The first three weeks

Before I begin writing about the last few weeks, I wanted to let you all know about a project I am getting funded through a site called, www.donorschoose.org. While I have a LCD projector, I would like to hook up a document camera to it. My project is almost funded--Pfizer helped out a great deal. If you would like to help fund it or know someone who could help, here is the link: http://www.donorschoose.org/donors/proposal.html?id=184026

The first three weeks have been great. Everything seems much easier this year. My students seem to be enjoying class so far and are mostly willing to do what is asked of them. Fewer students than last year challenge my authority and class just seems to go well. One breakthrough this year was when I taught independent, dependent, and controlled variables. It's not the easiest concept to grasp and it's much more abstract than genetics or types of galaxies in space. I used some examples I found on a worksheet that featured various cartoon characters carrying out various experiments and the students seemed to be excited about the examples (or at least more interested than usual). I'm going to keep the cartoon/notable person examples going throughout the year. We also tested variations to paper airplanes as a way to study the different types of variables--students built similar airplanes and then changed just one feature while predicting what that change would affect.

I've also taken a page from the book "Mechanically Inclined." Although the book focuses on writing, its method of making things visual seems to be applicable to any type of class. The method is where the teacher sets up a large sheet of butcher paper with the technique or grammatical structure to be learned on the top (usually in a formula). Underneath, examples that the students create or find in a book or their own writing are placed. The result is a visual diagram with student created examples. Throughout class that day and all others, the students are able to use the wall chart as a reference--it can act as a scaffold to students who might be having a tough time getting the concept the first time around or remembering it. These are taken down for tests, but the author noticed that students were still looking in the same places as a memory aid cue. I started this with the types of variables last week and I'll be adding in different components of experimental design this week.

Things should go well this week as we are finishing up our Nature of Science Unit. Next, we are going to do genetics, followed by natural selection.