One of my 6th grade students (now in 7th) told me today that he learned to love science last year in my class. I asked "what did you learn?" He looked at me blankly.
He learned to love science. I have literally never before - and I've taught 25 years - heard of a teacher saying 'ugh' about a student who said they learned to love a teacher's subject in their class.
He has the rest of his life to go on and likely will go on to learn science. You asked him for details when he'd grasped the greatest concept of all - science is worthy of our respect and even our love. It's a fascinating endeavor without end and an ever changing frontier.
I once asked a room of 7th graders to tell me what they had learned in school. Don't tell me you learned to read, that's wonderful, don't tell me you learned math, that's wonderful too but what did you learn past the valuable skills of reading, writing and math?
They looked at me blankly and one said, "Water boils at a certain temperature." Another said, "Caesar was stabbed 27 times." Another said, "We learned the state capitols in 4th grade."
The reality is - the minute facts we attempt to teach often don't stick with kids. I had to memorize the state capitols - I don't remember them. But I grasp the concept of state capitols and I remain fascinated by geography.
It's asking a lot of a 13 year old to recite what they learned but what's more important than learning to love science?
If he still does. He tried to pay you and your class and your subject the ultimate compliment.
I'm the middle school sc...See MoreOn 4/10/14, Middle school science teacher wrote: > One of my 6th grade students (now in 7th) told me today that > he learned to love science last year in my class. I asked "what > did you learn?" He looked at me blankly. > > Ugh!
I'm the middle school science teacher. Didn't want to post as my original self. was fearful of how that might affect the responses I got.
And I've gotten some good ones.
It is true I missed the real significance of this little exchange. The student had learned to love science and I tossed him a question. Not a good idea...
Learning zeal for a discipline is vital. Doing that supersedes any subject matter they might have learned.
The research for this article was collected across 13 school districts and included 5,990 middle school students. The main purpose of the study was to determine if students were using Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for self empowerment purposes. The authors described the digital divide as having three levels. The first of these, and most studied, is that of equitable access to ICT. This includes statistics on student-to-computer ratios and how many technology teachers are available to students per school. The second level would be how often students have access to ICT, why are they using it and how. The authors state that this level is contingent on the infrastructure of the first level. The third, and arguably most important, level is concerned with the use of ICT for self empowerment. This is the least researched of the three levels. In addition to these levels of access and usage the authors collected data on different groups based on socio-economic status (SES), gender and ethnicity. The findings discussed were generally aligned with previous studies. The results showed that students from low SES families have less access to ICT in their homes for self empowerment. In addition access in these areas may be limited to before school and after school programs. The authors also discussed the types of software that is made available to students from different SES groups of students. Many times the software used by low SES students is
focused on drill-and-practice where students from higher SES areas use software largely focused on productivity and education. This study also aligned with previous studies that showed that white students perform better on given ICT tasks. One encouraging finding was that middle school students did well in differentiating between ethical and non-ethical uses of technology. However, this same group was weak when performing construction and demonstration tasks. The one aspect of this research article that stood in contrast to previous studies was the comparison between female and male students. This study showed that female students are more proficient ICT users than their male counterparts. Although time usage was not measured in this study. The authors took some tome to make five recommendations for usage of ICT. First, schools may tap into the community to help with ICT learning. They suggest that schools are bridges between community and society. Second, they suggest that schools should provide more after school programs focused on ICT. Third, ICT should be used in the classroom as much as possible. Fourth, better training for teachers should be a priority. Having ICT tools without training is like having woodworking tools without training. Fifth, educational professionals should use classroom studies to adjust curriculum. These kinds of adjustments can be made at various levels. The authors make three recommendations for future research and I think they are worth mentioning here. First, why does a disparity exist between performance levels of gender or ethnic groups when other factors may be constant? More specifically, why do males and females from the same SES group perform differently? Second, when does the digital divide emerge?
Can we devise a method to follow the emergence of ICT usage? Third, how do additional demographics add to the success of students’ usage of ICT? Some of these variables may include parents’ education or geographic region. The authors conclude that their research confirms the existence of a digital divide and is evident when looking at gender, ethnicity and SES. Their particular findings spotlight a need for change at the middle school level. The authors state that schools are often viewed as responsible for and capable of narrowing this gap. They hope their research is a starting point for change.
not cool, dudeOn 3/06/14, PedagoNet wrote: > Help students learn chemistry elements. This takes me to your TPT store, and is probably against the advertiding policy of this website,
I'm a 7th grade science teacher who has a question regarding the new common core standards. I've asked a few people in education this question and have not received a clear answer. How does my unit on cells differ now that we are doing common core. I currently have students do microscope labs, organelle PowerPoint projects, Microsoft publisher organelle business cards, cell organelle cut and paste, and students create a 3d cell model. I hear how common core is going to revoloutionize teaching. So how does my cell unit change?
2/06/14, Bill T (retired) (NC) wrote: > > I was going to stay out of this. I am really conflicted about > common core. Part of my likes > some aspects of it, but its "one > size fits all" approach wrankles me some. Nor do I > particularly > like the seemingly heavy handed role the "feds" are taking. Odd > attitude for a > lifelong democrat, but I still believe education is > something that ought be left to the states > and local community.
On 1/26/14, patricia hoye wrote: > On 1/21/14, Just an idea wrote: > >> When students tell me that they are moving and I confirm >> their last day at school, I package up the science >> notebook that they are building in my classroom and some >> of their most recent work samples in a large envelope. >> Then I instruct the student to take it to their next >> science teacher. Likewise, when students arrive in my >> class I ask them if they have any of their notebooks, and >> their work from their previous school to show me. When a >> student is able to bring me their previous science >> notebook, it is a gold mine of information. Sometimes it >> becomes their notebook in my class. I just wish more >> teachers would actually send it when the student is moving >> with directions to deliver it to their next teacher! Just >> an idea I thought was worth sharing! > I second that thought. I just sent a notebook with my student > > who transferred.
PatriciaOn 1/27/14, my idea! wrote: > Thanks, Patricia, maybe we'll start a new trend! > > On 1/26/14, patricia hoye wrote: >> On 1/21/14, Just an idea wrote: >> >>> When students tell me that they are moving and I confirm >>> their last day at school, I package up the science >>> notebook that they are build...See MoreOn 1/27/14, my idea! wrote: > Thanks, Patricia, maybe we'll start a new trend! > > On 1/26/14, patricia hoye wrote: >> On 1/21/14, Just an idea wrote: >> >>> When students tell me that they are moving and I confirm >>> their last day at school, I package up the science >>> notebook that they are building in my classroom and some >>> of their most recent work samples in a large envelope. >>> Then I instruct the student to take it to their next >>> science teacher. Likewise, when students arrive in my >>> class I ask them if they have any of their notebooks, and >>> their work from their previous school to show me. When a >>> student is able to bring me their previous science >>> notebook, it is a gold mine of information. Sometimes it >>> becomes their notebook in my class. I just wish more >>> teachers would actually send it when the student is moving >>> with directions to deliver it to their next teacher! Just >>> an idea I thought was worth sharing! >> I second that thought. I just sent a notebook with my > student >> >> who transferred.
That is a neat idea, it may help the teacher with new ideas and let them know what level is the student on.
Hi all -- I conducted a flow rate activity the other day which resulted in some unexpected results! We chose temperature as the independent variable and compared the flow rates of a syrup sample at room temperature with one that had been chilled in the fridge and on ice. The colder samples flowed faster. Any ideas for what happened here??
He learned to love science. I have literally never before - and I've taught 25 years - heard of ...See More