Elizabeth Jimenez
Mount Saint Mary's University
CA

The Moon Project

Wed, Feb 13, 2019 7:43 PM
Review

The authors describe the success of and online collaboration project that involved multiple classrooms in the U.S, Australia and Qatar. The project involved teaching students the phases of the moon through. The first step of the project was to have the students observe and gather data daily for two months. Student would debrief with classmates and as a whole class their weekly finding for ten minutes at the end of the week. Student had to record their daily observations in a notebook and had weekly prompts to reflect on the data they gather. At this point, they also communicated with student from around the world and shared their date and learning from their observations. After gathering all of the data student analyzed the data to see if there is any patterns on the different phases of the moon. Students had to create their own names for the shapes of the moon that they observed. After their findings, the teacher would introduce the concepts terms and phases of the moon. Students from the different countries shared their cultural stories about the moon. This was a powerful part of the text because it created cultural connections.

Science Shorts: Taking a Look at the Moon

Wed, Feb 13, 2019 7:42 PM
Review

This article covers a long term lesson on the phases of the moon for upper elementary grades. The lesson integrates reading and writing as student develop their scientific inquiry skills. This is a great unit in helping students understand the value of observation and patterns and that it takes time to complete an experiment. The author uses all of the 5E’s in this lesson. I wished that this lesson was also geared more to different learning styles and differentiate. For students that struggle with writing, maybe providing sentence starters for each of the daily journal activities might be helpful. Also, giving students the opportunity to perform the different phases of the moon might be helpful especial for the early grade level students. I like how the author incorporates and highlight scientific terminology throughout the lesson. He also provides many opportunities for group work and discussion with small and big groups.

Science 101: How Do We Best Teach and Learn Science Concepts?

Wed, Feb 13, 2019 7:41 PM
Review

In this article the author walks readers through process of the learning cycle. The author shares that as educators we introduce a topic and precede to teach it without providing student concrete examples. This in turn leads to memorization of vocabulary and a missed opportunity to fully understand the topic. The author suggests that teachers provide students the opportunity to explore first by doing an activity that will activate prior knowledge and then the teacher and student together will explain the topic. This is where a teacher will explain concepts and introduce key terms. After these two have been successful taught you then elaborate and give student and opportunity to apply the concept they learn with an activity/assignment. Robertson believes that once you master these three concepts the other two will follow and you will have a better grasp of the 5Es.