What are some of the challenges that you faced or are currently experiencing with teaching science to your students? How are you working through them, or if you could have done anything differently, what would it have been?
Hello Khadijah,
One of my more recent experiences teaching science was last fall when I had a second grade classroom. The district used an online publisher's curriculum. The students would open the program up on their iPads to read the passages and complete digital worksheets. There were also kits the schools could purchase with some equipment to allow hands-on investigations. My students did a STEM project where they needed to design and build a prototype for a specialized bird beak to pick up food items that a specific bird might eat. One challenge was in the set-up. The kit was one used from year to year, and it did not have all of the items needed. Other chlallenges included setting up the stations and creating collaborative groups in order to impliment the activity. Sometimes some students did not work well within their assigned groups. These are situations/challenges that probably every teacher faces when providing opportunities for his/her students to actively participate in hands-on, inquiry investigations.
Good luck with your beginning teaching career! May you have many successful, effective years and include lots of great inquiry science opportunities for your students.
Sincerely,
Prof. Mohr
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