My Fieldwork Experience 🤓🧪

Hello and welcome back to my blog!

Today I am going to discuss my overall experience with fieldwork. My colleagues and I worked with  the fourth grade class from Bishop Dunn for about 2 months. Our unit of focus was energy, and there were 5 different groups. Each group created two lessons on different concepts relating to energy and we each had two days to present both our lessons to the class.

I really enjoyed this fieldwork experience. I was in group 5 and we are called "Science Buddies" and our motto is "All experiments, successful or failed, are proof that you are trying". I had the privilege of working with Ryley, Valerie, and Britany, and I just want to say thank you to them for being so cooperative and for communicating so well.Throughout all the lessons, students were able to participate in discussions, interactive activities, and independent practices. It was amazing to see how each group had different topics to present, but we all managed to build off of each others lessons. We were all to give feedback to each other, and that helped each group to see what we can improve on or what everyone liked. I really enjoyed giving and receiving feedback I feel like it really did help the way my group and I to decide what worked for us and what didn't. 

One thing I learned about myself during this fieldwork experience is that I can learn to navigate/use a technology tool fairly quickly. I really enjoyed learning that about myself because now I can use other technology tools given or suggested to me, and I know I can figure out how to use it. Some things I learned about the 4th grade class is they are all very active and very curious. Some students in classes are not like that, but this class was great to work with it was never a silent class with them and I really appreciate that especially since we are online. I also learned that the students grasped what we were teaching more if the activities or independent practices were interactive. They responded well to creating Flipgrid videos, drawing activities, and simulations. I feel like worksheets they did not really enjoy as much, but they still did them which is great. Honestly, I feel like the students each independently engaged in active learning throughout all of the lessons. My groups lessons were created on Nearpod and I will say that helped to keep everyone in one place and engaged together. 

 

Another tool I was introduced to was Mystery Science. It is a science based website that helped all the groups base the energy lessons on the specific topics we were assigned. Mystery Science provides us with videos, photos, lessons and activities for the students. In the first lesson that my group created we included a Mystery Science video based on how heat has successfully improved the ways of energy transfer. It provided the students with plenty of useful information and afterwards we had a discussion about it, which the students were actively participating in. In our second lesson, we used another Mystery Science video, and we used a worksheet provided  as the independent practice. These two sources discussed the city of Boulderville and the students had to create an energy plan to keep it running. They had to decide what renewable energy/ natural resources were going to help make the town run. The students actually brought up the idea of creating their responses in a Flipgrid video, and if that does not prove to you how engaged they were in active learning then I don't know what will. I believe it is important to teach with NGSS because science is a crucial part of our lives, and Mystery Science helped me to realize that. NGSS helps build wonder for students, which promotes more learning in the classroom. Students should be able to wonder about different things and not be limited to one idea or thought. Mystery Science helped our lessons be more engaging and it resulted in the students participation, which was amazing and greatly appreciated!

All of the lessons presented by all groups were based on the 5 Es cycle which includes Engage, Explore, Explain, Evaluate, and Elaborate. The 5 E model can help teachers to ask questions and pose problems to students, which is what all of our lessons did. In the engage phase students should be making connections or thinking about things they already know, in other words assessing their prior knowledge. An example that my group did is the draw it activity in which we asked students to draw examples of energy transfer/ heat energy so we can determine where their thought process is at. Students are provided with resources and materials needed to explore the lessons they are being taught to promote their active learning. My group used simulations that helped students explore the topic of the lesson we were teaching. In the explain phase, students are to explain new insights that they formed throughout the lesson. At the end of our lessons, the students were given an evaluation  based on all the lessons that were taught, and through this we are able to determine what they learned.  The elaborate phase is when the students take the new insights they gained in order to complete the independent practices given to them. For example, my group had the students make heat spinners and in the videos they elaborated on what the project was.

This fieldwork experience served as an opportunity to help me explore new technology tools and to learn how to utilize them. It gave me a new view towards science, and I realized that the more interactive and engaging the lesson the more the students are willing to participate and be engaged. I had an amazing experience overall and if I could do it again I definitely would! Thank you to all my colleagues!

That is all for today folks come again soon!

Celebration Of Learning Time🥳 🥳🎉🎉

 Welcome back everyone to my blog!

Guess what everyone. We have finally completed our fieldwork with the fourth grade class of Bishop Dunn. After two months of teaching our "Energize Everything" unit, it has sadly come to an end. I just want to say it was an amazing experience overall. I gained an understanding of how I can make lessons and I also learned to use Nearpod, which is such an amazing digital tool that I recommend you all use in your classrooms. I would also like to give a big shoutout to my colleagues Ryley, Valerie, and Britany, thank you for making this whole process easier I would not have done it without all your help, hard work and determination. 

For our celebration of learning which took place on November 18, 2021, all five groups had to create an activity based on the lessons we taught during the past two months. Group 1 created a turkey escape room which I loved, group 2 used a collision simulation which allowed the students to refresh their memories for the two lessons they taught, group 3 created a jeopardy game on a jam board which was creative, group 4 played a circuit game on cool math games with the class and I also played it and enjoyed the game so much, they also had a Kahoot game, and finally group 5 (my group) created a parachute game on Jamboard  and I had so much fun with the students during our activity! For our activity we included five words that were discussed during both our lessons and on each slide you would see one of our Bitmojis with a parachute on and then we had the ocean underneath. A student was to say a letter and try to guess the word, if they got the letter wrong a line of the parachute would be erased and if they were unable to correctly guess the word, our bitmojis would sink into the water. If they got the letter right the letters would be written on the lines to form a word and no parachute lines would be erased. The words were heat, energy, wind, smog, and transfer. 

After all our activities were over, we gave the fourth grade class certificates for completing the "Energizing Everything" unit. My group nominated two students for special nominations and they were for, "most eager to teach" and "enthusiastic learner". All the students were so polite and clapped for their classmates. 

I'll be honest it was a bittersweet moment for me. I am going to miss teaching the students lessons and I'm especially going to miss how active the students were to participate. I believe everything turned out great and I wanted to give another shoutout to Dr. Smirnova for being with us all every step of the way! Also, thank you Mrs. Swinkunas for giving us the opportunity to teach your fourth grade class. This fieldwork experience was really amazing to me, and I hope you all had a great time just as I did.

That is all I have for today. Thank you or stopping by everyone see you next time! 🙂

Group 5 Teaching Time Take 2🔥☀️🎬

 Hello everyone and welcome back to my blog!

Today my group, group 5 finally presented our second lesson. Today's lesson was created on Nearpod and it was about renewable energy and natural resources.We went over our class rules and virtual expectations and also reminded the students about our attention grabber, and had them reply back to us with the phrase. We then transitioned into an activity that would help activate the students prior knowledge by showing the Flipgrids they created for the heat spinner activity and having it tie back to renewable energy and natural resources. After, we did an activity on Answer Garden where they could write their thoughts/ideas on what rentable energy & natural resources are in their own words. Some of the students were a bit confused about the question, but after we showed the mystery science video relating to the topic and providing students with definitions of each term it started to make sense to them. We played a sorting game after, and students had to sort different categories and place the corresponding terms into the bucket to receive points. The students said they really enjoyed the game when we had a discussion based on what they posted on the collaborative board. Our brain break was after and it had to do with Thanksgiving I had so much fun doing it! We then watched a chain reaction video relating to the Rube Goldberg model again and we asked to students to "see, think, wonder" what resources are being used or how everything in the reaction worked. Then Valerie discussed our Boulderville energy plan assignment in which students had to decide what renewable energy/ natural resources were going to help make the town run. In class they all shared some good insights I can't wait to see what they have in store for us! Finally, we did an activity win which we asked the students to draw a face desiring how they felt after our lesson. Everyone mostly drew happy faces which was so nice to see! We then said goodbye to them.

I am so proud of my group! Despite some hiccups we powered through and kept going. I believe it all went great and I really enjoyed this experience!

If you're reading this, it's learning time! 🤓🧪

Group 5 Teaching Time Finally 🔥☀️

Welcome back everyone!

I have exciting news! My group, group 5 finally got the opportunity to present our first lesson on Tuesday November 9th. For our first lesson, we decided to create a Nearpod because we felt this would keep all the students focused and engaged with us. Our first lesson was about heat energy and energy transfer. Then we went over our class rules and virtual expectations and also our attention grabber, which was "here's a rhyme" and they say "it's learning time".

The first activity we had for the students was a draw it activity. We asked them to draw what they thought were examples of heat energy and energy transfer. We shared what the students were drawing with the rest of our colleagues by the power of screen sharing. We had them explain what they drew afterwards and why, and then we shared with them the definitions of heat energy and energy transfer. The students then watched a video about energy transfer, and we had the students observe examples of energy while watching the video and then we had a discussion about what they saw. After this, we transitioned to our brain break which allows us to all relax our brains for a bit after learning so much. We then watched a Mystery Science video that explained how technology and heat has improved the ways of energy transfer and had a discussion again. Then we had our energy transfer and heat energy simulation, and had a collaborative board for the students to write about how they made the simulation work or what they though of the simulation.

For our independent practice, we had the students create their own heat spinners and to share with us on Flipgrid. I made a tutorial for the students to follow along with and showed it during class in case students had any questions before they went home to create their own heat spinners. I have inserted the video below for you all to watch! The last thing we did was show the students a video that high schoolers created  which related back to group 1's Rube Goldberg activity.

Thank you everyone for reading. I believe my group and I did a really good job despite some hiccups. I can't wait until our second lesson this has been such a great experience!

Group 4 Teaching Time! ⚡️💡🔋🔌

 Hi all and welcome back!

Group 4 went on 11/2/21 and 11/4/21and presented their lessons about energy transfer, engineering, and electricity. They did a wonderful job keeping the students engaged and incorporating past lessons taught by others groups really made their lessons connect everything back together and that was great.

For lesson one which was on 11/2/21, the teachers introduced themselves, explained the class rules and expectations and the attention grabber of “macaroni and cheese” and the students said “Everybody freeze”. The teachers shared a code for the Nearpod which started off with an 8 question game based on energy to get the students prior knowledge rolling. Then they transitioned to a "Observe, Think, and Wonder" video about the previous lessons and teachers asked the students if they think they could make a chain reaction, and then a video was showed about a young boy who makes chain reactions, “Berg Awesome” and the students made predictions on how the chain reaction was going to work. The students were shown a chain reaction simulation on Nearpod and this marked the beginning into the engineering part of their lesson. The students then created a model of their own chain reactions. The students recorded their responses on a Flipgrid and talked about their ideas which was their independent practice.

For the second lesson which was on 11/4/21, I believed everything flowed smoothly because they continued from where they left off. Teachers let the students share their Flipgrid videos of the chain reactions they created.The teachers used a Nearpod and had the students play a game where they matched pictures to the corresponding type of energy. Students then saw a video on electrical energy and then on Nearpod they answered the question "if you didn’t have power how would it affect you?" and many students had interesting things to say, then they were able to share their thoughts aloud. Then they did a lightbulb and battery simulation which the students were very curious about and they were able to share their conclusions drawn after the simulation. Students were shown a quote of the day, and they filled out the independent practice worksheet. 

The teachers did a very good job, and I was engaged throughout the lessons and I can say the same for the students. I love that they shared the students flipgrids with us. I was distracted by notification dings going off I really wish that was muted. Group 4 you did a great job!

That's all for today folks. Up next group 5!!!! (finally 🙂)

Group 3 Teaching Time! 🧛🔮🕷️

Hello everyone welcome back to Future Scientists At Play!

Group 3 presented on 10-26-21 and 10-28-21. The focus of their lessons were kinetic and potential energy. 

For group 3's first lesson, the teachers introduced themselves and explained the class rules and expectations, and they then transitioned into a video about rollercoasters and focused on the highest point of one. (remember group 2 spoke about rollercoasters too, nice to see that correlation between lessons) They prompted the students with the question “why do you think the hill of the rollercoaster is always the highest” and the students used Padlet to answer the question. Students learned the difference between kinetic and potential energy,  kinetic is moving energy and potential is stored energy. The students then participated in an activity where a teacher gave examples of both uses of kinetic and potential energy, and they had the students hold up a “p” in sign language for potential energy and a “k” in sign language for kinetic energy. I thought this was an amazing activity, and it probably introduced the students to something new which I love! At the end of the lesson, students had a chance to play a Quizzizz game to use the knowledge they learned to be the winner in the game. 

On the second day of their lesson group 3, showed a clip of a chain reaction with dominos and had the students use prior knowledge to identify what it is that they were watching. (it was a chain reaction) The teachers asked a question about what concept they could relate to the video they just watched using Padlet. After the teachers, asked the question “What does energy transfer mean?” and asked the students to give examples. Then they transitioned by having the students create their own Jack O’Lanterns and gave students an opportunity to share their work with the class. They also played a game using booklet.com, which the students seemed to really enjoy I wish I could have seen what they were playing. The independent practice teachers provided a Google Slides with questions so that they could write their answers on the slides. The assignment reviewed what was covered in class and the completed assignment will help the teacher see if the students mastered the objective. 

I really enjoyed group 3's lessons. They used a different resource which was Padelt and I really loved the way it worked better than Jambaord. It was easier for the students to use and made everything flow more smoothly. I can't wait until my team finally gets to go, one more team up and we can  finally go!

Group 2 Teaching Time! 🚙⚡🚗

Welcome back to my blog everyone!

Group 2 Up, Up, and Atom went on 10-19-21 and 10-21-21 to teach their science lessons. The lessons were based on speed, collision, and energy!

On the first day of their lesson teachers provided the students with an opportunity to express the knowledge they have about energy and asked them to define it. Students watched a video and then were asked to complete a "Watch, Think, Wonder" activity on Jamboard afterwards. Another activity they did that I enjoyed was the Twist-O-Matic. The teachers made a tutorial video for the students to follow along and create their projects on their own during the class, which was very engaging. I really liked the idea I thought it was good to show the students something visually that they can use when making their own projects.

On the second day, students were provided with a rollercoaster stimulation and students can see the speed changes of the roller coaster depending on the height when the car is released. This lesson introduced the students to a topic that will later be discussed by group 3. 

Group 2 did a great job, and they really introduced me to some things I might want to do during my lesson with my group. Stay tuned my group will go in no time! 

See you next time blog!