Annamarie's Elementary Science Methods I and II Blog

  What question are we investigating? For the sixth week of Science Methods I, we would look at the questions: “How can I use Science and Engineering Practices (SEP’s) in my classroom” and “How do living things interact with their environment?”. We did this through being in small groups to do a scenario and looking at an owl pellet. Throughout these activities we would talk in whole groups about our thoughts over these concepts to see others perspectives on it.   What did we do in lab to investigate this question? The teacher started this lab by giving everyone a scenario over what farmers say about why corn grows. It was a decision to pick which one was the best answer individually. Eventually, we would get into small groups to discuss which farmer we thought was the correct answer and create evidence for their opinion. Then each group would explain who they thought in the whole group with their evidence and to be able to pick in the end which farmer we were going to pic...

  What question are we investigating? For the fifth week of Science Methods I, we would continue to discuss the question: “How do plants get their mass?”. We did this through being in small groups to put clear instant nail polish onto spinach leaves. After this we would talk in whole groups about questions over plants more and what they need to be able to grow. What did we do in lab to investigate this question? The teacher started this lab by discussing the previous things we had talked about as a whole group that we felt needed to help a plant grow. An example of this can be the different atoms like water or carbon dioxide. Eventually, she would explain about the lab by painting spinach leaves to look at the different structures more of a plant through a microscope. This would help my small group to think more about the mass of the plant in the jar and think if it would stay the same or increase in mass. We would discuss feeling that the mass would increase with the plant being i...

  What question are we investigating? For the fourth week of Science Methods I, we discussed the question: “How do plants get their mass?”. We did this through being in small groups to create a lesson based on the standard. After this we would discuss the ideas and create more questions we had from the activity.  What did we do in lab to investigate this question? The teacher started this lab by showing the whole group on how to get the standards through the website. She would pick the standard “3-LS1-1 Develop models to describe that organisms have unique and diverse life cycles but all have in common birth, growth, reproduction, and death”. Then she would explain how to create an anchoring phenomenon before starting a small group activity. We would have to research how to show this standard to student’s in the classroom setting. My small group would go with using a bunny to show the different life cycles. In a whole group discussion everyone would explain how they answered ...

  What question are we investigating? For the third week of Science Methods I, we discussed the question: "What do all life cycles have in common?" We did this through small groups in different stations to learn about butterflies. After this we would discuss are findings as a whole group and to create a list of what we learnt. What did we do in lab to investigate this question? The teacher started this lab by asking us to create a list of what we thought to be characteristics of a life cycle and questions we wanted to learn from the different stations we were going into. We would go into 6 total stations to get more information on the life cycle of a butterfly. An example of this can be station 4 and having children books that describe the different stages for butterflies. We would talk about how the book The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle wasn’t as realistic to show children these stages for children. It’s also important to see how the foods described of what the cat...