11/16

Today I taught first hour again. We did a lab on angle of insolation and temperature and then a heat transfer lab. I found a really cool computer demo about it on the internet yesterday but couldn't get permission to use it in time for class today. As a class we did the angle of insolation lab and made hypotheses, collected data and made conclusions. I wanted to guide the students a little bit, or at least give them some idea for a possible hypothesis, but not give them one. I explained my small understanding of the angle of insolation but I probably could have explained what I expected a little better because some in the class didn't seem to know what they were supposed to do. Mr. Borton was going around as we were collecting data and helped some of these students understand what to do. When it came time for the heat transfer lab I let the students work with little instruction. Its hard to say whether the kids learned better this way or if I should have guided them a little more, but most of them seemed to figure it out. I think the lack in the lesson was from my end in explaining. Still the heat transfer lab is really fun for the students and some of them understood right away what was going on and others it took some thinking to figure it out.

Assignment #1

Assignment #1

The article that I chose to read was “No Test Tubes? Debate on Virtual Science Classes” highlighted in the October 23, 2006 NSTA Express online newsletter. The article originally appeared in the New York Times, October 20, 2006. The article focuses on the debate surrounding students that receive college credit after having only received virtual laboratory experience with no hands-on experimentation in the lab. I asked 2 science instructors about their thoughts on the Virtual Chem Labs available for students.
The first instructor I interviewed, Dean Richens, teaches Chemistry and Physics at Union High School. He thinks the virtual labs have a place in classrooms but should not replace hands-on experiences. He has used lab simulation software to introduce students to laboratory experiments that would be too dangerous or costly, as well as showing students in simulation what to expect in the lab. However, in his experience he finds that students that have spent lots of time in the virtual lab and then transition to a real lab are very forgetful of safety precautions. In a virtual lab, you can’t get hurt, but that changes in the real world. He also doesn’t feel that student are prepared for upper division lab classes when virtual labs are the only learning tool. He acknowledges the ease of preparation and set-up time for a virtual lab, but wonders how much students actually learn.
Similar sentiments were expressed by the USU-Uintah Basin Chemistry Professor, Dr. Charles Langley. He said, “You can’t teach someone to milk a cow using only a computer.” There is something about performing a titration or mixing a solution and feeling the exothermic reaction through the beaker that a computer simulation cannot replicate. When I asked him if there was a place for virtual labs, he said that he had ordered some for the nursing chemistry students because they likely will never see the inside of a lab in their working careers and the expense of putting them through a real lab outweighs the benefit. However, for science majors, there is a certain expectation that a real lab experience has been achieved. He feels he would be cheating his students if a real lab were not provided containing real chemicals with which to experiment.
I can’t help but wonder, though, how Virtual High School students have scored so well on the AP exams as the article points out. These virtual schools must be doing something very well to pass 10% more students than the national average.
As I think about the tools that I will use to effectively teach science in the classroom, I am interested in all methods that point to a higher understanding for students. The limited amount that I have played with some of the software packages leads me to think that there is a high potential and untapped resource in these laboratory simulations. I hope to be able to learn to use them effectively.

Nov 10

Today I went in and taught first and second hour. The lesson was in line with what Mr. Borton was teaching and consisted of a lecture/discussion and note taking on heat transfer, conduction, convection and radiation, and a review on temperature. I used a powerpoint presentation and talked as the kids took notes. I felt better about pacing out the time to give the kids enough time to write down what they needed to this time. I think that the lecture was not as good as I wanted it to be. I tried getting the kids to participate but it was like pulling teeth and I think the kids were half asleep. I ended up finishing the lecture kind of fast and so I went back and reviewed temperature with them. I was feeling pretty frustrated by the end of first hour because it just seemed so dead to me. I think that Mr. Borton was unimpressed to say the least.

Then I went on with second hour. This time I tried a few new ideas and used some different examples as well. For some reason second hour was so much more willing to participate, more awake and energetic. The kids were excited to share what they thought of when they heard the word 'radiation' - everything from bombs to shaky, squilly particles. When I was about to move on there would be another kid that wanted to say something. I won't say it was great but it went better than first hour. There is a boy in the back that is sometimes getting into trouble and somehow he was interested in this lesson and he just kept raising his hand and commenting and was excited about the topic and that made me very happy to see this.

After not feeling very confident in what I did I had to stay and see Mr. Borton teach third hour. He used some of the same examples as I did, and some others, and drew a lot on his experiences outside of the classroom to explain the concepts. His experience shows in that he can come up with things he knows that 6th graders like such as imaginging things to help them understand which I would never have thought of. The kids in 3rd hour were so excited that they would keep raising their hands to comment and many times the kids wouldn't get called on because of the emphasis of getting through all this material. It's easy for me to do this as well, but I do try to include the kids and I really think the lesson is more fun for me when I can do this better.

Nov 7-8

Mr. Bishop these two days went over worksheets with his class, I struggle with thinking that this is very educational, He lets them use these work sheets as study guides for the test but the problem is that he does not acctually let them do the work, he sits at the front of the class and does it for them. There doesn't seem to be much thinking going on on the part of the students they simply write down whatever he says.

Oct. 24

Oct. 24, 2006 - 1:45 - 3 pm
Today's science time was entirely spent discussing and exploring moral issues that students face. Mrs. Seamons is very concerned with some of the students in her class and their complete lack of honesty. She began the discussion by asking students to respond in writing to 8 questions:
1. Who is someone you admire that is living today?
2. What is it about this person that you admire?
3. If you see someone cheating, what is your responsibility? Why?
4. If you were riding in a car that the person you admire was driving and s/he hit another car but drove away, how would you feel about this person after this incident? Would this person have done something like this?
5. What does it mean to tell the truth?
6. Think about the last time you told a lie. How did you feel?
7. Who looks up to you as an example?
8. What kind of adult would you like to be?
After the students responded to these questions, Mrs. Seamons directed the discussion as each question was talked about in class. It was interesting to hear the responses. The students were open and seemingly honest about their responses. After school I spoke with Mrs. Seamons about the discussion. She said it was inspired by some things that have happened this quarter that disturb her greatly. She and Mrs. Swasey, the other 6th grade teacher, are very concerned with the dishonesty that is going on in their classrooms. I've thought a lot about this issue and how I will handle cheating in my own classroom. I know every student is different and will require individual treatment, but I will address it everytime I know it has happened. The first thing I will want to know is why the cheating occurred. Discovering the motive I think goes a long way toward solving the problem. If I can help students address the underlying reasons for cheating, I hope to help them understand that the cost for cheating is too great a price to pay for such meager returns. I don't know if I will be successful but it is an issue that I feel very strongly about.

Thursday

Thursday

Today I visited Mr. Bortons first hour again. We had another session of correctives and extensions with the students working on their individual projects. Many of the students worked with partners anyway because they like it and have gotten used to it. It is good to see many of the students putting their heads together to solve problems. Many in the class are doing correctives this time but they seemed to be involved well and understanding the work for the most part. One boy kept reading Calvin and Hobbes. I tried to get him to do his work (which he had to go back and redo the questions he had missed) and he tried on it for a few minutes and then told me that he was going to do it at home instead. He was sure that the answers he marked were correct and when I tried to help him understand otherwise he resisted that he wasn't correct. Some of the extension students were reading from the book and doing reports on viruses, antibiotic resistance, etc. One boy was asking me all about antibiotic medicine and bacteria resistance. It was fun talking to him because he was really interested in it and was telling me about when he had to take antibiotics. More students than I expected were doing report extensions on things they were more interested in and some of the students were asking me to explain things to them what they read in the book but didn't understand. Sometimes they get frustrated when they try and answer a problem and I try to teach them how to figure it out. Simple things such as using the index and glossary and ruling out certain answers in multiple choice problems are still being learned by many of the students at this age.