Pendulum

Personal Experience with Trapeze?

 The closest experience I have is the mokey bars, when I was a kid. I would rap my legs around the bars and let my body act as the pedulum. Well and of course the swing set.

What applications to real life do swinging objects have?

 First, thing that comes to mind are grandfather clocks.

 Prediction of the two people are on one trapeze The trapeze with two will go farther, because there is more mass so the trapeze will swing further.

Understanding or ideas of the science behind swinging back and forth.
 Not much...

 Pendulum Predictions

 Two= More swings and faster
Three= higher frequency
 Four= Even higher frequency

 Unfortunately I was wrong. Well I shouldn't say that it is a bag thing because I have finally learned how it works. We even played with droping it from bigger angles but it never changed the frequency.
 The average stayed between 8 and 9.

 Questions I have:
 Will it return to the same point?
Does the frequency change with bigger angles?
Is there anything I can do to change the frequency?
What happens if I make the string longer?
How does a clock pendulum work?
How do I create what I saw in the videos?

 Assignment:

a) We can answer questions with figuring out if the pendulum will ever return to the same point. Basically all the questions can be answered except the clock question.
 b) clock pendulum would require more material. The only thing would be to find a way to better accurately measure if the pendulum will return to the same point. Oh and maybe extra material to make the pendulums that we watched on the videos.
 c) Well we would have to bring in a clock and do a little research to see what the parts of a clock are. I want to take apart a clock and see how the parts work. Probably be expensive.
d) Really the two that interest me the most are the clock and video pendulum.  My grandpa had a grandfather clock and I was always curious why it needed the pendulum when other clocks did not.  :)

Assessment Chapt 9

Assessment is the big elephant in the room for me.  When I think about my future classroom, I have no problem with all the lesson plans I will have to make and the activities to plan, what freaks me out is how I will assess that my students are learning.  So far I have a solid understand on ways to pre-assess my students, using probes or discussions.  Easy. The article did, however, give me some insight on different ways that I can go about assessing my students.

My favorite idea was the concept map assessment.  I am a big fan of concepts maps so if I can use them to assess my students that would be one way to make it fun for me. The article did make a note about observational assessment that was interesting.  "In elementary and middle grade classrooms with twenty to thirty students, teacher observations can easily be forgotten or associated with the wrong student." I never really considered this.  I will probably always use observation assessment, but take the anecdotal records and checklists to make sure I am keeping track of what and who.

Then there is the formal test for assessment.  In some cases I haven't been a fan of them.  Mostly because I absolutely hate test.  I get major anxiety so my goal for my future class is to provide and environment where tests wont stress students.  Anyway,  I like the insight the article gave me on this.  For example, the benefits of using different types of questions.  I will steer away from true/ false questions and questions that require low-level thinking.

Overall this article was super helpful. It is already saved in my science method folder.  I think I might even do some of the portfolio ideas they suggested.

Bulbs, Batteries, and Wires

My first reaction after reading the stories was, "Man I wish I had Ms. Travis as my teacher growing up!"  Reading how Ms. Stone guided the lesson is how I remember the idea of circuit being taught to me. Unfortunately that is just an assumption because I learned more while performing my own investigation in your classroom then I ever did in grade school.  Which initially, upsets me but then I realize that at least I know what not to do.

The think I liked to most about Ms. Travis' method is that she wanted to students to succeed so she guided them in only a few things in order to keep them motivated, for example she explained how to strip the wire. She also didn't just give everybody all the materials and expect them to figure it out, she found out what students already knew, introduced the idea with short lab before really diving into the idea of circuits.  I loved it!

Ms. Stone on the other hand basically gave students a cookie cutter lab, that tended to be a little dry.  At least it would have been for me.  I think in the real world she would have a hard time keeping students focused on what she wanted because students would want to play on their own.  Which is best for learning.  I get why she wanted students to have all the definitions and have all the right processes, but it really isn't best for students to really understand what is happening.

Standard/Benchmark:	Learning Goals What should students know?	Formative Assessment What do students already know?	Learning Performances What do you want students to do to show they’ve learned?
Content Standard B: K-4, Physical science Light, heat, electricity, and magnetism. Benchmark: Electrical circuits require a complete loop through which an electrical currant can pass	Circuits run in a “circle’, and require a complete loop in order for electricity to pass through it.	Some students understand that a circuit is required however, struggle on how the circuit is completed.	Students should perform investigate different ways to make the bulbs light.  Can they make the two bulbs? Which way makes the bulbs brighter?

Strengths	Weaknesses
The lab the allowed more freedom helped me learn more about how circuits work. The lab that had it all mapped out would help students that are struggling will still be able to see how it works.	If a student is struggling with the idea they could get frustrated by succeeding. It doesn't give much room for discovery. I think having students do both like we did might be beneficial.

After pondering these labs I thought it would be neat for students to see that circuits are needed not just for light but for other things like door bells.  So each group would be given a door bell, light bulbs, light switches and wires and their job is to figure out how to make them work.  Depending on the age level and where the kids are at some guidance would be provided.  Then after they have figured out how to make them all work, they can explore different light bulbs how to make the bulbs brighter and dimmer. In the end students would make a house, that included things we did in class and one more thing we didn't.

5-E Criteria	Part (s) of lesson that addresses this inquiry criterion	More teacher-directed or student-directed?  Explain.
Engage	The question would be "How can we make the light bulb, door bell, and switch work?  What is the least amount      of wires need?	This would be more teacher directed.         The teacher would pose question.
Evidence	Students would plan what they will do, by drawings and then test their ideas.  Then after testing them they will record if they worked or not.	Students will decide how to conduct their experiments by planning. More student oriented. The teacher would only require drawings of plan and whether the pan worked or not.
Explain	Students would then have to explain evidence they were given, by formulating reasons why certain things worked and did not work.	This would be student directed. Students will come to their own explanations.
Evaluate	Students would see what their peers come up with and what books and the internet says about circuits,	Student directed, but teacher would bring in some outside sources like books and magazines to help students research.
Communicate	I would have an electrician come in and evaluate what the students come up with.  Students would present their plans and houses to the electrician.	Students would come up with their own presentation with certain guidelines. Making it more in the middle teacher student directed.

Cool-It Lab

Inquiry Criteria	Inquiry continuum specific statement from the column/row	Why do you believe this fits that column/row (your argument)	How would you improve this part of the lesson to make it more inquiry based?
Engage	Learner sharpens or clarifies question provided by teacher, materials, or other source	We were given the question on what is the best way to cool the principals coffee down.	To make this more inquiry based I would suggest presenting the students with the idea of cooling the water but let them decide how they want to test that process.
Evidence	Learner determines what constitutes evidence and collects it	We were told to figure out what data was important and collect the data based on our question.	In this case I think I would give a little more guidance on how they should record their data, so that everyone in the class would be on the same level.  We did this with our LTI by determining  how we will count the squares. I think I would guide on how to measure temperature.
Explain	Learner formulates explanations after summarizing evidence	We formulated our own explanations of what are data gave us.	I feel confident that this step is exactly how I would do it.  Leaving it up to the students formulate their own explanations
Evaluate	Learner independently examines other resources and forms the links to explanations	We never specifically did this with the lab however, student doing this lab would research and find what others in the class or in the world had found.	Students would find out what other in the class found with their experiments and also research outside of the classroom to help evaluate their findings.
Communicate	Learner forms reasonable and logical argument to communicate explanations	Again we never specifically communicated our results however, the point of the lab is to help the principal find the best way to cool his coffee, so that would be the communication.  Communicating the explianations and results with the "principal"	I would allow students to come up with a creative way to present what they found and share it with the class in a presentation. (Well Said)

Weather

Standard/Benchmark	Learning Goals	Formative Assessment	Learning Performances
Content Standard: K-4 Earth and Space Science Content Standard D: Changes in Earth and Sky Benchmark: Weather changes from day to day and over the seasons.	Temperature is one of many variables involved in determining the weather.	Students’ misconception: Temperature is dependent solely on whether the sun is present. Some believe that if it is high temp then it is humid; others believe that the high temp means sunny days.	Students create a weather station that has different instruments of measuring and recording weather.

1  Explain how the learning performance you chose would help you understand what students know about the standard you identified  (learning goals: what students should know)

By developing five different instruments that real meteorologist use students can then see that temperature is not the only aspect of weather. 

Students would be put into five groups and each group has to research a different aspect of weather and brainstorm an instrument that would work for measuring it.  The goal would get the kids to come up with the following. Then they would design and build them.

1. Barometer (Air pressure)
2. Rain Gauge (Precipitation)
3. Thermometer (Temperature)
4. Wind Vane (Wind Direction)
5. Anemometer (Wind Speed)

2  Explain how your Learning Performance contains all five features of inquiry.

Engage: They will be developing their own questions about how they would design their instruments and how their instrument is related to weather.

Evidence: By developing these instruments students should be able to see that weather has more variables then just temperature.

Explain: Their instruments should measure a certain aspect of weather and their data should explain the relation it has to weather. THus explaining their evidence.

Evaluate: Students compare their instruments and data with instruments that meteorologist use to see if they work the same and measure the same.

Communicate: In the end they would communicate this with other classes and a “meteorologist”. 

Activitymania

When I first decided to become a science teacher, I thought back on how my science teachers taught me.  Most of my science memories come from cookie cutter experiments, except for my chemistry class.  There were very few labs where we stated out knowing what the results were going to be or even how we were going to get where we needed to be.  It is interesting to note that my favorite aspect of science is Chemistry.  The most meaningful experiences I has in science came from chemistry.  If teachers continue to do cookie cutter experiment like activitymania then students will never really learn and be engaged in science, therefore end up not liking science.  This goes against everything we need in our science classrooms.  

I get why teachers like activitymania.  Like the article states, the teacher is in control and everything is neat and tidy and organized.  Of course teachers would prefer that to the alternative.  Part of the reason for this is that teachers seem to think they have to know everything before they can teach the kids, when in reality ( this is something i have learning in your class) teacher should lean with the kids instead of making sure we know all the answers before hand. 

 Inquiry will take away some of the control but add a "higher order cognitive thinking." Shouldn't we want that above all else?  

Iowa Core

I have been a fan of the Iowa Core standards since they were introduced to me a few years ago.   I like the  straight forward yet vagueness to them.  I can see myself using them in my lessons two different ways, first being to get me started on what to plan my lesson around and the second being making sure I cover the major topics that need to be covered. (meaning help me plan the curriculum)  Of course they have their faults. From my understanding there is much debate on how useful they are.

Mosart Website

Amazing!!!  The most useful part about the tutorials was the video with the children explaining why how the works.  I liked how the teacher was asking the questions.  She lead the students to explain where they learned something, that way she could better understand how guide the student in their learning.  I also have found that the tests they provide are very handy. I was looking through some of them and I can't believe how thorough they are!  Best thing about the tests is that they list the major misconceptions that students have for certian subject and grade level.  How handy! 

As a future teacher, I will defininatly use this resource.  I will even use it to guide some of my lesson plans coming up this semester for some of my classes.