Jake's Blog

Reflecting on how my life has changed in the past twelve weeks as well as the opportunities I have experienced as a participant in EDU 486, I can’t help but think how amazing this whirlwind of activities has been! From the beginning of the course, we as learners had the opportunity to build on what we had experienced in EDU 487 and become more familiar with available technologies and practices which can be used to appropriately enhance the inquiry-based experience. As educators, I believe that it is our responsibility to engage every student through meaningful, hands-on/minds-on opportunities in the classroom. In addition, by helping students to develop critical thinking and problem solving skills through inquiry, we can better prepare them for success in and out of the classroom.

EDU 486 has provided me a unique opportunity to work with a variety of technologies which I feel would greatly supplement many units and lessons which would engage students in the science experience. In addition, the way that resources were presented focused on the use of specific technologies in the context of the science classroom. I believe that even though many of these resources are available to current teachers, insufficient training or a lack of meaningful professional development hinders the process of implementing such technologies in the classroom. In order to best prepare our educators, I believe that highly trained science teachers should work together with technology specialist to design and execute meaningful professional development and other training sessions which present not only how resources work but also how they can be used in the science learning environment.

Some of the most valuable technology experiences I have had so far as a Warner student would be blogging. Twelve weeks ago I was a novice to the process but I believe that I have, over time, realized its importance and become more comfortable with the ins and outs of reflecting online. As a person who usually internalizes everything, it has been, at times, difficult to put down “on paper” the thoughts, ideas, and reactions I have had; however, I believe that this log of my experiences and reflections will serve as a great resource as I begin my teaching practice. In addition, by continuing to reflect throughout my career, I can reevaluate myself as an educator and recognize areas where further development is necessary, what works, what doesn’t, and how I can make changes to improve my methods.

I believe that in today’s tech-savvy society, technology, when used properly, can be used to engage students in the science experience and spark interest for further investigation and discovery. Technology also can help bridge connections between the classroom and the “outside world,” demonstrating to students that science is not limited to the classroom and that it’s effects can be recognized in all aspects of life. I feel that if we can help students to reach that point where they begin to question the phenomena around them, we have provided them with vital skills to allow for further intellectual development. Technology is, in my opinion, integral to this process as it works to facilitate inquiry-based science learning and, if used in authentic practices can greatly aid students in engaging in their own education and developing a sense of ownership in their learning experiences.

I am excited to continue my studies as a member of the Get Real! Science program at the Warner School and experience new and challenging learning opportunities which will prepare me to be a competent, well-prepared, and engaging educator.

As I look back over the 6 days of this year’s Get Real! Science Environmental Action Camp and the interactions that occurred, I am even more excited to get into the classroom in the fall and implement some of the practices which have been integral to the success of our group’s experience over the past week. Reflecting on the opportunities afforded us and the challenges presented as educators for the camp, I recognized a variety of issues which, in my opinion, often affect classroom dynamics and the goals and objectives set forth to ensure academic growth. These lessons learned will, I feel, provide me a unique perspective as I begin to take on new and challenging roles in the classroom.

• Adaptation of lessons because of changing environments: As we experienced, certain environments are not always conducive to engaged learning and collaboration. In addition, conditions can abruptly change and alter group dynamics and individual motivation.
• Available resources and how they can affect your goals and objectives: Over the past week I’ve realized firsthand how the resources available to an instructor can have a huge impact on what and how goals and objectives can be adequately met. I believe that it is the responsibility of each educator to become familiar with the resources and technologies available to them. By researching what a particular district as to offer its educators and students, teachers can better equip themselves and their classrooms for success. In addition, if certain resources are unavailable, we as educators must be willing to take advantage of opportunities to outfit their community of learners with the necessary supplies to allow for inquiry-based education to take place. By utilizing local colleges and other educational institutions, scientific supply companies, applicable grants, and other educators, we can provide opportunities for our students to fully experience inquiry-based learning practices.
• Differentiation of instruction and materials so all students remain engaged: Because of the one-to-one ratio we had in our group for camp, we had many opportunities to work with individual students and provide a sense of differentiation for certain tasks. Regardless of the intellectual abilities of our students, each of their unique personalities presented strengths and challenges which allowed each of us to adapted our instruction so as to maintain participation and engagement. I truly believe that differentiation not only allows students of all abilities and strengths to find academic growth and educational ownership as well as provides educators to better their practices to ensure that every student to achieve success in and out of the classroom.
• Work in small groups so attention can easily be divided among all students: As we shift to larger groups of students, we must be prepared to engage each child and maintain their engagement through each lesson. In order to better keep students on task, one can implement a variety of strategies such as small group work, jigsaw activities, and station work to encourage full participation of everyone involved. In addition, by dividing the class into smaller, more manageable units, an educator can better accommodate individual needs as well as monitor each student’s progress.
• Incorporation of hands-on and minds-on practices: By avoiding what many would consider “busy work” and engaging students in meaningful inquiry-based learning opportunities, educators can provide an environment in which students develop a sense of ownership in their academic pursuits.
• Allow for student movement within the workspace: As we learned, students need the opportunity to get up and moved around during a long class. Even by asking the students to go down the hall for a drink, switching activities to different areas of the room, or providing them the opportunity to change seats, teachers can conserve time while still keeping the students engaged. Without such a time, educators will struggle to maintain the students’ attention and energy and will quickly lose any sense of productivity in the classroom.

In addition to the lessons learned in camp, a few points which have come in up discussions have continued to stick in my mind as vital to the success of any educational environment:

• Development of a community of learners with a sense of ownership in their education
• Implementation of authentic inquiry-based science learning philosophies
• Incorporation of authentic assessments

I believe that by implementing these practices and continually reflecting on the opportunities we have had and will continue to have as students in the Get Real! Science Program, we will be more than prepared to enter academia as competent, experienced, and innovative educators.

Overall, I think that as a group we worked very well together and our sense of teamwork resonated with our students which allowed for amazing collaboration from day one. In addition, I believe that we were adequately planned and effectively provided our students with a unique and authentic opportunity. Based on their responses to our questions, the students’ views of science had changed from “boring” to “exciting” and conveyed to us that they felt more like scientists because of the activities we had planned throughout the week. While there were topics such as community activism and future implications which we had planned to cover but were unable to due to time constraints, I feel that we as a group had an amazing camp experience and everyone involved gained so much and underwent tremendous growth from the opportunity. I am hopeful that I can provide a similarly engaging, hands-on/minds-on experience for all of my future students based on what I have learned so far and what I will continue to experience as a lifelong learner of science and education.

For more pictures of The Get Real Scientists GRS Camp group, click here!

Today was our students’ opportunity to present their data and conclusions to the other groups, parents, and visitors as well as demonstrate their command of the study and the question they had asked. We were a bit nervous that we might not have many of our students show as the information about today’s symposium was not as timely as we would have liked; however, of our five students, Hadaree, RaeShawn, and Shania were able to attend and we had the opportunity to redefine responsibilities for the Keynote presentation. I think a testament to our students’ progress over the week was their ability to speak intelligently about our groups’ question, procedure, and conclusions and the obvious ownership of the material in general. They were all extremely comfortable explaning procedures, analysis, and conclusions to any one who stopped by our station and to those who attended the initial “teaser” slideshows.

After the Keynote presentations, our students did a wonderful job utilizing available resources to create an interactive station to further explain and present their project. People who stopped by were especially impressed with the students’ ability to present graphical representations and their discussion based on how, depending on the scale, certain visual aids can be deceiving or misleading (see previous post). As one observer mentioned, similar discussions are often found only at the graduate level, so we were pleased that our students were able to discern between varying representations of the same set of data.

We were also extremely pleased that the Keynote presentation and the poster were student-designed and student-centered. They were so engaged and integral to the process that I feel they took away even more than a better understanding of inquiry-based learning. The authentic nature of our unit design allowed the students, in my opinion, to feel empowered through their learning and provided them the opportunity to delve into a hands-on experience that, in the words of our students, changed their view of science.

Looking back, we wish that we would have had more time to integrate a community action component to our camp. We had planned to toward the end of the week, but unfortunately, time would not allow for such activities. In addition, we reflected on our set-up for the poster and discussed the possibilities which could have allowed for even more interaction and less “cramped quarters” – things to keep in mind as we move forward.

We were asked to reflect on the past five weeks and how we have changed as well as the camp experience in general…but that is for another time. As for now, I must tackle the mountain of wrap-up assignments that lies before me!