Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Monday, February 18, 2008
Due to yet another snow day, I was only at my field placement once this week, and no science lesson was taught during this time. However, during story time, my teacher read a story called “What Makes a Rainbow”, in which a color of the rainbow was introduced progressively as the pages turned. While it wasn’t exactly “scientifically-oriented”, this would have been a good opportunity to share with the classroom how rainbows are formed, and why. Because this is a first-grade classroom, it wouldn’t need to be an in-depth or detailed discussion, but the kids could have raised their hands to share a color in the rainbow prior to reading the story, as well as given thoughts as to when or how rainbows form. After reading the story, the teacher (or I) could talk about how rainbows are actually light reflections (and can be seen through glass and other things, not just in the sky) and that is why the colors are always in the same order. We could explain that light travels in waves, and when the sun comes out after a rainfall and the sunlight hits the rainwater, these waves bend the light, which allows us to see all the colors and for rainbows to form. The kids probably won’t understand a much more detailed explanation than this, but they would at least know that rainbows are formed from light (or more correctly, rainbows are light), which is something I assume nearly all of my students are currently unaware of.
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Below are examples of inquiry-based questions for the following benchmark:
SCI.III.4.E.1-Explain how fossils provide evidence about the nature of ancient life
-What clues could have been deduced from a fossil to conclude that it came from a large, meat eating dinosaur?
-If you could interview a paleontologist who just pieced together an ancient whale, what questions would you ask him?
This week, my first graders heard a story during their science time about shadows, which relates to the first benchmark mentioned in the previous post. To assess prior knowledge, my CT asked the students if they knew what a shadow was and what had shadows (people, buildings, animals-everything!), which the kids were able to answer without difficulty. They began to struggle however when asked where shadows came from or how shadows formed. They also knew that shadows couldn't always be seen, only sometimes, but they were unsure as to why. We explained to them that light and in contrast, darkness to block the light, were necessary. I went on to explain briefly the phases of the moon, as well how day and night is related to shadows. The kids were shown the first page of the book, which portrayed several children and their shadows, and I asked them what came first, the shadow or the child. The story explained shadows at a surface level, and asked the question "whose shadow is this" and displayed a shadowed, which actively engaged the kids in guessing the shadow before turning the page to see what formed the shadow-they loved guessing and came up with such funny answers! In response to a shadow of what looked like a large bird, one boy said "its a bush or something cut out like a bird"! The kids liked this lesson because they could relate it to everyday life; they have all seen & created shadows before and know how to make shadows & make shadows move, but they didn't know WHY all of this occurred. This lesson helped them understand the relation between light & darkness and how shadows form from the contrast of both.
SCI.V.4.E.4- Explain how shadows are made. In order to assess understanding of this benchmark, I would like students to be able to answer questions relating to shadows, such as what is necessary for a shadow to form, how the shadow forms(light, reflections, etc.) and other related questions. To assess meaningful understanding, they should be able to explain what causes day and night on earth, explaining that the relation between the earth, sun, and earth's orbit is basically one big shadow. I would additionally like my students to be able to come up with and use their own real world examples of shadows, and be able to explain how & why the shadows are formed, and how they move.
SCI.II.1.E.1- Develop an awareness of the need for evidence in making decisions scientifically. To assess understanding, a student would be able to perform scientific tasks (such as measuring) and record data accurately as well as make observations and generate related questions. They would also be able to generate conclusions with support and reasoning to justify those conclusions. Students would also be able to explain why evidence is important and necessary and give examples of real world cases (i.e. law). If students were using this knowledge to accomplish the task of this benchmark, they would be able to use their senses and observations to explore, explain and back up their hypotheses in a lab or experiment and justify their conclusion.