Madison Niemiec's Elementary Science Methods Blog

       The parts of lab today that I found clear was when we were performing our experiments with the baking soda and vinegar. Being able to understand that gas escapes during the lab was really helpful because I was able to see why our balloon blowed up, and why the mass decreased after the reaction was finished. A part that I am still slightly confused on would be at the end when we were discussing hydrogen and oxygen atoms and why some are more dense vs. less dense. I understand the density aspect, but once we began to use the candle demonstration I started to second guess my understanding.      I can apply what I learned today about teaching to make sure that I allow my students to believe science and what they are seeing instead of saying "trust me" when something does not turn out the way that a usual experiment technically should. I think that hands-on learning and allowing experiments to play out and then comparing it to what a different way or...

       This week in class I got to refresh and relearn the differences between particle models of liquids, solids and gasses. I feel like I learned better and more thoroughly through the simulations used in class to help demonstrate the difference between solid and liquid. I was reminded by the way in which particles move, their speeds, and what induces this which is heat. As seen in the picture of the paper, my group and I created a flip video on this concept. I had never done this kind of video before and I learned that it is an easy and simple way to explain new things!      I can apply what I learned today in class to my future upper elementary students by using the website learn.concord.com to display and allow curiosity to lead their learning through the observation of tracing particles and the movement of particles. I liked how there were follow up questions throughout where students can continue to deepen their thinking. Additionally, I think t...

     This week I learned a lot about density of different substances and why as teachers it is so important to understand the difference in material and how it has its effects. We also talked a lot about the density of water and the effects of it on M&M's and the spreading of their dye. Lastly, I learned about how different dyes with different variables of water can really effect the spread of different colored M&M's. My group experimented with Sugar water, but other classes we discussed did temperature. Overall, I learned sugar in water vs. non sugar water causes the dye in M&M's to spread significantly slower, and hot water causes dye to spread faster.      I related what I already knew about density from the week 12 lecture and also from lab last week. I learned a lot about the difference between the substance and the material and why the dye spreads so much faster in pure water. I related that the density of the water changes with sugar in i...

       This week I learned a lot about how important it is to explain the WHY to students and allow them to think about their own definitions first so that we can bridge their understanding. I believe that my understanding of how to explain topics like chemical reactions and properties of matter are much more strengthened as well when it comes to my future teaching as well. Lastly, I learned more about the different grade bands and how different the complexities are between the K-2 grade band and 3-5 grade bands. I learned that right now I feel a lot more confident with teaching K-2 concepts.        I can apply our hands-on activity that we performed in our groups today to my future teaching. In my opinion, this activity covers a lot of bases when it comes to seeing properties of matter that cannot be observed. Additionally, I think that students being able to talk afterwards and find out what surprised them and make observations of the measuremen...

       This week I learned a lot about how much in elementary school I did not learn. There were multiple phenomena's like learning about how suction's in the plunger station work, or why the color in the m & m's started to bleed in the water. I felt like I knew why, but I do not understand how it works and the way in which I would explain it to my future students. Additionally, I learned from my group mates about the acidic base of vinegar and how the baking soda is neutral and that is why it causes fizzling and a chemical reaction.      Today in class I learned that it is so important to explain the why and how of everything science. I can apply this idea to my future teaching by making sure that I allow my students to go through the initial thoughts and questions and let it sink in before explaining everything. Contrary to my science experiences I feel that I learned just the what and never got why science happens. I am excited to apply my own c...

       I was able to relate the new information I learned today and find out more about the controlled versus uncontrolled factors and how they effect evolution and natural selection. Additionally, I learned more about mutations which I already knew could be positive or negative. However, now I have learned about how internal and external factors affect mutations. Lastly, I was able to relate what I knew about predator and prey and related it to our simulation that we participated in class. I noticed that we went over knowledge that I was familiar with including how different prey have advantages and disadvantages to catch prey.      The parts that I found clear in class were in regards to the definitions of mutation, natural selection and evolution. The parts that I tended to find confusing were differentiating between the kinds and the factors in which cause these things. I think that some of the causes have overlap and others do not so after some pr...

  What did you learn this week? This week in lab I learned much more in depth about the translation, insertion, deletion, and substitution of DNA and how it affects mutations. I learned a lot about how mutations can be good, bad, and also neutral. Before today's class I mainly thought of genetic mutations as having negative affects on people, however, I now see that mutations can have no effect. I also learned that substitution does not change or affect the amino acid, but deletion and insertion do. This is because substitution is not changing the rest of the chain, but deletion and insertion do. I was able to see this through the superhero, super villain, and average joe activity.  Are you able to relate what you learned to what you already knew? Yes, I was able to relate what I learned to what I knew. Based on previous knowledge and learning from other classes and the previous weeks of this class I was able to relate my knowledge on RNA and DNA. Today, I was able to use my k...

What did you learn this week? This week I learned the difference between phenotype and genotype. Also, I gained much more understanding about what the difference between DNA and RNA is. Before this past lab, I knew that they were different, but now I am able to clearly define each and I know how to distinguish the nitrogen based pairings as well. Additionally, I learned a lot more about how chromosomes make up the genome and DNA makes up the chromosomes so making those connections to bridge my learning was awesome! How can you apply what you've learned to your teaching in the future? I can apply my learning to future activities that I want to use with my students. I think that the interactive activities of building the double helix and the build your own baby face are activities that young students would really enjoy. I want to use these activities in my classroom because it puts the concepts of DNA its structures, genes and probability all in one lesson! What are new or remaining ...

What did you learn this week?      I learned a lot more facts about turtles specifically in lab this week. I did not know how low survival rates were, or that raccoons or cats hunted turtles. I think that is so interesting. I knew that humans rate of creating plastic was harming turtles, but I learned that we endanger them so much by driving as well when turtles get stuck in the tire tracks. Also, it is hard to believe that only 1 in 1000 turtles survive. Also, I liked learning more about bees and how they pollinate. That experiment kind of grossed me out, but it was interesting to see how the pollen sticks to the bees and then moves to the next flower so that it can make seeds. Are you able to relate what you learned to what you already knew?     I am able to relate what I learned to all that I have researched about how to protect our oceans and wildlife. I am an avid recycler, use recyclable bags, cut my plastic before throwing it away, and avoid using plastic...

  What did you learn this week? This week our lab was on zoom and I learned more in depth what the 5E model looks like and how each function. In our breakout room's we all went over the phases of each E phase and also created a table (pictured above about the teacher role and student role). I was able to expand my perspective and find more examples of what each phase is from my peer's presentations and also from collaborating with my group to create a clear definition. Are you able to relate what you learned to what you already knew? I was able to relate my prior knowledge on the NGSS structure and apply it to the 5E modeling. I think both at their core want students to do more than memorize their science facts and actually experience and work through their new knowledge in a hands-on manner. I was able to relate how well these work together.  Which parts did you find clear and which were confusing? I found that it was confusing to understand the main ideas of each group's ...

 

       This week in lab I learned and got clarification more so on how similar the life cycle is for different insects: beetles, mealworms, and butterflies. I think that as a learner I tend to overthink life science processes, but today I was able to simplify those and feel much more confident of all that I have learned in the past. Also, when we focused on the different parts of the mealworm I did not know how complex and how many parts each bug consists of! It was much more complicated than I thought, but it makes sense!     After our lentil seed beginning last week our group's did not grow very much, and we planted another plant today. I think that by my past knowledge my group mates and I were able to determine that a couple factors that could have affected our slow growing plant could be seed quality, amount of seeds planted, and the amount of water given to the plant. With out prior knowledge we were able to figure this out, and added more water to it...

       This week in lab I was able to relate my past elementary school knowledge of living things and nonliving things to my more advanced knowledge today. I was able to remember what constituted a living thing as living because it has cells. However, today in class, it is even more clear why a living thing is constituted as it is. It was a great refresh to go over the characteristics of living things and really understand why these are so important. Also, I think that our debate using the argumentation was a great refresh on the three parts of it. I remembered so vividly from school-age but it was good to get a fresh foundation! Today in lab we made an Anchor Chart of the characteristics of living things. I want to incorporate Anchor Charts for my students for science subjects throughout the year because I think that these show the foundations of what the topic is each unit/theme. I think that with the help of words and pictures - ideas become much more clear and le...

  1. This week in Lab I learned and was reminded of the difference between how we learn science, and topics that this is applied to. We went over how to learn science like experiential learning, researching, inquiry, modeling, and more! Then I realized learning topics like weather, biology patterns, the life cycle are all topics that can be learned through the "how"! 2. A part of Lab today that I found confusing are the different components of NGSS and the performance expectations, three dimensions and what all the different coding means. I did not know what NGSS was until today, so I have a lot of learning to do when it comes to all of the different aspects of this resource. 3. Today, I learned and was inspired by Dr. You and my peers to continue to learn and have a new mindset on science to keep learning and allowing my students to express their learning in different ways. I learned a lot about modeling today and inquiry going hand in hand to work together for science. I wa...