In Thomas Freidman's article, "What's Our New Sputnik?" he talks about the fact that America needs to shift our priorities when it comes to science education (2010). I agree with that, because if we do not find a way to make science education more of a priority in this country then we will be left behind. It is a shame that so many kids no longer have the passion for science that we once had. I think that early elementary teachers should make it more of a priority to teach science in the classroom. We need to find ways to make it relevant to them, and show them how fun and exciting it can be.



References

Friedman, T. L. (2010, January 17). What’s our sputnik? [Op-Ed]. The New York Times [Late Edition (East Coast)], p. WK.8.
Retrieved from the Walden University Library using the ProQuest Central database.

Making the Solar System

For my lesson I focused on the planets in the solar system and how they move around the sun. We created a model of the solar system, and then used that model to see how the earth rotates on an axis while it revolves around the sun.
Having them make the model of the solar system seemed particularly effective, because it gave them a visual of the information that we were discussing in class. I also feel that it was useful to have them act out the rotation of the planets, because that gave them two different ways to think about the information. Labeling the model of the solar system also helped reinforce the names of the planets as well. There favorite was Pluto. I explained to them that Pluto was no longer considered a regular planet, because it was too small, and they felt sad for it. That made me laugh.
This lesson went very well, and there is not much that I would change in the future. One thing that I would like to change would be to have them make more then one model of the solar system. I would split them up in groups instead of having them all work on one model together. With my small class that would not be as possible, but with a bigger class I think that would be more effective. I Would also plan to spread this lesson out over a couple of days, because I did not think about the fact that I was going to have to wait for the planets to dry. We had to finish putting the solar system together the next day, so we finished the lesson then.

Natural Disasters

It seems that more and more often we turn on the news and hear about some natural disaster that is affecting people around the world. I think that it is important that we take the time to inform our students about these, so that they can become more scientifically literate and compassionate individuals. I teach Kindergarten, so I would really have to be careful about how I go about informing them about the natural disasters, because I do not want to frighten them. When the earthquake hit in Haiti I talked to my students about it. I shared with them that my cousin was there when it happened and that she was helping the children there. They were a little worried, and they had some questions about what an earthquake was, so I did my best to help them understand the basic concepts. They decided that they wanted to collect items to send to my cousin in Haiti, so that she could give things to the children in the orphanage. I was very proud that they wanted to do that and my cousin was also very grateful. That showed me that they were thinking about what other people needed more than what they needed. AS I said earlier I think that it is important that my students are informed about these natural disasters, but I would be careful about the amount information that I share with them due to there young age.

Ask a Scientist Website

The question that I posed on the Ask a Scientist website was,is there any type of diet that would effect how quickly the ATP is drained from our cells, and would that have any benefits on our health? I asked the same question in our discussion for that week and I found that my colleagues gave me just as good of answers as I received from the website. I was pretty much given the same answers by both. I was provided with a link to a couple of good articles on the subject which I found to be very useful. I was able to read those articles and deepen my understanding of how ATP works in our body, and how nutrition can affect ATP. At this point in time I would not use the Ask a Scientist website with my students, because I teach Kindergarten. The only way that I could use it was if we came up with a question together and I posted it. When we got our answer I could then read to them the response. The only problem with that would be that the questions that we would come up with I could probably find the answers very easily myself. I would mainly use it as a way to show my students that there is a way that you can connect with scientists out there in the world. That might be useful for them.

References

Ask a Scientist
http://www.askascientist.org/

Course Project Tools

I liked looking at all of the different presentation tools. I thought that the Animoto tool would be good if you were trying to upload video in your presentation. It seems very user friendly and they give you step by step instruction on what you are supposed to do. I liked that. PreZentit was another one that I checked out. They also gave you step by step instructions and seemed rather user friendly. I liked that you could work with a team on it and not have to actually be on the same computer. I think that is a good feature. Those were the main ones that I checked out, but I look forward to reading my colleagues thoughts on what they looked at.

Heat as Energy

I know that a good insulator is something that helps trap heat. I always wondered what characteristics an object must possess in order to be a good insulator. I was glad that I could complete this experiment, because I was hoping that I would be able to figure out an answer to that question. I tested the temperature of the water before I started and it started out at 110.4ºF. I used similar sized mugs and filled them up with the same amount of water, so I could eliminate any possible variables. The four items that I chose to use as insulators were, aluminum foil, plastic wrap, a piece of paper, and a cotton cloth napkin. When I placed the materials over the mugs I made sure to put the rubber bands tightly around them, so that the heat would have a harder time escaping out of the sides. Going into the experiment I definitely expected that the aluminum foil would be the best insulator. I am not sure why I thought that, but that was my first instinct. First I took the temperature of the water in the mug that was covered with the paper. The temperature was 95.3ºF. The second mug that I tested was the one covered with aluminum foil. The temperature was 100.3ºF. Next was the mug covered with the cloth napkin. The temperature was 98.5ºF. Lastly I tested the mug with the plastic wrap. The temperature was 98.2ºF. I was not surprised by some of the results that I found after completing this experiment. I expected that the aluminum foil would be the best insulator and it was. However, I did not expect the paper to be the poorest insulator. I thought that it would be the plastic wrap, because it is so thin, but there was not much difference between that and the cloth napkin.
If I were to do this experiment again I would try to use different materials. I wold be interested to use styrofoam, newspaper, and jean material. I think that the styrofoam would be the best insukator, because it has smaller spaces of air molecules. The heat would have a harder time getting through, so the liquid would stay hotter.