Final Blog!

       

     Coming into this course I was definitely very nervous. I knew very little about technology and how to use it in the classroom and science is not my favorite subject. The first couple of weeks I felt very overwhelmed and was terrified about teaching my first full class lesson. I had no idea how I was going to keep the attention of a whole class for an entire period. Overall, I was very scared and hesitant to begin my journey. 
        Although I felt lost my first couple of weeks, my group was amazing with keeping me on track. They guided me through the entire lesson making process and I can not thank them enough for that. This class' fieldwork helped more than any other class I have taken before. It was the first time that I experienced full class instruction. Although I was nervous I was able to see first hand what being a real teacher was going to be like. I really enjoyed getting up in front of the class and this experience really showed me that I am making the right decision in becoming a teacher. 
      This class also helped me to improve my skills in technology. Prior to this class, I knew very little about Google Docs or Google Drive. I remember not even knowing how to insert a link on the first day of classes. I have been exposed to so many amazing technological tools that I will definitely try and use in my future classroom. Tools such as Hyperdoc, Adobe Spark, Voki, and many more make classroom learning much more engaging. 
     Although I was very nervous about the class, in the end, I feel like I gained many life long skills. I have improved as a teacher candidate, and now am even more excited to be able to apply these skills in my own classroom!

Trade Book Project

Although we never did the Trade Book Project in my science class, I felt that it was still important to find a book applying to science. I chose the book The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle. This book can be used to teach about the life of a seed and how it eventually becomes a flower. The book details the life span of a seed and what occurs during each season. I found this interesting because I always just thought that a seed was planted and that was it. Instead, this shows how a seed is blown in the wind and how animals interact with this. This book can be used to teach the younger grades and can be used in a unit plan regarding plant life. I think incorporating literacy into science is very important, and using books is a great way to do it! 

Science in the News

This is a picture from the article which shows one of the girls testing the robot that they built!

For my "Science in the News" article, I chose International Underwater Robotics Challange a Focus for Seattle Teens regarding the problem of engineering and technology. This article follows three teenage girls who are trying to create an underwater robot to save a 200-pound diver trapped at sea. That was the task that they needed to complete at the Black Sea International ROV Competition and Exhibition in Romania. The girls have a $500 budget to create the robot so they use donated items of PVC, plastic pipes, old printer feeder, a comb, LED strips, a bicycle inner tube, cooking racks, and pool noodles.
I chose this article because I felt that the robotics aspects related to our unit of simple machines. Like the girls in this article, the students in our fieldwork also tried to take parts to try and build a working machine. This machine may not be simple but in the end, it related back to the idea of building and creating. Our students and the girls in this article both followed their curiosity to see where it took them. The girls were not always successful and faced many challenges in getting the robot to operate but they did not give up, just like our students.
There are many different ways in which this article can apply to my unit plan. I can discuss how like the girls in the article, the students are using the tools that they have in order to solve a problem. No matter what the problem may be, as the girls, the students can take their resources and put them together to create something great. It can also be used to discuss the different parts of machinery, and how simple machines can be put together to create more complex machines.
It is important to use news articles when teaching science because science is current and applies to the world outside. You can use news articles to show students that science does not just occur in the classroom. It is current and constantly evolving in the outside world. It is important to make sure that students understand the importance of science and how it can affect their lives in the real world.