My VAST Reflection

As a first year teacher, I feel very fortunate to have gone to vast. The well seasoned teachers sharing their tried and tested lessons and activity was pure gold to the novice. I was able to reconnect with quite a few people that I met throughout my years in college. The best part about the entire experience, aside from being surrounded by the beautiful mountain and likeminded individuals, was sharing and gaining ideas to reach, engage, and inspire our students to be scientifically critical, imaginative and curious!

I originally thought that I was attending conference, with long, monotonous speakers and a numb butt. The night before the start of VAST, I realized that, I would be attending mini classes, and actually gaining useful and interesting information. Then, I got extremely excited. I searched through all the presentations offered and during some sessions I had two or three that I really wanted to attend.

I managed to go to the majority of the selected classes and get loads, and loads of free stuff! A lot of free stuff was brought back to school and distributed to my fellow colleges. So, far I have used in my class, a few posters, the burlese funnels, tree ring counting and the test generator given to me by one of the vendors. I can see that this experience has elevated the level and the number of labs I can do in the classroom.

I look forward to returning in the future years, and presenting at the 2012 VAST in Williamsburg, along with my fellow “Musketeers.” 

Synthesis of Key Elements (SOKE)

In The Nature of Science and Perceptual Frameworks by Michaels and Bell, the authors uncovered a major misconception that several of our science student have- that science is concrete, objective and boring. As a secondary science teacher, I want to share the bewildering and fascinating aspects of science with my students, yet, now that I am employed, I feel I am performing a balancing act. On one side I carry the burden of teaching a SOL class and must insure that I shove all the information down my student’s throats and keep up with the pacing my district has provided for me, and on the other hand, is the woman that loves science and wants my students to experience discovery for themselves. It is very frustrating; however Michaels and Bell shed light on the tip of the iceberg of student misconception.

Students have not been taught what science really is, only the facts that other people have discovered. If I can tune my students in to the reality, that there are still infinite possibilities for them to create and discover new things and to let them experience that wonder, I will truly be teaching them something worth hearing.

The authors used several illustrations that can be used in the classroom to provide a means of changing ones perspective. For example, the cow image, for me it looked like a picture of the moon’s surface. After, the “framework” was added; I could see the cow and it made sense! For our students, it is not that science is boring or just facts to memorize; rather, they need a new perspective. They have a build op of tarnish on their glasses and we need to help them clean it off. We must provide them with the framework that was provided to us, prior to high stakes testing and SOL requirements. The same spark that lit our fire of inquiry is still out there, we only need to strike the match within our students.

Another example of the nature of science that the article discussed was how science changes. How it is a product of the culture, religion, and politics of its time. Because science is not concrete, but subjective, students have a hard time processing the information. Why learn it when it could be overturned in a pyridine shift in thirty years? To get our students less focused on the “right” answer and more intrigued with the process and possibilities, we, as teachers, should be focusing on open ended questions, where there is no correct answer. As a result, we can plant a seed of curiosity in our students, nurture it, and let it grow.

Overall, this article really helped me to see that it is not that our students are bored with the subject; they just need a little nudge in the right perspective. By using the appropriate activities and asking the right questions, we can get out students thinking and participating, while enjoying what they are learning and how they are learning it. And hopefully, I will defeat this challenge, and meld the two sides of my balancing act together, so that both can be satisfied.

Science in the News

Astronomy Magazine By European Planetary Science Congress, AAS Division for Planetary Science — Published: October 7, 2011

The article I selected focused on Uranus’s tilt and its possible cause. Scientists speculate that it may have been several collisions with interplanetary objects that jolted Uranus, rather than one large impact. The evidence that supports the recent claim is based on simulations done by the French astronomer Alessandro Morbidelli and comparing his finding with the current observable rotation of the planet’s moons. It was thought that when the gas giants formed, they formed via accretion interplanetary material. The fact that Uranus had at least two collisions with large interplanetary objects, the theory of planetary formation will need revising.

The aspects of this article that I could use in teaching, would be explaining the tentative nature of science and how new technologies can lead to better understanding of our world around us. Also, the subject of the article, the tilt and the formation of planets, is a topic I cover in Earth Science. I also love how this article reveals how theories can be revisited and that even though a well-accepted theory exists, it is okay to challenge it and follow a hunch. Science evolves with us.

As a warm up, I could hand this article out to my students as they walk in. Their assignment could be to read the article and write a reflection relating it to scientific investigation. We could then have a Think-Pair-Share and discuss what science is and why it is continuously changing.   

http://www.astronomy.com/~/link.aspx?_id=fa79ce0c-7936-429e-be12-d707f5c396a2

   

Female Scientist: Beatrix Potter

When I was a child, I learned to read by listening and following along as mother read The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter. I became fascinated with the bunny that the author illustrated as a companion for her tale. It was to my surprise, that she was more than a children’s book writer. She had a background as diverse as the characters in her stories.

As a young girl Beatrix grew up in the English country side and spent the summer holiday in Scotland with her brother Walter Bertram. Children to well off parents, the Potter children were privately tutored until they reach adulthood (18). Beatrix found her talent in art early and life and depicted in her paintings the English countryside. Her love affair with nature bloomed into a full out scientific inquiry, when she, in great detail, drew numerous illustrations of a variety of fungi.

Mentored by a friend of the family, and well established mycologist, Potter’s accuracy in her mycological illustrations improved greatly. She began using a microscope to see her muse in pronounced detail. This investigation led to her developing a theory on fungi spore germination in the 1890’s. Being a woman and not established in the scientific community, Beatrix was discouraged. However, a male friend submitted her papers to a university. Her theory was contrary to the current idea and she feared her work could have been contaminated, so she quickly withdrew her paper.

In the aftermath, she continued her drawings, many of which are used in fungal identification and are hung in the Perth Museum in Perth Scotland. While she was not supported in her quest to determine the fungal germination process because of her gender, she displayed the characteristic of the nature of science and therefore was a scientist. Regardless if she was correct or not, she discovered what all scientists do, which is that science is tentative.

Her story could be used to illustrate the hurtles involved when introducing a new idea that opposes the current thought.

Beartix Potter, From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Retrieved on October 8, 2011, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beatrix_Potter 

Lab Safety

Here is a simple lab safety activity I did this year. My students did this as a warm up and an introduction to Lab Safety. They had to look at the carton and answer these questions:

Questions:

1. List 3 unsafe activities shown in the illustration and explain why each is unsafe.
2. List 3 correct lab procedures depicted in the illustration.
3. What should Bob do after the accident?
4. What should Sue have done to avoid an accident?
5. Compare Luke and Duke's lab techniques. Who is following the rules?
6. What are three things shown in the lab that should not be there?
7. Compare Joe and Carl's lab techniques. Who is doing it the correct way?
8. What will happen to Ray and Tim when the teacher catches them?
9. List three items in the illustration that are there for the safety of the students in the lab.
10. What is Betty doing wrong?

We went over the questions as a class and then I passed out the Flinn's Scientific Contract for them to read and sign, as well as, have it signed by their parents.

  I think you could elaborate on the cartoon and have your students create a "Goofus and Gallant"image for lab safety or have them write a song like the Lab Safety Rap.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJG0ir9nDtc

A great way to sum up the lab safety lesson would be to assess the students. 

Initial Reflection: Science Philosophy and Vision

My philosophy on science is that everyone is a scientist. We practice the scientific process every day, knowingly and unknowingly. When we are selecting which new television to buy, we are using logic and data (price comparison and consumer reports) to make an informed decision on the best TV to purchase. We may have trouble getting our car to start and we use scientific investigation and deductive reasoning to solve our car dilemma.

If everyone is a scientist, it is my mission, my vision to reveal the scientist within my students to themselves. Once they see that they are scientists, and that they use science and rely on it daily, learning about science will feel more natural and less foreign to them. They will be more receptive and less intimidated about our lessons. I try to make my lessons as fun and interactive as possible. I want my students doing and exploring more in my class. Kids learn through activity, rather than absorbing the concept by sitting through a lecture.

I love science. I enjoy the search for knowledge and learning new things. It is this appreciation and joy of learning that I wish to share with my students. I would love to see my passion become contagious and my students infected for life.  I want them to want to learn new things, to get excited about topics that we discuss in class. I want them to think. Not about what they read on Facebook or Twitter, but about life and the world around them. They are our future doctors, lawyers and Nobel Prize winners, and as teachers we get to encourage and impact our future.

 I make it a habit to bring in items that my students have never seen outside a text book before. Simple objects that someone might take granted, for instance a wasp nest or a horseshoe crab molt. They get to hold and examine the specimen. Their eyes light up and I see a spark of curiosity ignite within them. It is at that instance, I realize how much I love my career. I am sharing my happiness with several students every day.