I believe we all at some point question our reasons for thinking certain ways or for establishing our logic and our opinions and wonder how it is that we have come up with our reasoning. We scientifically inquire about science everyday but never know why the steps are taken or used in thought as to how we have reached our conclusion or reasoning. Chapter two stated that Children observe living things on a global scale missing important details. The necessity for scientific processes is imperative in order to keep student’s attention and their ability to determine what is important. We want students to expand on their thoughts and therefore they need guidelines. The components of scientific processes are observation, measurement, Recording Data, inferences and predictions. The components are broken down in the chapter to better understand each process. When I think about all of these components, they are all very important when observing and recording data about science. After learning about the processes I feel it is very important for students to fully understand and analyze their thoughts and their perceptions and be able to back up those ideas and thoughts with scientific evidence, through their own research and observation.
Angela Pine
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After reading chapter two, I gained a greater understanding of the processes of science. I
ReplyDeletewas surprised at how many skills are needed and used in investigating and how many processes
and strategies are used to collect, report, record, observe and measure data. I really liked the
chart on page 30 because it clearly breaks down all the processes and also gives examples on
how they might be utilized. This chapter is one that I am sure I will refer back to time and time
again, as it gives many different hands on activities that can be used in future science classes. I
really liked the observing candy experiment. In fact, this experiment can be done with anything,
not just candy. I observed a fun activity that was done by an eighth grade teacher who used this
concept. He passed out a mini mars bar to each student in order to illustrate the different layers
of the earth and plate tectonics. The students seemed to love it, especially because they were
able to eat the candy afterwards. I also enjoyed reading about the inference activity. The eighth
grade teacher I worked with used this activity to illustrate matter. The students used all their
senses to predict the contents of the box. The students were baffled and came up with many
different ideas as to what might be inside. Activities like these definitely build on observation
skills. Thus, the book mentioned that learning to be an observer is a lifelong task. This made
sense to me and I realize now why this method is so important in the science classroom.
I was somewhat disappointed that the end of the chapter contained a small paragraph mentioning
that teachers need to encourage more exploration and need to match their actions to the needs of
students. How does a teacher do that? How can experiments be crafted so that they fulfill each
child’s needs? After reading this chapter, I had a few other questions. What are the best
experiments to do with your students in order to develop these processes? Where can a teacher
find these experiments? The book mentions outside resources, but what other resources are out
there?
The process skills presented in this chapter will be a great reference for you as you begin to design your own science lessons. You are right to point out that these processes help students to learn how to think.
ReplyDeleteThe other part of the chapter had to do with the three types of inquiries. Refer back to this section as you begin to plan your own unit.