Ashlen Richards

Wed, Apr 15, 2020 10:16 PM
Designing Payloads

I chose to include this article into my library because as a future teacher I enjoy concepts of allowing students to design and create their work. As I read through the article I learned that designing payloads can't simply be done in five minutes. It takes lots of research, time and preparation to successfully develop a payload. If I were to incorporate this activity into a lesson plan I would use TEKS 6.8B The student is expected to identify and describe the changes in position, direction, and speed of an object when acted upon by unbalanced forces. By using this TEK the students could research and develop a successful rocket launch. When I was in Intermediate School, my teacher had us do a project very similar to this one, and I thoroughly agree that students gain lots of information and insight to what it takes to make a successful payload.

Wed, Apr 15, 2020 9:55 PM
The Matter of Melting

I chose to add this article to my library because it is geared towards younger elementary students. One thing I learned when reading through the article was that students often equate "dissolving" with "melting" and that it's a good idea to do lessons, such as this, to differentiate the two for the students. If I were to teach this lesson to my students, I would use TEK 1.5B The student is expected to predict and identify changes in materials caused by heating and cooling. One thing I really agreed with when reading this article was the fact that if students have an area of confusion, the best way to clear up the confusion is to work through a hands-on activity.

Wed, Apr 15, 2020 6:58 PM
Integrating Science and the Arts

Initially I chose to include this article into my library because I enjoy getting new ideas for integrating the arts into various subjects for the classroom. By reading through the article I learned that the team who created the activity underwent lots of research about each portion of the activity such as researching what bulbs would bloom at the appropriate time, what type of vessel they would best react to, and the guiding lessons based on grade-level. If I were to adopt this lesson into my future classroom, I would use TEK 4.7A The student is expected to examine properties of soils, including color and texture, capacity to retain water, and ability to support the growth of plants. Because I don't have much experience with growing plants, it was hard to agree or disagree with their methods, however the article provided detailed feedback as to how they obtained the correct plants for the lesson. One thing I really liked about the activity is that the experiment is repeated each year and students that have already completed the experiment in pervious years can see the plants growing and help out those below them.