Elementary Science Methods

    This week in lab our focus was on a turtle lesson example!  We not only got to dive into what the lesson was composed of, but also watch the read aloud video and play the games as if we were the students ourselves! We investigated the question: what does a 3D learning/5E science lesson look like about an organism in its environment?     To investigate this, we walked through each step of the 5E components on a turtle example lesson. For the engage part of the lesson, we watched a read aloud video of Turtle, Turtle, Watch Out! Book readings can be used in not only in-person lessons but also zoom/virtual ones too! The next "E" component was explore. For this we played a Turtle Watch Out Game with cootie-catchers that had scenarios on them. We played two games and saw how many of us "turtles" could stay standing or alive until the fifth round. Next in the explain part of the lesson, we went through a brief powerpoint about turtle's lives, asked questions, and h...

     This week in lab, our topic was ecology ! We started off by defining ecology: the study of relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment. Our question that we investigated this week was: When one thing shifts or changes in a food chain/web, does it effect anything else?      To investigate this question, we first watched animal pairs working together in videos. Each table got a different video and after we finished, we discussed what we each watched as a class. We concluded that animals form groups to help members survive in their environment. The next thing we did, was create a detailed food web for our assigned biome. My group got grasslands. We investigated what animals and producers are found there, putting their photos on our Jamboard. We then placed arrows following the flow of energy within the web. We learned along with this that as you move up in a food chain, only 10% of energy is actually retained. ...

This week in lab section, we investigated the question, "Does the order of learning experience matter?". To investigate this, we did multiple things. We first talked about our own thoughts and opinions within small groups at our tables. We then discussed our answers as a whole group. After that, we dived into a lesson plan example to really investigate. 5E Learning Model: "How do the social interactions and group behavior of ants and honey help to maintain their colonies?" a.) What happens during the engage phase of this lesson? How do these activities relate to the function of the engage phase? During the engage phase, of the lesson, students talk about what they already know about the social interactions of ants in an anthill and honeybees in a hive and how they know that. This gets them thinking about the lesson topic and engaged in conversation to make them care about what is to come. b.) What happens during the explore phase of this lesson? How do these activit...

     During lab this week, we investigated the questions: is a virus alive and do meal worms prefer wet or dry environments? We also discussed the question of whether science is too complex of a subject for elementary students. After conversing, we concluded as a class that all children can do science! They are always conducting their own mini science investigations by asking every day questions!          To investigate the question of whether a virus is alive, we first talked with our table members about our thoughts. Then as a class we went around and shared our thought process surrounding everything virus. After much large group discussion, we came to the answer that there is no definite answer! A virus is just a protein so it has no independent cells or ability to move. When it does attach to a host though, it becomes what we see as "alive".           For the second lab question, we investigated meal worm preferen...