Science Blog 3

       This month in science methods we have mostly been focusing on our science fair projects! We completed and turned in these projects last week. My groups project consisted of pouring acid rain on three different types of plants to see which plant could survive the effects of acid rain. Throughout our project, we measured our plant's heights, and we made sure we administered the same amount of water to each plant. Once our plants had grown tall enough, we began putting the same amount of acid rain on each plant. As we watched each of our plants decay from the acid rain, one particular plant clearly died a lot slower than the rest. Throughout this project, I not only learned how to complete a successful science project, but I was also able to look through the lens of a teacher and see how a science project could be utilized in the classroom. One of the biggest struggles throughout this science project was the slow growth of the plants. Our project was not able to move as quickly as we would've liked because the plants did not grow as fast as anticipated. One of the things that my group was the most proud of was being able to keep data on our project in order to prove the effects of the acid rain on each plant. Being able to see our project develop and see the results of our hard work brought our science project group a lot of satisfaction. This project related directly to the NCTCS, specifically standard 3b, which states that "Teachers know the content appropriate to their teaching specialty." In order to be effective science teachers, we must understand how to create and administer science projects in our classrooms. Science projects are extremely important to integrate into the classroom. According to classroomscience.org, "Any teacher who’s ever guided a group of students through a science project can attest to the power of hands-on learning. Freed from the two-dimensional confines of the printed page, these projects routinely benefit students by requiring them to engage in the varied tasks that comprise the scientific method" (Link at bottom). In order to help students truly understand science and learn to the best of their ability, we must let students experience science in the classroom. Science projects will help me in my future classroom to ensure that my students not only understand science in a deeper way, but become scientists themselves. 
      Over the next week, I plan to work on my unit that I am planning for my student teaching experience. I am currently planning to teach a unit on sound. In order to continue working on this project, my smart goal for this coming week are to complete half of my unit by Monday. In order to contribute to the overall class this week, I have been working with my classmates to collaborate and help each other with ideas about our units as well as decide with others how much of our unit should be done by Monday, which is when our formative assessment of our progress is due. I will continue to contribute more with my classmates by collaborating with them on projects and assignments, and ensuring that we are all learning from one another.
     One current event that I learned about this month is a fungus that was found that can break down some forms of plastic. According to sciworthy.com, a scientist gathered plastic from a lake, and separated the fungi found on the plastics into thirteen groups (Link at bottom). Four of the groups were found to be able to degrade polyurethane plastic, while none were found to be able to degrade polythylene plastic. There was one particular fungus that was able to degrade polyurethane plastic the fastest, called "ladosporium cladosporioides." Teaching students about an event such as this could show them that scientists are still discovering different things in our world today, and are still conducting experiments just like they are in the classroom. Additionally, this current event could be connected to recycling, and the idea of a fungus being used to reduce plastic in the world. 


Top Tweets of the Week:
   

This tweet is one of my top tweets of the week because it hit on some of the key ideas I believe educators must have. The first idea is that children must be challenged to be changed into successful learners, and successful people. The second idea is that children must be taught how to think, not what to think. Teaching facts and requiring students to memorize material will not help students in the future. Everything we teach must be relevant to their future lives. We are teaching concepts and ideas that help teach students how to think differently. The purpose of education is to help students reach their full potential.



This is one of my top tweets of the week because in order to be successful teachers, we must teach in away that benefits our students. We can "listen" to our students my looking at their work, listening to their answers, and working as hard as we can to find the way each student learns. The days of expecting student to conform to the way a teacher is teaching are over. We must ensure all students learn to the best of their ability by finding their strengths, and utilizing these strengths to improve their weaknesses.



This is one of my top tweets of the week because in order to make our classrooms feel safe for students, it is vital that we teach students how to fail. Failure is an integral part of the learning process, and even though no student will enjoy failure, we must always ensure that our students know that failure will not permanently be part of them, such as a tattoo, but will simply be like a bruise that will fade as they learn how to succeed.
   

http://www.classroomscience.org/new-research-just-what-are-the-benefits-of-science-projects
https://sciworthy.com/can-some-fungi-clean-up-plastic-pollution/