Karina Penate

Classifying Animals into Major Groups Collection

Thu, Mar 30, 2017 7:53 AM
Collection Review

I love this collection simply because it serves almost as an introduction to the lesson I taught to my students in the classroom! Before students can begin to identify similarities, differences or adaptations within a species, the students first must be able to classify and distinguish between what animals are in which species anyway. I particularly like the fact that there is a book chapter as part of this collection that allows for students to explore and classify animals in an outdoor activity which of course can be more engaging and exciting than learning about species from reading a textbook. In addition, not just the methods of classifying are included but the ideas behind why we assign animals to a group and classify them based on characteristics is outlined in the article, "Science 101: Why do we classify things in science?" It is a varied collection, not just informational text from a textbook but also journal articles that help support these ideas to classify animals and how we can assess our ability to classify. This concept of putting things together in groups based off of characteristics is an important part of the nature of science and therefore I find this collection to be a staple to any science classroom.

Properties of Matter Collection

Tue, Nov 08, 2016 6:46 PM
Review of "Properties of Matter" Collection

Expanding over a range of topics within the properties of matter, this collection has a wide variety of information, presented in an expository text, as well as instructional guides for activities for students to complete in the classroom. It is quite interesting that a collection like this is put together, especially with dialogue directly from students so teachers anticipate student reaction to what experiments will be carried out, like in the first PDF, “Blue Solids, Red Liquids, & Yellow Gases”, as opposed to mere black and white step-by-step instruction. The documents within the collection also include a range of grade levels, not restricted to just elementary grade levels. Although skeptical at first, I wasn’t sure how an article titled, “Claim Cards and Argumentation” would be age-appropriate for elementary grades but seeing the strategies put to use became apparent and effective for debating skills throughout which can be used at any grade, in any subject. In addition, the collection provides book chapters that makes it easier for teachers to discover and pinpoint terminology and vocabulary to pass on to students. A Sci-Guide is also provided to conveniently highlight “big ideas” and connections made throughout the lesson, almost in the sense of a review after all the other files and documents are reviewed. Another great aspect of the collection is that the articles spread across the different states of matter as well as changes in matter, not just one central idea. Liquids, solids, gases, changes and transitions are all discussed and explained how they are intertwined, following a logical pattern in the collection. The collection would definitely be useful for any science educator to have as a guide and tool to refer back to when teaching about the states of matter.