Saturday, February 5, 2011

Science Stories: Chapter Three: Questions and Response


Chapter 3 Questions:

Question 1:  What does the following quotation from an experienced teacher mean? “No matter how patiently I explain things to my students and no matter how often I repeat the explanations, I cannot learn for them.”

         The quote “no matter how patiently I explain things to my students and no matter how often I repeat the explanations, I cannot learn for them” can mean a few different things. It can mean that you as a teacher need to find a different way to explain things to your students. This quote means that the students may also need to find a way to apply the information they have learned from the teacher so that it makes sense to them. The students can learn from each other and help each other understand the material. By doing activities and the students learning from each they will not need explanations to be repeated. So basically students need to put their own effort in, and they can gradually understand ideas by turning them over in their minds and reflecting on their experiences. Students can not learn from simply having everything handed to them by their teachers; they need to be actively engaged and put in a substantial amount of effort in order to benefit from what they learn.
The quote also could mean that the basic knowledge of information and facts is the lowest level of learning. The lowest level of learning is the basic knowledge of facts and information which needs to be provided by the teacher to give experiences to the students so that students can take his or her prior knowledge and incorporate and connect them into their present learning experience.  Learning science is about learning through experiments and transmitting information to students. Learning science is about the exchanges that occur between teacher and student and student and student as they explore science together. The teacher can be the mediate and facilitate the learning experience by providing the experiences that will help the student’s learn constructively. Teachers can also help with learning by posing questions that can further a student’s thought process. Teacher’s can scaffold’s students’ learning by acting as their support and proving information and to guide the student to the next step. By providing students with intellectual freedom and telling students that it is okay to investigate their alternative conceptions and test their theories is important to allow students to be in charge of their learning. 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. This what the quote means. 

Question 2:  Did you ever write something in an essay or exam simply because you thought it was the answer the teacher wanted? How common do you think that is?

No, I have never written something in an essay or exam simply because I thought it was the answer that my teacher wanted to hear. I have always studied all that I need to know for an exam and answered the exam questions based on the information I know. If the teacher does give the question or topic that are going to be on the test then it may be common that students will have their answered prepared based on what the teacher said. If the teacher says the answer or most of the answer to an essay or exam question in class then it is possible or common that people in the class will just go home and write out the answer to the question and memories it and would think that is the answer the teacher wanted. It is maybe 1/5 or 20 percent of the students may do this.

Question 3:  In the science story “Icicles,” when some students weigh the icicle incorrectly the first time, why doesn’t Mr. Wilson just correct the procedure? Many people think it is a waste of time to let students explore on their own. What might happen if Mr. Wilson stopped the students from proceeding with their plan? 

In the science story “Icicles,” Mr. Wilson does not correct the procedure for a few reasons. Mr. Wilson does not correct the students who weigh the icicle incorrectly the first time because the students need to learn from their own mistakes. It is important for students to correct their mistakes and test how their make the mistakes and find alternative conceptions to justify their mistakes. The teacher won’t always be there to help the students fix their mistakes and students need to find out on their own how to solve problems and their mistakes. Students can ask a peer to help them if they need help. If Mr. Wilson stopped the students from proceeding with their plan then the students will never learn new things or won’t be able to create new ideas which will stop their creativity and problem solving. Students need to always be creativity and always problem solve. I think that it is important for students to explore their own way of doing things as long as the teacher is there to guide them if the students get stuck or confused or need help or have a question. When students explore they open up their mind to new ideas and different ways of looking at a situation. When exploring, students can find new things and new discoveries.


Question 4:  Considering where you live, what artifacts of nature might you bring into your class one day?


Some of the artifacts of nature that I might bring into class are as follows. I could bring in some leaves or water from Hempstead Lake State Park I could bring in some artifacts like rocks or leaves from Clark Botanic Gardens which is right by my house in Albertson. I could also bring nature artifacts of water samples from rivers near Newburgh, NY.  I could interest students by using geography of where I teach. I could also pick up a sample of sand from different beaches and see what the difference between each sand sample is.  These are some artifacts of nature I could bring back.

There are artifacts of nature that can be brought in for all the four seasons. In the fall, I could bring in leaves of different colors like orange, red, brown, yellow, and green. I could also bring in apples from apple trees. In the fall I can bring in branches from trees or bring in acorns. In the winter, I could bring in icicles. I could also bring in snow. I could also bring in a branch from a tree. In the spring, I could bring in different type of flowers like roses, daises, sunflowers, and lilacs. I could also bring in seeds one day and have my class to plant. In the end of school year so almost summer I could bring in flowers and also bring in leaves and talk about the different parts of the flower. I could also bring in a poem about any of the seasons to talk about nature. There are some haikus on winter, spring, fall, and summer, and also about flowers. These are some of artifacts that I could bring to class one day.



No comments:

Post a Comment