Sping is about to Sprung!

Believe it or not, spring is almost here! It is obvious from the increase in birds chirping, the sightings of insects, and a few buds are already appearing on the trees. I know that we have had a lot of snow this past winter, and it probably isn't over yet, but it will soon enough be spring and there are signs around us telling us not to give up hope! Warm weather is on its way!

The weather led me to thinking about how I could incorporate this natural, every day, surrounding occurance in my classroom. I could ask students to become their own metorologists, and observe, record, and research the weather and their predictions for the weather each day. Students could research how weather is around the world, and why there are different weather patterns around the world- what causes the weather to change and what influences it. Students could incorporate technology in doing their research, as well. Therefore, they would be doing their own independent, active research and connecting these real-life occurances to reasons why the weather is different in areas around the world and why it changes. Designing science stations about the weather would also be a great idea to help students apply and further expand what they are learning through inquiry, about the weather.

The weather channel is a great source of information for this kind of research.
http://www.weather.com/

Matter Matters: Getting Messy with Ordinary Objects

Science is a messy process. In science, children need to be actively involved in their education and learning, and therefore, this entails getting messy occasionally. Meaningful exploration should be taking place in classrooms, and this will sometimes lead to experiments and investigations that make literal messes, spills, and accidents. Water may spill, such as in Ms. Harrison’s class, mixtures may get all over desks, and things may appear in disarray but this is all part of the process. In addition, getting messy in science can show students how science is not a neat, clear process. Often, science experiments do not go as planned, and sometimes for unknown reasons.  Science can be a very frustrating and difficult process.  The process of classification is not always clear and neat, as well, as it was demonstrated with the “green goo” in Ms. Hager’s classroom. The students could not clearly classify the green goo as a solid or a liquid, and this is because it truly is neither- it is a suspension.  To help students make meaning out of a messy experience, teachers should guide the process by posing questions to students along their investigation, demonstrate that getting messy in exploration is a nonthreatening process (they won’t get in trouble for making a mess), and explore and manipulate materials. Teachers should create investigations for students to do that make them engage in hands-on- minds-on activities, collaborate with one another, and cause them to actively be involved in the inquiry process. Classification of objects, living things, and states of matter should be taught through the active participation of students in investigations. Students need to visually see and interact with the differences and commonalities of objects.

Often students are in classrooms that are maintained as neat, clean, and messy-free zones of “learning.” Teachers are afraid to let students take control of their own learning, and actively be involved in the process. They often do not get their hands dirty in exploring the concepts being studied, and simply view the concepts as outsiders. Once the teachers have organized, planned, outlined, and provided all the necessary steps for students to do, there is no room for left for students to think or be creative. Students are just following carefully designed instructions that tell them all they need to do or know, and they are no longer thinking or inquiring for themselves. Teachers pick investigations to do in classrooms that require no real active participation from students that may entail getting “messy,” and stick to investigations that just require students to watch, observe, or do one step out of a possible 20 that was previously done by the teacher. I know this to be true, because it is how my science teachers taught in elementary school. We were always given worksheets that proposed scenarios in which we needed to inquire from, but we never actually engaged in the learning process by manipulation of materials or getting “messy.” It certainly affected the way I learned science concepts, because I could often not grasp them. Now, I feel as though if I was provided with the opportunity to explore on my own I would have been able to connect the experience with real-life, and actively made categories.

I am aware that there may be a question posed by a future student when I am a teacher that I am unable to answer with complete confidence. Although science is my major, there may be certain subjects or material I may not be too sure about, and I would never want to tell a student an incorrect answer or misguide him or her. Therefore, I would tell the student to look up this information on the Internet and come to class tomorrow with the answer to share with the class. We are all learners, including the teacher, and therefore, one should take advantage of such a situation to demonstrate to students that we will always be furthering and sharpening our knowledge.

In class this week, we all constructed and took part in designing science circus stations. This was an interesting and enlightening process because I was able to see how this activity would take place in a classroom, and what kind of activities would be good suggestions to use in the classroom. For example, my group created an investigation of heat and air (air convection) and how when air is heated it rises. We had set up a station where people actively got involved, and needed to put a deflated balloon on a water bottle, submerge it in ice water, and then take this same water bottle wiht th deflated balloon attached and submerege it in boiling water and observe what happens (the balloon inflates). Throughout the activity, students are making predictions, recording observations, and at the end they answer a series of questions. The other stations in the science circus were great, as well, and all involved active participation, inquiry, reflection, and were interesting and fun to do! Having the stations only be about 7 min-10min long enables students to engage in a series of different activities and areas of discussion in science. Actually doing a science circus scenario in class this week helped us all see how long and direct the stations should be for students, how long questions should be at the end of the activity, and gave us all some wonderful ideas to use in our own classrooms in the future. For example, I really liked Group 6's moon phase activity. It required the eating of marshmellows in the shape of the various moon phases, and I believe young students will really enjoy and be involved in this activity. In addition, I realized how important collaboration can be during the science stations, as we all helped each other by posing different questions, clarifying different misconceptions, and all participating through different roles and jobs in doing the activity. Certainly, a student who is special needs or an ELL student can be helped immensely through science circus activites, as he or she will feel more confident having the help and support of his or her peers to complete the activity. Overall, I feel that using science circus' in one's classroom could certainly be a wonderful idea in order to show students how science is related to real-life applications to form connections, to engage students in active, enriching investigations, practice collaboration skills, use inquiry skills, and connect these engaging experiences to science content being read in class. These are meaning-making experiences.

Cuddly and Furry Chinchillas! Mammals as Pets

I brought my chinchilla, Bella, into class on Friday to use in my microteaching. I used Bella as an introduction to both spark students’ interests and to get their minds thinking about her characteristics. From these observations, I would extend those to compare and contrast them to pets at home the students may have. Finally, after comparing these characteristics and contrasting characteristics on the board in three separate columns, I would tell the students that there is a reason many of these animals have common characteristics (skin, fur, four legs, etc.) and this is because they are known as mammals and today we are going to learn about mammals! Then, I would make a concept map about mammals, and discuss the characteristics of mammals with the class. Mammals have skin, hair, fur, are warm blooded, nurse their young, give birth to live young, have mammary glands, and have spines. After the lesson on mammals, I would show a series of slides with images of mammals, reptiles, birds, and amphibians on them and ask the students to shout “mammal” or “not mammal” when an image of an animal cam across the screen. This way, I can assess the class’s grasp of mammal characteristics and what we’ve just learned collectively as a group.

Certainly, I believe using Bella to both make the students interested and start activating prior knowledge about what they may not realize they already know about mammals and to start their brains working was a great idea. Students need to be excited to learn, and need to make connections to the material and content. Therefore, using Bella to spark their interests and make connections to pets they may have at home to set the stage for learning about these mammals they see every day and in their neighborhoods is important in order for students’ to make these connections.

I would like to extend this post to not only discuss my microteaching experience, but talk about chinchillas in general. Bella served as my nature observation this week. Chinchillas are not native to the United States. They are native to the Andes Mountains in South America. The animal (whose name literally means "little Chincha") is named after the Chincha people of the Andes, who once wore its dense, velvet-like fur. By the end of the 19th century, chinchillas had become quite rare due to hunting for their fur. Most chinchillas currently used by the fur industry for clothing and other accessories are farm-raised. In their native habitat, chinchillas live in burrows or crevices in rocks. They are agile jumpers and can jump up to 6 ft (1.8 m). Predators in the wild include birds of prey, skunks, felines, snakes and canines. Chinchillas have a variety of defensive tactics including spraying urine and releasing fur if bitten. In the wild, chinchillas have been observed eating plants, fruits, seeds, and small insects. This diet could irritate the digestive system of a domestic chinchilla whose diet should be primarily hay-based, if a domestic chinchilla should ingest a seed/nut it could result in disease or death .

In nature, chinchillas live in social groups that resemble colonies but are properly called herds. Chinchillas can breed any time of the year. Their gestation period is 111 days, longer than most rodents. Due to this long pregnancy, chinchillas are born fully furred and with eyes open. Litters are usually small in number, predominantly twins.

 Chinchillas require extensive exercise. Chinchilla teeth need to be worn down as their teeth grow continuously and can prevent the chinchilla from eating if they become overgrown. Wooden sticks, pumice stone and chew toys are good options, but conifer and citrus woods (like cedar or orange) should be avoided because of the high content of resins, oils and phenols that are toxic for chinchillas. Birch, willow, apple tree, manzanita or kiln-dried pine are all safe woods for chinchillas to chew. The chinchilla lacks the ability to sweat; therefore, if temperatures get above 25°C (80°F), the chinchilla could get overheated and may suffer from heat stroke. Chinchillas dissipate heat by routing blood to their large ears, so red ears signal overheating.

Chinchillas can be found in a variety of colors. The only color found in nature is standard gray. The most common other colors are white, black velvet, beige, ebony, violet, sapphire and hybrids of these.

The animals instinctively clean their fur by taking dust baths, in which they roll around in special chinchilla dust made of fine pumice. In the wild their dust is formed from fine ground volcanic rocks. The dust gets into their fur and absorbs oil and dirt. These baths are needed a few times a week. Chinchillas do not bathe in water because the dense fur prevents air-drying, retaining moisture close to the skin, which can cause fungus growth or fur rot. A wet chinchilla must be dried immediately with towels and a no-heat hair dryer. The fur is so thick that it resists parasites such as fleas. The fur also reduces loose dander, making chinchillas hypo-allergenic

Chinchillas eat and digest desert grasses and cannot efficiently process fatty foods, high protein foods, or too many green plants. A high quality, hay-based pellet and a constant supply of loose timothy hay will sufficiently meet all of their dietary needs. Chinchillas have very sensitive GI tracts that can be easily disrupted so it is important to maintain them on a healthy diet.  Avoid chinchilla feed that includes a mixture; chinchillas may avoid the healthy high fiber pellets in favor of items like raisins and seeds. Fresh vegetables and fruit (with high moisture content) should be avoided as these can cause bloat in a chinchilla, which can be fatal. Sweets and dried fruit treats should be limited to one per day, at the very most. Chinchillas also eat and drink in very small amounts. This can lead to diarrhea, or in the long term, diabetes. Nuts should be avoided due to their high fat content. High protein foods and alfalfa hay can cause liver problems and should be limited.

The fur industry is what truly disgusts me about chinchillas. It takes about 150 chinchillas to make one coat. Chinchillas are bred on farms purposely to become clothing for people who could care less about anyone but themselves. They are treated inhumanely. People who wear fur are selfish, heartless, unconcerned, and ignorant human beings. If you had any previous indifferent thoughts about fur or chinchilla fur for coats in particular, perhaps this video from PETA will help change your mind:

http://www.viddler.com/explore/OfficialPETA/videos/142/

Maple Sugar Season...Yum!

Well, it is that time again! Maple sugar season is here! This is the time when maple sugar farmers and anyone who wants to extract sap from maple sugar trees and turn it into maple syrup can do so. This time, from around mid February to late March, early April, sap from maple sugar trees is “tapped” from the trees to be collected and evaporated into consumable, yummy, maple syrup! I work at the Hudson Highlands Nature Museum in Cornwall, NY, and we hold maple sugar tours to the public to show and teach them how to tap trees to extract sap from maple sugar trees and turn it into maple syrup. Yesterday was the first day of the public maple sugar tours. Many people do not realize, but maple syrup and the syrup many people buy from the grocery stores (Mrs. Butter-worth’s, Log Cabin) is not at all the same. Therefore, although maple syrup is more expensive than the “pancake lotion,” or syrup such as Mrs. Butter-worth’s, it is much healthier and better for you overall. The reason it is so much more expensive is because it takes about 40gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of maple syrup! Maple sugar farmers only have about 6 weeks to do so; therefore, this process is very labor intensive.

One question I often hear from people is when do we tap maple sugar trees? Well, all trees produce sap; they are autotrophs (produce their own food). Sap is about 98% water and 3% sugar, and sap is produced for food for the tree to grow through a process known as photosynthesis. Trees require sunlight, CO₂ , and water and transform these reactants into food, sugar water (sap). Each leaf on a tree can be thought of as a small sugar factory, and in addition to the photosynthesis that is occurring, a process known as transpiration is also occurring, in which water is transpired from the leaves into the atmosphere. Therefore, when fall is approaching and water will soon be frozen in the ground and less accessible the tree stops photosynthesis in the leaves, the leaves die, fall off, and the tree prevents the further loss of water. The sugar water (sap) begins to move to the roots to be stored as starch, as well. Therefore, there is a specific season (Feb-late March) that is optimal for collecting sap from trees for production of maple syrup. During these months, below freezing temperatures and above freezing (40 degrees around) temperatures during the day promote sap flow. The tree expands in warm temperatures, and through capillary action, draws the sap from the roots up to the branches again getting ready to sprout new buds in the spring. Maple sugar farmers take advantage of this time to extract the sap that is flowing up from the roots up into the tree.

Why do we tap sugar maple trees for sap and not, for example, oak trees? Since all trees produce sap, we can certainly tap any tree (during this time of the year) for sap. However, sugar maple trees produce the highest percentage of sugar in their sap than other trees or other maples in general. Oak trees only have about .5% sugar and 99.5% water in their sap. Also, we want syrup that has the flavor of maple, and not oak!

How do we make maple syrup from the sap we collect? The sap is put into an evaporator to evaporate the water from the sap to be left with sugar. A tool known as the hydrometer is used to test the density of the syrup to see if it needs to be evaporated more or less.

Do we hurt the tree if we take the sap from it? You could certainly kill a tree if you tap it too much or take too much sap. We only like to take about 10% of sap from trees in order to ensure that they have enough sap to begin growth and the cycle of life again in the spring. Also, you cannot tap a tree that is less than 10 inches in diameter, and it takes about 40 years to reach 10 inches in diameter. Before the 40 years of maturity, the tree needs all of its sap to grow.

This is just some of the information I learned through giving maple sugar tours at the museum, and some of the questions I hear often!  

Making Connections: Scientific Explorations in the Students' Own Environment

Many schools follow a rigid, formal science curriculum when designing science experiments or activities for students to use in the classroom. Therefore, although many of these ideas and experiments suggested by the state and national standards may be great, they often include experiences that are unique to students’ home environments in a specific geographic locale. Students definitely need experiences they can connect to their own lives and natural environments that surround them by bringing in objects and phenomena they notice daily. These science experiences are unique and personal and they make up the informal science curriculum, which is certainly no less important than the formal science curriculum.

During my elementary school years, I cannot recall going out into the environment and having true, personal science experiences. I can remember going on fieldtrips to go apple picking or to a science museum, but that is certainly the extent of my outside experiences as a young student with science. Our fieldtrips were certainly fun and interactive; however, I wish my teachers would have taken the opportunity to reflect on the experiences we had on out trip when we returned to the classroom. My teachers did not use inquiry very often in our science experiences, and therefore, connections were usually not made to prior knowledge or new knowledge being constructed in the classrooms. Fieldtrips serve as perfect, outdoor, real-life experiences to connect science ideas and content to student’s prior experiences, and enable student’s of all diversities to construct new knowledge.We were always in the classroom, reading textbooks, memorizing information, and being horribly bored and uninterested. My teachers were always fearful of science, and therefore, usually tried to avoid teaching the subject as much as possible or putting any effort or creativity into the lessons. I may have had a science corner in my classroom; however, I certainly do not remember being involved in its development or interacting with the science corner objects at all. Therefore, it must have not have been a truly successful science corner. Personally, I will implement the use of a science corner in my classroom, and change its contents according to the subject content we are learning at week. I would make it an interactive science corner, where students can record observations and, respond to questions, generate their own ideas for materials to add to the corner, and answers their own questions. Kindergarten was probably the only year where I can recall having an object from outdoors and nature in our classroom. My teacher had brought a large hornet nest into the classroom to hang from the ceiling, and we were all fascinated with it. She taught an entire lesson on bees and honey after that experience, and I can still remember it today! That in itself is proof that students learn best when the curriculum is related to their lives, which then enables them to make connections and construct their knowledge actively. Students actively participate in these experiences by engaging and reflecting, see how these new experiences fit in with previous ones, and make new connections.  By incorporating prior knowledge, students can construct new knowledge with these active experiences. Using these opportunities, teachers can make interesting connections between students’ lives and the natural world around them-making the classroom a dynamic and vital place. This helps student see the bigger picture, and realize past and present issues in society, locally and globally, today. In addition, integrating science into students’ everyday lives aids in motivating students to participate and feel less alienated from science. This particularly involves females and minorities, who often have a negative perception of the usefulness of science in real life, and this adds to their lack of participation in science related activities. Educators can help modify and alter these biases and beliefs students enter school with, and therefore, it is imperative that teachers use experiences to make connections with their daily lives. These natural, personal experiences in one’s classroom will incorporate and address the diversity that is among students and that it in the surrounding nature. One student may come from a family that has never seen a dandelion growing out of the sidewalk, one family may eat dandelions in their meals, and another may think the dandelion flower is beautiful. All prior knowledge, culture, and background influences one’s beliefs, and simple walks in nature outside your classroom can incorporate and address all of them.

In addition to incorporating real-life nature experiences in science, educators should teach students how to care for their environment, conserve energy, generate less waste, recycle, and understand the effects of their daily actions on the planet’s environment. Although green science is not part of the formal curriculum, it is important knowledge for students to have about the planet they live in. Naturalistic intelligence is important for students to be “nature smart” and develop an appreciation, understanding and stewardship for the planet. A large body of evidence suggests that immersing students in the local environment enhances their understanding of a “green” daily living. I work at a nature museum in Cornwall, NY, where the main purpose of our establishment is to educate the public and the children in the area about the environment. We help students and children become young naturalists, and instill in them the motivation and burning passion to become lifelong caregivers of the earth.

This week during class, we began practicing presentations and microteaching. It is very interesting to see how my other peers are implementing science concepts and inquiry in these short minilessons. Together, we are providing feedback and helping each other improve our teaching skills and public speaking abilities. The classroom is certainly a safe and comfortable environment to practice and improve these skills. I think the microteaching lessons (both Kira’s woordle and Katherine’s geology interactive lesson) are going very well. I now know how to use woorlde to activate my students prior knowledge and introduce a concept through using this tool that displays numerous words in a fun, creative manner. In addition, Katherine showed how bringing in everyday nature objects, such as rocks from around the area, can help students activate prior knowledge and make connections to their personal lives. I began thinking about the different colors, textures, sizes, striations, hardness, and minerals of rocks that I have seen daily, and could now relate the concepts about mineralogy and geology to my personal experiences with rocks. I will try to always connect my student’s prior knowledge to the content we are learning in the classroom in order to formulate connections. When i do my microteaching, I believe I will also bring in an object to teach a lesson in order to help students make connections to their own evironments.

Science as a Process

"The fascination of any search after truth lies not in the attainment but in the pursuit."

-Florence Bascom

Everyone who engages in scientific activity, uses certain helpful and critical process skills that guide them along in the scientific process in order to gain information about nature and natural phenomena. The skills include: observing, classifying, collecting data, inferences, making hypotheses, experimenting, analyzing data, and concluding upon one's results. Therefore, creating a classroom in which students can be invited to utilize these skills in an active environment will foster students' development of inquiry and interest in science.

Some great ideas I absorbed from this chapter were to have both a science notebook and science circus' in your classroom. Like a journal, a science notebook integrates writing and science by becoming part of the science instruction. Here, students will record observations, predictions, reflections, responses to prompts, and other reasoning. This notebook facilitates sense-making and metacognition instead of simply just recording observations. The science circus consists of several stations at whcih the students are asked to perform cetain tasks and record thier results or reactions. These stations involve activities that engage students in the planning process by using their own inferences based off of observations, and often realtes to daily life common scenarios. Students become scientists- they observe, record, predict, compare observations to predictions, plan an investigation (control variables, independent/dependent variables), experiment, compare and contrast predictions with their results, and refine their process skills and ideas, as well. For example, during class we enagaged in the balloon activity. We observed an inflated balloon be popped by a pin inserted into its side. Then we observed an inflated balloon being painted with magic blue liquid on the top of the balloon, and it did not pop. Together, we collaborated our observations/data and ideas to come to the conclusion that the location of the balloon caused the balloon to either pop or not pop. Then, we needed to create a hypothesis, conduct an experiment, record data, and come to a conclusion if our hypothesis was supported or not. Therefore, this experiment allowed us to use inquiry and scientific process skills to learn about pressure and tension of gases through active participation and planning. It was a great way to learn and explore this concept instead of simply memorizing, and having students plan the investigation themselves is certainly a key component.

The difference between observation and inference is that observation is the viewing of natural phenomena involving the process of taking notes on the shape, size, color, texture, mass, speed, movement, any other various changes that may occur. Observations include all the available data attainable from an object or an event using our senses. Inferences, however, are assumptions or guesses that may be made or proposed to explain what has been observed. They are reasonable statements about an object or an event that is based on observation For example, in science, students observe an experiment or some natural phenomena take place, and then infer, or conclude why something occurred or did not occur. Students infer what happened, for example, in the soda can experiment in which the soda can exploded in the back seat on a very hot day in the car.

In addition to the process skills of observation and classifying, the process skill of classifying is especially familiar to all because of how often it is used in daily life. Classifying is the process of sorting objects or ideas into groups according to similar properties. For example, we classify the foods we eat, the clothes we wear, the classes and subjects we study, the weather, the music genre we listen to, and much more. Classification, although often unnoticed, is always occurring in our heads as our brains organize information and new information based on prior experiences. Classification is a very important science process skill, as well, in which we use to try and make meaning of the natural world and all its diversity.

It is certainly very crucial to engage students in planning an investigation rather than simply conduct the experiment because then the teacher truly gets to see a student’s limit of knowledge on a certain subject or content area study. When the children take part in planning the investigation, they are using their inference skills to make sense out of what has been observed and combining this with their prior knowledge. In addition, by planning the experiment or investigation, the children will be more interested in the activity and true learning can now occur. The students need to figure out which variables to control, or keep the same, which variable to change (independent variable),the variable that depends on the independent variable (dependent variable), and what the expected outcome will be. They are learning and taking part in the scientific process by planning this investigation based off of their own inferences and observations.

If my classroom had the privilege of owning a microscope for two weeks, we could do many investigations and activities as a class. I would setup my own investigations for the students to observe and conduct under the microscopes, and allow them to observe and view their own objects under the microscope. I would ask each student to bring in a water sample from a pond or lake (maybe even a puddle) nearby to class to observe on a slide under the microscope. Hopefully, the students will be able to analyze small critters and single-cell microscopic organisms in their water samples. Perhaps I would have students view pre-made slides of plant cells if we were doing a lesson on photosynthesis or even mitosis. If there was enough time prior to using the microscopes, I could Daphnia (microscopic plankton) for the students to examine under the microscope, as well. There are so many applications and activities to do with a microscope, and it is a tool that can give them the freedom to observe objects from their own familiar environments.

Here are some websites I found full of GREAT ideas for science investigations and to use in a science circus setting in the classroom:
http://www.kids-science-experiments.com/index.html
http://www.sciencemadesimple.com/projects.html
http://www.exploratorium.edu/science_explorer/
http://www.funology.com/laboratory/
http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/experiments/

The Recent Snowfall and Doves

This week I paid particular attention to the melting snow (yay) and ring neck doves. I work at a nature museum in Cornwall, and this past weekend we held an event to meet the doves at the museum! I actually own a dove, and so therefore, I figured I would write my nature observation about this.

First, I am very excited that the snow is finally melting! I have certainly had enough of all of this snow, and now only about 3 feet remains on the ground. Hopefully, we will not get any more! However, we will have to wait and see.

Doves are beautiful birds and are very friendly. Sky, my albino ring neck dove of 10 years, is gentle, quiet, and friendly. She coo's and loves to be held by people. She has recently been laying many eggs (not fertilized) and has been instinctively sitting on them for days. It is interesting yet sad to watch her care for these eggs that will never hatch. Dove eggs take about 14 days to hatch. They are not difficult to care for, as they eat simple seeds and require a cage. The morning dove is a common dove to be seen in this area, and their name is given due to the sad cooing sound they make. An interesting fact to know is that doves and pigeons are actually the same thing, but are just reffered to by different names. It is funny to think that they are looked upon so differently. Imagine, instead of saying "Dove" soap or "Dove" chocolate, we said "Pigeon" soap or "Pigeon" chocolate? It simply wouldn't be the same. Pigeons have always had the reputation as street birds, and doves have been looked upon as the symbol of peace and love.

The Teacher as the Mediator and Facilitator of Student Learning

“No matter how patiently I explain things to my students and no matter how often I repeat the explanations, I cannot learn for them.”

          This quotation describes how children are not empty vessels, and they need to learn constructively and actively in order to fully connect and grasp the content being discussed.  A teacher can certainly explain and dictate to his or her students abstract definitions and facts about a subject; however, that is not how a student truly learns. Basic knowledge of information and facts is the lowest level of learning that can occur, and a teacher needs to provide experiences in which a student can take his or her prior experiences and incorporate and connect them into their present learning experience. Learning science is not about transmitting information to students, but is about the exchanges that occur between teachers and students as they explore science together. Teachers can mediate and facilitate the learning experience by both providing the experiences that will help them constructively learn, and by posing questions that can further a student’s thought process. Being a mediator involves serving as a go-between, offering to help people resolve their differences by bridging the gaps between their points of view. Students need to be exposed to new experiences, and slowly help them probe their own thinking through this process. Teachers scaffold students’ learning by acting as temporary supports and proving information or questing to guide them to the next step. Providing students with both the intellectual freedom to investigate their alternative conceptions and test their theories is important in order to allow students to be in charge of their learning experiences to see what students truly know and do not know, and what they have or have not learned. Learning is done independently by each student based on their previous experiences, and is the result of the freedom given to apply and test their ideas and alternative conceptions.

            For students, true understanding means that they can discuss concepts freely and apply them to other areas of thinking. Student’s prior knowledge is central to building this type of understanding, and will help students make sense of the “big ideas.” Mr. Wilson, in the science story in chapter 3, did not correct the students when incorrectly weighing the icicle the first time because he wanted to provide them with the freedom to be wrong and explore further options until they come to a correct realization. People do not learn by being told what to do, but we learn by actively doing and experimenting. When a student applies his or her ideas to a situation they are given the opportunity to investigate their notions and learn what works successfully, what does not, and why this is so. Mr. Wilson provided his students with the intellectual freedom to discover the best way to measure the icicles, and therefore, grow and learn in this experience. If Mr. Wilson had not done so, the students may have not learned why they needed to weigh the icicles in some kind of receptacle. Although the students would have followed the directions correctly if Mr. Wilson had originally told them to weight the icicles in a pan, they would not have had the learning experience behind this reasoning. By Mr. Wilson not providing the students with instructions to weigh the icicles in the pan, the students needed to use their own reasoning and prior knowledge to decide the best way to measure the icicles. Concepts do not simply sit in our minds; they help refine and accommodate new knowledge. Mr. Wilson promoted the development of the children’s own ideas, and indirectly told his students that it is okay to be "wrong," or have alternate conceptions.  

         In response to the way Mr. Wilson appropriately mediated and facilitated the children’s learning process (and the other science stories discussed in chapter 3), I began to think about my experiences in school. I have certainly written a specific answer in an exam, or wrote an essay on a certain topic because I thought it was what my teacher wanted. Many of my teachers I have had in elementary school and high school were very rigid, controlling, and strict about assignments and very specific about exams. They’d often feed us the information we needed to know for an upcoming test, and if we didn’t use the exact definitions or viewpoints my teacher had provided then points would automatically be deducted from our grade. My school experiences have always involved how to achieve a high grade and do well, and have been less about truly learning or taking risks. I can’t recall engaging in active learning experiences where I was provided with the opportunity to explore often throughout elementary school or high school; however, I can remember being assigned worksheet after worksheet. My teachers always expected certain answers, or would provide all the necessary instructions to complete an assignment accurately; therefore, I never truly wanted to apply my own ideas or go outside the boundaries until I went to college. I believe this is very common for students everywhere because the curriculum relies so heavily on grades and assessments. There is less room available for students to be more creative and independent, as they are reluctant to not appease their teachers and want to receive great grades. Teachers often do not allow students to explore their alternative conceptions, and therefore, students are not making true learning advances in their education. Teaching science requires both information and guidance in order for students to understand and learn. Engaging students in concrete experiences, encouraging students to express their ideas about what they observe, listening seriously to those ideas and considering their prior knowledge, and asking probing questions should be the necessary roles of the teacher.

          Similarly to Mr. Wilson, I could bring natural artifacts from nature into my class, as well. Some of the artifacts could include: various rocks, leaves, plants, icicles, bird’s nests, and insects (if it’s spring/summer). I could conduct science lessons and create various learning experiences for all of these artifacts. For example, I could bring in leaves from fall and summer and help mediate and facilitate my students grasp the concept of photosynthesis and how the leaves change color with the seasons. Creating real-life connections to nature is important in science, as well.

          During class this week, we discussed and explored the six levels of higher-level learning (Bloom’s Taxonomy), and the structure of knowledge (Bruner’s Structure of Knowledge). Both of these descriptions of knowledge and learning relate to each other very closely, and can guide teachers how to correctly teach science to students. Bloom’s Taxonomy involves the following levels of learning: remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating, and creating. Bruner’s pyramid of knowledge is comprised of: facts, declarative knowledge, concepts, conceptual knowledge, contextual knowledge, generalizations, procedural knowledge, and metacognition. Both structures demonstrate how remembering facts, and just understanding concepts and facts is the lowest levels of learning and knowledge, and actually applying, creating, and reflecting upon what one knows (metacognition) and has learned is the highest level of learning and knowledge. It is important to allow students to create projects to further their knowledge and demonstrate what they have learned, and also reflect upon their experience and make connections between what they knew previously and the recently acquired knowledge. Both Bloom and Bruner’s levels of knowledge and learning outline how a teacher should teach science to students most efficiently.

A NYS Ice Age

   Although it surely is not anywhere close to being an ice age, we certainly have had an overwhelming amount of snow in the NYS tri state area during this winter so far. According to the weather channel, we have had 57.7 inches of snowfall already and it is only February fourth! Usually, the seasonal snow accumulation average is about a foot! That means NYS has accumulated an extra 45.7in of snow thus far. There is snow everywhere you look, and it is a very beautiful sight to admire. However, the streets are piled with snow, parking is extremely difficult, and it is very hard to see over these snow piles while driving. Almost every day there is a lingering threat of a snow storm, and although I love the chance of having a snow day, I think I’m becoming a little sick of seeing so much snow everywhere. The icicles hanging from rooftops and houses are becoming larger with each snow storm, as well. While working at the nature museum, I saw icicles about 5 ft long hanging from rooftops. Although this apparent “snow apocalypse” is not nearly an ice age, this large accumulation of snowfall is above average for NYS. Not only is the snow increasingly building up, the slight melting of the snow during the day is only freezing and preserving the snow into a large frozen ice cube at night. Will spring ever be here? Here’s to the longest winter ever…


    With so much snow surrounding every aspect of my life recently, it led me to think about the properties of water. When water in a lake freezes, it becomes less dense and floats on water, which is unlike any property of any other liquid. Usually, when other liquids freeze they become more dense and sink in their liquid. The annual changes in the density of water mix the water in a lake (turnover). In the fall, cold water loaded with oxygen from the atmosphere sinks to the bottom of the lake. This continues until the entire mass of lake water reaches 4-degrees Celsius in temperature and then the surface water can cool further to the freezing temperatures. Eventually the surface water is cold enough to freeze at the surface. Ice fishermen are always fishing in water whose temperatures are between 0 and 4 degrees C. This is why the fish do not freeze and there is plenty of oxygen in the water available even if it is cut off from the atmosphere. This property of water is due to hydrogen bonding of the water molecules. The water molecules become more spaced out which causes their structure to be less dense and ice to float. Hydrogen boding occurs between the hydrogen and the oxygen molecules in water (H2O). It is truly fascinating! In addition, the hexagonal structure of snowflakes is also due to the hydrogen bonding of water molecules. Hydrogen bonding is to thank for the unique properties of water!

Do Gut Bugs Practice Mind Control?

Do Gut Bugs Practice Mind Control? - ScienceNOW

This article was really interesting. I had to search a scientific article for my chemistry class, and I came across this. I thought I would share it here, on my blog. Although the article doesn’t go into critical detail about the research on the microflora in the mice and those microbe free, it would be an interesting topic to research more about. I wonder what research techniques and methods the scientists used to discover this interesting conclusion. It would be very interesting to connect issues with anxiety and other anxiety disorders to the microbes in our intestines. It might make us think twice about what we eat!