Parallel Circuit

Simple Circuit

with Alligator Clips

Series Circuit!

(extra battery needed for more power to light both bulbs)

Simple Circuit!

Batteries, Bulbs, & Wires

Kirsten has a battery and a small bulb. She wonders how many strips of wire she will need to connect the battery and the bulb so that the bulb will light. What is the smallest number of wire strips Kirsten needs to make the bulb light up?
A. One strip of wire.

Explain your thinking about how to light the bulb.
Battery-> wire -> spirally part of bulb -> bump on bottom of bulb -> battery
I can't remember which side +/- it needs to go on.

NSES
Physical Science
Content Standard B: Light, Heat, Electricity, & Magnetism
Benchmark: Electrical circuits require a complete loop through which an electrical current can pass.

Yellow Lab "Explore Together"
Very teacher directed
Detailed outline of procedure.
DOes not provide or ask for an explanation.
Students can be successful, no frustration.

Pink Lab "Explore Independently"
May not successfully discover 3 types of circuits.
Q: See if you can light the bulb. A: Students might say, No, I can't.
Teacher provides engaging Question.
Students explore on their own.
Students experience disequilibrium with any misconceptions.

Magnets

Pre-Assessment (Know)
1. What are some "real life" applications of magnetism?
Electromagnetism uses the push and pull of magnets to run things...right? Roller coasters?

2. What experiences have you had with magnets in your life?
I use magnets to pick up tiny metal things (needles, nails). I play with magnets.

3. What ideas do you have about the science of magnets?
Only some metals are magnetic, right? Nickel, iron, and lead? cobalt
Magnets have poles. Opposite poles attract. Same poles "push" repel apart
Compasses use magnetic fields. Birds use magnets to know north and south...

That's all I got.

Post-Activity (Learned)


How do the results compare with your predictions? Explain.
I predicted that metallic objects would "channel" the magnetic force. :( And non-metallic items would break field. BUT I know that magnets can "go through" paper, etc. Strong enough magnets can go through your hand. So. I basically guessed.

National Science Education Standards:
Physical Science: Content Standard B Light, Heat, Electricity, & Magnetism
Benchmark: Magnets attract and repel each other and certain kinds of other materials.

Research:

(Source: www.howmagnetswork.com )

History
Magnets were discovered/talked about by the ancient Greeks and Chinese. Greeks thought that magnets or "lodestones" had magical capabilities that attracted iron. They believed that there were islands entirely made of magnetite that pulled in ships by their iron nails; this was one of the explanations for ships lost at sea.

In 1269, Perigrinus wrote the first scientific report of magnetism, trying to understand science over superstition. In 1600, Gilbert figured out that the earth was a giant magnet and that the north and south poles are magnetic poles just like a small magnet. Since simple compasses already existed, this explained why they worked.

In 1820, Oersted discovered that there is a relationship between magnetism and electricity by putting a wire with an electric current near a magnetic compass. The electric current caused a "deflection" of the compass needle. We now know that this is because an electric current (or movement of a charged particle) creates a magnetic field also.

In 1862, Maxwell established the foundation of today's theories of electromagnetism (which I have yet to understand), thirty years before the electron was discovered.

Earth's Magnetic Fields
The geographic "North Pole" of the earth is actually the south pole of earth as a magnet. It is called the north pole because it attracts the north pole of other magnets (opposites attract). Thus the geographic "South Pole" is actually the magnetic north pole of the earth.

Magnets do not actually point perfectly north/south because the magnetic poles are not perfectly lined up with our geographic locations of the poles. This is because the axis of the magnetic field is different than the earth's axis.

Cause: It is now believed that the earth is a giant electromagnet because of a flowing current in the earth's core.

Electromagnetism 101
The "magnetic effect of a current" just means that an electrical current has a magnetic field. (Oersted, 1820) This magnetic effect of a current is called electromagnetism, as oppose to "plain" magnetism of a rock. :)

Feature of Inquiry #3

Summary: Learners formulate explanations from evidence to address scientifically oriented questions.


Focus: The path from evidence to explanation.
Scientific explanations based on evidence and logical argument.
Explanations go beyond current knowledge, by building on it to create new understanding.

What would this look like in the classroom?
-Students learn to tell the different between evidence & inference as the teacher asks deeper questions.
-Observed and/or measured data are evidence. Students use science notebooks to record observations.
-Looking at real evidence drives investigation and then solutions/conclusions.

Examples from video:
Evidence-observed phases of the moon. Explanation-none discussed in this lesson
Question-What causes craters? Evidence-Experiment with activity & look at/record results Explanation-may have been final discussion after activity.

Group 3
Danielle
Megan
Megan
Elizabeth
Rebecca

School of the Wild Reflection

See my informal lesson plan here.

Student Learning

I feel that my MM Lesson went well, but I don’t think they were quite ready for the concept of natural selection. I sprinkled MMs in a grassy area before the students came over, and then explained the activity to them I explained that there were MMs or “animals” hidden in the grass and they (the students) were the predators. On my word, the students ran into the grass to find as many MMs as possible before I said, “Predators freeze.” At that point, I asked them to show me and each other the MMs that they found. Unlike my prediction, the bright green MMs had been very easy to find (along with red, orange, etc), but luckily the students had very few brown ones! I compared the brown MMs to well-camouflaged animals and explained that camouflage helped them “survive” the “predators.” I tried to briefly explain the idea that the brown “animals” survived and would have more babies with good camouflage, but the brightly colored ones did not “survive.” The group was fading fast, so I asked for other suggestions of traits that might help animals survive. One student suggested size; large animals will be stronger and win in a fight. I tried to relate his example back to natural selection by reiterating that the large animals would continue to survive and reproduce just like he said, and the weaker animals would not survive. I think the students enjoyed the activity and related it to camouflage, but did not take away any new concepts that they did not previously know.

My Learning

Although natural selection is a pretty high level science concept for sixth graders, I definitely think the fault is mine. They could easily have understood the concept if I had planned better. It seems so obvious now, but since I did not know the students and felt like I had little control over the group, I ended up telling much more than I questioned. It would not have necessarily been an inquiry lesson, but if I had asked students, “How can you relate this to real predators and prey?” or “What will happen to the brown population if this keeps happening? What will happen to the red, orange, and green population? What then? What does this mean?” Even those questions are not excellent because they have rather specific answers I am looking for, but it would have been better than just telling. I also realize that under stress I reverted to teacher-talk instead of engaging the students! This helps me to know that in unfamiliar situations I need to plan, plan, plan. I admit that I did not do that in this case because I “planned” to go with the flow and just have fun with the kids. Which, I guess if that was my goal, we accomplished it. I should have focused myself on a learning goal and decided how I would assess their understanding.

Future Teaching

This short activity helped me to see that Environmental Education is not hard. (It takes planning, but it is not impossible.) Despite my short mini-lesson/activity, I was also able to observe Meredith teaching the students in one of her “outdoor classrooms.” She did tell them some information, but asked a lot of simple questions. She was also not afraid to let kids tell about experiences and share knowledge that they had. By connecting what they had to say (which I would probably have deemed irrelevant), they felt valued and probably made a better connection to what she was teaching about. Braus and Wood point out in Environmental Education in Schools that “in many places, outdoor experiences are not a regular part of instruction; instead of occurring throughout a student’s schooling, outdoor experiences are often limited to a few outings in primary grades” (9). As soon as I read this I instantly knew it to be true. At very best an intermediate or high school teacher might conduct normal class outside on a sunny day. I do prefer to teach early primary grades, but my comfort with upper elementary students is growing, so I may very well be the responsible for creating environmental education opportunities for students who have not experienced it for several years and certainly not in any of their other classes. I agree that environmental education is a beneficial practice, but I am going to need to research and find solid go-to resources and lessons if I am honestly going to implement it.

Braus and Wood also explain that “many educators link environmental education exclusively with science education. …it also requires an understanding of economics, math, geography, ethics, politics and other subjects” (8). It is certainly my tendency to associate the outdoors with science, but I do not know how to truly integrate math with the outdoors. If not measuring and calculating for science exploration or just using outdoor materials for math manipulatives, how would I fully integrate all those subjects with environmental education?

I am somewhat overwhelmed by the whole idea, but I am also relieved that an environmental education is better than none, and I do have the flexibility of cross-curricular application in the outdoors.

Activitymania

In this article, the chart really helped me to see a clear comparison of activity-based science instruction and inquiry-based science. I was able to see Teacher Prep, Assessment, Student Involvement, etc. side by side. In some ways it made inquiry seem overwhelming (obviously) for me as a first-year teacher (long preparation, major flexibility, no deadline)


I do appreciate that the article gives teachers permission to start modifying activities to be more inquiry-based. However, I feel like this is an article that tells you WHY, not HOW. Ok, I'm a believer! But tell me HOW to modify activities to be more inquiry style. Because frankly, I'm not ready for pure inquiry!

I suppose a good middle ground would be to guide  the students in a discussion, and then ask them how we should test it. If they don't have much experience with inquiry, or just want to have a free period, I might have to insist that we are going to test our hypotheses, but I am going to let them choose how. Like the article said though, that only allows for general planning; I might have to run out and buy all sorts of odd materials for their experiment. (Or better yet, "What can we use that we already have at our homes to test our hypotheses?")
Then, when we do an activity it was more student-planned and hopefully more exciting for them since they got to design the activity.

Oh but I do love planning. And organization. And control.

INSES Ch. 1-2

I found both the story of the geologist and the 5th grade class very interesting, and their comparison helped me to put Inquiry on a continuum, instead of pass-fail. I've always thought writing letters to the city council was hokey, but writing a letter to the janitor was appropriate for the situation and the kids had an authentic audience. How neat that they got to see their hard work confirmed the next school year! Talk about memorable.

This article also clarified the "steps" of inquiry that I have been wishing for.
Question.
Use prior knowledge.
Investigate. 
Confirm theories or disprove theories. (Go back to investigate)
Act!

Although Mrs. Graham's class did spend 3 weeks investigating the tree problem, she still maintained some structure (worked in different groups) while letting them explore. I might not be able to do three weeks, but I could walk students through these steps of inquiry without feeling like I can't plan ahead at all.

School of the Wild mini-lesson

Natural Selection
Sub-concepts:  predator, prey

Materials: MMs (make sure they have green and brown, not weird easter MMs)
outdoors (preferably grass & dirt)


Ask students to think of an animal (eg. birds).
Ask if anyone knows what predator or prey means. Explain that the MMs are going to be the prey (the animal we picked) and we are going to be the predators. What would an appropriate predator be? (Silly answers are ok, but make sure to think about real food chains too.)

Toss the MMs on the ground. Give students 15-20 seconds (dependent age and speed!) to "capture" (pick up) as many "birds" (chosen prey) as possible.

When the time is up, have students compare which "birds" got captured. Hopefully, students will have mostly brightly colored MMs. Ask students which were the hardest to find (green & brown) and which were easiest (brighter colors). Explain that the predators found the brightly colored prey the easiest and "ate"/killed them. So, the green and brown MMs lived on to have more green and brown babies. Eventually most "birds" would be green and brown because they are the mostly the only ones that live. This is natural selection.

Ask students to brain storm other traits that might help animals escape from prey and live on to reproduce.
Speed - antelopes (fast ones live) or cheetahs (fast ones get to eat)
Color/Markings
Height - tallest giraffes found the best leaves
Poison - animals with the strongest poison usually "win." The weaker poison don't always win, so they die off. Maybe that's why some animals are SO poisonous, because all the worst ones were the "green and brown" because they were the hardest to kill by predators.

See my reflection on this lesson here.

Braus & Wood: Environmental Education in Schools

I welcome the idea of using environmental education to not only teach science. Honestly it had not occurred to me before. You always go outside for science lessons. And mostly only in Primary grades to walk around the school grounds. If science can teach reading (journals) and math (measuring, calculating, experimenting) IN the classroom, why not teach all those things in the environment? It had also not occurred to me to teach social studies through the environment -- politics, economics, class debates.

I have to say, I'm sure all teachers were told at some point to use environmental education (if not by another name) and thought it was great. And never did it. I hope to carry out at least some of these ideas for a few reasons. No 1. I find Iowa's environment fascinating! I'm certainly used to the wildlife and geography of my home, but Iowa! Iowa has different animals, birds, (corn) plants. Things grow when you put them in the ground. Right before your eyes. And for goodness sakes. There are not two, not three, but FOUR seasons. What's not to love? I will want to go play  discover and learn in the snow just as much as my students. At the same time, I'd probably be in the same old never-go-outside rut as other teachers if I was in Texas. Because to me it is boring. To kids in Iowa, this is the normal and un-interesting for them. I know better. My glee at crunching through snow in boots will either wear off or not be enough to get me out of the classroom on a frigid day. Much less actually plan activities for outside. No, love of Iowa's seasons won't be enough. I need to make a conscious concerted effort to plan environmental lessons throughout the school year. I will have to set standards for myself like, once a month spend a day (or most of it), outside. After the snow melts, spend a week outside. That's the only way it's going to happen, because I know I'm not any better or magically enlightened than all the teachers who don't.

Challenge Me

How is your view of science teaching changing as a result of viewing the “Challenge Me” videos and thinking/making posters about National Science Education Standards about teaching?


I am definitely getting a more solid checklist of science classroom best practices, if not a great mental image. The National Science Education Standards were helpful to me because they reminded me that learning environment, special guests, technology, and classroom community are necessary for science too. I know the topics: earth science, life science, space, physics, chemistry, but these videos are helping me put together the HOW, not just the WHAT.

Iowa CORE Curriculum: Key Concepts

In order to determine the (professed) most important science concepts in the Iowa CORE Curriculum, I check the Performance Standards. What does the state want 8th graders to be able to do?
The "High Performance Level" is evaluated as follows.

High Performance Level: Understands ideas related to Earth, the universe, and the life sciences. Understands ideas related to the physical sciences and often can demonstrate the skills of scientific inquiry.

• Distinguished: Understands ideas related to Earth, the universe, and the life sciences. Understands ideas related to the physical sciences and can demonstrate the skills of scientific inquiry. 

Wow. Thank you, Iowa. That was clear. Ok, I'm not being completely fair. That was a Performance Standard. Essential Concepts and Skills are clearer:

	Understand and apply knowledge of processes and changes on or in the earth’s land, oceans, and atmosphere.
The surface of the earth changes. Some changes are due to slow processes, such as erosion and weathering, and some changes are due to rapid processes such as landslides, volcanic eruptions, floods and earthquakes.

That's it? That's all I need to teach in grades three through five ?(Category: Earth & Space/ Subcategory: Land, oceans, atmosphere).
I am still adjusting to Iowa CORE. I can't help it. I'm used to Texas state standards, which are very detailed and probably closer to individual district or area curriculum guidelines in Iowa. So, I'm trying to re-order my thinking to "Thank you Iowa, for giving broad guidelines and allowing me flexibility" instead of "That's not enough information!"

Ahem. On to those Key Concepts
Primary Students (K-2) focus on observing and identifying big concepts. Not much analysis or evaluation going on yet, but understanding concepts and being able to regurgitate or represent their knowledge. This is not to say that K-2 students shouldn't engage in Inquiry. They still need the inquiry process to supplant prior "pre-conceptions" with new facts. Math used is mostly for measurement.-

3rd-5th grade students move forward to deeper processes and understanding that experiments can have different variables and different outcomes. Mathematics in science increase from measurements to equations.

Although I won't* be teaching Science to 6th-8th graders, I immediately notice a spike in vocabulary. Students are expected to know the terminology for processes and phenomena, not just understand how they work. (Although that is certainly a pre-requisite!)

*Yes, I know, never say never. I just mean "won't" based on my current endorsements and foreseeable future.

Common Misconceptions in Physical Science: Force

Isabelle hurt her ankle while climbing in the mountains. To get to the road, her friends had to get her up a steep cliff. They have one long rope and one pulley. Her friend's discussed the easiest way to pull Isabelle up the cliff. This is what they said:

Jace: "We should tie the rope around Isabelle and pull her up to the road."

Penn: "We should tie the pulley to a tree at the top of the cliff and then pull the rope down through the pulley."

Zoey: "We should tie the pulley to Isabelle. Then we should tie one end of the rope to a tree at the top of the cliff and pull the rope up through the pulley."

Create interactive meetings at Poll Everywhere

Mosart

Misconceptions-Oriented Standards-Based Assessment Resources for Teachers

Let me say first, that the training leading up to receiving the Mosart Tests was excellently designed. I don't know if I was just in a different mood when I read the introduction to 25 Assessment Probes, but the equivalent for the Mosart tools was much easier to understand! 4 tutorials made up the "training" and each tutorial was broken into explanation, real examples, and reading for further understanding. It was probably just the nature of going through online tutorials that made the difference for me, but now I feel much more comfortable using Mosart.
 
After requesting a Life Science pre-test for for grades 7 & 8, I was able to see how Mosart helps teachers analyze their data. HOWEVER, I'm not a big fan of grading and graphing all those pre-tests! I think combining Mosart's tools with something like what Cedar Rapids schools use or Google forms, would make it easier for students to take the pre-test at home and for me to analyze the data.
 
I also applaud Mosart for including a minimum reading level in their tests. For example the 5-8 test (geared toward 7th-8th graders? I haven't quite figured that part out yet) requires a minimum reading "level" of 7th grade. Although is drilled into teacher education programs that ELL students do not aquire academic language proficiency (CALP) for 6+ years, teachers still forget. ELL students may have great social language in English (BICS), but not be able to test on academic subjects. I have every confidence that I could get around decently in a French-speaking country (or even mime my way through a Spanish-speaking one), but I would not be able to take a science test in French.
 
Finally, if I had a way to give the pre-test electronically, I love that simple way that Mosart shows which incorrect answers were most common, and what misconceptions that represents. I will have to go back and look at the 25 Assessment Probes books to see how they explain the misconceptions after each Probe. I think they are more narrative, but that would be helpful if I share my students' misconception!

Keeley et al: Uncovering Student Ideas in Science

This article was incredibly frustrating for me. As an introduction to a larger work, I kept wishing I could skip ahead to Chapter 1! (and then flip back and read the Introduction of course). If I read "the probes in this book" one more time I was about to pop. I kept reading and reading expecting an example any time now to make sense of all the theories and reasons behind "assessment probes." I'm afraid I totally missed the content, since others seem to have gathered much better information from the article/chapter. Maybe the theories and reasons behind Assessment Probes were the content? but the way everything was worded looking forward to the Assessment Probes behind the curtain, I just couldn't understand the introduction without a glimpse of the real thing.

I do agree that assessment probes (from what I gathered) are a good idea. They don't really sound like a novel concept though. We have already been talking about determining students' prior knowledge and misconceptions before constructing new knowledge and learning.
What makes an "assessment probe" different from pre-assessment (informal or formal)? Maybe if there was an explicit example I would know!

I'm sure that the whole book is great, and I'm surprisingly curious to read it because the Introduction seemed so geared to the monster at the end of this book. However, when authors go back to write an introduction, they seem to subconsciously forget that the Reader has NOT read the book yet...in their nuances of language. Dear Writer, Please oh please do not  expound upon topics that have been defined but not seen yet.

*hmph*

Watson & Konicek: Teaching for Conceptual Change

aka. The Sweater Article

I love that O'Brien (the teacher) had to work really hard to not tell students the secret of the hot sweaters after several days of frustrating experiments. It really helped me to see a teacher trying out inquiry for the first time, and struggling with it. Most examples of inquiry-based learning seem to flow happily from one question and project to another. Students are motivated, curious and magically coming up with terrific ideas. I know that in real life, sometimes students don't come up with high quality activities. They might come up with fantastic questions, but need a little direction in the application/experimentation department.

Deb O'Brien had to resist the instinct to "give away the answer" after one...or two...or three...failed experiments. The kids were frustrated, but since they still clung to their misconceptions about sweaters and hats creating heat, she had to let them experience total disequilibrium with their understanding. Even still, a few students stubbornly (and bravely) stuck to their theories when O'Brien drew a line in the sand.

O'Brien's classroom gave me a look into the first steps of creating an inquiry-based classroom. She did not re-vamp her whole curriculum. She did not even try to bring in other teachers for cross-curricular involvement. She just spent a week, or less than a week, letting students come to terms with their misconceptions. She probably followed her original curriculum once they were "ready." But now, she knew exactly where they were coming from, and how strongly they felt about it!

I could do this. Most inquiry-based lessons honestly freak me out, but this is a nice balance - a starting point.