Juraj Duracka

Earth, Sun, and Moon: Earth's Seasons

Fri, Oct 07, 2011 9:36 PM
Good for beginners

This was the first Science Object I have completed. Designed for Elementary school students, this resource can be viewed either as a text or listened to as if it was a lecture (has an audio recording of the full text). Either way, the text is accompanied by helpful visuals – models or illustrations. I appreciate that each section has at least one check point – a question with multiple choice answer for a learner to confirm his/her understanding. As other science objects, this one is also about two hours long when using narration. I was not able to do it in one session and had to return twice. I was surprised that I had to start from the beginning every time. This object has only eight pages and it was easy to skip the pages I had already completed but I think it would be better to be able to start where I left off.

Sizing Up the Solar System

Wed, Sep 28, 2011 9:52 AM
This is clear and easy to use

Sizing up the Solar System is an article providing a look at teaching students to understand models in science. In this article specifically, authors point out that by the end of 5th grade student should understand that a model is a smaller version of the real product. Then they turn the reader’s attention to the student (mis)understanding of the Solar System models. The authors explain that in order for student to understand the models better, teachers need to include size and distances within our Solar System by introducing a notion of “scale”. Authors offer lesson plan activities that lead students to understanding of distances and positions of planets as well as to making of a scaled representation of our Solar System on a sentence strip. As a future classroom teacher, I can see myself using this lesson with my students. I appreciate that it is engaging and easy to follow. The lesson includes preassessment (what students know about models and their use in science), clear criteria for observing the Solar System models (almost like a scoring rubric), very clear directions for making a scaled model, and also a visual of a final product.