Final Reflection

                                              

We made it to the end of the semester and that means our time with Dr. Smirnova has also come to an end...for now (I will be meeting her again in Social Studies Methods). ED 5534, Research Methods in Teaching Science and Technology in Childhood Education is done, but the content and tools I have learned will last a lifetime!

Where do I even begin? The beginning of the semester was definitely a whirlwind experience for me and Group 1, as we had to teach our two lessons on the third week of class! From this teaching experience, I learned a lot about myself as a future educator and as a current student. It is strange to be both and try to remember what I am learning now will be incorporated for years to come. When we first completed our lesson I felt disappointed, but quickly realized that everything I do is a learning experience. It was great to be able to see how other teacher candidates teach and pick up ideas from their ways.

When fieldwork was done, we moved into learning about different content areas of Science. During these next weeks, we learned how to use a number of different online tools to make our future lessons more tech savvy! Before I started this class, I thought that I was a tech savvy person, boy was I mistaken! I had no clue how many free resources there are available and how many of them will be great assests in the classroom. Some of my favorite tools include, Glogster and TikiToki. Both of these are honestly pretty easy to use, but create the "Wow!" factor, which will be great to have in the classroom.

I must say that this class pushed me past my comfort zone, but I am glad that I took that next step and honed my teaching skills even more. There is just so much to learn and it's hard to believe that this is only one of the methods classes I have to take! If I am to take away two things from this course, it is to make sure that I always remain up to date with technology- as it is the way of our future and if I don't practice it, who will teach our students all of the tools out there?! Most importantly, I will remember "Hands-On, Minds-On" learning. Worksheets are not the answer to teaching, although so many teachers think they are. After this class, I will be very hesitant to use worksheets in the future. :)

                                                  

Live Binder

As the semester comes to a close, we had to present our work in progresses which is our Live Binders. These were introduced to us on the first day of class. To me, it is as intimidating as it was then as it is now! Yes, I have been able to figure out how to upload pictures, add hyperlinks to websites, save Google Docs to make it a PDF and the list goes on! Let me tell you one thing...these live binders were A LOT OF WORK!! Here is what my "cover" looks like. For those of you who don't know, a live binder is a website where you can store and showcase all of your work. Having a live binder, or E-Portfolio is very important for teacher candidates. It is a place where you can show future employers lessons, assignments and projects that you have worked on over your career.

                               

This binder gave me headache after headache, but I am proud of all of the effort I put into my portfolio. I am surprised how much work I have done this semester for this class. Each of the tabs in this binder allow you to explore my Resume, my Philosophy of Teaching, Unit Plans and even a simulated EdTPA! It really has it all.

It was nice to see my fellow teacher candidates live binders. Many of us had similar quotes or beliefs or even pictures in our live binders! Each of our binders was different from each others and that is also nice to see. Although, we are all required to have very similar information, it is great to see how we each bring our own to the table!

You can look at my live binder here.
                     
                                                    

Earth Science

                                           

A few weeks ago, we discussed Earth Science and discovered how much we truly don't know about the different parts of the Earth and which parts we were not too confident on. My partner and I decided that we were not that knowledgable on the Earth's Atmosphere. From this, we had to create a presentation that we would share with our peers. We created a Glogster that was all about the Earth's Atmosphere. I learned a lot from doing this assignment, not only about the Earth's Atmosphere, but also about the frustrations that can come from using Glogster!


                                       

We learned that the Earth’s atmosphere is broken up into several distinct layers. We live down in the troposphere, where the atmosphere is thickest. Above that is the stratosphere, then there’s the mesosphere, thermosphere and finally the exosphere. The top of the exosphere marks the line between the Earth’s atmosphere and interplanetary space.

The atmosphere is a mixture of nitrogen (78%), oxygen (21%), and other gases (1%) that surrounds Earth. High above the planet, the atmosphere becomes thinner until it gradually reaches space. It is divided into five layers. Most of the weather and clouds are found in the first layer.

The atmosphere is an important part of what makes Earth livable. It blocks some of the Sun's dangerous rays from reaching Earth. It traps heat, making Earth a comfortable temperature. And the oxygen within our atmosphere is essential for life.

The atmosphere is the blanket of gases which surrounds Earth. It is held near the surface of the planet by Earth's gravitational attraction.

Without the atmosphere there could be no life on Earth.
The atmosphere contains the air we breathe;protects life from harmful radiation from the Sun;
helps keep the planet's heat from the Sun from escaping back into space; is a major element of the water cycle and keeps the climate on Earth moderate compared to that of other planets.

There are 5 layers:
-Exosphere
-Thermosphere
-Mesosphere
-Stratosphere
-Troposphere

Oceans and Coasts

A few weeks ago, we had to conduct a jig-saw lesson. I had never heard of this way of teaching before. We were broken into groups and had to become experts on different aspects of climate change, I chose Oceans and Coasts. We then were broken up into smaller groups from there and I was partnered to work with another Teacher Candidate who chose the same topic. We both had to become experts in this topic. We decided to split oceans and coasts and each research those aspects, in relation to global warming. It was interesting to work on a shared presentation and both contribute to the presentation equally. My partner and I got along well together and created a great presentation that you can find here. We had a lot of factual information, but we made sure we broke it up with some stop and ponder slides and a youtube video. Did you know:

• During the last ice age glaciers covered almost one-third of Earth's land mass, with the result being that the oceans were about 400 feet lower than today.
• During the last global "warm spell," about 125,000 years ago, the seas were about 18 feet higher than they are now. About three million years ago the oceans could have been up to 165 feet higher.
• There is strong evidence that global sea level is now rising at an increased rate and will continue to rise during this century.
• Studies have shown that sea levels did changed a little from AD 0 to 1900, but these levels began to climb more in the 20th century.
• The two major causes of global sea-level rise are thermal expansion caused by the warming of the oceans (since water expands as it warms) and the loss of land-based ice (such as glaciers) due to increased melting.

It is alarming how Global Warming is really an issue for our Earth. We need to start making changes now so that our Earth is still here in 100 years!

  

Lesson Planning

Until this course, I did not realize the true extent of creating lesson plans, let alone unit plans. A lot of time and patience goes into creating a great lesson plan. Looking back at our direct lesson, we should have made that part of the lesson a little shorter and more concise. I wish that we had known all that I know now about creating successful lessons. For our inquiry lesson, we should not have been as ambitious as we were. In reality, having four labs going on at one time, was a bit much. We should have had one lab experiment (like the other teacher candidates ended up doing) so that we could have spent more time working on that lab and gathering the data. We were so focused on completing each lab in time, that not all of the students were able complete their investigation sheet. When I was completing the EdTPA, I wish that I had more student examples and completed work. As the first group that went, we did not know we had to keep the student work and those samples we ended up saving came from the garbage! As the saying goes, you live and you learn or hindsight is 20 20!
                                                  
If I were to do this again, I would take a completely different approach to the fieldwork lesson. I would make sure that my direct instruction was short and to the point. I would also incorporate more technology learning activities, like smart board games or even having the students come up to write on the board. I would also only have one experiment, so that we could focus on completing that and sharing our results and findings. We unfortunately did not get much time to go over our results and findings. It is very important that scientists share their findings, so that they can compare and contrast with others. The Scientific Method will also be incorporated into future lessons, as this process is very important to students to know.
                                                     

Research article review

I chose the article, “Breaking Science Stereotypes” by Alec Bodzin and Mike Gehringer. This article appealed to me because it made me think back to our first class and how we had to draw a scientist and almost all of us drew a male scientist (even with the majority of the class being females)! The authors of this article wanted to see if a scientist’s visit to the classroom would change students perceptions of scientists.

This article also had the students they were working with draw a scientist  and write about the scientists they drew. These drawings were scored using the “Draw-a-Scientist Test-Checklist,” which has common stereotypes of scientists that other students have had in the past. 

The first scientist that these students met was a female chemical engineer. “As the scientist spoke, she described that there were few females in her profession and encouraged girls in the class to enjoy science and mathematics in school and consider careers in science” (Bodzin & Gehringer, 2011, p. 37). I thought that it was great that this female scientist was the first scientist to visit the classroom, because I am sure that is not what the class was expecting. It is important for young females to have role models to look up too and aspire to be like one day. I feel like most young girls don’t see or think of many females in the science or math field. The scientist also wore a blue lab coat, instead of the stereotypical white lab coat that many people think a scientists wears. The lab activity she chose for the class to complete was great, as it was hands on and allowed the students to complete an experiment very similar to what this scientist does for her job.

The other class had a male physicist come to their class and he wore a shirt and tie, instead of a lab coat. He gave the students rubber gloves and goggles to wear while he conducted a number of demonstrations. By allowing these students to observe these chemical reactions in person, it not only taught students about changes in matter but also made them interested in some of the things that a physicist does.

After the scientists visited the classes, the students were asked to draw a scientist again and the researchers compared both drawings.

“In both drawings, students drew scientists with several types of stereotypic features, including laboratory coats, eyeglass, and symbols of research such as laboratory tables, flasks, test tubes, and so on. In most of the drawings scientists were depicted as white males working indoors in a laboratory setting” (Bodzin & Gehringer, 2011, p. 39). It is interesting that both these students and our class had many of these stereotypical drawings and features in our pictures. “After the visit, the students’ drawings depicted fewer scientists wearing lab coats (60.9 percent down from 85.5 percent) and eyeglasses (46.4 percent down from 53.6 percent). Also, more female images were drawn during the posttest” (Bodzin & Gehringer, 2011, p. 40). Overall, all of the common stereotypes that were found in the drawings before the scientist visit were found less after in the drawings after the scientist visited.

“It appears the that interaction between the scientists and the students during the classroom visit influenced the students’ perception regarding scientists. The scientists’ visits provided students with the opportunity to see scientists as ordinary people” (Bodzin & Gehringer, 2011, p. 40). I think that this last sentence is so important. Many students have only read about or watched scientists in movies before meeting one in person. The scientists they read about or watch in movies are given these stereotypes, thus, why these students have a certain image of what a scientist looks like. It is great that these researchers wanted to break that stereotype and broaden the image of who a scientist is. “Furthermore, we believe that exposing young girls to female scientists in an elementary school classroom may have a positive influence on their perception of careers for women in the science and engineering fields” (Bodzin & Gehringer, 2011, p. 40). Young girls often hold the misconception that their future career may be in teaching or nursing rather than science and research. Although, the science field is male dominated, there are still women who work in these fields. It is important for you girls to realize that they really can be anything that they want to be and that the world is their oyster. The incorporating of STEM classes into elementary classrooms is a great way to get students involved in the math and science fields, especially girls. I wish that my elementary class had more of a STEM program when I was there.  

It is important that this stereotypical image of a scientist as a white male is broken at a young age. Had we had this experience in our elementary classes, we probably would have all drew different images of scientists. Hopefully, as the time goes on, there will be more and more female scientists and that they will be depicted in textbooks and movies. Right now, it seems like only males are represented in these medias. Although breaking the stereotype of the image of a scientist may take a while, it is our job as future educators to make sure that we help teach our students who a scientist is and what they do. I hope to incorporate having scientists come into my future science class to do an activity similar to these researchers.

Source:

Bodzin, A. & Gehringer, M. (2001). Breaking science stereotypes. Science and Children,

January, 36-41.

Science Fair Project...Middle School Style

What does it take to complete a Science Fair Project? This assignment gave us the opportunity to create and carry out a Science Fair Project, just like the students of Bishop Dunn were.

The idea behind completing this project was so that we would know what our students would be going through if they were assigned a Science Fair Project. It is important for students to work with the Scientific Method and use all of the steps to complete an experiment from start to finish. 

This process allowed me to become aware of all of the expectations and work that is required to create a successful and meaningful project. There is time and work required to create a Science Fair project. It is not a one day project, instead, it is one that takes days, even weeks to complete properly.  

Now that I have completed the project, I am aware of the work and steps it takes to create a science fair project. It all starts with the brainstorming phase, then the developing stage and creating stage. I know that students will have the most trouble coming up with an idea and I want to make sure that I help each of these students to the best of my ability. It is important that they have a project that they are interested in. If they are interested in the project and outcome of the experiment, they will put their best effort into the project. 

For this project, I chose to ask the following question: "How can we prevent an apple from browning once it is cut?" I then went on to investigate if an acid solution or a base solution would be the best option to prevent the browning of an apple. I thought this would be a good science fair project as I have an interest in seeing which solution will keep my apples from browning and prolonging their edible life. I knew that this project would lend itself to a number of results, which I would be able to use to prove or disprove my hypothesis which was: "Acidity of a solution or liquid does effect the rate of of the enzymatic browning of cut apple slices."

Here is a close up picture of my apples at the beginning of the experiment:

This is a close up picture of the apples after they have been exposed to the acids and bases:

From my experiment, I found that the apple slices in the water and lemon juice browned the least of all of the samples used. 

Here is my finished projects poster board: 

Book talk and creating a book talk trailer!

We had to create a book talk for a Science Trade Book that could be used inside the classroom. I think that trade books are a great tool for teachers to use, instead of always referring to Textbooks, as those can get old after a while!

I chose a book called Egg: Nature's Perfect Package because we just recently had chicks hatch from eggs that we had in incubators at the school I work. I saw first hand, how this activity really got students excited. This book has great illustrations and facts about animals who lay eggs, what the eggs look like, etc. You can find my book talk here.  The book talk is a great activity, as it highlights the important aspects of the book and how teachers can apply its use in the classroom.

Dr. Smirnova also challenged us to create a "Book Talk Trailer" to add the digital teaching aspect to the assignment. I was a bit apprehensive about this part, as I had never used any of these recommended websites! I chose to go with GoAnimate and created my trailer with that website. It was actually so much easier to make that I thought it would be. I chose to use two animals talking about the book, since the book is about animals! I think that my trailer came out really well and it leaves the viewer wanting to go get the book.

After I created and saved the trailer I found out that I was not allowed to share the video because I was not a subscriber to the website, which was a bummer. So I had to get creative! I recorded my GoAnimate video with my phone and uploaded it to YouTube, another first for me! I was able to upload my video from my phone right to my YouTube app, I could not believe how easy and quick that process was! You can check out my trailer here. I hope you enjoy it as much I enjoyed making it!

This class has continued to broaden my horizons with my "tech savvy" abilities!

Astronomy in the News

                                             

The comic above gave me a good laugh! :)

For a few weeks of Science Methods, we spent some time working on Space concepts. One of our first activities to get us into the topic was to find a number of news articles about Astronomy. 

                                              

I was surprised to find so many articles that were released so recently. Apparently, news about Space is almost as frequent as the interesting quotes the Presidential Candidates are making! 

The first article I found was, "Black holes mysteriously align." This article talked about supermassive black holes in the distant universe are all spinning out radio jets in the same direction. Scientists believe that this spin formation began when the galaxies first formed in the early universe.

The second article I found was, "SpaceX makes waves with landing at sea." This rocket was able to send supplies to the International Space Station and then land safely on a landing strip in the ocean. Other rockets have not had as successful time of a landing/recovery of the rocket in the past. 

The third article was, "An artificial comet holds secrets to Earths life." Researchers have created an artificial comet that contains ribose. Ribose is one of the building blocks of genetic material, which may have actually formed in cometary ices. 

The fourth article, "Supernova showered earth with radioactive debris" discusses a series of supernova explosions near our solar system, which happened millions of years ago. According to Scientists, this explosion contained radioactive debris. 

The fifth article, "Early Mars bombardment likely enhanced life-supporting habitat," was about Mars having a certain atmospheric pressure that would have supported a water cycle. 

The sixth article I found was, "Saturn spacecraft not affected by hypothetical Planet 9." Scientists are saying that NASA's Cassini spacecraft is not having any changes in its orbit around Saturn. Some thought it may have issues, due to the proximity of Planet 9. 

The seventh article I found was, "New gravity map gives best yet view inside Mars." This article discusses the technology that is used to see inside planets, much like x-rays used to see inside Humans. This will be helpful for scientists to learn more information about Mars. 

All of these articles, provided me with informative and current information about Astronomy. I hope to incorporate a "Science- Current Events" into my future classroom! 

You can access my news articles from the Glogster I created for this project. 

                                         

What's going on with the Earth's poles?

I'm sure you are wondering what I mean when I say poles... I mean the North and South Poles!        

                                                     

A few weeks ago, I came across an article that caught my eye. The article, "Climate Change May Be Causing Earth's Poles To Shift" by Jacqueline Howard and Chris D'Angelo. According to the authors, the Earth's axis position has shifted its location. A new study in the journal called Science Advances claims that this shift is due to melting ice sheets and changes in water storage. To me, this is very concerning! There are so many he said, she said controversies surrounding climate change, yet here is even more proof that climate change is REALLY happening!

According to Erik Ivins, who is a scientist at NASA: "... the movement of water on Earth's surface affects the planet's distribution of mass- and its axis- much like adding weight to a spinning top" (2016). He goes on to state: "The researchers wrote in their study that the Earth's spin axis has been shifting 75-degrees eastward from its normal long-term drift since the early 2000s" (2016).

This kind of shift seems like a big deal, but the scientists say it is not something to be alarmed about now. Apparently, this will not really effect us. I think that this article is just another example of how Global Warming is negatively effecting our Planet. Even though scientists don't believe this to be harmful, it is still a change! I can't imagine it providing any positive changes for us!

You can find the full article here

                                                    

It's been a while....

Woah, where has the time gone?! Between snow days, class, assignments and work- I have fallen behind in my blog posts! Hmm, what has been going on since last time?

All of my classmates and I have completed our Science lesson plans. It was really interesting to see how different each of our lessons actually were. There was a lesson on Life Science, Earth Science and the Scientific Method.

The second group (after our lesson- which seems like so long ago- especially with all of the snow days in between!) had the topic of life science. I was curious to see what topic they would teach in this broad subject. Actually, all of our subjects were very broad and I know that it is quite difficult to narrow down the subject to one topic. My group went through a few ideas before we finally decided on our topic- so many choices- so little time. And most importantly, what will the students enjoy the most?

The teacher candidates did a lesson on the Dichotomous Key, something I remember doing back in Middle School! The direct instruction lesson was done really well. I liked how they used the SmartTools for their presentation/lesson and all of the tricks they were able to do with this program. It was very interactive and really kept the students engaged. The lesson had great flow and the two teachers were well prepared and worked really well together .

During the inquiry lesson, the teachers conducted a lab with the students, which the students absolutely loved. They had to use a Dichotomous Key to figure out the flavor of the Harry Potter Jelly Beans. I thought this was a great idea for a lab and really allowed the students to use their new knowledge about a Dichotomous Key. Some jelly beans looked really similar and if the students weren't careful- could end up identifying a peach flavor one as vomit! Could you imagine?! I was not brave enough to try the gross flavors, but I heard that they really are true to the taste! Once the students were done identifying the different jelly beans, they were able to try them out. The students really enjoyed the lesson and the teachers did a great job!


               

Virtual Classroom

       For last weeks class, Week 4, Bishop Dunn was closed because of the weather, so Group 2 was not able to do their lesson. Dr. Smirnova informed us that we would have a "Virtual Classroom" instead and to all meet online at 4:30. This was my first experience of a virtual classroom, even though I have taken a number of online classes before! It was very different from what I expected it to be. 
       Dr. Smirnova videoed in and started the class discussion on our lesson plan designs. I liked the idea of of the professor being able to video in, so it was a live dialogue between all of us, instead of just a powerpoint or article being posted and all of us having to post our comments. While Dr. Smirnova was speaking, we could type in a response in the chat area or respond verbally. 
      Here is a snapshot of our virtual classroom! You can see Dr. Smirnova in the top right, our conversations via chat on the bottom right and the powerpoint on the left side:
     
                                       

      First, we discussed the five Models of Teaching. Then we discussed the difference between Goals and Objectives in our lesson plans and how we should write them. Next, we moved onto our Unit Plan designs and the different lessons we could include in our plans.
      Even though we were unable to meet in person, we were able to have a great lecture. I am glad that I got to experience a virtual classroom.

Lesson Completed!

                                                  

      After all of the worrying, stress and last minute edits on our lesson, Group 1 managed to carry out a solid lesson after all! We had 14 students show up for our after school program, so that is a great start! Our lesson was on physical and chemical changes of matter.

      Of course, it was far from perfect but we made it through. We quickly met before the lesson to print out the pre-test Dr. Smirnova wanted us to use before we even started our lesson. This was not something we had planned for in our lesson! Once we got to Bishop Dunn, we each set up our stations and tried to connect my laptop to the Smart Board. Unfortunately the plugs weren't compatible with Macs and we had to borrow Mrs. F laptop. First, we administered the pre-test to the students and we made sure to tell the students that it was not a test that would be graded, just one to help us know what they already know. Then we began our direct instruction lesson which we used a powerpoint presentation for. Each of us (Kelly, Colin, John and I) were responsible for presenting a few slides of the powerpoint. We did our best to keep the direct instruction clear and concise and keep the students engaged in our lesson. We had demonstrations of chemical, unclear and no change of matter for the students. We mixed baking soda and vinegar, sand and water, and salt and water in beakers to show the children these changes. 

Here is our presentation: Group 1 powerpoint

     Once we had completed the direct instruction, we began our inquiry lesson. We broke the students up into four groups and gave them each a Investigation worksheet, where they could record their discoveries from each lab. Each member of our group was responsible for creating a lab that would demonstrate either a chemical or physical change of matter. Lab one was creating Goop, a chemical change. Lab two was creating lava lamps in a water bottle, another chemical change. Lab three was aluminum foil boats, a physical change. Lab four was creating a glue bouncy ball, a chemical change. Students were able to work at each lab for about 12 minutes, where they were able to complete the lab and discuss with each of us the changes (if any) they were observing. After the 12 minutes were up, the students rotated to the next lab. Once everyone rotated to each lab, we had a very quick closing discussion. We had originally planned to have the students come up to the Smart Board and fill out the Investigation worksheet and discuss it all together, but we did not have time for that. We also planned to have the students complete an exit ticket where they would answer three multiple choice questions about different changes of matter and then list any facts they learned/questions they had about the lesson. Unfortunately, we did not have time to do either of these activities, so we just verbally asked the students questions about the labs and the changes that they observed. Ideally, we would have had more time for the closing of the lesson, but things do not always go as planned in the classroom! From the questions we did ask, the students were able to answer us correctly and it was evident both there and during the labs that they understood the concept of chemical versus physical change of matter. This was very exciting to witness. The students really enjoyed all of our lab activities. 

Here are some pictures from our lesson:






     After our lesson, we heard some constructive criticism of our lesson from our classmates and Dr. Smirnova. We were told that in our inquiry lesson, there was no problem for the students to figure out and no clear expectations for the students. There were some more suggestions, but I don't want to bore you with all of those. We will be taking these suggestions and critiquing our lesson plan, in order to create the perfect science lesson plan. Even though we were the first group to go, I think that we set the bar pretty high for our classmates to follow! Even though our lesson might not have been perfect, the students had a great time and learned the difference between the physical and chemical change of matter. Now, we know what we have to do to further improve this lesson and what to do in the future! I am so glad that we are done and that it all worked out in the end. 

Another week done!

                                                       

I can't believe we are already done with week 2 and closing in on week 3. This semester is moving so quickly, especially in this class! I can't believe that my group presents our lesson in a few days, hard to believe considering we just started the class. This class is definitely on full speed ahead, very different from my other classes so far at the Mount. 

This past week we met in the Curriculum Library- before Dr. Smirnova's email- I never knew there was such a place! Luckily, it was not too hard to find and I hope to go back and explore it soon. This Library seems to have many great resources that we will be able to use throughout our time here both in and outside of the classroom. The librarian, Tiffany Davis, was very friendly and full of great information. I just wish we had got a chance to walk around the library with Tiffany to see where everything was located. 

Our cooperating teacher, Mrs. Foster-Faith from Bishop Dunne was also able to join us for class. It was nice to put a face to the name and know who we would be working with for the next few weeks- well in Group 1's case- week! Mrs. F came across a little abrupt at times and at first I was unsure as to what to think. However, as the time went on I realized that she is very serious and committed to her job and the students that we will be working with in the after school program. Mrs. F offered to help us all out however she could, whether it be with supplies, ideas, etc. My group took her up immediately on that offer and emailed her that night with our idea for our lesson. We were soon told that our idea was too broad and that we need to narrow it down and Mrs. F suggested we look into Next Generation Science Standards for some inspiration. This really helped our group and we were able to narrow down our topic. It is great to be able to correspond with Mrs. F and Dr. Smirnova about our lesson, as this fieldwork is quite different than our prior experiences here at the Mount. 

Today, my group and I met bright and early at the library to really finalize our ideas about our lesson and start writing it all up. We got a lot accomplished in the four hours we met for and then had more work to do ourselves afterwards. We all left feeling confident in our lesson, only to find out that Dr. Smirnova thought that we were missing some parts to the lesson. Hopefully we get this sorted soon and are all ready to go on Tuesday at 4:30. On one hand I wish we had more time, while on the other I am glad it will be over so soon! Fingers crossed it all goes well for us on Tuesday...or that we get a snow storm :)

 This has been a busy and stressful week- I hope that is not the case every week for this class! 

Scientific Me

                                              
          I always enjoyed science and the outdoors when I was younger and I owe a lot of that to my old neighbors. My neighbors were scientists at the Museum of Natural History and they studied different salamanders- they even had a few of their own at home. I used to always run next door to see Gladys...that was the name of my favorite salamander! My brother and I would always beg to go to the museum with them to be able to see where they worked and get to see the labs in which they worked! I was amazed about how many lizards, frogs and salamanders they had in their offices! One of their co-workers even let his Tortoises just wander around the halls! They made science and research seem so exciting and fun that I was certain I wanted to be just like them when I grew up!

In their backyard, they had what my brother and I called "the frog pond." It was this little home made pond- probably not even 3' by 3', where many frogs lived. I became quite intrigued with frogs at a young age and would always want a closer look at them in their habitat- one day I got so close to the frogs- that I fell in the pond with them! From that day on, I always look out for frogs and smile to myself about that time I took a dip with them!

        One of my fondest memories of Science in school was around 3rd or 4th grade. It was the first
science fair I would be participating in and I wanted to make sure that I had an exciting project. That project ended up being one of the classic project choices- the baking soda and vinegar volcano! I had so much fun creating the project- from start to finish! The project I created closely resembled this one:

                                                        

I remember this project being a hit with not only me but also with all of my friends at school. This was the first time I had worked on a science project outside of school and really enjoyed it. The whole aspect of combining baking soda and vinegar together to create a chemical reaction was so exciting. I can also remember when I was in Kindergarten, we had the life cycle experiment with the butterflies. When they first arrived to the class, they were caterpillars then after a week or so they became bigger caterpillars. Then after that, they started to crawl to the top of the net cage and create their chrysalis. I loved watching them spin themselves into their chrysalis! Eventually, the caterpillars would transform into butterflies within their chrysalises and then emerge as butterflies. This whole process was just amazing for me at that age! After a few days of flying around in the cage, we all went outside as a class and set them free. I was so upset to see them go that I remember going home and looking on leaves for caterpillar eggs, with the hopes that I could have my own science experiment at home. I wasn't able to find any eggs but I begged my parents for the butterfly kit so we could watch the process at home. Eventually I got it and got to see the whole process all over again! I now work in a Kindergarten classroom and love seeing the students have the same fascination with this life cycle as I did when I was their age!

What really changed Science for me, was a great Biology teacher I had in 10th grade. Ms. Salvati was wonderful teacher and had such interest and enthusiasm for the subject, that it was contagious! I loved all of the labs we did in that class and how she made all of the information so easy to understand. While many people in my class thought the idea of dissecting a fetal pig was gross- I couldn't wait to start! I also enjoyed learning about the cell process and being able to examine them under the microscope. Ms. Salvati and my neighbors influenced me with their love for science to start out college as a Biology major. However, the science teachers I had in college were nothing like Ms. Salvati. They were very boring and seemed unenthused about the subject. My one Genetics professor was the last straw. He had no excitement the entire semester and just lectured straight from the textbook. I could not keep up with the material and was loosing interest very quickly. The material became very intense and complicated to me and I decided to change majors. Sometimes, I wish I had stuck with it. However, the Professors I experienced in the Science department did not seem as enthused as my previous teachers once had. Since I had a good amount of credits in the sciences, I decided to pursue a Forensics minor during my undergrad. I really enjoyed all of those classes, especially the labs, where we tested fingerprints and compared DNA!

To me, science is the discovery of new things and a dynamic subject. Whether it is inside or outside of the classroom, science is ultimately all around us! That discovery may be made through reading about a scientific theory, or actually witnessing it in person. Science is ever changing and developing. Throughout our lifetime, science will continue to expand and we will learn about so much more. Science is exciting and fun but also confusing and hard. Science is useful, as it can help cure diseases, lead to vaccines and help society in general. It is also very important, which is why Science needs to be taught from young ages, whether it be experiments about the five senses to high school students in physics learning about the concept of gravity.

Science always intrigued me because so much of it is hands on and experimental. I loved being able to see the changes in life, mix solutions together, examine cells under a microscope, etc. When I get my own elementary class, I hope to inspire my students like my neighbors and former teachers have. Although, I did not end up with a Biology degree, I know that I will enjoy my time teaching science to my students. I can't wait to be able to share my interest and excitement of science and discovery with my students. Being able to see their eyes light up when a butterfly hatches or when they participate in their first science fair will be such a rewarding experience! I don't want to become like the professors I had in college who were just there to dish out the material to us. I want to keep my students interested and intrigued in the world of science. I want them to have that drive to continue their own experiments at home and look forward to learning about all science has to offer. There is just so much for them to discover in the subject of science. Science needs to be hands on, minds on experience for students- of all ages. Science is not meant to be only read about, yet instead experimented with and observed. It is important for students to feel like they are scientists and a part of figuring out a solution to a problem or observing the changes in something. Once that happens, they will have that stronger connection to the subject and want to do more with it. Many students find science difficult and I want to try my best to make all my students comfortable with the subject.

This Scientific Me project has allowed me to reflect on all of my science experiences both in and out of school. I hope that these experiences will shape who I become as an individual and teacher. I can only hope to inspire my students like I have been inspired. This project will help me create my own philosophy of science education statement by the completion of this course. I look forward to see where science in the classroom will lead my students and me.

And so it begins...

Today was the first day of class and Dr. Smirnova started the class with each of us introducing ourselves to our classmates and speaking about our own previous science class experiences. There were many mixed reviews on science class! It made me think back to how  much I enjoyed science in High School- especially Biology with Ms. Salvati. She was an awesome teacher and inspired me to major in Biology when I went to college. Unfortunately, science in college was a lot harder in college compared to high school. Needless to say, that didn't last very long! Next, we had to draw our own idea of what a scientist looks like. Each of us had our own idea of what a scientist "looks" like and then we all walked around to view the other drawings. It was interesting to see how stereotypical each of our drawings were! All but one of the drawings depicted a male scientist. The stereotype of only males being able to be scientists is clearly evident throughout all (almost) of our minds. As a female teacher, I want to make sure that I show my female students that they can be anything they want to be, including a scientist. It will be important to break the gender stereotype for females going into the STEM field. Here is my picture of a scientist- Dr. Tube:


Next, we had an interactive lesson on the Scientific Method. Dr. Smirnova had a paper bag with an item inside it. We each had 5 seconds to hold the bag, shake it, squeeze it, etc. in order to hypothesize what could be inside of the bag. This was a fun way for each of us to think of all of the steps of the Scientific Method. Once we all had a chance to hold the bag, we brainstormed what we thought might be in the bag. However, what was inside was never revealed! After this activity, we discussed the Scientific Method and all of the steps in more detail. This is a very important aspect for all grades and students to comprehend- even us!

We went over so much information during this first class, it was a bit overwhelming. From creating an online binder, to this blog, etc. it was all new and very fast paced. I hope that it all becomes easier soon!