11-25-08 - Science Fair Judging

Wow. What a wonderful experience. There were so many great projects. I was assigned to judge some of the eighth grade projects. In the categories that I judged, we had some amazing projects. While talking to the students, I felt a little dumb. These students know so much information on their topics and did some amazing experiments; most of the time the information was well beyond my knowledge of the topic. I just hope that their work, that goes way beyond the expectations, does not discourage other students to participate in the science fair. I believe that this is such a great experience for students, and I would hate for them to get discouraged by the exceptional work of others. Many of the other projects were also very good, but they get less attention because of the amazing work of others. I am grateful that I was able to have this experience. I really enjoyed myself and the students taught me a lot about the topics of their projects. There were a wide variety of projects, and all had their own interesting twist. It was also great to see these students’ excitement about science.

11-24-08 - 5 Assessments Blog

According to the Assessments in Elementary and Middle School Science PowerPoint presentation created by Dr. Cathy Mariotti-Ezrailson (2008), five assessment types include pre-test, post-test, formative assessment, summative assessment, and alternative assessment. Here is how I might use these assessments when teaching science. I would use a pre-test at the start of a unit to evaluate my students’ prior knowledge, so that I know what things I need to cover and to what extent they need to be covered. I would then give the same test at the end of the unit as a post-test. This will allow me to assess whether or not I successfully taught the students what I wanted to teach them. I would not use this pre/post-test on every unit, but it would be very helpful with units that are usually difficult for students or that have a lot of misconceptions. I would use formative assessments in a number of ways in my classroom. I would have the students participate in oral questioning, completing homework assignments, and journaling about their learning. Each of these processes will provide me with information about my students’ progress and help me plan for future lessons. I also feel that a summative assessment will be necessary. I will most likely vary my summative assessments. Some may be traditional paper/pencil test, while others may be the fifth type of assessment that I am going to talk about, alternative assessments. The alternative assessment that I see myself implementing in my science class is performance-based assessment. I will find task for my students to create that will require them to use their knowledge on the subject to compete the task.

Mariotti-Ezrailson, C. (2008). Assessments in Elementary and Middle School Science. The University of South Dakota.

11-20-08 - Final Lesson Plan assigned

Today in class we discussed our final lesson plan. This lesson plan is very interesting. Each group has a different grade in which to plan a measurement lesson for. The groups must communicate with each other so that the lessons hook on to the grade above and the grade below. Along with discussing the requirement, we set-up our groups, grade levels, topics, and hooks to the other grade levels. The class time we were allowed was very helpful so that we could communicate with member of the other groups. Judging from our initial planning that we did in class, I believe that these lessons are going to be really cool. It will be fun to listen to the presentations and see how the learning has progressed through the grades. Also we are learning a great skill, by having to hook the lessons. As a teacher, you should also be trying to hook your lessons to something the students already learned or to something the students are going to learn in the future.

11-18-08 - Due Dates Extended

Due to some unfortunate circumstanced class did not meet today. As a result, the due dates for our lesson plans and the quiz over chapters 1-3 in our Seamless Assessment book were extended. But, by the time I had gotten the notice, my lesson plan was already submitted and I only had one question left on the quiz. Thus, I really did not use the extension. Also as a result of not meeting, the presentation on our lessons plans was canceled. My partner and I were already prepared for our presentation, so it was a little disappointing, but I am also very okay with not having to present.

11-13-08 - Lesson Plan #2 Work Day

Today was a work day for our second lesson plan. This was great for a couple of reasons. First of all, I know we are all feeling overwhelmed write now, so some time to work together on the lesson during class was really appreciated. Secondly, I really liked having the opportunity to have Dr. E answer questions as we worked. It always seems like I have so many questions. My partner and I got a very good start on the lesson during class and we were able to continue working after class until we had completed the project. It feels really great to have one thing done. Thanks Dr. E for the work day!!!!

11-6-08 - The 5 E Model

The first few minutes of class were spent talking about where this class is going to go in the next 6 weeks and what is all going to be required of us. We received an updated schedule that includes the major assignments and quizzes that we still have to do and when they are going to be due. This little half sheet of pager was really appreciated by me! With my busy schedule this semester and with all the assignments that I have to keep straight from all of my classes, it is nice to be able to see the plan for the rest of the semester so that I can find ways to best manage my time between all of my commitments.

We then moved into a short lecture and then a lab activity regarding the 5 E Model. Lecture focused on how to apply the 5 E model to assessment. Then we did a lab activity, but the goal of the lab was for us to create a performance assessment for the lab using the 5 E model. This lab turned out to be a little more difficult that I first thought. We were given minimal directions for the lab activity and were assigned add to those directions however we wanted to make our assessment. After figuring out how to do this, the task did not seem that bad, but I know that I will still need some practice creating assessment like this if I want to become proficient at it.

11-4-08 - Presentations, Assessment, and 5 E Model

In class today, we finished up our mid-term presentations. First we had a presentation on the four seasons, and then we got to go outside and shoot off our bottle rockets from a presentation on the 28th. Shooting off the rockets was really fun, and since we had to take turns shooting them off, we got to discover some of the variables that affected the results. The biggest discovery was that to get the rocket to shoot higher, you had to make sure that the cork was really tight, but this also delayed the take off. After finishing our presentations, we moved into lecture on assessment. A lot of good information was presented during this lecture, but a lot of it is also information that we are talking about in my Educational Assessment course. I guess it is nice to see the same information show up in different contexts.

Another activity I did outside of class is read the web link on the 5 E Model. This model is a constructivist instructional model consisting of 5 steps: Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, and Evaluate. In the Engage stage, students make connections and the students focus on instructional tasks. During the Explore stage, students get to directly be involved with phenomena and materials. Students get to communicate what is learned and terminology is introduced in the Explain stage. The Elaborate stage allows for students to expand the concept, connect it to related concepts, and then apply it to the real world. Finally during the Evaluate stage, an on-going process of checking understanding of concepts and knowledge is occurring.