Science is Important

PSA: SCIENCE IS JUST AS IMPORTANT AS MATH AND ENGLISH/LANGUAGE ARTS!!!!

Throughout this entire journey to becoming a teacher, one of the things I've learned is that science along with social studies is being taught less and less in the elementary school classrooms. This really bothers me. I'm obviously here to talk about science on this blog, so that will be the focus of this post.

Why is science being taught as an afterthought? Basically, after ELA and math have been drilled to death into the students, it's FINALLY time for science. Why?! Without science, the world would not have progressed the way that it has. What if we didn't have these precious iPhones or 55 inch flat screen smart TVs with high definition? How will we ever find the cure for cancer? How will we ever have those flying spacecrafts that the Jetsons cartoon promised us? How will we ever figure out how to save the earth from global warming if a love for science isn't instilled early on in these students?

I'm sure that even with a very small background in science, some students will still go on to be great scientists. With that being said, science, just like most subjects, gradually builds up as the school years go on. Students should start with simple concepts in elementary school and work their way up as they transition from one grade to the next. They shouldn't start middle school struggling in science because their elementary school wanted to spend the majority of their time on math and ELA.

I mentioned an article in one of our beginning Literature Circles. It's from a textbook titled The Essentials of Science, Grades K-6. It is the first chapter, and it is titled "Trends in Elementary Science Education." I feel that it applies to this post, so I will link it here:

"Trends in Elementary Science Education"

Just because ELA and math make up a bulk of the standardized tests doesn't mean that they should take away all the time set aside for science and other subjects. It's saddening how much people are forgetting how important science is. Although science isn't necessarily my favorite subject, I still feel that it is incredibly valuable to everyone.

Until next time,
Christina

How Do You Like Your Bread, Clean or Dirty?

The first day of class, Dr. Kat decided to conduct an experiment. She had three slices of bread. Each slice was in its own zip-loc bag. The first slice, she didn't want us to touch. That was her control variable. For the second slice, she wanted each of us to rub our dirty hands all over it. Before touching the third slice, she had us properly wash our hands. Her independent variable was the act of touching the bread. The dependent variable was whether we had/hadn't washed out hands before touching the bread. The goal of the experiment is to see which slice will grow the most mold. 

A few weeks later, she brought the three slices of bread back to class so that we could see how the mold was progressing. I'm sure you can already guess which slice is the worst. It was definitely a sight to see!

While it appears that the one labeled clean is perfect, that is not entirely true. The day Dr. Kat brought these to class she did point out that there is a little area with something weird going on. I haven't been able to see them lately, but I'm sure they all have some mold on them at this point. I can only imagine what the "dirty" one looks like (shivers in disgust). 

Moral of the story: ALWAYS wash your hands before you eat ladies and gents!!

Sincerely,

Christina

Science Misconceptions

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Hey All,

So let's take a minute here to discuss a very important topic. In class, Dr. Kat talked to us about misconceptions about science that are commonly held by people. Some topics that children and adults have misconceptions about are: why the earth has four seasons, whether air has mass, why the moon has different shapes, etc. 

As i said in a previous post, children are natural scientists. They have so many questions about why things are the way they are in the world. Sometimes they are able to come up with their own explanation that seems logical. Sometimes they ask an adult, and the adult gives them the answer that they think is right but is actually quite wrong. Also, an adult may make up an answer for a child instead of actually looking up the correct answer. These misconceptions are hard to correct in the classroom. If a student has been holding on to a belief for a long period of time, it is hard to convince them that their belief isn't true. 

We watched a few videos, and it seems that some teachers are unaware that some students are still holding on to misconceptions about certain topics even after a lesson has been taught about it. I think it is important to always do some sort of assessment at the end of a lesson to make sure that students are grasping the information that is being taught. In a video that was shown in class, a students was having a hard time understanding that the earth's rotation around the sun was a circular pattern. The student believed that the earth had a rotation that was basically all over the place. It worried me because I don't want my students to leave my class not remembering the information that I taught them. The assessment does not have to be a test or anything graded. Just a little something special to make sure that they understand the content that was taught in the lesson. 

I found a video on YouTube about misconceptions that I found quite interesting. I do still question a few of them, but for the most part, the video was very informative. You all should take a look at it, and tell me if something stood out to you!

Video Source

Until next time,

Christina