Cooperative Learning

I think problem based learning helps engage students while giving them a purpose for learning.  I also think the best method for solving these problems in the classroom is through cooperative learning.  Cooperative learning can be used for any "big" idea, so I just chose how it might help students understand motion.  The focus question would be: What makes things move?  The big idea would be that energy imbalances cause motion.  This could be investigated through experiments such as the marble activity displayed in our resources this week.  Cooperative learning should be at the core of our instruction.  It is not, however, easy to implement in the classroom.  It takes careful planning and oogles of frontloading to help students succeed in a cooperative setting.  Used correctly, students will develop a better understanding, take ownership, reflect more, and gain necessary workplace skills for the future.  Some helpful resources I found were at:

http://serc.carleton.edu/introgeo/cooperative/techniques.html

http://www.jigsaw.org/steps.htm

http://www.hepg.org/hel/article/465#home

Heat Transfer

For this inquiry activity I chose to use four materials I thought would insulate, but in varying degrees. One of the difficulties was finding items that could be rubber banded to the mugs to keep the variables consistent. I went with four materials that fit together in pairs. Two were food related, foil and plastic wrap. The next two items were clothing materials, one cotton, the other an exercise material made from polyester. Because the clothing pieces had extra fabric hanging over the side, I carried the material of the other items over the side to keep it as consistent as possible. I chose these items in the hope I could make practical conclusions for the future.

The results were as follows (least to greatest temperature): plastic, cotton, polyester, and then foil. I was somewhat surprised because the foil easily won as the best insulator. Aluminum has a fairly low specific heat and the foil also has no gaps for air pockets. The only thing I can think of is that the aluminum had a higher specific heat than the other materials. I would have liked to have had the time to conduct multiple trials with other materials to see if I continued to get the same results. I did do two trials with foil winning, but one was only “finger” tested because I was having trouble with the thermometer. My thermometer from the science kit was broken, therefore, I was using a digital thermometer. I boiled water to disinfect baby bottles and then used the water from that when I was finished. Some of the cups were too hot to register so I poured them all together, mixed them and reset the experiment at a lower beginning temperature. The plastic did not register in the second experiment because it was too low, but I was able to get data from the others. The cotton and polyester were only one tenth of a degree apart, but the foil was just over two degrees warmer than both of them.

The idea of heat transfer at the molecular level can seem advanced for elementary students, but I think this is the "big idea" I would want them to be introduced to.  They are familiar with vibrations and the book did a nice job of comparing heat transfer from conduction in this manner.  I do not think I would have been able to take this away from this experiment without reading and researching further.  This would be something that would have to be taught by the teacher.

Guided Inquiry-Pendulums

The question I answered was: Which will come to rest first; a light pendulum or a heavier pendulum.  I set up the experiment using a regular golf ball and a practice golf ball.  I used a string to create a pendulum from my deck railing and released the ball from my hip each time.  I believed the heavier pendulum would come to rest after the lighter pendulum.  After conducting the experiment I found this to be true and made the conclusion that the heavier golf ball had more momentum, therefore making a larger arc and continuing to swing for a longer period of time.  The greater momentum is due to the formula Mo=Mass x Velocity.  The velocity would be equal, but the momentum on the upswing would be greater with the golf ball having the greater mass. 

An extension to this activity I would like to try would look at air resistance.  I would add more surface area to the heavier golf ball to see how it would impact the results.  If students had the prerequisite skills of accessing background knowledge, hypothesizing, designing an experiment, identifying variables, and drawing conclusions, I would use this as a guided inquiry lesson in the classroom.  If they did not have these skills, I would use it to model and do a think aloud to show students how I process an experiment.  Because the data is easy to collect and understand, this could be a great lesson to practice drawing conclusions from evidence.  To connect it to the students' lives, I would look for real life pendulums the students could relate to, such as a swing set.

In this lesson I would want the students to grasp the concept of momentum being Mass x Velocity.  I would also want them to become more familiar with the steps of inquiry.  Conducting this lesson as a guided inquiry would help meet both of these learning targets.

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.