EXPS 220-001
In this semester, I have done many projects that helped me understand what really matters when teaching science. However, there are two major group projects that really helped understand some important ideas when teaching science. The first group project was when each group picked a hypothesis of what makes bean plants grow longer. After, we wrote down our procedure and materials. Each group picked a hypothesis, then we tested our hypothesis by planting beans and by following the procedures that we have had created. My group and I had planted in fifteen pots. Three pots had two beans, three pots had four beans, three pots had six beans, three pots had eight beans, and the last three pots had ten beans. In total, we had fifteen pots.
Each week, my group and I used to measure the height of each plant in each one of the pots. After, we wrote down the average of plants height in each pot. Then, we wrote down the total average of each of the three pots that has the same number of beans. After my group and I wrote down our data and organized it into a table, we drew a graph that represented our data. Each week, we used to observe the changes of the plants and organize a table and a graph each week to represent the growth of each group of plants.
The second major group project was when we went to Neinas elementary school to plan, test, and build the benches. The students at Neinas were divided into different groups; my group was made of three U of M students, which are Julian, Carolyn and I with six students from Neinas. The six students from Neinas that were in our group were Alea'yauna, Noah, Kaiden, Wyatt, John, and Ashley. The first three visits we were planning and building bench samples of wooden sticks, and we tested our first bench samples on the third visit. During our fourth visit, we got to pick one of the best bench samples that we have built, and we tried to build another bench samples that has the same idea as the bench that most students agreed on. At the end of our fourth visit we picked one of the bench samples that were built that best fit our constraints, which were safety, theft, and money. In our fifth visit, we built the park benches with our groups.
In both major group projects is that to do good science my hypothesis doesn't have to match my experiment results. I learned that even if my hypothesis and observations doesn't match that means that I am learning something new. It would be my journey to test and retest my hypothesis to learn new information. Through these two major projects this semester I learned that it is important to not restrict students to specific steps to follow. To engage students in the science contact, the teacher should explain the science topic and let groups of students come up with their own hypothesis. After students, have had come up with their hypothesis, each group should come up with a procedure and the list of materials for the experiment. I learned that when students aren't restricted to certain steps and they got to make their own procedure instead of following the steps of a ready procedure. When students are following certain steps, they get bored fast and they only worry about going from step one to step two without being fully engaged in the science content. However, when students are the ones who come up with the hypothesis and procedure they will be engaged in good since even if the experiment results didn't match the hypothesis. I learned that students will be more excited to do science, if they get to come up with their own hypothesis, procedure, and material list instead of being given to them to follow the steps.
This learning will influence me as an educator because as a future teacher, I will make sure that students’ ideas about the topics that they are studying are being represented through experiments and projects. During the experiments and projects that students are doing in the class, I will make sure that students are the ones who are creating their learning experiences. As a teacher, I will be the facilitate students learning process. I learned that when students are part of creating their learning process, they will be more engaged and eager to learn. I will give the opportunity to my students to engage in a lot of hands on activities and projects, where students are being actively involved in creating their learning experience. This experience taught me the importance of having students actively engaged in their learning, and how only giving students steps to do something will not engage them as much as when they get to create their own steps to learn something new.
This experience shaped my understanding of science and teaching science because I used to believe that good science us when students follow a procedure and get the same results of the hypothesis. However now I understand that students can be engaged in good science even if their data doesn't match their hypothesis. It is important that students test and retest their hypothesis to make to arrive to more accurate results. As a teacher, I will make sure that students are part of creating the learning process and not just followers of certain steps. This experience helped me understand the importance of making students part of creating the learning process to be engaged in good science.
In this semester, I have done many projects that helped me understand what really matters when teaching science. However, there are two major group projects that really helped understand some important ideas when teaching science. The first group project was when each group picked a hypothesis of what makes bean plants grow longer. After, we wrote down our procedure and materials. Each group picked a hypothesis, then we tested our hypothesis by planting beans and by following the procedures that we have had created. My group and I had planted in fifteen pots. Three pots had two beans, three pots had four beans, three pots had six beans, three pots had eight beans, and the last three pots had ten beans. In total, we had fifteen pots.
Each week, my group and I used to measure the height of each plant in each one of the pots. After, we wrote down the average of plants height in each pot. Then, we wrote down the total average of each of the three pots that has the same number of beans. After my group and I wrote down our data and organized it into a table, we drew a graph that represented our data. Each week, we used to observe the changes of the plants and organize a table and a graph each week to represent the growth of each group of plants.
The second major group project was when we went to Neinas elementary school to plan, test, and build the benches. The students at Neinas were divided into different groups; my group was made of three U of M students, which are Julian, Carolyn and I with six students from Neinas. The six students from Neinas that were in our group were Alea'yauna, Noah, Kaiden, Wyatt, John, and Ashley. The first three visits we were planning and building bench samples of wooden sticks, and we tested our first bench samples on the third visit. During our fourth visit, we got to pick one of the best bench samples that we have built, and we tried to build another bench samples that has the same idea as the bench that most students agreed on. At the end of our fourth visit we picked one of the bench samples that were built that best fit our constraints, which were safety, theft, and money. In our fifth visit, we built the park benches with our groups.
In both major group projects is that to do good science my hypothesis doesn't have to match my experiment results. I learned that even if my hypothesis and observations doesn't match that means that I am learning something new. It would be my journey to test and retest my hypothesis to learn new information. Through these two major projects this semester I learned that it is important to not restrict students to specific steps to follow. To engage students in the science contact, the teacher should explain the science topic and let groups of students come up with their own hypothesis. After students, have had come up with their hypothesis, each group should come up with a procedure and the list of materials for the experiment. I learned that when students aren't restricted to certain steps and they got to make their own procedure instead of following the steps of a ready procedure. When students are following certain steps, they get bored fast and they only worry about going from step one to step two without being fully engaged in the science content. However, when students are the ones who come up with the hypothesis and procedure they will be engaged in good since even if the experiment results didn't match the hypothesis. I learned that students will be more excited to do science, if they get to come up with their own hypothesis, procedure, and material list instead of being given to them to follow the steps.
This learning will influence me as an educator because as a future teacher, I will make sure that students’ ideas about the topics that they are studying are being represented through experiments and projects. During the experiments and projects that students are doing in the class, I will make sure that students are the ones who are creating their learning experiences. As a teacher, I will be the facilitate students learning process. I learned that when students are part of creating their learning process, they will be more engaged and eager to learn. I will give the opportunity to my students to engage in a lot of hands on activities and projects, where students are being actively involved in creating their learning experience. This experience taught me the importance of having students actively engaged in their learning, and how only giving students steps to do something will not engage them as much as when they get to create their own steps to learn something new.
This experience shaped my understanding of science and teaching science because I used to believe that good science us when students follow a procedure and get the same results of the hypothesis. However now I understand that students can be engaged in good science even if their data doesn't match their hypothesis. It is important that students test and retest their hypothesis to make to arrive to more accurate results. As a teacher, I will make sure that students are part of creating the learning process and not just followers of certain steps. This experience helped me understand the importance of making students part of creating the learning process to be engaged in good science.