Get them to think!!! Who has control......

You give students more control of their own learning by encouraging exploration. Give your students your expectations and give them the responsibility.  

Learning goals (or competencies): By laying out the required expectations for a course the teacher no longer must “cover” everything; instead the students are responsible for ensuring that they can meet the expected goals.

 

Rubrics: Clear expectations regarding the grading criteria for any type of project (term paper, presentation, group work) allows students to decide how best to meet the expectations. Guide student learning through well-crafted Web activities. The support is therefore available 24/7, and while the teacher is important in the design, the teacher can be home sleeping while students are learning. I think that’s cool … and efficient!

It important for students to learn about the history of science, as Ms. Murray's students do so the students gain 
insights into the nature of science and the role of historical, philosophical and technological contexts in the development of scientific knowledge. To be able to truly understand and evaluate in science, it is beneficial to gain a deeper knowledge and background for better understanding and interpretation of data.

I had a science lesson in which I had to try to identify or describe something I couldn’t see.  This kind of lesson build students’ scientific skills because it makes them think outside the box. It makes them pay closer attention to detail. For instance if there was something in the box and the student had to describe it, he or she would pay attention to how heavy it is, if makes noise, if it moves, etc. When you are not told all of the information, it opens a world of possibilities, this develops students process skills for critical thinking. 
                 


In Ms. Murray’s use of design technology, students not only research, discuss, and draw the structure of atoms, but also build their own atomic models with materials like Popsicle sticks, beads, and tape. The point of the building stage is crucial for development. In early childhood it is equally important that science activities be hands-on, child-driven, authentic, and active. Developmentally, young children learn and understand best from what they can see, touch, feel, and manipulate. Providing safe, readily available materials that children can experiment with is one of the most important steps towards effective hands-on science investigations.

*Learning to Teach*

                                                                                                                                                                                         

Today we observed three different science classes. We observed 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade science at BDMS. The science teacher for this course is AMAZING! I look up to her and respect her as a teacher! I could only hope to be able to answer and respond to the students as she does with such ease!


The first class was 4th grade. The teacher had the students discuss What are Natural Resources, and why they are important. These students were awesome. The ideas that were coming out of their mouths was astonishing to me! These are very bright children. These students displayed so much knowledge on this topic, it was really nice to see a class so engaged.
                                                                                              
                                                                                                
What amazed me was how she guided them through discussion. If someone spoke about something that may be going the wrong way, she would ask questions like "Explain the relationship here, or why do you think this is important" and some how the students would realize they were a bit off but then were able to get right back on track. She never said no, or that's not right, or thats wrong, etc. The students were even connecting the text to real world situations. One student shared a story about something on the news he saw that was hurting our natural resources and he even explained why we needed them~ Amazing!
                                                                                                     
The second class of the day was a lesson on Measuring Properties. The first thing the teacher said to the class was "Who can tell me what we did yesterday?" only two hands went up. Then she said "Ok, those of you who don't know can come back in during recess and talk about it with me once again to be sure you got it"---the whole class raised their hands!!!! She then had the students explain the concepts they learned.
                            

Then the teacher showed students how to measure liquids using a graduated cylinder. She asked them why they thought she had to get eye level with the top of the liquid to read the correct measurement. Most of the students got it right!
After the lesson, she checked for understanding by having the class nod.



The third class of the day was the 5th grade class-this is the class I will be teaching a lesson to next week. This lesson was an introduction to changes in matter. She then explained to the students the difference between a chemical and physical change. She demonstrated a physical change by ripping up a piece of paper. She then asked the class if she could get the paper back to the original state, which she could-with tape.

She also spoke about rust being a chemical change, and the first indication was that it had a color change which was a big indicator that change had occurred. She went on to explain further that just because there is a color change, it's not ALWAYS a chemical change. She demonstrated this by coloring her blue marker on the white board, explaining that she can bring the board back to the original state by erasing it-physical change.
                           
The students got the concept fairly quickly and were able to discuss different examples of both physical and chemical changes. Very bright group of students! The last thing she had the 5th graders do was to look at the pictures the author put into the vocabulary of this chapter. She then had the students tell her and the class why they think these pictures were chosen. This was a very creative way to get the students critical thinking activated and really try to understand the terms for each picture! Brilliant!!!