Yesterday in my field placement my first graders went to the school gymnasium to do a science experiment relating and comparing different attributes of balls. Each child has a science partner; one member of the pair is the recorder and wears a black bracelet while the other member wears a white bracelet and is the messenger. The kids are too young to do in-depth experiments or to record date while doing the activity, so the jobs are really more to build teamwork and give the kids a sense of responsibility rather than for actually dividing work-both members of each pair really observe and try to remember whatever they can individually. I like the idea of “science buddies” for such a young age level, I think getting children used to doing experiments as well as giving them opportunities for interaction and building teamwork are extremely important, but I would try and have the kids actually be held responsible for their given jobs, rather than just labeling the jobs but not actually letting the two jobs serve any significance.
Before the activity, we discussed weight. Yesterday was a perfect example of the importance of assessing prior knowledge from your students before doing a lesson. My CT and I found that most of the students just barely understood the concept of weight, and didn’t know at all HOW to compare the weight of two objects. My CT was trying to get the students to mention a scale as a tool to compare weight measurements; she ultimately asked the kids if they had been to the doctor before and found that the majority in fact hadn’t. This is just one example of how important it is for teachers to know & understand their students, and teach to their level and understandings rather than to a predetermined level that seems “normal” at a certain grade-level. We also discussed bounciness and how it was classified, as well as ability for balls to roll.
For the activity, each pair sat facing each other with their feet touching to form a diamond shape. They were first given a rubber bouncy ball and told to drop the ball a few times from eye level, without force, and to observe the bounciness of the ball. They were also told to roll the ball back and forth a few times, and observe the weight and size of the ball. They then traded the rubber balls for larger poly-Styrofoam ball and did the same thing with that ball. We then went back to the classroom to record data.
The students were given worksheets with the following categories labeled: size, weight, bounciness, and ability to roll. There were two boxes below each category labeled “bigger” and “smaller”, “weighs more” and “weighs less”, “more bouncy” and “less bouncy”, and “rolls better” and “rolls not as well”. The rubber bouncy ball was labeled “1” and the poly-Styrofoam ball was labeled as “2”, and they had to fill in the boxes accordingly. This was a bit difficult for the kids, they seemed confused by the labeling of the balls as “1” and “2”, and it was difficult for them to remember the weight and ability to roll of the balls from the activity, even though during the activity my CT and I walked around and discussed each of these characteristics with each pair. I think this would have worked better if the kids had brought their worksheets into the gym and filled them out as they experimented with the two balls, but it went okay and the kids enjoyed science, which is important, and some kids were able to accurately compare the two balls without simply guessing. I think if the activity were improved a bit it could be successful at this grade level.

I was really surprised by the video we watched in class relating to science-knowledge of various groups of people in relation to something so common as the difference in temperatures between summer and winter seasons. Strong incorrect beliefs relating to topics science are extremely common, even among well-educated individuals with prior science instruction. It was shocking to hear that only two out of twenty-three Harvard graduates could correctly explain the moon phases and seasons. It is not surprising that student’s personal theories and beliefs outlast instruction and can annihilate what is taught, but it is our job as educators to correct these misconceptions and meaningfully explain WHY things work as they do and WHY their misconceptions can be proved false. Heather, labled as the ‘best science student’ by her 9^th grade science teacher, had strong misconceptions of the earth’s orbit-yet 2 weeks later she was able to reverse her misconception, but she still remembered her prior (inaccurate) theory exactly as she described it earlier. Misconceptions relating to science can come from anywhere, but just as often they can originate in class. It is appalling to see that despite proper, thorough instruction, improper beliefs can remain. Additionally, it is unfortunate but not so shocking that despite several continuous years of science instruction, students do not retain their instruction-either because their knowledge is lost or they never learned it. Likely, it needs to be taught more meaningfully; clearly science isn’t taught well right now overall if it is so easily forgotten or misconstrued. It is so difficult for people to overcome their misconceptions because they are often believable and so “sunk in” to their knowledge-people convince themselves of something and it is difficult to change their beliefs, yet it is the job of the educator to overcome these misunderstandings relating to science, and to see that our students are learning the subject meaningfully and that their retention is long-term.

Due to lingering field placement and Martin Luther King Day, I have only been out to my classroom once this semester. I am assistant teaching in a first grade classroom in Lansing School District, and really enjoy the time I spend there and the experience I am acquiring. The kids I work with have taught me a ton last semester, and I have no doubts that they will continue to teach me more and more as I teach them as well over the course of the next semester. Because the district places a huge emphasis on literacy and language arts in the first grade curriculum, that and math are the two main subjects I see in the classroom, but my teacher has offered to implement science and social studies into her schedule for this semester. I haven’t seen anything relating to either of these two subjects as of yet, but my CT told me that she will work to schedule science into the daily plan every other Monday. For January and February, balls and ramps will be the focus for science, and for April and May, there will a unit covering plants. Last semester I saw a little science in the classroom, such as the daily weather charts and when the kids made “how a pumpkin grows” charts around Halloween. The goals for this semester relating to science according to my CT are to teach the subject in a manner that promotes quality understanding of the material presented with strong participation and enthusiasm from the students, with the intentions of keeping the kids interested and excited about science as a school subject. My CT likes to do a lot of presentations, hands-on work, and diagrams in teaching this subject, as well as using books and readings to cover subject matter. Each student is assigned a “science buddy”, and pairs work together on experiments and projects in order to promote interaction, team building skills, and group learning. In this classroom, the GLCE’s are not used; rather the “how-to science handbook” and district science curriculum implemented by Lansing is followed by all of the first grade teachers. The school that I volunteer at has a science supply closet with materials for each unit and grade level that teachers can take from to help teach different science lessons. Various things around the school, such as posters, fiction books, and the outdoor nature trail help reflect and promote science here. I am really excited to see how science is taught and how the students will respond to the subject matter over the course of the next semester!