Looking back at my experiences with science when I was
younger I don’t remember much. I remember many years sitting in my class and
listening to the teacher read us the chapter from our textbook most of the
time. I do remember a couple of science projects we did in my fourth grade
class that were a lot of fun. When talking about photosynthesis we put celery
into different colored cups of water to see what would happen. We also did a
project where we dissected an owl pellet to see what was inside. Another
science project we did in my fourth grade class had to do with chicks. Being
from a small rural town, we had a lot of farmers in the area. One of these many
farmers donated four eggs to us. We were discussing the life cycle of a baby chick
and what they need to live. We took care of the eggs, nurturing them until one
day they hatched. The chicks then became our class pets for the rest of the
time that we were discussing the topic. These projects are some of my few
fonder memories of science while growing up. Other than my fourth grade class
the only other class that stands out in my mind for science was my eighth grade
class. In this science class we did a project where we dissected frogs. I
absolutely hated this project and thought the school smelled horrible that
entire week. Somehow though that is what sticks out in my mind when I think
about my science experiences. I would like to think that the fact that I am a
girl had nothing to do with the fact that I didn’t have the greatest experience
with science, however some people would say it was. Science didn’t seem to peak
my interest in school this may have been a combination of the way it was taught
to me, and my lack of interest in the subject. Overall, my past experiences
with science have greatly influenced the way I want to teach my future
students. Since I didn’t have the best or most influential experiences with
science I want to create fun, exciting, and memorable experiences for my future
students. In my future years of teaching I plan to try and keep my science
lesson very hands on. We already know that hands on activities help the
students learn better by keeping the engaged. I also hope that the lesson will
be more memorable to the students. By keeping my science lessons engaging and
memorable the students will hopefully have a positive view on learning science
throughout their school career. The students will want to learn and discover
more in the science field. I hope that by reflecting on my science experiences
and realizing what benefitted and what didn’t benefit my learning will help me
to better teach my future students. I hope that my future students will create
a love for learning new things in the science field.
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ReplyDeleteAmanda,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your post and thought that your past experiences, the little you did have, seemed positive! I think the photosynthesis experiment was a wonderful way to demonstrate this idea to young children. I also had an experience pertaining to baby chicks! Unfortunately, I think all of the chicks we were supposed to be caring for died....so that's depressing. Sometimes even those lessons can be valuable and humbling for a child, morbid, I know, but it is important that children are aware that sometimes things may not always go according to plan. Based on reading your blog, it seems like you have an interest in integrating science into your future classroom’s curriculum. I like that you are planning on teaching your students in a very hands-on manner. I think that your students will love that idea, as well as peaking your own interests in this content area. I enjoyed reading your story; thanks for sharing your past experiences!
Amanda,
ReplyDeleteIt’s so unfortunate that there are students out there like you and I who cannot recall science experiments until later in our academic lives. It is good to hear that you were able to recall a tad bit earlier in your life than I was. I was unable to pull out information until the 6th grade! It seems as though once you started the experiments in your classes you had done experiments that I hadn’t done until 6th or 7th grade because I had also dissected owl pellets but I did not do that until the 7th grade! I am sorry to hear that you have a lack of interest in science! I hope that you can encourage your female students to love science! Also, hopefully as you continue to teach and grow you can learn from your students and maybe their joy will strike some sort of interest in science for you!
Amanda,
ReplyDeleteI'm with you on having poor science experiences when I was growing up as well. Although science experiments were hands on, it was never very memorable. It does seem like you had a good fourth grade science experience though. You seemed to have a lot of hands on experiments that were memorable. We also dissected owl pellets- gross! I believe that in my school we also did the frog legs and it was just not enjoyable. I don't believe that it had to do with me being a girl either. I think that you are using your bad past experience to fuel your science teaching for the future! I think that's very important! You seem to have great ideas about keeping the activities hands on and engaging, which are two very important things to include in science lessons! I hope that we are able to teach our future students to love every subject and create memorable experience for them!