Backward Design Lesson

I was really excited to implement my backward design lesson plan this week.  I felt that this was one of the more successful starts to my project based learning units this year.  The students were engaged and interested in the topic and the real world content.  They were also excited that their work would be submitted for a contest, through which they could earn money.  Students gained a good understanding of the different types of energy that we use in our school, town, and state.  They also looked at how these energy uses effect our environment and how we can decrease our effects on the environment in the future.  Students were able to use this information to start their newspaper articles by the end of the lesson.  This showed me that they understood the concepts and what was expected of them.

            I really liked the real world aspects and the motivation that the contest provided.  Students were interested in the topic and I was able to give them many relevant websites to research their information.  I felt that the original website from scholastic was a great way to give the students background information on the different types of energy before they researched their uses in our school, town, or state.  We found that the nearby electricity companies also had valuable information on their websites as well.

            The portion of the lesson that was not as successful was using the worksheets to start off with information.  Both worksheets were jam packed with information and the students had trouble understanding some of the questions.  I think next year I will cut some parts of the informational worksheets out and reword the questions so that they can more easily use the information given to them.  I would also like to cut down the worksheets so that they can spend more time on the interactive scholastic and Duke Energy websites.  I think that if each student from the group has more time to explore those websites they will gain more individual knowledge than they did through the worksheets.  Many students enjoy the computers more and wanted more time to research on the computers so I think that this is the best way to increase understanding before producing the product.

            The backward design process helped me to focus on the standards that I wanted to achieve first.  I had an idea for the project earlier but by looking at the standards I was able to cut out some aspects of the project and focus on the pieces that pertained more to the 6^th grade science standards.  Then I was able to build my lesson with these standards in mind the whole time.  I have found as a new teacher I would use the science book to lead instruction sometimes then realize afterwards that there were whole sections that did not cover any standards that I needed.  By focusing on the goal first I am able to save time and come up with a more productive lesson.

Copy of student newspaper article (Williams, T. & Filek, R. 2011)

 

Why do we die if our cells are constantly replacing themselves?

This is a question that came to me while learning more about how cells reproduce.  I always felt that our cells just started to shut down and in turn our organs and other things.  As I learned more about cell reproduction I noted that the cells are constantly being replaced and they are checked for problems as well.  So why do we end up dying?  Unfortunately my question was not answered on ask a scientist but with the help of my colleagues responses and some searching on the internet, I believe that I have found the answer.

Just as when we get sick, there are genetic and environmental factors that effect our health.  Our cells can be effected by environmental factors such as radiation or they are simply getting older.  When they make a copy of themselves they are bringing these factors over.  The radiation or other environmental factors have aged or altered the cell in some way or the cell that was copied is an older version than the cell was when it was first made so the copy is an older copy.  Eventually these copies get older and older or more and more effected by the environment that all the copies are effected.  So we are not constantly making copies of the original new cell it is always slightly older or environmentally effected eventually leading to the death of the organism.

Yahoo Answers (2011) Yahoo answers: why do we die of old age? Retrieved from http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100311214000AAeutl4

Jordan Coffed (2011) SCIE-6662S-2 Investigating the living world: week 2 discussion board post. Retrieved from http://sylvan.live.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn?CourseID=4889695&Survey=1&47=6876975&ClientNodeID=403157&coursenav=1&bhcp=1

Dr. Samson Lyman (2011) SCIE-6662S-2 Investigating the living world: week 2 discussion board post. Retrieved from http://sylvan.live.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn?CourseID=4889695&Survey=1&47=6876975&ClientNodeID=403157&coursenav=1&bhcp=1

Web 2.0

Web 2.0

I am really excited to learn new ways to presents ideas.  I also enjoy giving these ideas to my students, who are always looking for alternative and technological ways to present their projects.  I have exposed my students to prezi.com but have not had time to become familiar with it myself.  I have gone through the tutorial but that is about it.  So far I really like prezi.  It is a fun new twist on power points and I feel that it keeps the students engaged while they are creating and presenting.  I really like that I can make just one login for all of my classes and then students just keep all of their work there.  Also they can then work on presentations outside of school because they can access it at home through the internet.  I have had some problems with prezi in that sometimes the website is down.  When this happens there is no way for my students to work on or present their presentation.  Hopefully this is something that the company is working on to make it reliable.  Even with this I would really like to continue to learn more about prezi.com and use it for my project during this class. http://prezi.com/  

The other type of technology that I explored was the museum box.  I really like the idea behind the presentation.  I feel that if my students look at their presentation as a museum box it will help them to better organize their ideas.  The problem that I had with it was that there was no tutorial like there was with prezi so it was hard to try and get started and figure out what the end product would look like.  Also you have to register your school and they have to call the school and accept it.  On top of that you need a separate login for each student. I am hoping that I could just come up with one login for everyone as setting this up for 80-100 students would take a while.  http://museumbox.e2bn.org/  

21st Century website

Blog

For my big idea it would like the students to record data and make graphs of chemical reactions then present their findings to their classmates.  I think that it is critical that students understand how to record their observations and make graphs to explain their findings in the 21^st century.  It is also important that students can do this on the computer which saves time and makes graphs easier to read.  Recently my students showed me the website Create a Graph for kids

http://nces.ed.gov/nceskids/createagraph/ this is a very kid friendly site and allows the students to easily make nice creative graphs to show their information.  Then this summer I was show the Prezi website http://www.prezi.com/ which is a way to make presentations yet it is more creative than power point.  Both of these sites make student presentations neat and creative.  I think that it is very important for students to be able to present their information and have speaking skills in the 21^st century and these websites help in that area.  I would like to use all of these tools with an experiment much like one that we watched in an earlier class where the students are given different materials to mix and then record how quickly the chemical reactions cause the lids of a container to pop off.

The Heat is On

During this experiment I wanted to test how well various materials in the kitchen worked as insulators.  Tillery, Enger, and Ross explained that “Most insulating materials are good insulators because they contain many small air spaces,” which make the materials poor conductors because it is harder to conduct heat between the spaced out air molecules (2008).  With this in mind I chose four different materials to cover my coffee mugs of hot water.  I chose a coffee filter, pot holder, tin foil, and saran wrap as my insulators. 

            I felt that the pot holder would be a good insulator as we use it in the kitchen to protect our hands from hot materials, thus it should not be a good conductor of heat.  I also felt that the pot holder would contain many air pockets in the stuffing which complied with the earlier description of a good insulator.  I felt that the tin foil would prove to be a good insulator because we use it often to insulate our food once it is out of the oven.  I do not feel however, that it has many air pockets which contradict the description of a good insulator. The coffee filter and saran wrap did not seem as though they would be good insulators as there were no visible air pockets and from experience I noted that they are often good conductors of heat when covering hot objects.

            After waiting thirty minutes to test my hypothesis, my results came out as the tin foil being the best insulator keeping the water at a temperature of 116° C.  The coffee filter and pot holder tied, with the water at 113° C.  The thermometer dropped drastically when it was put in the water insulated by the saran wrap as it read 105° C.  Even though I did not visibly see air pockets in the tin foil I knew from experience that it was used to insulate food and thus was not surprised that it proved to be one of the better insulators.  I did think that the pot holder would be the highest insulator as it is used to protect our hands from heated things in the kitchen.  It was difficult to create a tight seal around the pot holder and the cup and I feel that there is a possibility that heat was lost due to this.  I was surprised that the coffee filter kept in as much heat as it did.  Although as stated earlier it might have tied the pot holder due to a loose seal.  When thinking about air pockets the coffee filter did have air pockets but they were so loose between the fibers that I felt the heat would easily escape.  The saran wrap was not incredibly surprising.  Although it is often noted the plastic can keep heat in as there is very little room for air to escape yet it can be a good conductor of heat because there are few air pockets and the heat can escape easily.

            It was interesting to complete this experiment using different material from the kitchen to see which ones were better materials.  It actually reminds me of an experiment/building project a cousin of mine conducted during which they used different materials to insulate each wall of a small cabin that they built to see which ones would be the best insulators for a future house that they were building.  Often in my mind I can think of different materials that are good insulators or conductors based on experience but I needed reminded of why they were good insulators or conductors.  I look forward to trying a similar experiment with my students.

           

Pendulum Lab

During this experiment I needed to answer the question of which pendulum would swing for a longer amount of time, a lighter or heavier pendulum.  I set up two pendulums with the same lenght string but different sized washers on the end.  I then tied them to the same chair and let them loose from the same height at the same time.  At first they kept running into eachother so then I put one on one chair and one on the other.  When I completed the experiment three times each time the heavier pendulum lasted longer.  I then tested my idea again using a virtual pendulum lab to make sure there were no human errors in my findings.

I like the way the experiment went and felt that it was a good inquiry experience for my students.  I would like to try this with my students but maybe take it a step further and change it into a competition.  First I would like them to test what would last longer, heavier or lighter pendulums, then have them change the length of the string, and the height that they release them from.  Then using their findings I would ask them to create a pendulum that would last longer than any other student's in the class.  So they would need to use their findings to create a longer lasting pendulum.  6th graders are often competitive and I think they would enjoy using their new found knowledge to compete with their classmates.

Air Plant Structured Inquiry Lesson

In the "Air Plant" the students observed an aquatic plant in an aquarium that was contained in a drinking glass with no air inside the glass.  We added baking soda and light to help aid the photosynthesis process.  I wanted my students to see photosynthesis in action and understand what was needed and produced in the process.  I also wanted them to understand the importance of plants in our lives.

The students came into my room excited, asking what the materials were at the back of the room.  I didn't want to tell them because I wanted them to stay excited and think of ways that we could use the materials.

I then asked the students to tell me what they knew about photosynthesis and how plants help us survive.  We talked about how plants use the carbon dioxide that we produce to make oxygen for us to breath in.  We also discussed how plants use their chlorophyll in the presence of light, with water and carbon dioxide to go through the photosynthesis process.  I asked the students to look at the materials that I had at the back and then discuss with their groups how they thought we could use those materials to help us better understand photosythesis.

We set up the experiment at the back the way that many of the groups determined would be best to see photosynthesis in action and then I asked each student to write their own hypothesis of what would happen once we put the baking soda in the water and turned on the light.  Many suggested that we would see bubbles of oxygen rise to the top of the glasses, a few students thought that the plants would change color as they produced glucose.

The students were then able to see the bubbles of oxygen rising from the plants and collecting at the top of the drinking glass.  After this they completed their lab report analysis and concluson as-well-as a carbon dioxide-oxygen cycle worksheet and placed pieces of the photosythesis process in the correct order to prove their understanding. 

After reviewing my students’ work I noticed that they were able to complete sentences regarding the carbon dioxide-oxygen cycle and the conclusions of the experiment.  They understood that the oxygen being released from the aquatic plants in the tank was produced due to photosynthesis.  Unfortunately most of the students had difficulty placing the stages of photosynthesis in a cyclical pattern.  When asked about the steps verbally they were able to answer the order but still had difficulty organizing them in a cycle.  Overall I feel that the lesson was successful and engaging but just needs a few revisions.