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Monday, November 15, 2010

Blog Wrap up

I started my original research learning about how to effectively teach science to younger elementary students. After researching how to do that, I realized that I had a lot more questions about teaching science to elementary students. I continued to research the rest of the topics that related to science in elementary classrooms.

Blog 1- I started out my research thinking about how to effectively teach science to younger elementary students. I was interested in this topic because I was placed in a 1st grade classroom this semester, and I was interested in how I could better my science lessons with them. After teaching my science lesson, I realize that the concrete experiences I learned about are very important for my students, and I would also assume so with my future students and classrooms. I also found a resource about the basic things that students should know at certain ages. It is important for a teacher to assess all students before beginning a unit to learn what the students already know, and therefore make your lesson more effective.

Blog 2-After doing my first blog, I thought it was important to know WHY we should be teaching science to young students. The classroom I am placed in right now rotates science with social studies and other subjects. After talking to other students also in placements, it seems like this is what many teachers around this area are doing. I believe that science is an important topic and it is critical to start teaching it early. After doing research on why we should teach young students science, I found many reasons why. I think all of the reasons I found would give a convincing argument for anyone opposed to teaching science in the elementary classroom every day.

Blog 3- My first two posts led me to the question: Are young elementary students ready to learn science? I thought this would be an interesting topic because a lot of people don’t think young students are ready to learn about science and science topics when in fact, they are more than ready to learn about them. Most importantly I learned that you as a teacher cannot be the judge of your students are ready to learn. You will never know unless you try. You cannot withhold information from your students just because you don’t think they are ready. You must teach the lessons at a level that your students can understand, and most likely, your students will end up surprising you by how much they do actually already know.

Blog 4-For this post I researched different ways to engage students in science. I found many different ideas for helping to get students engaged in the classroom. Many resources mentioned interactive websites. I think interactive websites are a great thing, but they must be used sparingly, and only as in addition to a great lesson, which leads me to the next thing I found. I found a resource for helping teachers write effective lesson plans that help engage students. The website also gave an example of an engaging lesson plan. I also would re-state the fact that “bad” students are not always bad, but actually most of the time are just not engaged, or not being challenged enough. It is important for teachers to learn many different ways to engage different students.

Blog 5-While researching how to get students engaged in science, I came across many websites that said to use website in the classroom to get students engaged. This led me to question “How can you effectively use technology in the classroom?” Many times I believe teachers set students up on websites as a lesson when really, that is not a good lesson. It is also important for the teachers to make sure they are prepared to teach even the basics to some students. Many of us now assume that everyone has a computer at home and know how to use one, but I have experienced firsthand in my placement that not every child does. Technology should be used as an extra to a traditional, well taught lesson, not a replacement.

Blog 6-While researching the topic of engagement and the proper way to use it, I came across many sites about science topics. This made me wonder if there were any resources about current events related to science for kids. I found a LOT of resources for this topic. I was pleasantly surprised because I thought they would me mostly social studies current events, but I actually did find a lot about science. Simple things such as science fairs at the white house, and other topics that are current, yet interesting for younger students were on my science news websites. I was also pleased to see that the majority of the websites I found were updated weekly or monthly. These can be a great source of information for both the teacher and students.

Blog 7 (- After researching all of the above topics, it led me to wonder “what resources are out there for teachers in teaching science?” I found so many good sites, but chose to mention only a few of the ones that I found most helpful. I found the NSTA website and trade books list an amazing resource for all teachers and grades. Not many people talk about ready trade books to older grades, but actually it can help to activate prior knowledge and get students listening and engaged. Many websites also had work and activity sheets, study ideas, and ideas for activities in the classroom. These resources can be great if you are planning a lesson and are stuck trying to think of something to do. You can look at these websites for ideas that you can modify to accommodate them for your own classroom.

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