ECE 7706 Module 4: Constructivism

      Constructivism is something we talked about a lot in my undergraduate degree, even in our prerequisite classes before entering the early childhood cohort. When first learning about this concept, I knew it made sense, but did not know that there was much research behind it. However, after beginning to learn more about the brain and how people learn, it all started to come together for me. I believe, especially after exploring my own learning, that using constructivism techniques within the classroom is vital to student long-term learning and true understanding. In class whenever we learn new vocabulary or new concepts, I  always ask the students to think of something it reminds them of or a way that is going to help them remember the term or phrase. This was something I quickly learned really helped my students with remembering information. We would always discuss the various tricks the students mentioned to ensure that their was something that would stick with each of the students. However, something I want to get better at within the classroom, is allow the students to reflect more on their learning. I know that reflecting is very important to turning learned information into knowledge, but it was not something at the forefront of my mind when planning lessons. Therefore, in my upcoming year I plan to require my students to have a "Science Journal". This is not a journal where I give writing prompts, it is a journal strictly for the students to write down their thoughts on the day's lessons, pros/cons to the lesson as far as reaching their learning style, relating the current content to previous material, etc. Constructivism techniques go hand-in-hand with inquiry-based learning because they both want the student to figure out the information for themselves rather than the teacher provide the students will all the answers. I would incorporate constructivism into Science by allowing the students to participate in more Science experiments. This is something I became more comfortable with at the end of the year, and realized that this was something my students gathered the most information/understanding. Along with Science experiments, I could also allow my students to participate in various forms of research and project-based learning. I feel as though by differentiating the product in which students show what they have learned allows the students to make their own connections by trying to determine the best form or presentation. The students would also need to take the facts they gathered through research and put it in their own words.

7 E's:
S3E1. Students will investigate the physical attributes of rocks and soils

Excite:

• bring the students to the Science Lab to observe the different types of soil and rocks 
• discuss similarities and differences 

Explore:

• allow students to explore their yards at home to determine the different types of rocks found in the different areas of our school district
• watch a video showing how each type of rock is formed

Explain:

• create visuals describing their observations
• participate in group discussions
• think-pair-share
• reflect on lessons

Expand:

• research information on the rock cycle
• research plant life specific to certain types of soils

Extend:

• experiment with plant growth in sand, clay and potting soil

Exchange:

• create a class rock museum for other classes to come and explore
• create group blogs to share with peers 
• create a class magazine
• participate in graffiti walls/concept maps

Examine:

• classmates' projects
• webquests, turboquests, etc. 

Bonus Blog: Homework

Homework has always been something I struggled with with my students because I agree that the purpose of homework is invalid if the student does not understand what they are doing to begin with. However, as far as my parents are concerned, they had a huge problem when I would not assign homework. Therefore, I decided that when I gave homework it would be something that I review with my students before I sent it home. There would always be an example of how to complete the assignment at the top of the page and I would also take questions from students. I also informed the parents that if your student is really struggling with the content I did not want them to complete the homework until I was able to talk to them about the content. I did not want the students to learn something wrong or make up their own way of doing it that may not always work. I never graded homework, because it was strictly to give students extra practice or determine specifically what aspects of the content the students were struggling with.

ECE 7706 Module 2: President Obama Video

If I were to leave a comment...

      I am extremely impressed with the speech I just heard from President Obama regarding educational reform. He hit the nail on the head- reform is not something a school can do on its own, it is something that is everyone's responsibility. Obama stated that more and more jobs require more than a high school degree, so in order to truly create jobs we need to change the educational statistics. In order to do that schools need reform and more money. The things that he was suggesting that would aid in this reform were beyond truthful. He understands that we are living in an age where technology is key in just about every aspect of life, so it is vital that we meet these children on their stomping ground. We have to teach them through their interests and at this moment in time their interest is embedded in technology. So for Obama to say that he is going to give schools more flexibility to accommodate students through digital tutors and educational software definitely takes steps in a direction we need to go. I know from experience that my students love playing competitive computers games, so when I introduced a review software called Study Island my students were playing it constantly. They were asking to play it in their free time, and at home. Education always seems to be on the back burner and receives monetary cuts constantly, so knowing that he is willing to make cuts in other areas to get education more money is going to make huge changes in the way we are able to teach our children. I loved his comparison of national budget cuts to budget cuts within a family. When a family is struggling with money, do the parents ever take educational items/opportunities away from their children? No. That is the last thing they would ever think to touch, so why would we be cutting funding to schools and education on a national level?

ECE 7706 Module 2: Article Two

The Use of History of Science as a Cultural Tool to 

Promote Students’ Empathy with the Culture of Science

Synopsis

      This article was about a study where they specifically watched the effects of empathy on twenty one  9th grade students on their science learning experience. Empathy comes in to play when the teacher introduces the "culture of science", which allows the students to see an in-depth look of "how science works and what scientists do". The author makes a comparison to when students are learning about traditions or the way of life in another culture it is extremely hard for them to understand because it is nothing like their own. The students will understand more of the culture if they take a deeper look in to the lives of the people and are able to make personal connections to their own lives. The study was put in place to prove that when one introduces the culture of science it allows the students to feel a more personal connection to the content as well as creating a deeper understanding. Students do not truly understand what scientists do or the time period in which they reside, so they do not have any respect for the work they have done and why it is important to be learning. 

Guney, B., & Seker, H. (n.d.). The use of history of science as a cultural tool to promote students’ empathy with the culture of science. Educational Science Theory & Practice, Retrieved from http://ehis.ebscohost.com.proxy.kennesaw.edu/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=a64c5e1d-d6ea-45d7-a981-353d770ae334@sessionmgr13&vid=6&hid=17

Reflection

      This was a great study, and one, actually, I wish I had been a part of when I was learning physics. It is brilliant to teach students about the history of the content they are learning, rather than simply teaching them algorithms or facts. We have been taught to teach our students in a way where they can make personal connections, but I never would have thought to teach them the history of science and of the scientist. However, it makes perfect since because the more the students can connect to their own lives, the more likely they are going to remember the content they are learning.  

ECE 7706 Module 2: Article One

Scientific Literacy: Another Look at Its Historical and Contemporary Meanings and Its Relationship to Science Education Reform

Synopsis 

      DeBoer introduces his article by discussing the ever-changing meaning of the term Scientific Literacy, a term that first came into light in the late 1950s. He believes that due to the "nine separate but distinct goals of education" that the term "scientific literacy" has become too specific, but that educators do not truly understand its meaning. Therefore, with a historical look at scientific literacy, the term needs to have a broader meaning. 

      In the early to mid 20th century, scientist such as Thomas Huxley, Herbert Spencer, Charles

Lyell, Michael Faraday, John Tyndall, and Charles Eliot  began to publicly speak of the importance of science within early education. Their views centered around their early knowledge of the quickly growing dominance of science and technology. These scientists also wanted to push the education system to a more independent method of teaching, which you would find through the teachings of inquiry-based science lessons. In the early years of teaching science developers spent much of their time making the science education "relevant", when it should have been focused more on the natural world's affect on our daily lives. 

      After World War II, people started to realize the significance of science and the risks that they may come from the products of science. Therefore, education changed in order to make sure that people felt more comfortable with the basic understandings of science and what it is that scientists study. This is really when people began to realized the importance of science and technology in national security. This risk was ever-more clear when Sputnik was launched by the Soviet Union, yet at the same time science education also showed a lot of promise. These events also sparked the understanding that jobs in the science and technology fields were critical. Science committees began to express the importance of literacy in science, because they wanted to make sure that those studying science as a profession were not the only ones who understood what was going  on in the world. 

      The term Scientific Literacy continued to change to less emphasis on technology and more emphasis on environmental surroundings. From there, it changed slightly to the interconnectedness of science processes and society.  In the 1990's, science literacy became strongly focused on the scientific method where students were posed a problem and had to ask and answer questions regarding the topic.

DeBoer, G. (2000). Scientific literacy: Another look at its historical and contemporary meanings and its relationship to science education reform. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, Retrieved from http://web.nmsu.edu/~susanbro/eced440/docs/scientific_literacy_another_look.pdf

Reflection

      This article was exceptionally interesting to me, because I had never actually thought about the origin of the term scientific literacy or that what was being taught in science classes every changed. Obviously, I understood that new discoveries would be made throughout the years, and that those would be later embedded into the science standards. It was interesting to see the ways in which terminology change for the definition of scientific literacy changed and the concepts being taught in science changed with what was going on in the world. For example, when Sputnik was launched science began to become more technology based, but when people were afraid of the "risks" science began to help people feel more comfortable by allowing them to understand the technology. Yet, the core of science has stayed the same from the beginning- it is inquiry based. Science should be a subject that allows people to ask questions and find answers using evidence. It is more than memorizing facts, it is experiencing the content and allowing the students to be independent.

ECE 7706 Module 1: Blog

Typical Science Lesson In My Classroom
      One of the Science lessons I taught this year was on the topic of animal adaptations. The students got extremely bored simply reading their textbook, so for this lesson I made a PowerPoint presentation using the information in the students' Science book along with a few other media resources. We would go through the PowerPoint as a class, but I would allow the students to read and manipulate the slides on the Interactive Whiteboard. After someone read the slide, we would have a class discussion/Q&A regarding the information that was just presented. For example, if the slide discussed a particular animal's adaptation such as "Animals may use camouflage to help protect themselves", and I may ask the students "What animals can you think of use camouflage as their adaptation?" or "Why would an animal use camouflage to survive?". Due to the amount of time we have for Science (30 minutes), usually going through the PowerPoint would take the entire time. As an assessment, I gave my students a note card where they had to write down two facts that they found most interesting, as well as describe the vocabulary word "adaptation" in their own words. This was something I collected as the students began to pack up to head to the buses.

Technology in Science Classrooms & How I might be Able to Incorporate Tech into My Lesson Above
     I believe, especially with out students now, that is is vital that we incorporate technology into our classrooms in order to keep our students engaged, motivated and interested in each lesson. However, as Efaw stated in his research, teachers need to feel completely comfortable with technology in order to be used effectively within a lesson. Guzey and Roehrig also discussed that teachers need to have a full and complete understanding of the science content, as well as the concepts of inquiry and how to properly transform a lesson to make it inquiry-based. 
     In my past experiences even though I am comfortable with technology, it is hard for me to successfully integrate it into my lessons because I feel as though I am not properly prepared. In my school, we have monthly technology meetings where we are taught a new form of technology that we could utilize in our classrooms, but due to the fact that I have never seen them in use, I never use them. 
      Looking back on my animal adaptations lesson, it would have been beneficial for my students if they had been able to all have a say at one time, such as through the use of the app called Socrative. This technology application allows each student to send in an answer to a discussion question or even start a discussion for that matter. With this app, students use their personal form of technology to type answers to a specific code which will then post their answer on the ActivBoard. 
      I believe that even though my PowerPoint was a form of technology, it needed to be pushed further in order to truly engage my students. It may have been more beneficial if my students could have gone through the PowerPoint at their own pace either through partner, small group or individual work time. If The students were able to go through the PowerPoint in something other than whole group then I could have made it more interactive by incorporating various other links to more information. 

ECE 7706 Module 1: Concept Map

Reflection Concept Map

      Concept mapping is something that I knew about but had never really taken part in until one of my classes in my undergrad. I think it is a good idea and assists with reflecting on the content, but getting started I would say is the hardest part. Obviously, there needs to be some sort of organization, and this is where the depth of your understanding begins to come into play. If you can organize the information then, to me, it means you have enough understanding to be able to categorize the information in an understandable and educational manner. I will say that I do sometimes have a hard time with concept maps because I tend to try to bite off more than I can chew and try to encompass a lot more information than necessary. However, after reading through the information, I realized that there is okay to make concept maps straight to the point without an over abundance of information.