Chapter 8

Using technology in science is one of the best ways I can think of to give students first hand knowledge of space, sea exhibits, planets, just about anything nowadays can be viewed virtually. The only thing better is hands on activities. Using the World Wide Web takes students to places some will never go. How many of us will travel in space or be able to see a volcano up close? Taking virtual tours and seeing exhibits on line are better than watching them on a DVD. It's raw and unedited. It also allows lab experiments that schools may not be equip to do, yet students can still have the experience. Students can also collect and store data like scientist do by using spread sheets and graphing software.
As a teacher and guider of my curriculum, I should be involved in what the school is going to invest in as far as software and multimedia center. I need to make sure it will have an effective use to and for my students. Something that is reputable and will be around for a while. I should check out sites and software before I recommend them to parents and students or even faculty.

Chapter 8

Chapter 7 Reflection

This chapter brought to my awareness the importance of questioning in the classroom. Questions and how you respond to them can open up or close down a discussion. So the chapter sets out to build up our "toolbox" so that we can learn how to ask effective questions and respond appropriately in order to stimulate conversation. Each part of the lesson uses questions to fuel the activity. For example, a teacher can guide a student to think about their observations, gathering more than one response to ensure variety and equal participation.

I particularly found the examples of reinforcers to be very helpful. Saying, "Good job!" is okay, but an explanation makes the praise stronger and more personalized. If everyone is hearing the same thing, a teacher's praise might lose value and not be as effective. The book provides excellent examples of effective praise. Also the book shows us how to extend student responses. This is really important because it helps to move the discussion along and shows the student that you really care about what he or she is saying. How do we approach a student when they are wrong? The book gives a general strategy to address incorrect ideas, without hurting the child's self esteem. This is difficult to master, because words are very powerful, and the wrong word or tone may influence whether or not a student decides to participate again. I truly believe that there is always a more positive way to approach any answer so that both parties have gained something and have walked away better then before.

I was surprised to find out that increasing your wait time to more than 3 seconds can have such a great impact on a student's confidence and participation. This small gesture is so important!

This chapter is certainly a great reference to add to our "toolbox". It is apparent that a teacher needs a variety of tools to help build a classroom community. A classroom that contains discussion and ideas, fueled and inspired by the curiosity and wonder of each and every student, can exist and flourish with the help and support of teachers.

Nye - Chapter 7 Reflection

Chapter 7 was a discussion on effective questioning. This is a theme that has been consistently covered in all of the methods classes I have taken. That is not to say that this topic does not bear another look. It stands to reason, as the chapter points out, that “questioning is at the heart of inquiry teaching” (Bass, Carin, & Conant, 2009, p. 204). It would seem to me that effective questioning would be at the heart of good teaching. Of course that has not always been my experience. I remember my grade school fears; that dreaded feeling of hoping that the teacher was not going to call on me. Oh how I hated to hear my name, Virginia what is the answer? It wasn’t because I did not know the answer; I usually did. It was just that I was painfully shy and knowing the answer was social fodder for the bullies again. Just as bad, not knowing would bring scorn academically from my teacher. So there I was left with that sense of impending doom, “please, please, please, not me, don’t call on me” and the sigh of relief when I made it through the gauntlet of that round of grilling! It struck me while reflecting on this chapter that the whole time I spent dreading being called on and asked a question, I was not learning anything. I totally tuned out everything except for the sound of the teacher calling out names. Everything else sounded like Charlie Brown’s teacher. The irony is that I was a decent student who was confident with the material. I was just shy and afraid of being put in the spotlight. I wonder what the students who were not so comfortable with the material were going through.
If in the above scenario the teacher would have used strategic questions to engage us, maybe she would not have needed to call on us to get participation. I agree with the authors that effective questioning is like a tool. The type of questions a teacher needs to ask depends on what response they want to elicit. It was interesting to me that in my previous retail management career effective questioning was often a training topic. As far back as the late 1980’s we were being trained to engage customers by asking open-ended questions that would facilitate conversation. The training clinics and seminars spent endless hours on the details of effective questioning. Now here I am, some twenty some odd years later, on a completely different career path. Once again I am learning about the importance of effective questioning. It was just an interesting realization for me, not that it is earth shattering. I feel the bottom line is that effective questioning is essential to good communication overall.

chapter 7 reflections

Kate Knaus
ELED 305
October 20, 2009
Dr. Clishem



Ch. 7: Effective Questioning



Chapter 7 is filled with great information. This chapter’s theme and theory is that of inquiry questioning. It is good for teachers to question their students; this will, in return lead the teacher into knowing what kind of information the student’s already know, and how to build off of that. This will also, help students construct explanations, and lead to more knowledge to apply in different life events. A practical approach to inquiry is to ask open-ended questions. This will help promote investigation. It is a good idea to ask continuing questions to the questions already answered. Teachers should give adequate wait time for a student to answer a given question.

I find this chapter to be very interesting. It contains good information as to how to play on a student’s inquiry. It’s also important as a teacher to manage these Q and A sessions by letting the students ask questions and answer them. A teacher must wait a certain amount of time to let these students answer and think deeply about what they are saying. It’s also a good idea as a teacher to ask continuing questions to further the inquiry of a topic. I found this chapter helpful while teaching the science subject. Nothing was confusing and everything was clear. I have no questions that have to pertain to this chapter. I found this chapter useful in how I will engage and help my students explore any science topic.

Chapter 7

Chapter seven pertained to the use of effect questioning amongst students and teachers. As the text notes, questions can be extremely effective in initating inquiry, to guide student organization, and managing classroom activites, depending on what questions are asked. In my classroom, I plan on using both types of questions, including closed and open-ended questions. Open-ended questions are particularly useful, because they encourage students to think of an array of possible solutions, as well as promote divergent thinking.

The table that shows descriptions and purpose for questions following the five E model was interesting as well as helpful. I was not familiar with the five E approach for science based lessons before this class, and I find it beneficial for students and teachers, outlining important areas and aspects that should be covered within a lesson. I also feel as an educator that it is important to be aware of how we respond to student ideas. W should not only accept student responses and answers, but incourage them to extend on their reply and thoughts. The student should be able to feel that they have the ‘right to be wrong’. We should increase wait time for a full student response, and acknowlege their answer by varying responses. Questioning is a way for students to engage and explore a topic, and give them multiple outlooks and opinions to a specific answer or idea. When used correctly in the classroom setting, it can have tremendous impacts on student particiapation and students understanding of a concept.

Chapter 7 Reflection

In terms of teaching science, the themes, theory and practical applications I observed concerned asking appropriate questions to enhance comprehension and to promote student discourse. I was particularly interested in the portion of the chapter that explained open and closed questions. I have made the mistake of asking my own sons the dreaded, ‘How was school today?” I have learned to ask more open ended questions such as, “What are some things you found interesting and what are some things you would change?” Granted the list of changes always seems longer than what they liked, but this way, we have things to discuss and talk about.
I found the many examples of questions and their purposes were quite helpful to me. I also found it important to understand how to extend students’ responses and promote further inquiry.
One concept that made sense to me after reading the chapter was knowing what questions to ask when. Page 191 made this process very clear and outlined how to go about asking useful questions during the explore and explain phases..
I did not find anything to be confusing in this chapter.
After reading this chapter, I have several new questions. Once again, I find myself already wondering how to modify asking the questions. I understand so me students with disabilities may require direct instruction and become agitated by so many questions. For example, I can imagine a student with Asperger’s or Autism experiencing a great deal of difficulty with being asked so many questions. That being said, this might be a great strategy for a student with ADHD, as it would keep them occupied.

Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Chapter 7 talks about asking the students effective questions that will help them understand the material and help the teacher assess the students. Asking the right question will also help the teacher to see how well the students have learned the lesson and what goals a teacher should make to increase students understanding.

I like the table 7-2 it talks about steps to take when we respond to students. Giving positive feedback to the students will encourage them to elaborate further on their thinking.

Chapter 7 reflection

This chapter was on effective questioning within the inquiry based classroom.  I found it to be helpful in explaining the best time to ask certain questions and what types of questions to ask before, during and after the inquiry process. 

It went into great detail about the types of questions to ask at the different stages of the inquiry process so that the students would get the most out of each stage of the learning process and that they would feel their contribution is important. I liked the fact that this chapter mentioned discrepant events, something which I feel is vital to the science classroom.  This is where we get the students engaged in the process and is so important.  If they are not engaged initially, we have already lost them.

I also enjoyed how the chapter gave so many different examples of types of questions to ask and what to ask at the different stages. It is important that we as educators know the type of questions to ask, when to ask them and how to phrase them.

Finally I enjoyed how this chapter talked about acknowledging each student response in a positive way, never discouraging a student about answering in the future. It is important that we solicit all ideas of our students and can list them on the board.  This could stimulate another students thought process and enable them to come to a 'conclusion' when they didn't have an answer before.  This is so important because it will help students feel that their thoughts are valued and important to the class.  We want all students t be engaged throughout the process, not just the majority.  Finally, NEVER Make a student feel like their ideas are being judged or we will discouraged them from wanting to participate in the learning process, not what we want for them at all.

Chapter 7

This chapter is all about effective questioning. It is a great chapter that focuses on the right way to ask questions and how to get students involved in participating in class. Questions are a great way to assess students current knowledge on the topic being introduced, guiding students through a new learning experience, helping students to develop their own explanations, and helping students apply the new information they just learned to a different situation. There are two types of questions. There are close ended questions and open ended questions. Open ended questions are great because there is generally more than one right answer and they can be answered in many different ways. Questions are also great when guiding inquiry discussions. The way we respond to students ideas is also very important. As teachers we need to make sure we are using positive reinforcements on a regular basis. As students respond we should be saying things that make students feel important and that encourage them to actively participate in class. My only question is how much is too much positive reinforcement?

Chapter 6 & 7 Reflections

Chapter 6 proved to be a very enlightening chapter. Some of my own personal misconceptions of assessment and evaluation were clarified. I used to see assessment and evaluation as the same thing and I thought the only time we should use assessment or evaluation was at the end of a lesson. I have now learned that assessment can be used during different parts of the lesson and for different purposes of diagnosing a student's prior knowledge, their current understanding of the science concept as they are going through the lesson, and they summarized understanding of the whole lesson and if the objects of the lesson were met. I also learned that evaluation is more of a judment made of the students like grading and evaluating their work and their products and using the standards to judge their progress. I really appreciate the wide array of examples the author provides for informal and formal assesment, which was something I was often confused by because I was not sure what made the assesment formal and what made it informal. I was just wondering how do you balance the usage of different forms assessment and preparing students for standardized test in the short time you have?
Chapter 7 was focused on effective questioning. The author provided us with different ways certain questions can enhance student learning. I really see the difference in asking students to think about an answer or to come up with their own theories and explanations versus a teacher giving them the answer and the reasons behind it. I believe that through questions with are encouraging student to notbe afraid to bewrong and that we just want them to think about their own thought process. I believe this also helps boosts a student self esteem as well as making them feel like their thoughts are valued. I believe the author makes a great point in that we have to build off of students prior knowledge and then probe at whatthey have learned from the lesson or activity.

Chapter 7

This chapter talks about how teachers can effectively use questioning to do things like shift the focus from observation to explanation, encourage creativity, and develop student understanding. This first thing I found interesting in this chapter was when it explained that discourse is expressing one’s own questions, observations, and meaning making and listening to and reflecting on the ideas of others. This to me sounds like something every effective science class should have. Because questioning can help promote discourse, questioning is something that definitely must have importance and value to effective teachers.

The chapter goes on to explain the difference between open-ended questions and closed questions, which are both important to promoting new learning. Closed questions have a single correct answer which causes students to recall facts and observations, while open-ended questions can be answered numerous ways and get students to engage in broad portions of their schemas and make useful contributions to a discussion. I personally value open-ended and divergent thinking not only as a prospective teacher, but as a student as well because I prefer to work towards answers or conclusions using logical concepts rather than simply recalling facts or being told the answer. I was glad to see that the text recommends increasing the percentage of open-ended questions as a way to increase divergent productivity, since it promotes higher levels of thinking and stimulates further discussion. As a teacher I definitely want to ask lots of open-ended questions, but I feel that as a student teacher it might be hard to use them if students are used to always being asked closed questions. I feel that students might be reluctant to give answers in fear of being wrong or wont give further answers once one of their classmates gives one.

Another thing I liked about this chapter is when it talks about using questions to intrinsically motivate students to pursue a learning task. It is no mystery that students or any person will be more engaged in an activity or interested in something that is intrinsically motivating. The chapter suggests using novel or discrepant events such as hands-on activities or visual aids or explanations to help motivate students. Many of the activity demonstrations we have been doing have been discrepant events aimed towards getting students engaged and motivated. The text also says that discrepant events are a better way to find out students’ prior knowledge than simply asking. This makes sense to me because students may have knowledge about concepts, but wont be able to show that knowledge unless they use them in real contexts, instead of questions with technical terms they may be unfamiliar with. I like that the text says teachers should not seek closure on a question until a number or responses have accumulated. This was always something I have valued in teachers as a student myself. Just because students didn’t raise their hands fast enough doesn’t mean their ideas or opinions should be kept from the rest of the class. Another thing this chapter suggests is to let students decide what they want to know about the results of an investigation. I think that this would be another great way to increase intrinsic motivation.

The last thing I liked in this chapter was the ways it suggested teachers should respond to student ideas. I think reinforcing students’ responses is a good way to get students to keep responding when they may typically be reluctant to. I used to never participate in class because I was very afraid of being wrong, even though what I was thinking was usually the right answer. One thing I think I will need practice with is extending student responses. Organizing, clarifying, and connecting students’ responses on the spot seems like a skill that will develop through teaching over time.

Chapter 7

Chapter seven is probably the shortest chapter I have read this semester but with very important information. The process of questioning is very clearly stated but like with anything else it is better said than done. Teachers really have to be familiar with all the different type of questions that should be used in each situation. Questions can be used to assess prior knowledge, for starting a class discussion, and to motivate students. In asking students the right questions teachers can develop student understanding. I observed a teacher asking a first grade student a question the student was unable to answer the question. After a moment of silence, the whole class was staring at the student this made the student very nervous and the student stated to cry. I am sure it was not the teacher’s intentions to make the student cry. The teacher continued asking another student the same question. I felt so bad for that student but I don’t know what the teacher could have done differently to avoid that situation. I think that asking the right questions will take time and practice to really know what questions to ask the students.

Chapter 7 Reflection (BH)

Chapter 7 is all about questioning. By questioning, teachers can figure out what students already know, it can guide them into establishing questions for inquiry and collecting relevant data, help them to construct explanations and lead them to apply their new knowledge in different situations. It talks about how open ended questions are likely to promote inquiry because students have to explain their questions without giving one word answers. Questions are also used to assess prior knowledge. Questions are also used for engaging and motivating students. Questions are also important in leading students to applying what they are learning to new situations. I think it is important to always ask students questions because it keeps them on their toes and always thinking and applying new information to old information and vice versa. The book says how you respond to students is important as well because teachers want to keep students involved and to accept all their questions and add on to anything that may have been a little vague. Waiting time plays a big role in questioning because if teachers give students a longer wait time, they usually come up with a more thorough answer. I know questioning takes practice and getting feedback from other superiors make it more effective for teachers.

chapter 6 and 7

Reflection 7

Implementing technology into the classroom seems to be a growing topic of discussion. It appears that everyday there is something new developed that teachers can use to enhance their technology in the classroom. Computers are a great resource tool and a great invention, and it appears that people cannot function without them anymore. There are so many resources out there, especially for the internet that a teacher may soon be obsolete. If students can learn everything they need on a computer, is there going to be a need for teachers in the future?

I liked how the authors of the book gave examples of useful websites to find science related information for. Looking for websites can be difficult, especially if you are just doing using a search engine. By doing it through a search engine, you have to be careful of getting information that is accurate and up to date. There is just so much information available on the internet, it is sometimes hard to narrow down a search enough to find the information that you are looking for in a timely manner.

By having students use computers in a classroom, it helps them develop computer skills. Computers are not a thing that is going to go away. If students become familiar with computers when they are young, they will be better off as they get older. By having computer skills it opens more doors for them and gives them more opportunities to get better jobs. Also, it is sometimes easier for children to learn computer skills, than adults. If they know the basics when they are young, it is easier for them to expand on the already learned information as they get older.

Chapter 7 Reflection AG

Chapter is 7 is based on teacher questioning. As we all already know questioning is vital in teaching. As teachers we utilize questioning for instruction, and to redirect the attentiveness of the class. Questioning may be used at any time during instruction. As the chapter states questioning is the most important tool for a teacher. It is vital to utilize different types of questioning for different education tasks. A type of questioning we need to learn when to use is the use of open ended questions and closed questions. Questioning can be used to lead to inquiry discussion. As a future teacher it is necessary to know when to ask a question, and what is the purpose of asking the question.

Chapter 7 Reflection

I never thought there could be an entire chapter dedicated to questioning, but after reading the chapter, I thought it wasn’t long enough. Evidence of this can be exhibited by one of the first lines in the chapter and that is, “Questions are among the most important tools teachers have.” The tool of questioning can be used in every aspect of teaching. Questions can be used to assess, to correct behavior, to stimulate thought, to guide, and to just simply teach. The chapter talks about several different types of questions and methods of using questions in the 5 E model. As this may be my shortest reflection of any chapter thus far, I really felt that this chapter was one of the most important ones I read and could have read more if there was more to read on it. One of the reasons I feel this is because there was nothing that was shocking or surprising to me. It all made sense. I guess if I hadn’t been aware of the concept of wait time, that might have been a point that would be most surprising to me. Wait time is something I have taken very seriously and make a consistent effort in executing.

Chapter 5 Reflection (hb)

Chapter 5 seems to be the meat and potatoes of what we have been learning in our class all semester. As we learned about the 5 E’s in previous chapters and class sessions, chapter 5 hones in on exactly how to achieve the first few steps in that model. And often, I feel like we forget the very first question that we need to ask in order to teach and that is, “What do we want to teach?” The second question would have to be, “How do I want to teach it?” I really enjoyed reading the “Implementing Learning Activities” section because it is a nice, easy to read breakdown of how smoothly the process should be. Although the process is for activities, it would not take much to tweak it to make it work for any type of lesson. What did surprise me the most from this chapter was when the book states that you do not have to be a science major to teach science effectively and that many experiences teachers of science began to really understand science topics only after teaching them. I was always under the impression that those who were the most passionate about science and knew the subject were the best fit to teach it. After reflecting on this point for a bit, I started remembering old science teachers I had and can probably now distinguish which ones weren’t the science majors and which ones were. Some people might think of this fact as disturbing, but I look at it as a sense of relief that there are people out there who will step outside their comfort zone to help educate our youth.

Chapter 7 Reflection

This chapter covers the idea of ‘effective questioning’ in the classroom. I found it really interesting because it covers such an important concept. The ways that students are questioned can foster their learning. The more inquiry that teachers’ use in their classroom can lead to more quizzical the students are. I think that both open-ended and close-ended questions serve a purpose in the classroom. Close-ended questions are useful in doing a review with the students because they provide specific answers. Open-ended questions can be useful to urge the students to think about the problem in a variety of ways.

Throughout the chapter, Bass goes into detail on how teachers can use the 5 E method of inquiry in questioning the students. He also discusses how teachers can respond to students. I found that section to be really interesting because there will be times that students ask/answer with odd questions in my classroom. I thought that “extending a students’ idea”(Bass 197) is a great way for teachers to “promote further inquiry”(Bass 197).

I thought that the air demonstration, at the end of the chapter, was great. It can be useful to promote inquiry teaching at a young age. I thought that it was a simple demonstration, and encouraged the students to question what was happening. Once the students began to voice their opinions, the teacher explained what was actually happening.

I found the last section to be extremely interesting. The part that discussed how cultural diversity can affect how students respond to questioning. The two groups that were discussed were African Americans and Native Americans. Bass states that these two ethnic groups are raised with different questioning techniques than Caucasian students. I really liked learning about the cultural differences in questioning patterns because that is not always thought of when teachers are completing a lesson. Most of the time when a student is not participating, some teachers will just think that the student is not interested. But, teachers need to be aware that there can be a variety of different reasons for students to not fully participate in class.

Chapter 7

Effective Questioning
Open ended questions allow students to think in a wide array of possibilities. Allowing students to fully engage in a discussion with the class. I am surprised at what the book says about how few open ended question teachers use in the classroom. It seems like a great starter for discussions and to get students thinking. Following the 5E model is a great way to teach. It seems so basic and simple to follow. In Explaining, students can inquire about something they found puzzling or difficult. It helps them make sense of something they were exploring. I like the fact that with the Explain part, students initial answers do not have to be exactly correct. It allows them to think freely. What better way for a student to apply what they just learned, then the elaborate. Students can test and connect schema's. I feel if students are allowed to be wrong or make mistakes, and will not be ridiculed for doing so, then they will have more self confidence and try new things or research for new answers. They won't be intimidated in other academic areas to make mistakes or question theories. Praise is important. But as I just found out from my son, it shouldn't be empty praise. What I mean is, like the book says, it looses it's effectiveness if it is used too often or when it isn't really deserved. Probing often helps students build on ideas and pull information out that they didn't know they had in them or were unsure of. Great tips for leading discussions...Increase wait time, fade questioning support, listen to one another, consider cultural implications, praise. Good questioning is where it's at for inquiry teaching. I must be open to all answers and patient for students to formulate an answer.

Reflection Chapter 6

Chapter 6 Assessing Science Learning was very informative. This chapter covered more on assessment than I thought even existed. I never knew so much on assessment was available. In prior teaching classes, the class only covered two forms of assessment. This chapter had more than two forms. The detail that also went into each of these forms was very helpful. I find it more beneficial when a book goes into that much detail on information that we as future teachers will really use in a classroom. It is helpful for us to understand the details of all the aspects of teaching so that we have a clear understanding of the material and are able to implement it into our curriculum when we get a job.
I liked all of the options for assessment in the different categories of assessment. It gives a teacher many options to choose from. It also allows for teachers to mix up the types of assessment so that the students are not doing the same form of assessment each time. This allows for variety on the teachers part and the students part. If teachers have to grade the same form of assessment over and over, it could get tedious. By mixing it up, it allows for the same concepts to get graded but in a different way. The assessment styles that students do can also be mixed up. If students do different forms of assessment students will be more willing to do the work since they will not have to do the same style each time.
I also like how the authors of this book not only go into detail in the different things teachers need to do, but also give examples of rubrics, checklists, and different parts of a lesson. This not only tells us what to do as teachers, but gives a visual example so that we can see how the layout could be and to deepen the understanding with a visual representation.

Chapter 6

Chapter 6 talks about the relationship between learning and assessment. I like how the book calls it two sides of the coin, they both needs to be present for it to be a coin. And learning and assessment need to be present for a student to learn. Teachers should know that each student have a different type of assessment. Assessment is the process of gathering information about how much the student has learned. I like the three questions the books gives to ask when we are going to make a lesson for the students. Where are students trying to go? Where are students now? How are students going to get there?
Diagnostic assessment is like pre-assessment, teachers can use to find out how much the students know before staring a lesson. Formative Assessment lets us gather information on the students during the lesson this helps to see if the students’ understand the content. Summative Assessment comes after the instruction has taken place, it shows teachers the evidence if learning has or has not taken place.
I like the checklist provided in the book to keep track of students performance because if teachers don’t know how the student performs then how will we now if improvement is existing.

Chapter 6 Reflection

This chapter discussed assessment, an obviously critical and essential aspect of teaching, in science education. After discussing assessment in theory, including distinguishing it from "evaluation", many examples of assessments are given. Overall, the questions "Where are learners going?" and "Where are they now?" are stressed as the ideal focus of assessments, and teachers should use rubrics or some other sort of scoring guide for each. I liked the charts that were provided in the chapter, such as Table 6-1 ("different audiences use different types of assessment results for different purposes") and Table 6-2 ("science assessment examples"), as they made the specifics clear regarding a subject which tends to be very involved and tedious. I feel that this is a strong aspect of the book in general - it is very well organized (although admittedly can be a bit dry to read! lol). Also the examples of student work are very helpful, such as the one on page 148, which is an example of a student record page. Overall, I know that assessment is so important to do well in the classroom, for many reasons, and so I want to learn how to properly and effectively use assessments, as well as evaluations, as a future teacher. This book chapter is an excellent reference to help me get there, but ultimately it will be in the actual classroom where I will learn what works and what doesn't. For now though, this is very good!

Chapter 6 Reflection- Francesca

My views on assessments and evaluations are shadowed by my experiences as a student in the science classroom. As I read through this chapter, many of those beliefs were challenged as I began to see the big picture and the purpose of assessments/evaluations. Assessments and evaluations are a crucial part of every classroom as they help a teacher gauge what the students have learned, and more importantly, what they still need to learn. Happily, there are many ways to assess a student. Multiple choice questions that ask you to recall facts are not the only way to determine what the students know. There are many ways to assess for knowledge, but there must also be ways to assess for understanding.

Unfortunately, I have witnessed many teachers feel the pressure of teaching a class that is a benchmark. They are drilling students with facts so they can meet the standards marked by state assessments. I already see how the pressure to meet standards can be overwhelming. There are many factors that dictate what assessments a teacher might use. Fortunately, there seems to be a variety of ways for a teacher to implement his or her own assessments in the classroom. I have definitely learned a lot from this chapter and it will serve as a guide for future assessments/evaluations. The examples are extremely helpful and cover every type of assessment that can be used in a classroom, whether it be elementary or middle school. I am looking forward to reading the next chapter!

Chapter 6

Chapter 6 is all about assessment when it comes to teaching science. One of the first things this chapter talks about is what exactly assessment is, which is gathering information about students learning in order to make decisions. The chapter talks about the value in using more than one way to collect student data, and later on talks about all of those ways. The next thing I liked in this chapter is how it tells the difference between assessment and evaluation. According to the chapter, evaluation involves using the data gathered in assessment to make decisions as a teacher such as what grades to give based on performance, or whether or not to move onto a new subject. I like the three guiding questions the chapter gave for developing and implementing assessment. The question, "Where are students trying to go?" would be a good thing to consider when making sure assessments pertain to the state goals and standards of the lesson they belong to. When asking the question, "Where are students now?," the chapter says that teachers shouldn't always rely on multiple-choice items that only ask students to recall facts and information. I agree with the chapter that varying the types of assessment in the classroom is a good idea because some students may be able to show their learning better in different situations than multiple choice questions. However, I think multiple choice questions must be used on a regular basis to help students prepare for and get used to the types of questions they will see on standardized tests.

The chapter describes the three types of assessment, diagnostic, formative, and summative, and when to use them. I like the idea of assessment being used at different times throughout the lesson. In the past, I always thought of assessment as formal tests at the end of lessons or units, but have begun to realize that it occurs in all different forms at different times in learning. Diagnostic assessment would occur before starting to teach a new subject or concept, as a way to gather students' prior knowledge and see if their conceptions and misconceptions. The data gathered from this type of assessment seems like it would help teachers make sure every student has adequate background knowledge, to not skip anything, and to not teach something the students already have mastered. Another thing I like in this chapter is its description of science notebooks. I think science notebooks would be a great way to help students retain knowledge as they learn it and would also be a useful tool when students need to go back and study what they have learned. I remember things better if i write them down, so having a notebook always helps me no matter what the class is. Keeping a notebook would be good for students because it would prepare them for later on when they will not be required to keep a notebook in high school or college, but will have note taking skills to do so if they desire.

Chapter 6 Reflection

In terms of teaching science, the themes, theory and practical applications I observed were the purposes of various assessments and how to perform them. This chapter outlined in detail many explanations and examples of diagnostic, formative and summative assessments which I feel were quite helpful not only for my current understanding, but could be useful as a teacher in the future. The theme of “where are the students trying to go, where are they now and how are they going to get there” was reiterated throughout the chapter.
What surprised me was the depth of information the text provided concerning examples of informal assessments. I completed an entire semester on assessment and I feel this text helped the purpose and application of teacher questioning, experience charts, student record pages, and the use of science notebooks.
One concept that made sense to me after reading the chapter was the difference between assessment and evaluation. Prior to reading this chapter, I combined the two or used them interchangeably and did not comprehend the specific purposes of each.
I did not find anything to be confusing in this chapter.
After reading this chapter, I have several new questions. One such question is whether or not students find science fair projects academically beneficial. I understand that science fair projects are a method of assessing multiple objectives through a performance assessment. I just wonder how much the students actually get out of it in general. In my limited, personal experience gained from doing such projects with my sons, I find they (and many of their classmates) do not enjoy science. I have surmised that science fair is “fun” or beneficial for the students that already enjoy science and to many others, it is just another assignment.
Another question I had was as a teacher, where I find the “released test” items the text refers to on page 181? I would assume from the test publishers. I am curious to see if the ISBE has such information on their website, as well. In light of the NCLB, I also wonder how many teachers obtain released test items prior to completing state tests and if that helps the students scores.

Nye Reflection Ch 6

In Chapter 6 I learned about assessments and evaluations with a specific science focus. I must admit that the majority of the material was information that was and is presented in my other methods classes. I think the most beneficial portion of this chapter was the emphasis on performance assessment.
The use of performance tasks to assess science knowledge and understanding seems to be a perfect fit with inquiry based model of learning. The chapter delves deeper into other ways to utilize performance tasks in assessment. Once again each written description was followed by a practical illustration or example of what this might look like in my classroom. These are the things that give me the most Ah-ha moments. I will be reading through the chapter and thinking that this is just the same old information when suddenly I see an example. It is as if the wheels begin turning in my brain and I begin to think about how I can utilize this in my unit / lesson plan.
This lead me to wonder, could this be the way my students might feel. Specifically, I am addressing assessments and evaluation, but this could be mush broader. Do students think, “It’s just another boring multiple choice or fill in the blank test”? If I were to utilize performance tasks as a portion of the assessment / evaluation process in my class, would students feel differently? I know this class is Methods of Science, but I feel this can be applied to other subjects as well. Allowing students opportunities to demonstrate the concepts they have learned in an authentic, hands-on, meaningful way, seems to me to sound like a winner. The key, as with all assessment and evaluation, is to stay true to the objectives and goals of the lesson.

chapter 6

Chapter six was an interesting read, highlighting and discussing assessment in the subject of science. I feel that assessment is a very important aspect in teaching every subject, but especially in science inquiry. Explaining in detail the appropriate times for assessment; before, during, and after teaching a lesson was also very informative. I believe that many educators think of assessment of being during and after an activity. I am glad that I have learned it is key to use diagnostic assessment, or pre-assessment because it can help you identify what students already know about a topic, what misconceptions or alternative theories they carry about a topic and what they are interested in learning. Rubrics, whether they are self-created or standard, are also successful tools to use in accurate assessment.

The chapter was full of helpful examples of the many different types of assessment that are available for teachers to use. Another aspect that I paid particular attention to in the chapter was where they discussed examples of different types of state test items. As educators our students will be taking these tests, so it is imperative that we know what they need to know for complete understanding and well performance on these mandatory tests.

Chapter 6 Reflection (BH)

After reading chapter 6, I never realized there were 3 main forms of assessment. There is a diagnostic assessment which is given before the lesson, formative which is done during teaching, and summarize which is done after teaching. In a way I have seen or used all 3 forms but never knew what they were called, except for formative. I also never took into notice that assessment is focused on two questions. These two questions are supposed to tell us what they are learning and where they are now in class. I think these questions make sense but I just can't believe it takes two questions to figure out assessment results.

one assessment that i always seem to write with my lesson plans are rubrics. I feel like they are one of the easiest things to make up. Checklists I find just as easy as well. I love the examples they show in the book. I sometimes struggle though with how to score them. I can never figure out how many points i should make one activity or worksheet. For traditional assessment, i love multiple choice questions. I always found them so easy for me, rather than essay or short answer questions. I always had that 25% chance of getting it correct with multiple choice. Assessment is a critical component of inquiry learning and instruction. And according to the book, "the assessment revolution is here to stay."

Chapter 6

What surprised me, after reading chapter six, was the fact that there are so many different types of assessments. There are so many options in which to implement different assessment for assignments. Before teaching an activity, a diagnostic assessment, should be implemented to assess prior knowledge. During instruction, a formative assessment should be implemented to be able to recognize which students need help. After instruction, a summative assessment, this form of assessing is more standardized than formative assessment.
The text book has provided great examples of different types of assessments, checklists, and rubrics which I can use when creating my lesson plans. Checklists are very easy to use in assessing students. I have found checklists to be helpful because they don’t require a lot of time. Students can be working in an activity while the teacher is walking around assessing students. The checklists are useful because the show the strength and weaknesses of the students. From this information the teacher can decided how to divide the students for different strategies. Checklists are also a great way to keep track of students over time. Rubrics are a way of measuring and evaluating student’s performance. Rubrics are very helpful for the teachers and students. The teacher writes exactly what she wants in the rubric. The student knows exactly what the teacher expects from the students. Therefore this is a great assessment tool for both because communication is very clear.

Reflection 6 (Chapter 5)

Chapter 5

This chapter discusses how to plan and manage a classroom with inquiry instruction. Using state standards to frame your work is the basis for lesson planning. With such emphasis on standards, teachers need to understand that standards are set up to help them. They are supposed to be used as a tool for teachers to accomplish activities throughout the year. They also are a way for teachers to organize units. Teachers can pick which standards they want the students to comprehend, and design lessons around them. The other main topic for lesson planning is objectives. These tend to be confused, and Bass does a great job going over the construction of them. He asks teachers to keep in mind the ABC’s when composing an objective: ‘audience, behavior, and conditions’ (Bass, 114). These are important concepts for all teachers to think about, because objectives are student-centered. He also provides a great list of action words that can be used in objective sentences.

The next major discussion in the chapter is on designing the lesson. This area goes into details on the introduction and the activity. What I found most interesting was the activity on the ‘Raisin Elevator’ (Bass, 119). This activity was one of my first science memories from kindergarten, and I wrote about it in my science reflection paper. I can actually picture the room I was in, when the science teacher came into our class, and completed the experiment. I think that this activity is such a great engage activity, because it allows the students to experience something that they know nothing about. Then, as teachers, we can fill in the information for the students.

Moving on in the chapter, Bass discusses a variety of different inquiry activities that teachers can utilize with their students. These activities range from exploration, open inquiry, learning centers, and fieldtrips. Each one of these ideas are great ways for the students to be actively engaged. As future educators, we need to remember to not simply give our students busy work, and bore them. Some students need to be able to manipulate objects in order to learn, while others are fine with busy work. We need to make sure that we are addressing each of our students needs in the classroom. We also need to make sure that we partner up these activities with information material. We cannot simply take the students to the zoo, and then move onto the next lesson. The students should be acquiring information before, during, and after the fieldtrip.

Bass finished out this chapter by discussing safety in the classroom, as well as classroom management. Both of these are very important ideas that teachers need to touch on right away. Teachers need to let their students know of the classroom rules, and enforce them whenever necessary.

chapter 7 reflections

Ch. 7: Effective Questioning



Chapter 7 is filled with great information. This chapter’s theme and theory is that of inquiry questioning. It is good for teachers to question their students; this will, in return lead the teacher into knowing what kind of information the student’s already know, and how to build off of that. This will also, help students construct explanations, and lead to more knowledge to apply in different life events. A practical approach to inquiry is to ask open-ended questions. This will help promote investigation. It is a good idea to ask continuing questions to the questions already answered. Teachers should give adequate wait time for a student to answer a given question.

I find this chapter to be very interesting. It contains good information as to how to play on a student’s inquiry. It’s also important as a teacher to manage these Q and A sessions by letting the students ask questions and answer them. A teacher must wait a certain amount of time to let these students answer and think deeply about what they are saying. It’s also a good idea as a teacher to ask continuing questions to further the inquiry of a topic. I found this chapter helpful while teaching the science subject. Nothing was confusing and everything was clear. I have no questions that have to pertain to this chapter. I found this chapter useful in how I will engage and help my students explore any science topic.

Chapter 5 Reflection AG

I found chapter 5 to be quite useful as a future teacher. As a future teacher one of the greatest concerns is knowing how to properly create a lesson plan, and a unit plan. Although knowing how to properly make a lesson plan, will come with experience, it is still useful to read about creating a lesson plan. I like how the chapter outlines the different components of creating a lesson plan. One thing I paid close attention to was the ABC's of objectives; which are, the audience, the behavior, and the conditions. In the process of learning it is important to have the purpose of a concept upfront. The ABC's allows us to present this information to our students. We are able to create our lesson plans, considering the audience, the behavior (performance) we are trying to achieve, and the condition being how the audience will achieve the behavior we are trying to achieve. Another beneficial aspect this chapter offers, are the lesson plan examples. Being able to visualize an example, allows me to see what type of product is expected when creating a lesson plan.

Chapter 5

Chapter 5

As a future teacher we have to know the standards of the state and make sure that our lessons are reaching those standards, chapter 5 talks about how to create our objectives according to the standards. It gives a sample of the National Science Education Standards guidelines. Chapter 5 also talks about how to pick a topic for the lesson. Since science is everywhere, we teachers have to plan on what is important to know according to the grade level. I like the questions the book provides us to think about as we learn to teach science.

· How can you select content topics that are aligned with national and state standards?

· How can you develop and write learning objectives.

· How can you create activities that engage students in meaningful learning?

· How will you design activities for the body of the lesson that enables students to attain learning objectives?

· What strategies will you use to manage student behavior?

· How can you bring it all together to implement effective science instruction in your own classroom?

Nye-Chapter 5 Reflection

Wow! Chapter 5 has a wealth of information that I can use when writing my unit and lesson plans. I wish I would have read the chapter before I posted my unit outline. I feel I have a more solid understanding of what the expectation for a science unit outline is about. In keeping with the rest of the chapters in the textbook the “direct” information is followed by practical examples of how I might utilize this information.
To be honest I feel as if all we do are lesson plans and units; which makes sense since this is teacher training. My point is that the input of information can be overwhelming at times. It is especially difficult because, much like the real world, each teacher has a slightly different approach to lesson plans and units. At times in a few classes I have felt as if I were winging it. I know that in real life experience I will need to do that, but this is where I pay to learn how to design lesson plans and units. Out there they pay me to wing it…and I will be happy to oblige. This class and this book have the easiest to understand and implement formats of all I have learned to date. Straight to the point, this is what I am going to teach and this is how. I am not required to laden down the plan with a bunch of meaningless mumbo jumbo. Anyway I am climbing down from my soapbox now and I will say that this chapter had a lot of useful information that I will apply very soon.

Chapter 5

My experience with the Illinois state standards has been overwhelming because of all the information in each content area. After reading chapter five, I have a better understanding of how to implement the Illinois state standards into the lesson plans with the examples provided in the text book. I also found the list of action words on page one hundred fifteen to be a great tool when writing lesson plans. I agree with the text book about the fact that the teachers often feel their science background is inadequate. I feel the same way but I am learning a step at a time and I will understand science as I research and develop science lesson plans. In developing a rubric for assessment the objectives are used as criteria and then measured by expectations. The rubric is simply modeled in the text book but when working on developing a rubric for a lesson plan it is not as simple as it looks in the text book. Another important step in the process of lesson planning is the grouping of students. In conclusion, I believe every step in the chapter is related to the next in order to produce a detailed lesson plan.

Chapter 5 Reflections

Chapter 5 focuses on giving examples and methods that we as teachers can consider using during inquiry instruction. I found that the safety and procedural part of the chapter to be very helpful. It reminds us, as teachers of science, to always think of safety first and foremost and ensure that we are aware of all the dangers and that we make the students aware of the dangers involved as well. It is important for student to realize that following the correct procedures is imperative.
I also found that assigning tasks to students beforehand such as: principal investigator, materials collector, recorder, and maintance director, ensure full participation of every student. Assigning tasks also saves a lot of time for the actual activity and reduces or minimizes confusion so that more time can be spent focusing on the learning.
I appreciated that the author also accounted for misbehior in the classroom and how to deal with it without taking away from the whole classroom.

chapter 5

Chapter five had several helpful tips and ideas pertaining to managing classroom behavior and safety in the science classroom. I really thought that the section on classfying misbehavior was helpful. It is important to recognize the differences in off-task, inappropriate, and disruptive misbehavior, because all should be dealed with in an appropriate manner, and not necessarily the same way. Most of us as educators will have to deal with disruptive students at some point, and this chapter does a good job in outlining some helpful actions a teacher might consider taking when dealing with a student of this sort, as well as four routine steps that are used regularly in behavior modifaction.

Breaking down the section on implementing learning activities into phases was really helpful to me, because I was able to see that in order to continue to the next phase the one previous to it needed to be completed successfully for the whole lesson to run smoothly. Listing key concepts to cover in each phase was also informative and helpful. One concept that really stuck out to me was in phase B: the pre-activity stage. Here they mention that it is a good idea to outline a set of rules with the students, and give them reasons for the rules. It is in my experience working with children that sometimes they will disregard a rule because they feel it is purposeless and does not pertain to them. Also outlining rules with the students allows them to feel like they have a say and some control in their own classroom. Posting the rules so that all can visually see them is also another good way to try and enforce them. This chapter was also helpful in showing how to write key aspects of lesson plans, such as standards, writing appropriate objectives, and assessing with rubrics.

CHAPTER 5 REFLECTION

I believe that in terms of teaching science, this chapter was by far, the most helpful. The text clearly outlined the NSES Content standards and offered an example using the subject of sound. It made more sense to me once I saw the example. It was interesting to find out that most science teachers developed a deep understanding of science after having taught it. I have wondered how I was going to ever teach a subject I never performed well in and it was intimidating. However, after reading this text, I feel better prepared and have more confidence about teaching science.
Much of what I read in this chapter reiterated most of what I have learned so far pertaining to writing goals, designing lessons and behavior management. I agreed with the suggestion of dealing with disruptive students in a strong and consistent manner. That being said, in terms of behavior management, I was surprised to read that the text suggested (on page 130) using a time out. In my behavior management class, we were taught not to send students to the office, as it sends a clear message that we as the teacher are not the authority. I understand the suggestion, and if it is a case in which the class is in physical danger, that is another matter and isolation is necessary. My professors suggested a strong emphasis in the beginning of the year, having the students make the guidelines for the class (so they are “stakeholders” in what happens) and outline the consequences. All of this is completed under the guidance of the teacher. This way, as the school year continues, the students are well aware of what is expected of them and actually, less time is spent on discipline.
I did appreciate the behavior management plan the text outlined. It is necessary to correctly identify the problem behavior and detail how often and under what circumstances it occurs.
One concept that made sense to me after reading this chapter was how to implement learning activities through different phases. The outline the text provided was quite detailed and I feel it is something I will use as a future teacher.

Chapter 5 Reflection

This chapter is perfectly timed as we begin to write our lesson plans for ELED 305. The authors begin by emphasizing that proper planning of a lesson begins with the concept or what the students need to know. They also reiterate the importance of writing clear objectives and give excellent examples. Although they suggest developing activities and then planning assessments, I like the method discussed in class. First, determine what the students need to know. Then ask, “How will I know that they understand it?” The third phase can be to plan activities and instruction.

I especially appreciate the section “Managing Inquiry Instruction and Learning.” When children work semi-independently or in groups with hands-on activities, the experience can be rewarding. It can also be chaotic. I will use these strategies for helping maintain order so that students can be safe, engaged, and come away with my learning objectives.

Chapter 5

Chapter 5 Planning and Managing Inquiry Instruction

Being a first or second year teacher, I don't think I will be writing my own instruction or lesson plans for science. I don't know if I will have the confidence to do that right away. I will tweak or put my own spin on them if the school allows. I fall into the category of teachers whose knowledge of science comes to an understanding after I start teaching it. I like the tips the book gives about developing my background knowledge. I found the ABC's of objectives helpful. Audience, behaviors and conditions. It makes writing objectives so much easier and manageable. I am using it in my other classes. Grouping students for learning can be a little tricky. I have never liked working in groups, until I came to college. I then realized how cooperative groups are more beneficial to students. You can bounce ideas off each other, or get each other thinking. In my other class we use think, pair, share and it is a great way to view others beliefs and get several understandings of a problem. Safety in the classroom - I think when I was in high school the classes were so over crowed that many experiments were unable to be taught. Like the start of anything new, rules need to be established the first day and followed closely all year. I need to remember to not punish the whole class for what one or two students might do. Disruptive students should be dealt with individually.

Chapter 5 Reflection (BH)

Chapter 5 is all about creating lesson plans for science. I found this chapter very helpful especially since we are now getting ready to design our own. I never even hear of the ABC objectives until I read this chapter. I didn't realize that it stood for audience, behavior, and conditions. I think that is such a great thing to know, like a little trick in the teacher's book. I also think science learning centers are an important part of lesson plan teaching. Centers allow students to explore, discover, and experiment on their own structured or less structured situations. I think it is good for them to explore different things while learning the same topic. It gives them time to do things on their own and not sit at their desk being taught by the teacher the whole time. I also like how it talked about rubrics. I know how to do them but it is nice to have a refresher sometimes, and not all rubrics are a like. I found it really helpful when I noticed the outline for a unit they present in the chapter. I was not sure how to do my outline at first until I saw the book's example. Another important thing that was talked about was safety. Teacher's are responsible for their students and their well being. They need to ensure everyone's safety at all times, by making sure they are doing what they are told or wearing the proper safety equipment. I think it is pretty cool to have animals in the classroom. It gives everyone a responsibility to take care of it and want to know more about it which gets them more involved in science. I have never had any of that so I would definitely want to have a classroom pet in my future room. According to the book how you manage your science classroom, including managing materials and student behavior, can make or break your science teaching. The main purposes of classroom management are to ensure safety and to facilitate learning.

Chapter 6 Assessing Science Learning

In this chapter I learned it's more beneficial to the students and teachers if we assess and evaluate together as students perform tasks. By assessing and evaluating at the same time, teachers are able to gather information on what students know and understand. It allows teachers to identify misconceptions and correct it early on. I think diagnostic assessment is most important. As a teacher, I need to be aware of where the students are and what they are suppose to know. If the students aren't where I need them to be, then I can adjust my teaching techniques for those who are in need of it. I can not build on misconceptions, that is why I think the diagnostic assessment is most important. If I am doing my job correctly with the pre-assessment before the start of every new unit or lesson, then theoretically every student should meet or pass the NSES. I really like the rubrics for assessment. I agree with the book that they help students take responsibility for their work and it can be consistent. I really like the idea of keeping a checklist for investigating procedures and attitudes and behaviors It gives me a way to see how the students are evolving into great learners. I like all the checklists! Using mini tests to prepare for state tests is a great way for K-5 teachers to help students master them! But is this okay to do, or does it fall under teaching for the test?? This was a very informative chapter! I will reflect back on it, probably very often!!

Chapter 5 Reflection

In chapter 5, I liked how the authors gave a list of rules for students to follow during science time. It was nice to have the rules provided. This way as a teacher you can use the rules that are in the book instead of coming up with the rules on your own. If a teacher had to come up with the rules on their own, they may miss something important that may seem obvious. It is very important for students to practice safety in the classroom, especially during science time when students are doing experiments.
The section that the authors: Bass, Contant, and Carin talked about on managing classroom behavior, I felt was an important section. A lot of examples that books give are about the perfect situation where none of the students are arguing and everyone gets along. It is a very real thing to have students misbehaving in a classroom. I liked how the authors gave detailed descriptions on how to handle the behavior and suggestions on appropriate punishments. As beginning teachers, we may not know what appropriate punishment may be. There may be instances where we go too easy on a student or other times we may be too hard. To have ideas as to what appropriate punishment is, helps us as future teachers know what the right balance is.
I did find that the first few pages of the chapter seemed like review from the introductory course on teaching. The authors went into some detail on how to write a lesson plan with good objectives. I found it to be a good review of what needed to be put into a lesson plan. As future teachers we are not experienced enough to write perfect lesson plans, so having this review is a good thing. I felt that it was like a refresher of what to do and what not to do. Until we get years of experience doing this in our classroom, we will need to be refreshed to make sure that we are on the right track to making good lesson plans with objectives that are really objectives and not procedures.

Chapter 5

Chapter 5 begins by explaining how a science teacher might go about planning for a science lesson. The first step in developing a science lesson is naturally, deciding on what content or material to be taught and learned. This step in planning a science lesson seems to me like one of the most difficult, since although there are national standards, they do not indicate specifically what teachers should be teaching in each grade. I think that as a first year teacher, I will probably base my curriculum off of what other teachers at the school I'm at do. However, I would ideally like to develop at least some of the lessons I teach myself. I like how this chapter talks about becoming familiar with the science material that will be taught. Because I'm not a science major and probably need to refresh my memory about many science concepts, I liked the suggestions they gave for developing background knowledge on science topics.

Although I have written many objectives for my methods and other teaching courses, I have never heard of the ABC (audience, behavior, conditions) model for writing them. I think using this model would be a good way to check and see if the objectives I write are adequate. I have definitely left out mention of materials in the objectives I have written in the past which should have been included under the conditions part of the ABC model. I will definitely use the ABC model when I write the objectives for my unit on density. Another think I like about the chapter is the description of how to introduce new science topics. The chapter gives many things to consider when introducing a topic, such as keeping it brief, and being accepting of students' answers, even if they are not correct. When i taught a health lesson on STDs to students for my clinicals, I wrote down everyones preconceived notions about STDs on the board the first day, and addressed those things within the text the next day. This allowed students to see the differences in what they thought and what is actually true. This activity could be good in a science lesson because it would open students' eyes to common misconceptions.

The section about using a variety of lesson activities states that many lessons and activities which are found on the internet and through other sources are not necessarily inquiry based, but almost any activity can be modified to be more inquiry and constructivist oriented. I think being able to modify lessons during the planning process and even during instruction to encourage inquiry is a great skill to have, but something that will take some time and practice to become really efficient at. The section about field trips in this chapter makes it a point to state that teachers should plan learning activities for students before, during, and after the trip, along with an assessment. When I was in school, we never had to do any work that related to field trips, and i have a hard time remembering what i ever learned from them. So, I think if a teacher developed such activities, they would make field trips very productive. Lastly, I liked the mention of having live animals in the classroom in this chapter. In one of my clinical placements, my cooperating teacher had a turtle in the class, which she would let students take care of by cleaning its tank and feeding it. The turtle was obviously interesting and engaging for students, and I think letting students take care of it was a good way to develop responsibility.

ch.6 reflections

CH.6: ASSESING SCIENCE LEARNING


This chapter is very interesting. It deals with and it’s main theme and theory is assessing a student during science. Critical questions that should be answered are what, how, and how well science is learned by a student. Practical approaches to science are three types of assessing. Diagnostic which is the before teaching assessment; summative which is the after teaching assessment, and formative which is the during teaching assessment. Many different principles can be applied to assessing. Teachers should ask the questions: Where are the students going, and what are they learning now. Both national and state goals should be a big part in the assessing process. Assessment will help guide teachers into helping their students reach their goals in the science curriculum.

This chapter is a great tool to use when assessing the science subject. It is our jobs to ask questions and assess what are students are doing. As a future teacher, I not only have to ask these certain questions to see how my student’s development is, but I also have to go by the state standards and national standards. This will further help teachers understand the individual development of each student and where to help them improve. I feel that this chapter was very clear as to how to assess students and to what guidelines teachers should follow. I have no need to ask a question for this chapter; it was all clarifying information.

ch. 5 reflection I'm re-posting it

CHAPTER 5: PLANNING AND MANAGING INQUIRY INSTRUCTION


Chapter 5 goes into more about teaching inquiries and how to regulate it. The theme and topic of this chapter is management and national, and state expectations. This chapter plays a role in how to plan your science curriculum. Through four titles your practical approach to science can be the science content, the instructional objectives, the learning activities, and assessment. Science content is extremely important because it’s here where you learn how to engage the students and play off of their inquiry. Furthermore, it’s important because this is how you introduce the facts and theories of a certain topic. This can further lead into integrated parts of the curriculum such as: reading, writing, listening, speaking, watching (observing), and doing (experiment).
I found this chapter to be an extension of chapter 4 in where chapter 4 gives you the ideals on how to guide your students, in ch.5 it shows how to organize and guide these activities. This chapter is straight forward in the respect of what is expected of you as the teacher teaching the science curriculum. Following state and national goals; guides a teacher into what and how he or she will approach a science lesson plan. This chapter made perfect sense and nothing confused me. I have no questions for this chapter, it tells you how to deal with disruptions during an activity and how to step-by-step prepare for the activity or lecture for the day. It was an excellent chapter.

Chapter 6 Reflection

Chapter 6 was based on assessing science learning. I truly believe that one of the easiest content areas to assess is Science. The reason I believe this is the case, is because teaching a science concept will usually have an array of answers; if a person does not understand the concept it will not be expressed. Assessment has an advantage; it will confirm to the teacher that a concept has been acquired by the student. The book stated that student participation is a key assessment. When a person is confident and understands the concept they will make an effort to participate.
As a future teacher the difficulty lies in, what form of assessment do I use? When do I know what form of assessment to use; Informal, traditional, or performance? I guess the ability to know what assessment to you use will come with experience. I know that informal assessment is based on teacher-student interaction. Traditional assessment is the type of assessment everyone is used to; multiple-choice, true-false, short-answer, and essay items. Performance assessment is based on hands-on and conceptual thoughts. The one type of assessment I am familiarized with is the traditional assessment. The chapter stated that a teacher can use multiple-choice, but ask the student to give an explanation for the answer chosen. Honestly, I never really thought about the idea of giving an explanation for chosen multiple choice answers, I really liked the idea.
The chapter touch based on the state testing. As a future educator, the one thing I dread will be the testing. I believe that the testing can cause much stress to both the student and the teacher. Let’s be honest, you have to pretty much spend the entire year preparing your students for a state wide test. I believe that part of the reason it is so hard to teach through inquiry learning is because of the test preparations. As a student I remember being drilled to memorize information, to prepare for the testing. Do we really want to focus of staying above the surface on just about every concept? We cannot scratch the surface of a concept, it is necessary that we build a strong foundation, and build upon it.

Chapter 6 Reflection.

Chapter 6 Reflection

One of the main purposes of education is to assess the understanding and learning of the students that are being taught. The way teachers do this is through assessment and evaluation. There are several methods of assessments that the book discusses which I feel are all very good. One type of assessment which I feel is excellent to use is the Informal Assessment. The book describes this assessment in Laymen terms by calling it a“on the fly” assessment. This could while the students are working on something or spot checks in a sense. What I like about this assessment the most is that you can gauge the questions for the students based on what you see and how they react to certain aspects of the lesson. A Diagnostic Assessment is also very good to learn exactly how much the student knows prior to gaining new knowledge. It could also offer a little insight in how the student prefers to learn. This chapter gave a lot of good examples of every type of assessment. What was most surprising to me (and at the same time, not so surprising) was that the frequency of Administrators use of assessments was once a year. I feel that this number should be much higher, especially if the principal is held accountable for the scores in his or her building. “Once a year” is definitely not enough to make necessary changes or to act proactively in any given case. However, I did mention that this is not surprising because principals, in my opinion, are more focused on numbers, budgets, and the business aspects of the school rather than an individual student’s education. That’s not to say that principals don’t care about the student’s learning, but that there is “prioritization” that occurs.

Reflection 6

This chapter provided me with extremely valuable information on different forms of assessment that I can use in my future classroom. Diagnostic, summative, and formative tests are each going to be used in my classroom, so it was fantastic to learn more about them and how to implement them in the classroom. I think that authentic performance assessment will really help me to see how well the students have understood the material that was covered. They allow the students to do hands-on activities that coincide with what was previously learned.

I would also love to incorporate the use of science notebooks into my classroom. I have seen how beneficial they are in ELED 305, and I know that they will be beneficial to my future students. They are a great way for students to organize their information, and for me to keep an eye on what the students are writing about. I can easily look through the notebooks, and see which students need more help, and in which areas require a little more work.

Chapter 6 provided many different examples of checklists that seem to be valuable. I can utilize those to help me evaluate the students. I also enjoyed the many different rubrics and performance testing ideas incorporated in the chapter. I think that by including all of these examples, it gives me a better idea of how my assessments and evaluations should be. I think that the area that discussed items on state tests of science is great. It offers amateurs educators an idea of what to expect on standardized tests. Sample test questions were provided, as was the idea of using old released tests to work off of. Old tests allow teachers to view similar tests that the students will have to take.

Chapter 6

As a future educator, I found this chapter extremely helpful. It was very informative about each of the different types of assessments and variations of those assessments were described well in the book. One of the things I found that the chapter stressed was that, as teachers of science , we should be assessing THREE different times...... prior to the lesson(diagnostic) during the lesson(formative) and after the lesson has been completed(summative). I have known about formal and informal assessments prior to this class but I had no idea that there existed so many types of each. One of the things that I like about the informal assessments is that they can be as simple as the note book that a students is keeping or how thoroughly a handout is completed during an experiment or investigation. All a teacher has to do is choose one and they are on their way to gathering their own data.

The examples given were well detailed and the book each down to the last detail . I found after reading the book, I had no questions about assessments. It's too bad that I had not had this thorough of an explanation of assessment(formal and informal) prior to this class. I know that there are examples given in the book that I will use when putting my unit together.

One thing that I did NOT agree with on a few of the rubrics was that there were zero's on them. It could be that because I am going into special education that I feel that way( there should be some credit for trying) but I don't believe that zero's should be used on a rubric( I would start with a 1). I feel that that would be defeating for a child to get " 0 points" and would not do anything for their self-esteem. I may be wrong, but I don't see how any teacher could give a zero unless the students is defiant and then that's a child with special needs(something else is going on).

Finally , I know that I will be using a lot of what is in this book as I put together my unit on science. I find it very informative and helpful and am happy to have it as a text in my class.

Chapter 4

Chapter 4 describes several research tested models for science instruction. Inquiry, 5-E, guided discovery, direct instruction, and textbook approach are the models of instruction discussed in this chapter. One thing I like about the inquiry model for instruction is how learners are engaged by scientific questions. The chapter says that students should be encouraged to generate their own questions based of their prior knowledge and real-world experiences. However, the book also states that some students may have difficulty formulating their own questions, in which case the teacher would have to formulate a question or problem for them. I think getting students to form their own questions and problems is a good skill for them to practice. Identifying problems and generating questions is a skill that must be all the time in the real world.

Another thing in this chapter I liked was how it explained how direct instruction might be used by the teacher in the explain step of the 5-E model. It is definitely important to make sure students understand what the teacher wants them to, and sometimes direct instruction is the best way to make sure students are getting what the teachers wants them to out of a lesson. I think that students with special needs would especially benefit from some direct instruction, if infused somehow into guided discovery or inquiry approaches. On the other hand, the textbook approach would probably not be something i would use with students that have special needs, because it requires highly proficient language arts skills that students may not have. From the book's description of each, I felt that guided discovery learning could be used along with some of the steps in the 5-E model, such as engage or explore.

Chapter 4

Chapter 4 talks about the 5-E Model of Instruction: Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, and Evaluate. Following these steps will help me as a future teacher to make sure that I help all the students understand the content of the material. If we start by engaging students in an activity they will remember the steps as they explore and as we answer their inquiry questions we can explain and elaborate the problem and evaluate as we review the content with them. The model of instruction can be used in al grades and subjects. Children do not know what they are learning, if we keep the materials fun we can keep them engaged. As I was teaching a social studies lesson, I found myself using the 5-E method. Even though we were reading a chapter I had the students look at the pictures before and ask questions, as we started reading the chapter we answered their questions and explored. This is the method my clinical teacher uses; as she’s reading the chapter she stops and explains the material to the students. She gives them examples that relate to their prior knowledge and then builds on that knowledge. I plan to implement the same structure in my classroom.

chapter 4

Karen Saa

10/7/2009

Chapter four discussed in detail the method of teaching science for understanding. It primarily focused on the 5-E Model of Instruction. The 5-E model also focuses on the NSES tasks of inquiry. After reading the chapter I am convinced that inquiry teaching is the best way to actually teach Science. Students learn through investigating the world around them. This allows students to learn concepts on their own with the assistance of the teacher. It is a true scaffolding process. The 5-E Model consists of five stages. The stages are the following: engage, explore, explain, elaborate, and evaluate. Each phase focuses on a slightly different tactic of teaching. The explore stage focuses more on the guided discovery while the explain stage gives opportunities for direct textbook teaching. I was pretty surprised that the engage process is so important to the teaching of science. Many times we just want to get to the point with students rather than focusing on grasping their attention first. This was also the same thing that made sense to me after I read over the chapter. It makes perfect sense to engage students prior to teaching. This is true for science but also true for all other education. I am just confused on what to do to really get students engaged in science. The chapter talks about the engage process as the phase that gets students attention and that also serves as a tool that enables teachers to learn students’ prior conceptions of that topic. Would experiments be appropriate or would in class discussion be an appropriate engaging activity?

Chapter 4 Journal

This chapter went into detail on the different instructional methods for teaching science.  I was really surprised when the discovery and the textbook method were discussed.  I thought that the author would not agree with the textbook method at all. However, Bass said that it was ok to use all three methods when needed.  Teachers should not only rely on one method for teaching science.  The 5-E Method was the most prominent method in the chapter, but that was mainly because it is proven to have many benefits. 

The original inquiry method was called the learning cycle.  This was openly used in the past, and has been remodeled with the 5-E Method.  The 5-E Method is composed of different inquiry stages.  These stages are:  engage, explore, explain, elaborate, and evaluate.  The method is designed to build upon students’ inquiry skills.  It helps the student to develop knowledge and thinking on their own, as well as in collaborative groups. 

Guided discovery is when the teacher aids the students in discovering about the topic at hand.  The students work together to figure out the problem.  Direct instruction is when the teacher presents the material in a very basic manner.  This type of instruction does not allow the students to engage in active learning.  They are not allowed to manipulate objects, and figure out solutions for themselves.  Textbooks have been changing more and more recently to adapt to the inquiry method of teaching.  This allows teachers to be more creative in the classroom, and provide more investigation opportunities, 

I like that all of the methods were discussed, and numerous examples of them were given.  The examples made me more aware of the different teaching methods.  After reading, I now see that the 5-E Method is not always the best method to use.  Sometimes it is better to use the textbook method when trying to get basic concepts across to the class.  I did like lesson plan on batteries because it was structured to allow the students to experience success. 

The research section at the end of the chapter was extremely helpful.  It showed what the current research trends in science education have been. The most prominent factor is inquiry-based teaching.  It has been shown to not only improve learning in science, but also other academic areas.  I also found it very interesting that inquiry methods allow students with severe learning disabilities to actively participate in the classroom.  I think that this is super important because as a future teacher, I want to make sure that all of my students have an equal opportunity to experience lessons and activities.