A Circus? In Science Class?

"What exactly is a science circus?" was the first thing I thought when I heard we were having a science circus in class last week. I was actually a little intimidated at first, but then I realized a science circus is pretty similar to a science fair. Each of the groups in our class was to prepare a different activity based on the various types of science. My group, the MST Maniacs, had Life Science. We chose to create an activity based on ecosystems and food webs. It was pretty cool to see all the creative ideas that all the other groups had! There were various different hands on activities which were pretty neat. I think my favorite had to be the one on the moon phase with the marshmallows. Overall this was a really fun class (and a great thing to do on a Friday, too!). We all had a great time working together and moving from station to station to do all the different activities. I really hope to incorporate science circuses into my teaching in the future! :)

Meet the Matriarch of Modern Cancer Genetics!

Dr. Janet D. Rowley

Here is my article from The New York Times

I chose to use this article for my Science-in-the-News Review!

What Did I Think of Our Science-in-the-News Discussion?

Last week, our class was given an assignment in which we had to write a review on an article pertaining to science that we found in a newspaper. After we submitted our reviews on Moodle, we were given class time on Wednesday to discuss our articles. When I heard that we would all be discussing our articles in class, I didn't really think that it would be a lesson of my interest. But after class was over, and when I actually thought about what we had learned in class, I actually thought it was a pretty interesting activity. I liked how we all picked such different articles, and we were then able to classify what kind of science each article pertained to. Another thing I enjoyed was that we discussed our articles with our groups, and then one member had to describe each article to the class. This lesson shows that that group member had to partake in "Active listening". Instead of each of us telling the class about our article, one member had to pay attention to each members discussion. Rather than all of us only focusing on our own article, we were able to learn about a bunch of different topics in science, and what part of science they reside in. Even though it doesn't really seem like an interesting assignment, it was actually really beneficial! :)

Week 3 Reflections

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

I found this to be a very interesting quote from the chapter we covered in class this week. I think that this quote has to do with the theory of constructivism. Constructivists believe that in order to understand a concept, individuals must be engaged in the active process of making sense of their experiences. If a student just "knows" something, it doesn't necessarily mean that the student actually understands the concept. 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. I agree with the constructivist way of thinking, but I do believe that it's a little bit intimidating. I'm definitely a little bit scared that in the future, not all of my students are going to want to be active participants in the classroom. 

Another topic we discussed this week was whether or not students have written something on a test or essay just because we thought it was the answer the teacher wanted. And I have to say, I'm definitely guilty of doing this. I remember doing this mostly in middle school and the beginning of high school, but I haven't really done this recently. I think it is very common among students, especially if students don't understand a concept. I know that when I was younger, if I didn't understand something I would often just memorize everything, and then write it down on a test. But I definitely didn't benefit from this, because this was just straight memorization; and I wasn't able to get anything out of it. I know better than that now, and now if I don't understand something I will always ask questions, and I know to use my own opinion now on exams and essays, rather than just the teacher's opinion. I think if a student is able to formulate their own opinion on something, this shows that they were able to develop their own understanding and they can benefit greatly from that.

In the story "Icicles" in our text book, the teacher, Mr. Wilson, sat back and let his students form their own experiments and their own way of thinking. I believe that Mr. Wilson didn't want to correct the students' procedure because he wanted to give them the freedom to experiment. He wanted to act as a mediator for their experiment, rather than instructing them the entire time. Mr. Wilson probably believes that students learn better by having the freedom to be wrong and then exploring further until they are right. I agree with this theory, and definitely believe that students learn better by experimenting and trying to figure things out on their own. Then after experimenting if students still do not understand something, then the teacher would help them. But I think its always good to let students try on their own first.

One thing I am definitely looking forward to for when I become a teacher is being able to bring in various aspects of nature from where I live. During the fall I can see myself bringing in leaves that fall off the trees near my house. I can also have my students bring in leaves from where they live as well, and we can see who can find the biggest ones. During the spring we can do another activity with leaves and see all the different colors and the different types of trees the leaves fell off of. I can also bring in icicles in the winter, just like Mr. Wilson did. I think students will really enjoy these activities.

Finally we have a break from snow!

Wow it was almost 40 degrees here in Newburgh today! Its finally beginning to look and feel like spring will be coming soon! Because of the warmer temperature today, I noticed that the snow has been melting all over campus. It's nice to finally have a break from the freezing temperatures and all this snow! Hopefully we can actually see the grass soon, rather than all the snow covering the ground that has been here since Christmas. Looking out my window I've seen water dripping down all day, which means the snow on the roof and all the icicles are melting. I could not be happier!

My First Day as a Science Pioneer!

The first day of science class was a worthwhile experience where we had the time to reflect on our history and past experiences with science. Class began with our teacher introducing herself and sharing her background with the class, which is important when trying to develop a relationship between teachers and their students. We then made name cards to place on the spots where we sit, so Dr. Smirnova would learn our names better. When I become a teacher I'm definitely going to use name tags because I believe that they really help in trying to remember students names. I might even take pictures of my students on the first day and place those on the name cards as well. Next we broke off into teams and picked a team name. Our team came up with the name "MST Maniacs". We chose this name because we were given time to talk about our interests and what we had in common, and our team realized that we all took MST classes in the past. Two of our group members, Clarisa and Stephanie, are both math majors, and Bridget and I are IT majors, so the "MST Maniacs" fit us perfectly. We then reflected on our past science experiences by ourselves, and as a group, and we all said we thought a good science teacher has to be motivating, fun, and knowledgeable. In the future I am definitely going to be as motivating as possible to help engage my students in learning science, because often science is a subject of little interest to elementary aged children.