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.