Gunkle Reading - Laura Mastin
This article by Gunkle was directly applicable to what science my students are currently learning in our classroom. We just started a new unit on the states of matter. The first two days of this unit were exploration. The first day students were given a bag full of objects that they were to just have and explore. It was fun watching them because like we did with flashlights in class, they made comments, realizations, and had ideas about the objects. The second day students were given the same bag of objects and working in pairs were told to build a tower. Students had all different towers, but the objective was for them to use solid materials to build one big structure which was another solid. As you can tell, we spent a substantial amount of time exploring. We did not address any explanations those first two days.
I am anxious to see the result with my students. As shown in this article’s many charts, it is believed that the inquiry process of learning is beneficial by allowing students time to explore and identify patterns and ideas. At the start of this week, we will be continuing this unit, and working more towards the explanations. I hope to see patterns associated with this article.
-Laura M.
Ready, Set, Science - Laura Mastin
I found that reading chapter 2 of Ready, Set, Science after reading the previous article written by Gunkel was very interesting as I was able to compare the strategies discussed. Mainly, Gunkel stresses the importance of exploration and inquiry, where as Ready, Set, Science has stressed the value of all aspects of science. I am unsure which one I agree with, but I find both of them of value.
In Ready, Set, Science, their strands and uses of those strands make sense when thinking about teaching children. Children need the four aspects of science to fully understand a concept. Strand one is understanding scientific explanations. Students will be unable to comprehend a topic or use a the information being taught if they are unable to understand the vocabulary and concepts. Secondly, all children value learning from experience. This is what strand two is about. I have grown to understand that children need hands on examples, and multiple experiences. The third strand is reflecting, and without this teaching seems pointless. If students are unable to reiterate what they have learned, and to explain their experiences then they have learned little reasoning behind the science. Lastly, which I believe is close to experiences and inquiry from the Gunkel article, is participating in the science. When children get to put what they have learned into practice, they own that science. I agree with this article in the fact that all four strands are needed for maximum learning to take place.
-Laura M.
Laura- It is great that you are able to connect what we read about in Gunckel's piece to what you are seeing the classroom. Likewise, I am seeing similar practices. However, I notice a need to prompt students to make discoveries themselves. As I ask a plethora of critical thinking questions and asking them to act as problem solvers I begin to see my role increase while their own thoughts and discoveries are essentially being influenced by myself. Is this similar in your classroom?
ReplyDeleteSimilarly, I find the Ready, Set, Science piece to go further and explain different aspects of scientific thinking. I agree that is it imperative that each student participates in each of the four stands. I especially think stand 3 is interesting in that students need time to reflect on discoveries as well as make connections with other topics as well. More than ever, I am able to see the importance of students need to reiterate and explain the phenomenon themselves.
Lisa - In regards to the Gunkel reading, I have not yet had to increase my role in the classroom to scaffold students. Our science explorations have really had no end learning goal or discovery so there was no need for us to guide them to this. However, I should be experiencing this in the next couple days as we further investigate what students learned and noticed during explorations.
ReplyDeleteI was really intrigued by what you shared about science in you classroom. I have to admit, I was also a little jealous. It sounds like science is a subject that is really thought out in your classroom which is something that I am not used to. Science seems to be more of an afterthought in our room and it’s usually the first thing to be let go when the day starts to run slower than anticipated. It sounds like your classroom follows the EPE format and I am curious about this process because I’d like to try it when planning for science. My group really enjoys working in partners and works well doing hands on activities during math so I often wonder why my CT doesn’t do the same in other content areas. I really love how you started out the unit giving the students the change to explore. I think that is something that is really important and I have tried doing this when using math manipulatives. It seems like giving the students some time to explore the material not only builds inquiry but also allows the lesson followed to run more smoothly as there are less distractions. I am curious to know how often you spend teaching science each week and also if this was a lesson that you planned?
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