Where to even begin. At the beginning of the semester I thought I knew about science and how to teach it but I was soon proven wrong. I have had my ups and downs with my science education experience and knew that I wanted my kids to love science as much as possible but I didn’t know how to make that happen. I knew that content didn’t have to be taught out of the book but I didn’t know how to go about being creative with the lessons partially because I was uncomfortable with the material and didn’t know of any resources to seek out. Now that I have had this class and been exposed to more than enough resources and have seen myself progress in my science teaching (through videos and student feedback) I feel more comfortable than before. I still have much to learn and need to really spend time going over the content, finding resources, eliciting student ideas, and knowing student’s common misconceptions about the topics while I am planning. I am no longer afraid of science because I know where to go for help and I have come to really enjoy planning science and teaching it.
I have never thought about what science is until this semester. Anytime I would think about science I thought about experiments and observations (which is something I always do so it made me think science is everything around me). Science is a blend of logic and imagination and it is all around us but my students don’t know that. It is my job as a teacher and as their science resource to teach them what science is and that it is everything around us. Coming into science class I didn’t know how to plan effectively but I learned how. I learned about the Nature of Science and how to plan with the 5 E’s (engage, explore, explain, extend, and evaluate). Now I have resources to help me plan but I still feel overwhelmed because I know I am not an expert on the content. I know that content knowledge develops over time but it makes me nervous teaching material for the first time and not knowing how it will go (always a learning experience).
Before this science course I had no idea what science would look like in my class and it worried me but I have learned that for each science lesson I want it to be as fun as possible, During this semester I had to create a very detailed lesson plan (CoRe attached) that included the 5 E’s and one topic from the Nature of Science (science is social). This plan made me sit down and think long and hard about every aspect of my lesson and I believe that is how science should be planned if you want the lesson to be effective. I know how I want to plan my lessons and that I want my students to have hands on experiences throughout science but I also want to teach them about inquiry. I didn’t know how to do this for elementary students until I was exposed to mealworms. I believe that inquiry is very important and that students should know what it is and how it looks so what better way than investigating mealworms and doing research to learn more about them and then coming up with their own investigation question (can’t wait to implement that within my classroom). While I know that I want science to be hands on I do need to included the topic information and embed that within my lesson so that students can meet the standard and be successful in science throughout their school career. One thing that I did know going into science (and all content areas) is that lessons should be planned with students at the center and for the lessons to be geared towards the students you must know and understand who they are as learners.
My experience with science in the classroom is that it is often cut out of the daily curriculum (even though it shouldn’t be). My ultimate goal is to make sure science is part of our daily routine and that it isn’t just book work, it is a full, well thought out, effective lesson. It is important for students at every grade level to be exposed to science daily and make sure that they are being taught everything they need to know because science builds yearly and student’s background knowledge on topics is crucial to their understanding. Students should not only be taught their process skills but should be taught that the skills they use in science can be used in their everyday life and other content areas.
Overall, I believe I have learned more than enough to succeed in teaching science. I now know where to go to find resources, how to effectively plan, and how to teach! I have learned to break out of my shell and try things out of my comfort level and so far everything has worked out and been very successful! I have become more confident with teaching science content and I know that as I go through my journey as a teacher I will grow more confidence each and every day!
I have never thought about what science is until this semester. Anytime I would think about science I thought about experiments and observations (which is something I always do so it made me think science is everything around me). Science is a blend of logic and imagination and it is all around us but my students don’t know that. It is my job as a teacher and as their science resource to teach them what science is and that it is everything around us. Coming into science class I didn’t know how to plan effectively but I learned how. I learned about the Nature of Science and how to plan with the 5 E’s (engage, explore, explain, extend, and evaluate). Now I have resources to help me plan but I still feel overwhelmed because I know I am not an expert on the content. I know that content knowledge develops over time but it makes me nervous teaching material for the first time and not knowing how it will go (always a learning experience).
Before this science course I had no idea what science would look like in my class and it worried me but I have learned that for each science lesson I want it to be as fun as possible, During this semester I had to create a very detailed lesson plan (CoRe attached) that included the 5 E’s and one topic from the Nature of Science (science is social). This plan made me sit down and think long and hard about every aspect of my lesson and I believe that is how science should be planned if you want the lesson to be effective. I know how I want to plan my lessons and that I want my students to have hands on experiences throughout science but I also want to teach them about inquiry. I didn’t know how to do this for elementary students until I was exposed to mealworms. I believe that inquiry is very important and that students should know what it is and how it looks so what better way than investigating mealworms and doing research to learn more about them and then coming up with their own investigation question (can’t wait to implement that within my classroom). While I know that I want science to be hands on I do need to included the topic information and embed that within my lesson so that students can meet the standard and be successful in science throughout their school career. One thing that I did know going into science (and all content areas) is that lessons should be planned with students at the center and for the lessons to be geared towards the students you must know and understand who they are as learners.
My experience with science in the classroom is that it is often cut out of the daily curriculum (even though it shouldn’t be). My ultimate goal is to make sure science is part of our daily routine and that it isn’t just book work, it is a full, well thought out, effective lesson. It is important for students at every grade level to be exposed to science daily and make sure that they are being taught everything they need to know because science builds yearly and student’s background knowledge on topics is crucial to their understanding. Students should not only be taught their process skills but should be taught that the skills they use in science can be used in their everyday life and other content areas.
Overall, I believe I have learned more than enough to succeed in teaching science. I now know where to go to find resources, how to effectively plan, and how to teach! I have learned to break out of my shell and try things out of my comfort level and so far everything has worked out and been very successful! I have become more confident with teaching science content and I know that as I go through my journey as a teacher I will grow more confidence each and every day!