Alayna Maldonado
Kaleiopuu Elementary

Energy

Mon, Oct 22, 2012 12:11 AM
Energy SciGuide Useful

I found this SciGuide to be helpful in many ways. Although geared toward 5th-8th grade students, it has the possibility of adapting to the third graders I teach. The links to the Physical Science – Forms of Energy website links were user-friendly and extensive. One in particular that I find useful is the Children's Misconceptions About Science: http://www.amasci.com/miscon/opphys.html website. There is an A-Z list by subject (Astronomy, Atmosphere, etc.) that details all of the misconceptions students have about science. For example, they think that stars and constellations appear in the same place every night in the sky. The third grade science benchmark in Hawaii states that constellations do move in the night sky, so it would be a great idea to start a lesson by clearing up misconceptions. This could be done through a What You Think You Know, What You Want to Learn, and What You Learned chart. Also included in the SciGuide are links to audio clips of teachers describing how they used these resources. This can give you a quick idea of whether or not this SciGuide would be useful for you. You can gain ideas from other teachers and add your own personal flare. There are two things I think should be added to improve this SciGuide. One thing is that I was expecting there to be more lessons to choose from pinpointing various topics on energy. Another thing I had hoped for was a lesson or two for the younger grades, maybe K-4. Overall, this SciGuide was useful. I might use the Children’s Misconceptions About Science as a lead-in for some of my lessons. The links provided are a good starting point for creating lessons.

Earth and Sky: Grades K-4

Mon, Apr 09, 2012 3:42 PM
Earth and Sky

I like how this SciGuide is divided into sections. The Internet links are divided into “moon”, “sun” and “planets” and are very relevant for teaching space science benchmarks. The links are also divided further into “teacher” and “student” sections so they can be easily navigated through to find what you need. I don’t remember this from the last SciGuide I reviewed, but this guide has a filter you can use to quickly sort through the links and find key items, such as “investigations”, “assessments”, etc. This SciGuide can be used in my teaching of third grade space science: *3.8.3 Safely observe and describe basic movements of the sun and moon. *3.8.4 Describe that constellations stay the same, though they “appear” to move across the night sky. The lesson “Hello Sun” has an inquiry element for observing movements in a day. The link to “Earth Viewer” shows daytime and nighttime portions of the Earth for any day of the year. This helps students to see the movements of the moon and sun by viewing where the sunlight is shining on Earth and where the darkness is. I like how this guide has many student-friendly sites and games for practice. My only suggestion is to include more teacher links to lesson plans.

Rocks

Sat, Nov 12, 2011 1:39 PM
great web resources

The key point that made an impression on me in this SciGuide was that students have many misconceptions about rocks and how they form. It is important to address those misconceptions early on so they do not impede student learning. This SciGuide has many useful interactive Rock Cycle links that can be used to let students explore the formation of rocks. One of the sites, Arizona State University’s Rock Around the World Program, lets students send in a rock to be analyzed using the same technology scientists use to analyze materials on Mars. My class sent in a rock and is eagerly awaiting the results. My only suggestions for this SciGuide are maybe more ready to use inquiry ideas on rocks and suggestions for adapting the lessons to younger grades.