Structured Inquiry

In the structured inquiry lesson this week, time proved to be the biggest challenge.  We had the Iowa Assessments that took up a majority of the week.  We implemented the lesson on Friday before our Valentine's party, but ran out of time to properly wrap up and assess the lesson.  We will continue the lesson on Monday and I hope to get some more participation on the class wiki to check for understanding.  The assessment was to create a plan to stay heart healthy (we studied the impacts of narrowing veins).  The optional posts on the wiki (over the weekend: we will go to the lab next week) were vague and did not show students have met the learning objective.  It became evident they need a rubric to help guide their explanations.  Our class wiki can be found at: saunderswilson.pbworks.com.  The link directly to student conversations on the lesson can be found at: http://saunderswilson.pbworks.com/w/page/50841526/HEART%20HEALTH%20PLANS

Polar Ice Caps

Earth's climate and surface are in constant change and always have been.  The vastness of the Earth and Mother Nature's unpredictable attitude, however, make conclusions about this change controversial.  With that being said, one can see the climate is warming and with it, the ice caps are melting.  I think this warming and melting will lead to higher sea levels and beach erosion across the globe.  I think many are nervous of the unknowns this will cause to the Earth's weather patterns.  It is scary to think about the unknown.  The Earth  sustains life and I think if we can maintain the current status of the climate, we should at least try.  If the sea level rises and temperatures across the ocean change, I can see the pattern of extreme weather continuing to increase.  I think it will negatively impact areas, but am also curious to see if areas such as deserts might change and become more habitable.  No one has exact answers and I think the wise thought is to do what we can to combat climate change and stop the ice from melting (or at least slow it down!).

The 5E Model for Lesson Planning

The idea of STEM education is something I have been trying to stress to my students more and more recently.  We have our schedule posted (by subject) in the room, but I make sure to point out that the reality of school is to prepare them for the real world.  Outside of school walls, there is no subject areas, simply a combination of skills needed to meet the next challenge.  It would make sense to teach in this manner; if we are indeed trying to prepare students for life outside of school.  The process of making this happen, as Lantz points out, is more difficult than simply changing a subject name and providing new standards.  It is an institutional change rather than a teacher’s own personal desire to equip their students in the STEM areas (Lantz, 2009). 

This week I planned a lesson using the 5E model.  I focused on trying to connect the areas within STEM and motivate students with real world applications.  I have used the 5E approach when planning science lessons before, however, due to time constraints, I typically do not write everything out as in this case.  What I like about the 5E template for creating lessons, is that it helps take the lesson beyond the science kit.  Kits are great tools, but in themselves, do not provide authentic learning for students (Reardon, 1996).  The 5E model forced me to center the lesson on a question and provide room for students to create their own questions.  I was also reminded to make the lesson applicable to students’ lives. 

I enjoyed the slow going of planning this lesson.  The frontloading always pays off for smoother days in the classroom.  I look forward to implementing this in the near future and sharing the lesson with my colleagues.  I centered the lesson on a question and then designed a real world scenario, or challenge, to guide students toward answering the question.  One task I made sure to address before implementing the lesson was to provide an opportunity for further exploration for groups that meet the challenge early.  When providing less structure for student inquiry, it sometimes presents problems when students finish at different times.  By encouraging students to create their own questions and build on past experiments, it will allow them to continue the process of inquiry.

References:

Lantz, H. B., Jr. (2009). STEM education: What form? What function? SEEN Magazine.

Reardon, J. Saul, W. (1996). Beyond the Science Kit.  Heinemann: Portsmouth, NH.