In my first week at Twelve Corners, I have experienced much and have the opportunity to gain further insight into the workings of education and the need for resources to ensure engagement in material and facilitate independent discovery.

I have to admit, I was a bit apprehensive about working with 6th graders as it is quite out of my comfort zone. Even though I enjoy working with younger children, I felt as if I would be constrained in terms of content and depth because of the lack of prior experience and background knowledge. In addition, the management issues which I had anticipated also compounded my stress. However, I was (happily) mistaken as I have thoroughly enjoyed the experience so far and look forward to the remainder of my time at Twelve Corners. The students are polite, motivated, engaged, and excited about science. They feel connected to their education and are provided with the resources necessary to ensure success and development. I feel that this experience has already provided me with great insight into the need for investment in the education of our children – without the proper resources, how can a student be expected to succeed?

My first exposure to my classes was last Friday and this past Monday (as the school operates on a rotating A-B schedule). The students were involved in Microscope Mania, a unit designed to incorporate the study of protists with skills practice using the microscope. I was amazing at the level of self-sufficiency among the students and while the often had questions, they worked independently and could move from one task to another without issue. I was also amazed at the sophistication many students demonstrated when discussing both organisms and microscope use. Lastly, their respect for the available resources was also evident and, as my CT explained, is a value on which the teachers and administration focus from the start.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, the classes finished Microscope Mania with a unit test – however, this assessment was again based on both identification of protists and necessary skills. Students “judged” each other and the teachers were only used in case of a discrepancy between groups. Again I observed the self-sufficiency and respect among the students in all classes – when the students had completed the test, they put away the materials (turned off and covered the microscope, cleaned slides, etc…) and effortlessly transitioned into another activity. It is my hope that I can continue this trend of smooth transitions and learn more from my CT about implementing such practices.

As the 8 week placement will go by quickly, my CT and I agreed that it would be in my best interest to begin teaching as soon as possible. Therefore, my first lesson were this week (Thursday and Friday), beginning a unit on plant reproduction and processes (photosynthesis and cellular respiration). As a means of maintaining continuity, we decided to mesh my ideas with established classroom practices (mainly the use of “study guides” developed by my CT). In my first lessons as a teacher of 6th graders, I worked hard to incorporate a variety of learning styles into the lesson so as to engage as many students as possible. We first watch a short video which gave an overview of the topic and provided the students with some background knowledge. We then review the study guide homework as a class and worked to build conceptual understanding by asking probing questions meant to synthesize connections between subtopics. Lastly, we began an on-going Predict/Observe/Explain project involving the germination and planting of seeds. I thought long and hard about the logistics of distributing materials and guiding the students through the process of making their “mini-greenhouses” out of wet paper toweling, a Petri dish, and three seeds. With the help of my CT and some adjustments following the first class, I believe that it went very well. The students seemed excited as they were asking many questions about the project and what we would be doing in the future as well as conscientiously working on making prediction and careful observations of their seeds (many students wrote “I predict that…” without prompting! still others decided to draw their observations on the provided sheet).

It is my hope that my plans will continue to engage the students using a variety of media so that they get the most our of the experience. Next week we will be using foldables, concept maps, flower and seed dissections, a “Flower Puzzle” and continued observations of our germinating seeds to further build conceptual understanding of reproduction and connections with other topics.

I am excited to be working with so many amazing students and a great CT. In addition, Carli and I have the opportunity to plan many of our lessons together as well as co-teach a section which I feel will be a great experience for the both of us, demonstrating the need for collaboration not only among students but among teachers as well as a means of building a community of professional learners dedicated to the development of engaging, meaningful, and relevant science education.

This post is a bit older but I was unable to post it due to problems with the internet/site…

While I have truly enjoyed my experiences at Edison, this opportunity is not without frustrations. As the son of two educators I knew that this was not an easy profession by any means; however, I have found that no matter how I try to implement engaging, inquiry-based activities into my lessons, I am still not seeing the results that I had expected.

I originally thought that by providing my students a break from traditional science classroom practices such as authentic assessments and physically engaging investigations, the students in my classes would feel a greater sense of ownership and investment in their education. However, the culture of the American educational system such that it is makes the implementation of these practices extremely difficult. In addition, as much as I try to scaffold these practices and provide the students with the necessary framework to complete such assignments, the majority of students choose to not participate.

I don’t know for sure if it is a question of work ethic, confusion, or disregard for educational opportunities. I thought that with my energetic approach to Living Environment I could encourage students to engage in their education. However, it is extremely frustrating when we get to the end of the marking period and half of my students are failing. I realize that a variety of issues are part of the problem, such as attendance problems, the cycle of poverty, the availability to proper study spaces,  and the necessity to work and provide for family members (among others). I do realize, though that there needs to be a sense of accountability with our students and, at some point, it falls on them.

So my question/struggle is – What if inquiry-based aren’t working? Are these practices for everyone? So far, I would say that while inquiry provides a great alternative strategy to traditional practices, I don’t feel as if it is the end-all be-all for science education. As a means of addressing each of our students’ learning styles, we must not only differentiate instruction but also differentiate our practices so that each student has the opportunity to feel included in a safe and productive educational environment as well as engage in the material in his or her own way.

Since the start of 2010, there have already been new experiences for me which have worked to shape both my perspective and my practice. This post is the first in a series which will continue to log my exposure to science education and the methods and tools which I will gather and share to inform my future work as a teacher of science.

Of these changes was that of my student teaching placement. Following the winter holiday, I completed my last three weeks at Edison Tech with Lisa E. and her Living Environment classes. This experience was extremely insightful and did much to inform my practice – I had the unique opportunity to work with a great cooperating teacher who allowed me to try a variety of tools in the classroom and evaluate not only student performance but also self-assess so as to reflect on the experiences learn from them. In addition, my time at Edison not only provided me insight into urban education and reaffirmed my desire to teach in an urban district, but also helped to renew my confidence in my decision to be an educator. While often frustrating and never easy, this challenging opportunity provided amazing experience and preparation for my future work.

The second change has been the start of a new semester at Warner. It is my hope that the two courses I am taking this semester will work to continue to provide valuable, practical, and meaningful information and experiences which will, in turn, allow me to better serve my current and future students. While I realize that we have requirements for both our specific program as well as for the Warner School, I hope our focus remains on our students and the preparation of highly-qualified and confident educators.

Our first classes (Topics – dealing with mayoral control of schools and alternatives to No Child Left Behind; EDU 448 – insight into New York State standards and their use in the classroom) have provided additional insight into relevant aspects of education – I hope this focus continues so as to adequately prepare us for our new careers!

The last change thus far has been a new student teaching placement which I began yesterday at Twelve Corners Middle School in Brighton. While working with 6th graders may seem daunting to some, I believe that this will be another meaningful experience which will inevitably guide my practice. I have already been able to work closely with some of my students and look forward to the unique opportunities that this placement will provide (such as the prospect of co-teaching one class with a fellow Warner student). Such experiences will only help in my preparation and provide the practical and relevant insight necessary to successful serve one’s students and provide them with the tools and skills required for critical thinking and problem solving.

What went well? During the activity, I felt that the lab management portion of the lesson went very well and provided us the opportunity to build upon the content covered over the past two days. I was able to keep many of the students on task (often a difficult thing to do in my classroom) and because the activity was short, I didn’t have the attention-span issues which often plagued longer investigations. In addition, I because I was more explicit with my introduction to the activity and directions, the students were better prepared when they started the activity.

What would I have changed? I believe that I should have done a better job at explaining the Predict/Observe/Explain activity – even though the students have completed one of these activities in the past, they still seem unsure about how to effectively and successful engage in it – they are still confused about the important role of evidence in making predictions and synthesizing conclusions.

What did I learn about my students? I learned that it takes a lot to engage my students and that they can find sometimes inappropriate humor in any situation which works to derail productivity.

What did I learn about myself? I do feel that my energy and passion in the material does allow me to motivate certain students who might not otherwise engage in the material. I need to then channel that energy through more interactive opportunities to provide a more inquiry-based experience for my students to develop their individualized conceptual understanding. In addition, I have yet to key into the motivation of many of my students – it is extremely frustrating to plan activities and assignments thinking that because they are authentic, only to be “shot down” when the majority of students do not complete them. Hopefully my energy and enthusiasm can work to encourage more students to become engaged in the material and the planned activities.

How did I create a meaningful learning community? By integrating a variety of learning styles (written, visual, and auditory expression) as well as allowing for the social construction of a framework for the development of conceptual understanding, I believe that I was able to provide each student with the necessary content to build comprehension of the anaerobic processes of cellular respiration. In addition, by incorporating an authentic assessment I believe that I was able to introduce students to a different but more valid form of evaluation which incorporated their learning and expressive styles.

Also, students had the opportunity to work in groups of three on their Predict/Observe/Explain activity and fulfill a role most comfortable to them as a means of contributing to their group’s completion of the assigned work.

What went well? Following yesterday’s lesson, we were effectively able to build on the discussed material to continue building our conceptual understanding of cellular respiration. For the most part, the formative assessments conducted throughout the lesson demonstrated that at least some of the material covered in the previous day’s lesson was retained by a few of the students. Because of the content discussed, numerous students were able and willing to contribute to the collaborative nature of the class. In addition, I feel that my pace was much improved and I was more conscious of my students’ progress throughout the lesson which aided in my ability to engage more of them for the majority of the period.

Since coming to Edison, not only have I been able to establish working relationships with many of my students, I believe that I have developed and maintained a sense of professionalism which aids me in the “management” of the space. While at times my presence seems to have little effect on the disruptions which sometimes occur, I feel that I am able to effectively keep most students on task even when my cooperating teacher has to step out of the room. Although the students still view her, as they should, as “the teacher” in the space, it is my hope that they at least see me as “a teacher” who is both interested in their experiences and invested in their intellectual development.

I also feel that I effectively dealt with a variety of classroom management “issues” which, without individualized attention could have resulted in a total loss of productivity. Throughout the class, students wanted passes, had random questions, and were in and out of their seats (a common occurrence for my classroom). However, I believe that I was able to effectively defuse any potential distractions because of the relationships I have developed with many of the students sense starting in September. These relationships, in my opinion, are essential to maintaining good classroom management – I truly believe that no matter how good a teacher one is, there will always be issues which arise; the measure of an effective educator is partly in their ability to deal with such issues and continue to provide a productive and meaningful educational environment for the students present.

What would I have changed? The students have stated before that they don’t enjoy taking notes; however, it is extremely difficult to engage them in most activities designed to introduce or reinforce material. It is often frustrating but as an educator, these are the challenges I will face. If I had the opportunity to change anything, I would have a different “system” for giving notes. While I appreciate the SMARTBoard in our classroom, it creates challenges in terms of classroom management as I am constantly turning my back to the class to write on the board. In addition, I feel that I need to incorporate even more hands-on, minds-on demonstrations, manipulatives, and activities for the students so that they can physically connect with the material as we are socially constructing content knowledge and understanding.

In addition, I need to incorporate a better assignment organizational system so that students who are absent know exactly where to go to get work that they missed and to prevent interruptions during the period which works only to break up the established flow of the lesson. I plan on implementing a system which involves a weekly assignment board and an assignment log on which students can copy down assignments at the beginning of the week.

What did I learn about my students? I learned that I need to break up the class more as 30 minutes of note-taking is too long without more engagement. Even though a number of the students engaged in the collaborative process, I observed that by the end of the period, numerous students had stopped taking notes (not a new concept in my classroom unfortunately). Perhaps by conducting a series of 10-12 minute activities, I could better break up the perceived “monotony” of the class and engage more students, providing them the opportunity to develop a sense of ownership in the educational experience.

It is my hope that I can continue to engage my students in the material through my energy, enthusiasm, and passion for the biological sciences as well as utilize my ideas to create interactive hands-on, minds-on activities to provide my students with concrete, relevant applications of content.

What did I learn about myself? During this lesson, I learned that I cannot rush my students; they are already reluctant to take notes or actively engage in instruction. If I am not conscious of the rate at which I am progressing through material and if my students are with me on the same page, I will subsequently lose more students and possibly prevent future engagement. However, I do feel that my energy and passion in the material does allow me to motivate certain students who might not otherwise engage in the material. I need to then channel that energy through more interactive opportunities to provide a more inquiry-based experience for my students to develop their individualized conceptual understanding.

How did I create a meaningful learning community? By integrating a variety of learning styles (written, visual, and auditory expression) as well as allowing for the social construction of a framework for the development of conceptual understanding, I believe that I was able to provide each student with the necessary content to build comprehension of the anaerobic processes of cellular respiration. In addition, by incorporating an authentic assessment I believe that I was able to introduce students to a different but more valid form of evaluation which incorporated their learning and expressive styles. Lastly, by providing concrete, relevant examples during instruction I believe that the students had the opportunity to synthesize their own conceptions of the material.

For my series of three lessons, I chose to teach a week-long unit on cellular respiration incorporating anaerobic and aerobic processes as well as metabolism as a means of explaining how the food we eat is used to produce energy. My reflection for the first day of the unit follows:

What went well? For the most part, the formative assessments conducted throughout the lesson demonstrated that while some of the students had various misconceptions regarding energy and energy production in the body, the majority of the classes were able to engage with the material and begin to develop the foundation for a conceptual understanding of the topic. While I typically receive blank stares and silence when I ask questions to check for understanding, probe for deeper comprehension, or move forward with content, a number of students were able to draw on past experiences and exposure to similar content knowledge to contribute to the discussion.

What would I have changed? The students have stated before that they don’t enjoy taking notes; however, it is extremely difficult to engage them in most activities designed to introduce or reinforce material. It is often frustrating but as an educator, these are the challenges I will face. If I had the opportunity to change anything, I would have a different “system” for giving notes. While I appreciate the SMARTBoard in our classroom, it creates challenges in terms of classroom management as I am constantly turning my back to the class to write on the board. In addition, I feel that I need to incorporate even more hands-on, minds-on demonstrations, manipulatives, and activities for the students so that they can physically connect with the material as we are socially constructing content knowledge and understanding.

What did I learn about my students? I learned that I need to break up the class more as 30 minutes of note-taking is too long without more engagement. Even though a number of the students engaged in the collaborative process, I observed that by the end of the period, numerous students had stopped taking notes (not a new concept in my classroom unfortunately). Perhaps by conducting a series of 10-12 minute activities, I could better break up the perceived “monotony” of the class and engage more students, providing them the opportunity to develop a sense of ownership in the educational experience.

In addition, I learned that my students are not completely comfortable and very much confused about the concept of an authentic assessment; many of them stated that they preferred a traditional test. It is my hope that I can be even more explicit about similar assignments in the future and continue to incorporate such assessments so as to allow students the opportunity to demonstrate their conceptual understanding without the stress which often accompanies exams.

What did I learn about myself? During this lesson, I learned that I cannot rush my students; they are already reluctant to take notes or actively engage in instruction. If I am not conscious of the rate at which I am progressing through material and if my students are with me on the same page, I will subsequently lose more students and possibly prevent future engagement. However, I do feel that my energy and passion in the material does allow me to motivate certain students who might not otherwise engage in the material. I need to then channel that energy through more interactive opportunities to provide a more inquiry-based experience for my students to develop their individualized conceptual understanding.

How did I create a meaningful learning community? By integrating a variety of learning styles (written, visual, and auditory expression) as well as allowing for the social construction of a framework for the development of conceptual understanding, I believe that I was able to provide each student with the necessary content to build comprehension of the anaerobic processes of cellular respiration. In addition, by incorporating an authentic assessment I believe that I was able to introduce students to a different but more valid form of evaluation which incorporated their learning and expressive styles.

As a means of informing our future practices, we were asked to analyze our group’s “journey” through STARS and identify what worked, what didn’t, and what we would have done differently.

Through the design and implementation of a learner-centered inquiry-based authentic science unit, we feel that we have provided our students with an experience which has worked to develop essential problem-solving and critical thinking skills which are necessary for academic, extracurricular, and professional success. As a means of facilitating a more scientifically literate society, our program has provided these students with an opportunity to do science and participate in an inquiry-based curriculum. By doing so, these students can better recognize their abilities as scientists and advocate for themselves in the future based on this experience.

By framing STARS in a unit based on ecological sustainability and reducing one’s footprint, students were able to draw on previous experiences to synthesize new questions for investigation. Using these ideas and results from various assessments, we as educators could better design and implement lessons which proved more meaningful and relevant to the students. Because the students directed the course of the investigation based on a topic of their choice, we observed that they were enthusiastically motivated and engaged each week in the activities which allowed us the opportunity to reach our group’s goal after 10 weeks.

As pre-service educators, this experience provided us the opportunity to design learner-centered lessons which incorporated the standards set forth by the National Science Teacher Association which helped to guide our practices. By remaining ever-cognizant of the importance of the integration of content, nature of science, inquiry, necessary decisions and actions, overall curriculum, the community aspects of science, assessment, safety, and personal growth, we were able to effectively implement a successful program for each of our students.

As the Get Real! Science program is developed, we were expected to overcome specific challenges during this program as a means of preparing us for future work in the field. These challenges in themselves were valuable learning experiences and provided us the opportunity to reflect and adapt of practices to better fit our students’ needs and interests. By keeping these in mind, we were better able to serve as a resource for our girls and allow them the unique opportunity to engage in hands-on, minds-on inquiry-based scientific investigation.

Through careful planning, we were able to build each week on the previous session’s work in order to consistently progress through the project. This method of subsequent planning through backwards design allowed us to adapt if necessary, incorporate other topics, remain learner-centered, and accomplish our group’s goal of conducting authentic scientific investigations. We use our available time wisely to stay on task and on track in order to provide the most encompassing experience for each of our students and insisted that we, as educators, provide only the framework necessary for the students to build upon for their independent discovery. By pairing content with discovery, we feel that we have skillfully incorporated inquiry-based practices into our lessons and our girls have benefitted from them. In order to provide the most authentic environment for our students, we were forced to step back and allow the girls to take charge of the project such that they could feel more like scientists with every activities in which they engaged.

We hope that this experience has been as educational and enlightening for our students as it has been for us. We firmly believe that this experience has helped shape our practice as educators and will serve as a firm foundation for the development of even more honed skills as we enter academia as professionals. Through this experience we have had the unique opportunity to engage with students in a “non-school-like” atmosphere while still maintaining innovative science education as our ultimate goal.

As the blogs have been down for a while again, I figured I should post an update about STARS as the program is quickly drawing to a close. An overview of our group’s implementation follows.

In order to create an educational environment which would facilitate inquiry-based experiences and allow the participants to engage in authentic science, we as teachers incorporated a learner-centered philosophy in our planning and activities and worked to ensure that open inquiry practices (those which integrate both content and independent discovery) guided the development of a conceptual understanding regarding the chosen topic. By utilizing these methods and providing only necessary framework, we allowed our students the opportunity to conduct an authentic investigation, from which, each student learned from a hands-on, minds-on experience but also recognized her own abilities as a young scientist. It is our hope that these experiences have helped enable each girl to value her own abilities and realize that her contributions to the field now and in the future can work to revolutionize science.

We began our STARS program with an introduction to what science is and what constitutes the discipline in terms of research and independent discovery. In order to do so, we brought to light the common misconceptions of science by utilizing the girls’ views of what a scientist “looks like” or what the scientist. Through the use of inquiry cubes, we were able to provide the students’ the opportunity to realize that science doesn’t always have a right answer and that certain aspects of the discipline are unknown. In addition, it allowed the girls to investigate a specific question (“What is on the bottom of the cube?”) and recognize that investigation often leads to further questions to be answered. By demonstrating that science, rather than occurring in a linear fashion such as the “scientific method,” happens more organically, we were able to demonstrate to the girls that the “process” involved in scientific investigation has no prescribed order and works to build conceptual understanding and perpetuate discovery.

Our group of young women has been, from the beginning, a very cohesive unit, working well together toward a common goal for the program. The girls bonded quickly upon meeting and participated well in activities meant to provide necessary framework for the development of a question regarding an aspect of environment sustainability. They then compiled a long list of possible questions for investigation and worked diligently as a group to decide on a single, investigatible question for their overall project. By first experiencing Elephant Toothpaste and learning how to distinguish between questions which can be tested scientifically and those which cannot, the group was then prepared to choose a question which was both investigatible and agreeable to the majority of all involved.

These collaborative efforts have maintained the momentum and energy throughout the STARS program for out group. After developing their question for investigation (“Does roof color affect roof color?”), the girls in subsequent weeks worked to brainstorm how they would test their question and what materials would be best suited for the experiment. Again, scaffolded instruction and collaboration between sites provided each student with insight into possible materials and procedures. By providing examples of possible materials and allowing each girl to develop pros and cons for materials and procedures, we were able to both assess their development as scientists as well as use the information and ideas as a basis for the design of the experiment. The students were then able to synthesize a preliminary design of the experiment and determine how they wanted to construct their houses, providing the teachers with the information necessary to scaffold future lessons.

Providing the necessary materials for the designed investigation, the teachers were able to sufficiently scaffold each lesson and activity to allow the students to experience a truly authentic scientific investigation of their own design. Through the implementation of this design, the students were able to problem solve a variety of issues which were manifest at different points of the process in order to minimize error and extraneous variables. In addition, we were able to engage each of the girls in the construction of the necessary pieces for the trials and allow each the opportunity to contribute to the investigation.

In addition to the investigation designed by the students, we provided insight into the girls’ “I wonder…” questions, meant to provide each student with the opportunity to briefly investigation an aspect of science which intrigues her. For example, we investigated how a person doesn’t fall out of a roller coaster when going upside down, how invisible ink works, and what makes glow sticks glow, among others. We were able to incorporate a variety of these short demonstrations and investigations into our lessons and provide another example of how our planning remained learner-center and student-directed. In addition, they demonstrated to the students that their ideas and questions were valid and worth investigating, reinforcing their confidence as scientists engaged in scientific discovery.

After building the model houses (out of balsa wood, wood glue, and colored duct tape) and independently designing the experimental set-up and data tables, the students were able to predict which house would be warmer and which would be cooler and why, demonstrating their understanding that hypotheses and claims necessitate evidence. The girls then collaborated again to determine how they would test each house and, as a means of differentiation, decided to conduct two similar but slightly different tests at each site. The students, using a provided heat lamp, exposed the houses to the same amount of light for 30 minutes and collected data at 10-minute intervals using a Venier LabQuest Pro and temperature probe for accuracy. When the data collected did not complete match their hypothesis, the girls decided to conduct a second day of testing to compare data and determine possible sources of error.

As a means of providing sufficient background information for the topic which the girls had chosen to investigate (“How does roof color affect the temperature inside a house?”), we devoted two sessions to exploring the roles of light, heat, and color and how these phenomena relate to our question. Through interactive demonstrations using glow sticks, prisms, colored index cards, and ice cubes, we were able to guide the students through the often difficult material regarding light and color. In order to prepare the students for their future investigations, we thought it was necessary to provide sufficient background information for the development of a cohesive hypothesis and conclusions based in evidence. Designed as multiple P.O.E. activities which sequentially built conceptual understanding for each student, the activities helped to provide concrete, meaningful experiences.

For each day of data collection, the girls worked well to provide each student the opportunity to contribute to the process (operating the probes, reading temperatures, recording data on the tables), rotating roles at each time point. This experience (among others) helped to demonstrate to the girls the importance of teamwork and collaboration in the sciences as well as allowed the natural leadership skills of some of the students benefit the group as a whole. Lastly, the variety of roles allowed each girl to contribute in way in which she felt most comfortable.

Following data collection, the girls were extremely excited at the prospect of analyzing their data and relate it to their original predictions. Asked to brainstorm ideas for presenting the collected data in a visual representation, the students were more than enthusiastic to provide ideas for graphs and/or charts. After quickly deciding on a line graph and describing why it would best represent their data (due to the time variable), the girls worked in two groups to graph the data for both weeks using large sheets of fabric and the colored duct tape used in the building of the model houses. After completing their graphs (complete with axes labels, key, and title), the girls were asked to present to the group how their data relates to the hypothesis and what evidence supports their claim, allowing them the opportunity to demonstrate their overall comprehension of the topic, question, and investigation.

As a means of incorporating a community awareness aspect into the project and emphasizing the need to disseminate scientific findings to perpetuate the field and promote further discoveries, we scaffolded an activity in which the girls designed and constructed door hangers which shared their findings and suggestions with community members. While individual students were participating in video interviews, the other students were busy independently working on the door hanger project as well as sharing their designs with the other members of their group.

As a culminating synthesis of the project, the students will again work collaboratively to develop an interactive station demonstrating their conceptual understanding built over the past ten weeks and provide community members with necessary information and suggestions to improve environmental sustainability efforts in terms of roof color of houses.

What worked so well for us throughout the unit was our ability and willingness to develop lessons which were relevant and meaningful for our students by maintaining a learner-centered, student-directed approach. By providing only necessary framework, we allowed our girls the opportunity to engage in hands-on, minds-on experiential learning through scientific investigation and independent discovery. As one student responded when asked “When during STARS have you felt most like a scientist?,” “I always feel like a scientist.” We feel that our lessons have helped to form a foundation upon which can be built a continuous series of experiences which contribute to further conceptual understanding and the development of necessary and valuable skills.

With only 1.5 hours each week with our groups, it was often difficult to accomplish our prescribed goals for each meeting. While our girls always worked diligently to complete tasks, there never seemed to be ample time to get everything done. As a teaching team, we did employ great time management and worked hard not to overextend ourselves for each meeting. However, regardless of the planning we did ahead of time and unforeseen issues with data collection, by week 6 we were behind. Adjustments were made and the available time was nevertheless used well to provide the most encompassing experience possible for our students.

In addition, working across two sites proved to be more difficult than we had anticipated. While our girls worked well together, the pace at which they accomplished tasks was often very different, often affecting quality collaboration via video conferencing. Many times it was difficult to connect with our other half team as we were unaware of their minute-by-minute progress and issues which may have caused delays in their plans. While I completely agree that the “teamwork” portion of the program is essential and we had a group which is a model for respectful and productive collaboration, I feel that perhaps working with half teams at the same site might work out better to allow for even more communication and synthesis of ideas and conceptual understanding. However, our girls were excited at the ability to use technology in the form of video conferencing; rather than conferencing to collaborate and develop investigations with other sites, maybe teams could merely use this opportunity to share findings with other students in the future.

Our students allowed us multiple opportunities each day to assess their growth and development as young scientists. It is quite remarkable to look back to the beginning of the program and see how far these students have come in terms of their convictions as intelligent young women, confidence in their abilities as scientists, and their conceptual understanding and ability to convey conclusions based in evidence. It is our hope that these students can continue this trajectory toward even greater success in and out of the classroom in the future.

As the blogs have been down for a while, I have been unable to record much of what we have been doing in STARS over the past few weeks – therefore I will take this opportunity to fill in any gaps which may exist regarding the ongoings of the program thus far.

Since my last post, our girls have done amazing work each week as participants in the program as young scientists. They have surprised us all with their insight and ideas and have worked extremely hard to prepare for their presentations scheduled for December 5th at U of R. They have successfully designed and implemented an investigation testing the effect of roof color on the internal temperatures of houses as a means of gaining better insight into a very real issue regarding many homes around the country. Through this experiment, it is our hope that they can problem solve a relevant issue of environmental sustainbility as well as suggest possible solutions for such issues.

The girls, as a means of testing their question, built small houses out of balsa wood and, using colored duct tape (black, white, silver, red), differentiated the houses based on roof color. Testing at 10-minute intervals, the students used a heat lamp (simulating the sun) to heat the homes and test for temperature changes. They also independently designed data tables and successfully collected, recorded and analyzed the data and related the findings to their original hypotheses.

As a means of formatively assessing the students prior to the video interviews and presentations (summative assessments), we provided a variety of opportunities for the students to demonstrate their growing understanding of the concepts underlying their question. One of the most recent forms of assessment would be large graphs which the students generated using fabric and the leftover duct tape from the investigation. These not only provided the groups with great visuals for their presentation but also allowed them to look at another representation of their data and draw conclusions. Overall, the investigation over the past 8 weeks has been extremely student-centered and inquiry-based which has kept our students engaged and coming back each week. It is our hope that we can continue to improve and keep the momentum going until the end of the program.

We consistenly practice good time management and as our lesson are well-planned, we have continuously engaged our students in meaningful, relevant activities and learning providing them the opportunity to experience the science behind their investigation. We have improved greatly as instructors and we find that the hardest part in these last weeks is keeping the energy up during the often “boring” times of data analysis.

It is our hope that our students have felt more like scientists each week and have enjoyed the program thusfar. They collaborate well and each contribute to the overal success of the group. We are confident that the students will shine in their summative assessments and will hopefully take some of these skills with them in future science (and other disciplinary) experiences.

What went well? Because of a well-planned lesson and a great P.O.E. activity paired with how group’s ability to collect data this week (their hard work in past weeks has definitely paid off!), we felt going into STARS that we were more than ready for a great week. While we were unable to complete the entire P.O.E. activity, we felt that the girls at both sites benefitted immensely from the experience. By posing a question to the students, allowing them to make a prediction based on prior experience and knowledge, utilizing “experience first” techniques to provide observable moments and create dissatisfaction with conceptual understanding, developing explanations based in evidence, and assessing each “main idea,” we were able to scaffold material necessary for the understanding of our investigation as well as facilitate conceptual change among the students. As such, we worked to prepare them for future success in both STARS and in the sciences studied elsewhere.

Because of the well-planned, meaningful lesson based on a “hands-on, minds-on” philosophy, we were able to provide our students with engaging experiences which prompted thoughtful and relevant responses. As such, we were able to sufficiently gauge each student’s individual progress and assess their conceptual understanding of each main idea. In addition, the students had the opportunity to contribute to their own learning while simultaneously aiding their fellow group members to better understand the concepts presented.

Lastly, data collection went well and was very student-directed. From the designing and developing of a data table to the process of collecting temperatures at each of four time points, the process involved the students cooperatively working toward a common goal. While each collection opportunity took much longer than we had anticipated and may have resulted in skewed data, the students were actively engaged in the process and did a great job of self-checking to be sure all data was as accurate as possible. Such participation will only aid the girls when they begin to develop their presentation and participate in the summative assessments next month.

While we were unable to complete all of our planned main ideas due to time constraints, we feel that the activities were extremely beneficial for our students and have provided them with necessary framework to understand the often confusing properties of light and how they apply to our investigation. It is our hope that we can continue this study in coming weeks to solidify conceptual understanding as well as allowing the students the opportunity to explore more science.

What would I have changed? If we had the opportunity, I believe that we might have better distributed our time for the various activities so that we could have covered more of the topics while still completing data collection. I believe that we had planned the lesson well to provide the girls with meaningful, thought-provoking, and relevant activities to “fill the time” between data collection time points; however, because data collection took so much of the little time available, we were unable to manage our time to the best of our ability. It is our hope that in the future we can all be more observant of the clock and better use every moment of instructional time available.

In addition, while the students were contributing great ideas and responses, I hope that in the future I can work to allow more student-student discussion rather than responding to each student’s contribution. By doing so, I believe that I can better facilitate conversation among the girls which can help to increase their ownership of the experience as well as allow them the opportunity to contribute more to the educational experiences of their fellow group members. I feel that this technique could also allow for a more authentic experience for each of the students.

I also need to work on the balance between myself and Kristen. I often feel that the girls are hearing my voice more than Kristen’s and I want to be sure that we are facilitating this experience as a team; instead, I believe that, unfortunately, I guide most of the discussion rather than appropriately allowing my co-teacher the opportunity to lead. By fostering this balance, I believe that we both can contribute to an even healthier learning environment for our students.

Lastly, while I have been told that I ask very good, probing questions which prompt further thought and synthesis, I believe that I need to be careful about asking questions which are “too leading.” In order to facilitate a truly authentic environment, I need to allow for more student-student discussion and provide the students the opportunity to direct their own explorations, serving merely as a resource.

What did I learn about my students? I was extremely impressed at the amount of true engagement and active participation demonstrated by our students this week. Not only did they do a great job of designing and implementing a plan to collect necessary data, but also quickly and expertly became comfortable with the P.O.E. activities and the components necessary for its full completion. In addition, I feel that they recognized the importance of each section and how they contributed to their conceptual growth as scientists.

What did I learn about myself? I learned that I need to better rely on my co-teacher and students to direct instruction while using my experiences and knowledge as a resource only. While I do not lecture and work to provide “experience first” instruction so as to promote the synthesis of independent ideas and further exploration, I believe that I need to continue to work on becoming my own style of teacher rather than emulating the traditional practices which tend to define secondary educators. By allowing my students the opportunity to direct their own learning, I will not only empower them through a sense of ownership but will provide them the skills necessary to be a critical thinker and problem solver in any discipline.

How did I construct a meaningful learning community? Through careful planning by all of our team’s instructors as well as a great group of girls and a variety of contributing staff members, I believe that we were able to create a meaningful learning community. By providing an environment in which our students can feel comfortable participating, contributing ideas, and mindfully engaging in the material, we aid in their success. In addition, I feel that our “minds-on, hands-on” approach to our activities provides everyone the opportunity to do science. By reinforcing that we are all scientists as well as allowing every girl the opportunity to contribute to the goals set forth for the day, it is our team’s belief that each and every girl can and will benefit from the experience that is STARS.