SCED 330 // Blog 3

November 1, 2018

Overall Reflection
   
     This month in science methods, we finished up our science fair projects. We did the acid rain portion of the project, and it was cool to see how acid rain affects plants! We used a vinegar solution and poured it straight onto the plants. It really affected them quickly! We also did the Safety in the Classroom project, which was great to think through. I did not realize how much a teacher really needs to prepare and think about the safety precautions that should take place in the classroom at all times, but especially when conducting science labs and experiments. Here's the poster that my group made on Venngage that shows what we would expect our 2nd and 3rd grade students to follow during a science lab:

We are also continuing with our ecocolumns. All of my goldfish died, and the water has a ton of algae in it! My plants are hanging in there, though. I think this is a cool science learning experience that I would like to do in my future classroom one day, if I teach 4th or 5th. I am loving the K-2 world, though!💗 I am moving right along with my clinical experience, as well. I will be teaching a 5-day learning segment on sounds next week, and I am so excited. I will be zoning in on bats and how they communicate through echolocation. This month, I was most proud of our science fair project. I think that the project went well and that we tried our best. I encountered struggle this month when my goldfish died in my ecocolumn, but that's a part of the project! The project can still go on without them. My focus from now on will be helping my plants grow. Over the next month, I really want to focus on my clinical experience, and doing my best when teaching the learning segment and looking closely at the edTPA commentaries and rubrics before we do the real thing in just a couple of months. I contributed to the overall class by just coming and participating in all the group projects we've had going on. I brought all the dirt and seeds for the science fair project, and I planted them all. I also replanted them all in cups with Megan White, Mackenzie, and Amber. It's really been a fun month full of learning in SCED 330. I could continue contributing to the other group learning experiences that we have coming up.

Outside learning/research:
     For my outside learning and research this month, I decided to read on Edutopia about project-based learning. I thought this would be perfect since we have been doing so many projects this month! The article was written by Vanessa Vega, and I thought it was really informative. According to Edutopia's research, project-based learning is effective because it helps children to solve real-world problems, collaborate with peers, and take control and responsibility for their learning. This sounds like a few of the 21st century skills! I can use this info in my future classroom in order to promote a more wholesome science education for my students and allow them to explore and pursue that natural curiosity that they have for the world around them.
APA citation: Vega, V. (2015, December 1). Project-Based Learning Research Review. Retrieved November 1, 2018, from https://www.edutopia.org/pbl-research-learning-outcomes

3 Top Tweets
(Sorry about the low quality pictures of these tweets, my screenshot button on my laptop was not working!)

I chose this tweet to be one of my top tweets this month because it is a video of a teacher dropping a huge pumpkin into a tub of water. All of the kids were talking about how the pumpkin would "definitely sink," and they were amazed to see it float and bob up and down in the water! I said that we could do something like this in our future classrooms to teach about buoyancy, the bonds in water, making predictions, etc.

 I chose this tweet because I am teaching a unit in my placement on sound next week! This teacher wrote about how her students got to play the harp and talk about how sounds are made from vibrations. I thought bringing in a guest speaker for this was a great idea!

Lastly, I chose this tweet because it's an inspirational quote. Here's the quote so that y'all can see it more clearly:

I think that this is so true! We cannot do it on our own. We have to work with our coworkers, administrators, and the families of these children to do what is best for these kids. It's a team effort.

Scientific Thinking... current event
This month, my current event comes from this link: https://www.sciencenewsforstudents.org/article/mosquitoes-eat-microplastics-as-larvae

According to Sharon Oosthoek at sciencenewsforkids.org, polution in the world around us is cause mosquitos to keep plastic in their bellies. This is putting the birds that eat them at risk. The plastic gets into the mosquitos because it is microplastic, which the article states is a commant pollutant found in water. Since mosquito larvae thrives in water at first, this is how they are getting the microplastic in their bellies. It stayes there, and then when birds eat the mosquitos, they are polluted with microplastic too.
APA citation: Oosthoek, S. (2018, October 30). Microplastics take flight in the bellies of mosquitoes. Retrieved November 1, 2018, from https://www.sciencenewsforstudents.org/article/mosquitoes-eat-microplastics-as-larvae

NCTCS
     This month in my clinical placement, I learned a lot about the importance of working with the teachers on your grade level in order to provide high quality materials and instruction to the whole grade level. My C.E. and the other 2nd grade teachers come up with their own pacing guide, and its all done in units based on something to do with science. Just like many of the other K-2 classes recently, we went from apples to pumpkins, and next week I am teaching them about bats. This is all integrated in literacy! This relates to NCTCS 4g, "Teachers communicate effectively."
     One of my top tweets was also related to NCTCS 2e, "Teachers work collaboratively with the families and significant adults in the lives of their students." This is so important. We have to work together with the families and other significant adults in the lives of these children in order to do what is best for them.