Oct. 30 Class

Today in class we listened to more presentations. We learned about force, tornadoes, and mixtures. Each presentation was very informative and very well presented. The labs also demonstrated very well what the group was trying to talk about throughout their presentation. I learned about what makes up a tornado and also about the senses that we have on our tongue. This presentation was very interesting to me, because I didn't know that we had the different senses on our tongue. Otherwise we didn't do much else today in class besides listen to the presentations and figure out ways in which we would want to use them within our own classrooms. Which I think that I would use some of these activities in my own classroom because they demonstrate the content in which they were trying to cover very well.

Oct. 28 Class

Today in class we continued on with the presentations. At the start of class we had some technical difficulties but we did get some of the presentations done. We learned about rockets, mixtures, and chemical reactions. Most of the presentations all related to one another because they involved some type of mixture or resulted in a reaction. I thought the presentation that involved the yeast was very interesting, I never would have thought that that would have happened. Otherwise, we didn't discuss much else in class, just listened to the different presentations and gained some good ideas that I can use in my own classroom someday.

Oct. 23 Class

Today in class we had group presentations. Throughout all the presentations I feel that I have gained alot of knowledge about various subjects and also how I would go about teaching them. There were many different ideas that were expressed throughout the presentations that I would like to use in my own classroom someday. The videos that went along with each of the presentations also were very beneficial to the lessons and provided good safety tips and also good additions to the project. Overall, I learned alot through the presentations that were given today and I think that I will use some of these ideas within my own classroom.

Oct. 21 Class

Today in class we discussed the information that would be on the quiz. We went over the reading guide that we were given. The main topic that we discussed through class was the first question, which dealt with talk moves in a classroom. I think that this information about this type of instruction is very important because I think it allows the students to be more comfortable around the teacher and also know what to expect. These talk-moves also keep the flow of the conversation going and also help the students to learn more from one another and not just the teacher lecturing. After we talked about the quiz, we went on to do a lab that dealth with air. We had to blow a ping pong ball from one beaker to another. I was successful and got it on the second try, others weren't as successful. From this lab we learned how air can make things move and the circling air causes a path for the ball to travel into the other beaker to. I think that this would be a good lab for students to do to learn about air and how it can push things.

Oct. 18 Class

Today in class we met in the computer lab so we could search through a safety website. Throughout the website it had many different tools that taught children how to be safe in different settings. One safety tip in particular that my partner and I chose was strangers. There were tips of what to do when you see a stranger or when they talk to you. Also, we discussed briefly about judging the science projects in the upcoming month. We talked about how to look professional and ask the right questions. The rest of the time was ours to keep searching for safety tips and also find safety tips for our Midterm projects that are due in the upcoming week. I believe that safety is a very important issue in the science classroom and every teacher should make sure that they have these websites that they can take their students to so they can all gain the knowledge needed for safety in the classroom.

Oct 14 Class

Today in class we talked about all the project items that need to be included within our Midterm project. For this, we read a story that a teacher had wrote about an activity in her class. This helped visualize what we should be thinking as we are preparing our activities and also what we should expect from our students. After we were done reading this story, we got into our groups and worked on some of the details of our own project. By reading the story it really helped focus what we should be covering within our project and so we weren't thinking so hard about what needed to be done anymore. Otherwise there wasn't a lecture for the day, it was mainly a work day for out projects and to ask any questions that we had about what was expected of us in the project.

Oct. 9 Class

Today in class we were asked to look online for our assignment. Of all the links we were asked to look at, the one common element that they all have is that they all deal with science fair projects or some type of project we could use in the classroom. The majority of the links talked about coming to a good topic for the student no matter what their age or grade level is. Also, there was a link showing how they should set up their board and how it should look. Another link had games for the students to play or other activities that would engage them in learning about other topics. There was also a link that asked different questions that would get the students to think outside the box and look at things differently. The link about airplanes was interesting because it gave links to how to make all different types of paper airplanes and also how you could start a contest in your school. All of these links would be very beneficial to any teacher because they provide lots of good material that could greatly help come up with ideas for projects for the various students in the classroom.

Oct 7 Class

Today in class we discussed the effects of mirrors. The activity we did involved a notecard, pencil, sheet of paper and a mirror. We punched a hole through the notecard and placed the pencil through the hole. The we used the mirror to help us write backwards. This was a very hard skill to master and it was very hard to make the letters in the right directions. The shapes that we were asked to make were also very difficult. The purpose of this lab was to show us how to introduce something new to students and showing them how we go about doing something new. We also talked about judging a science fair at the end of the class period since we will be going to a school to judege their science fair. Leaving class today I felt that I had learned a new skill of learning to write with a mirror. This was a new skill and it was hard to learn, but it showed me how when starting something new how we must study it.

Oct 2 Class

Today I was absent for class due to a school trip to Rosebud. In class they did an activity that deals with Plato's Allegory of the Cave. This is a common challenge in science, it relates to Plato's view of living in a cave and can't get into certain things, so we use models. The different model boxes can be viewed as four different observations or the four strands of science. The building concepts portion of this is seen with the marbles in each of the boxes and a piece of cardboard in each box in a different location. This is what I understood from the day that I missed.