Final Bonus Blog

S3E1. Students will investigate the physical attributes of rocks and soil.

                  b. Recognize the physical attributes of rocks and minerals using observation (shape, color, texture) measurement, and simple tests (hardness).

Essential Question: How can the physical attributes of rocks and minerals reveal the type of rock it is? 

Bonus Blog #3

How are constructivist teaching and traditional science teaching alike? Give some specifics and examples.

Ultimately these are two different styles of teaching and I struggled to find similarities between the two. Constructivist and traditional teaching have a common goal of ensuring the student's success and gaining knowledge from the material that is being presented, but the way the material is presented to the students is completely different. Both methods of teaching also have some form of assessing the students, whether it be through a project or paper with a provided rubric or a test. Both methods work for getting the content to the students, but in my opinion, constructivism teaching has more of an impact with the students that will resonate for years to come.

Module 8 Blog

Reflect on the value (or lack thereof) of science education at the Pre-Kindergarten level

In my preschool field experience I never saw the teachers utilizing books to introduce new concepts with them. Truthfully I never saw the students do anything other than play. There are so many ways to involve the students in science at this age, especially through discovery and play, and I think introducing them to these concepts through literature is a great "hook."

Using Children's Literature to Teach Standard-Based Science Concepts in Early Years

http://search.proquest.com.proxy.kennesaw.edu/docview/228484782/fulltextPDF/13F4A7101B56D953407/1?accountid=11824 

Summary: Using different pieces of literature is one of the ways most teachers effectively introduce new concepts to their students. Offering children's literature to them at a young age allows students the opportunity to become engage and interested in a topic because of the how relatable children's literature is to our students. In a student's early years, science based literature supports the development of science concepts and can provide inquiry. There are several limitations the article mentions including: misconceptions in texts, inaccurate illustrations, and anthropomorphism. The study the researchers conducted used 73 children's literature books to demonstrate concepts about life, physical, and earth science.  16 of the 73 reviewed books were not recommended for use in preschool classrooms. Three books had misconceptions, ten books included content and vocabulary that was too advanced for preschool children, three books had inaccurate text, and four books had inaccurate illustrations.

Reflection: Using literature as a hook for my students is one of my favorite ways to capture their attention. It allows for great discussion and new opportunities to explore the content and vocabulary. I was surprised to hear of the misconception this article chose because I think they're great discussion topics. As for the illustrations, I know many students use the pictures to develop ideas and draw conclusions, so this was a great misconception that I had not previously thought about. I'm surprised at the amount of children's literature pieces that could be used to introduce new concepts to preschool children. 

AMERICAʼS CHILDREN: PROVIDING EARLY EXPOSURE TO STEM (SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, ENGINEERING AND MATH) INITIATIVES

http://search.proquest.com.proxy.kennesaw.edu/docview/1062442552/fulltextPDF/13F4A95C69724AC22B0/15?accountid=11824

Summary: The professional fields that require a degree in one of the areas of STEM is growing rapidly. To spark our students' interests in one of these fields introduction to these concepts at a young age is key to their future success. STEM introduces important skills such as critical thinking and problem solving skills, communication, collaboration, and creativity for all students. Introducing STEM to our students as early as Pre-K allows for more inquiry and can let the students discover which subject area they excel at. The number of students enrolling in advanced math and science courses in high schools can increase if introduced to STEM at an early age.

Reflection: I'm so grateful for being able to learn so much more about STEM education through this course. It's something I wasn't too familiar with it previously but it is so beneficial for our students. There are many ways to introduce this to our students at a young age (particularly Pre-K) through play and discover, which ultimately allows for inquiry. At this young age students are like a sponge and are constantly absorbing the information that is around them and are learning all the time. In my experience students love to learn when they are actively engage and STEM allows for inquiry based learning.

Module 7 Blog

Backwards Design

Thinking back to my elementary school days, I don't remember spending much time doing hands-on activities and experiments. I remember reading aloud from the textbook, completing the review questions at the end of each section, and then taking the test on Friday. Other than the optional bonus science project (which was to be completed at home) I don't remember ever doing any science experiments. It was primarily textbooks and worksheets and traditional teaching methods, nothing about it sparked my interest.

In high school I remember my chemistry teacher constantly doing science experiments with our class in the lab, but I never understood why I was doing them other than to complete the lab requirement in the class. None of my teachers throughout my K-12 experience posted essential questions, objectives, or  gave a reason of why we were doing certain things other than, it will be on the test. I remember my primary goal, largely thanks to my teachers, was to pass the high school graduation test and get an A in the class.

I don't believe any of my teachers ever used backwards designed largely because we would participate in review sessions and would ask, do we need to know this for the test, and would receive the response, "I don't know. I haven't made the test yet." It was frustrating because I knew I was just memorizing the material to get an A, not actually learning and comprehending what was being presented. That's not how I want my students to remember my class.

Module 6 Blog

Since I do not currently have my own classroom, I chose to use 10 students from my student teaching experience. These students were in the third grade at the time.

Student	Characteristic	Instruction
1	Female Tier 4 EIP for math and reading Intrapersonal Behavior disorder	Individual activities
2	Male Interpersonal Gifted Logical	Participate in experiments
3	Male Tactile learner ESOL	Provide manipulatives
4	Female Gifted Visual learner	Graphic organizers Visual presentations
5	Female Linguistic Gifted	Provide more writing opportunities
6	Female Interpersonal Kinesthetic learner	Process drama activities
7	Female ESOL EIP for math and reading Tactile learner	Have manipulative and hands on activities
8	Male EIP for math Tier 2 Abstract thinker Creative	Provide art and drawing opportunities
9	Male ESOL Tier 3 Logical	Provide rubrics
10	Male ESOL EIP for reading Musical	Provide written directions for activities Create songs

In my experiences I've learned how different each student learns in the classroom. I like to provide my students with different activities so each student can work individually or within a group. In my student teaching experience, I would constantly use informal assessments throughout the lessons to see where my students were at and how they were thinking. If a large majority of the students were not comprehending the material, I would try teaching it a different way. Since each child learns and processes knowledge differently, I would like to implement choice boards into my classroom. It provides the students with the chance to choose which assignment fits their needs and interests the most. I think if students have choose the assignment that interests them the most they are more likely to be able to remember the information and recall it more easily than using traditional methods.