Katelyn Casillas
Oklahoma State University
OK

Scope on Safety: Essential First Aid for Science Teachers

Wed, Nov 09, 2016 11:41 PM
Review

This brief article is a great tool for teachers to reference when dealing with laboratory safety. Teachers are responsible for the safety of everyone in their classroom, so it is important that they know how to respond in every situation. In an ideal world, all teachers would be certified in first-aid; however, this is not the reality for all schools. This article provides examples of possible lab incidents that a teacher may be faced with, and how to respond. I would recommend this article to teachers who need a quick refresher on first-aid procedures in the classroom. Safety should be taken seriously in the classroom.

Scientific Journals: A Creative Assessment Tool

Wed, Oct 26, 2016 11:42 PM
Review

I really liked this article because I thought the teacher did a great job of integrating science and language arts. In this class, the students would write their own science journal articles in their science notebooks. Oftentimes in the younger elementary grades, teachers tend to leave science completely out of the curriculum, or only touch on it briefly throughout the year. I thought the students’ science notebooks were a great tool for assessment, but also because it was something they were proud of, and could show their previous teachers and parents. I think this is an easy and effective method that many teachers could implement in their classrooms. The teacher provided the students with an outline and a rubric to follow to help them get started with writing their own scientific journals. This made it easy for the teacher to read through their work and see which students understood the content and which ones did not. I also like this method because it can work for a multitude of lessons and is easily adaptable. I would love to use this method in my future classroom.

Perspectives: The Art (and Science) of Asking Questions

Mon, Oct 17, 2016 11:32 PM
Article Review

This article is a great tool for teachers. It highlights the importance of asking open-ended, in-depth questions to students while working with inquiries. It discusses why teachers should ask questions in science classes, how questions promote science thinking, what questions work best, and how to become a better question asker. It is important that teachers know which questions to ask, and how to ask these questions because this leads to higher order thinking and can spark discussions amongst the class. As a pre-service teacher I found this article extremely helpful because it gave me a sense of how I want to run my science lessons. I think this is also a great article for teachers currently teaching, because as educators we should always be looking for ways to improve our curriculum to enhance student learning. I highly recommend this article.