What a semester!

Wow! What a semester! Over this Spring semester I was in both Social Studies and Science Methods classes and it was a lot of work to do.  I learned more then I ever thought I could about technology to use in the classroom. Along with technology I have also learned a lot about what kind of science teacher I want to be. I want the students to be able to experiment and come up with their own ideas of science rather then just giving them the answer. I will emphasize that in science there is often more then one answer and that sometimes there is no right answer. 


 This class along with my other methods classes left me with a lot of work to do. It was hard to complete all the assignments at times due to my time schedule between work and school, I tried to make it work the best that I could.

How can you change the world?

This is a very captivating video about Earth, how it came about, what is happening to it, how it is changing. This is a good way to introduce a class to a unit about earth.

Also with this video a class could brainstorm how they can help the planet. In the class that I watched this movie for, we came up with a petition. Here is the petition that we created.

The Keys to Unlocking Science for Kids

I have recently read the article Keys to Teaching the Nature of Science. In this article They discuss the nature of science (NOS) and how to use it in the classroom. They explain that a big part of science is interacting with one another, scientist work with one another to come up with answers and to solve problems.  Science is highly influenced by culture, society and history, so working with other people on science experiments will give more then one opinion and outlook on something.


Another thing that the article talks about is how all the types of sciences astronomy, physical, earth etc. are all different; all the sciences make a hypothesis, do an experiment to test the hypothesis. draw a conclusion. the article says that there is no universal rules for science however each science does each of the scientific method steps differently. This is what we need to teach our students. 

I chose this article because it seemed to have good insight on how to effectively incorporate science into the classroom.  
here is the article if you would like to read it!

Elephnats may be able to save the future

In recent news, it has been found out that "elephant genes may provide a crucial clue in the fight against human cancer." This news came from the Ringling Brothers Circus. They are retiring their elephants due to all the controversy with having such big wild life animals in the circus. These elephants have been in captivity for too long so can not be sent back into the wild. They are going to be used for cancer research and to help pediatric cancer patience so they still have a purpose. 
 

Scientific research has found that elephants should be much more likely to get cancer because they have so many more cells then humans do. However, scientists have found that elephants have an extra gene that stops and kills cancerous cells and tumors before they form. 

Scientists and medical professionals are taking blood from the Ringling Brother elephants to taking the extra gene/cell they have out of it, to try and see if it will work for humans! Medical professionals are also considering to make a medicine that mimics the cell. 


I chose this topic to talk about because if scientist and medical professionals are able to figure out how to use this gene/cell with humans, it can change the world and the future forever. When you are teaching, It is important to help the students understand that medicine is a big part of science and so are animals. This can also show students that animals can help humans. 

Here are the links in case you are interested in learning more about this topic! 
CNN
PBS
Fox
Ringling Brothers

Science is out of this world!

In my Science and Technology Methods class we learned a lot about astronomy and how to teach it in a classroom.

The first thing we did was make a collage of space pictures and websites about space for children.
here is the  collage I made using linoit

The second project we did was come up with a word cloud using words related to space, that were commonly found in our all of our websites and articles.
Here is the word cloud I made with my group using tagul

The third project we did was make a timeline about astronomy events using different websites.
here is the timeline I made with my group using timetoast 

There are so many projects and activities that can be done when doing an astronomy unit of study. Students can use lots of different types of technology and projects to enhance their learning. This unit of study is very interesting and easy to make engaging for students.  

trading thoughts about trrade books

Recently in class we created a project about trade books. These are books that can be used to teach about a science topic/unit of study.They are usually informative/fiction books but can sometimes be non fiction books. 

The project that we did was making a book talk and a book trailer about the trade book that we chose. 

I would use this activity in a classroom because it would help the children really understand the book. In order to do this activity the you have to know the book inside and out, so the children would really have to study the book. 

For my trade book I used the book fresh water animals.

If you are interested in learning more about this book:
Here is my book talk 
Here is my book trailer '

 

Explore and Explain about the earth

1. Consider the area of Earth’s surface, atmosphere, and weather about which you feel most knowledgeable. What ideas do you have regarding what you will do as a teacher to keep your knowledge current?
   I feel as though I am not that knowledgeable on this topic. If I had to chose one I know  the most about it would be weather. I recently took a geography class, which taught a lot about weather. However, I will have to view articles and websites to gain more knowledge. 
2. Consider the area of Earth’s surface, atmosphere, and weather about which you feel least knowledgeable. What ideas do you have regarding what you will do as a teacher to continue to strengthen your knowledge base about this topic?
   I am least knowledgeable
   about the earths surface, I would need to do extensive research to gain enough knowledge to be able to teach this lesson I will look through articles and texts and class reading to help me better understand this topic. As a teacher, I would also go to my collages and ask them for further information on how to teach this topic, what they have done and ideas they have. 
3. What resources are you aware of that will help you be an effective teacher of Earth’s surface, atmosphere, and weather?
   This scholastic website is one good resource for weather, it is an interaactive website for children to use. 
   This website has activities and information for both children an teachers . 
   
   
   This scholastic website has information for teachers about the earth and its surface.
   This website has information, videos and pictures on the earths surface 
   
   
   This national geographic website has a video along with information about the earths atmoshere 
   This website has all different kinds of information about the earths atmosphere for children to use.