Article Review

The article Pushes, Pulls, and Playgrounds: Learning Forces and Motion Through Nonfiction Texts and Exploration on the Playground, by Jodi Lemaster and Vicki Willet (Lemaster & Willet, 2019)... See More

The article Pushes, Pulls, and Playgrounds: Learning Forces and Motion Through Nonfiction Texts and Exploration on the Playground, by Jodi Lemaster and Vicki Willet (Lemaster & Willet, 2019) explores a kindergarten teacher’s classroom unit on force and motion. The unit begins with a review of the importance of interweaving science and literature, while keeping lessons engaging for students. The article describes the process of introducing the unit, working with available materials, and then going through the unit’s planned activities. The authors describe interactions between the students and teacher. Then, the article describes the assessments the teacher conducted, as well as the manners in which the teacher differentiated for various learning needs. Afterwards, the article included a reflection on the successes and backfalls of the unit, talking through the ease of facilitating the unit for other educators. This article has many benefits and a few drawbacks. One of the merits is how easily the unit from the article can be replicated. The authors do an excellent job of being informative and helpful. The authors, Lemaster and Willet (Lemaster & Willet, 2019) go into clear details and include various steps that the teacher takes throughout implementing the unit. Additionally, the article goes over various challenges that the teacher faced throughout the course of the unit, and how the teacher overcame them. The article had the benefit of including student work and real-life conversations, so that readers could have an example of what to expect throughout teaching this unit. Furthermore, the unit was excellent about including materials that most educators have access to, making it simple to recreate the activities. As far as drawbacks go, Pushes, Pulls, and Playgrounds: Learning Forces and Motion Through Nonfiction Texts and Exploration on the Playground, by Jodi Lemaster and Vicki Willet (Lemaster & Willet, 2019) were few and far between. While the writers did discuss some differentiation, more information about specific levels of differentiation would have been interesting to read. This way, other educators may determine how to differentiate for struggling and gifted learners. However, overall, the article was an exceptional source of learning and inspiration. The authors, Lemaster and Willet (Lemaster & Willet, 2019), described the unit thoroughly and did a great job of creating interest. This would be a remarkably fun and engaging unit to implement with my own students. The teacher did a fantastic job of creating lessons and learning activities that both excited and interested her students. Her plans gave educators a way to quickly assess students and support their learning needs. Additionally, it used materials that most teachers have within their schools, making the activities easily replicable. Even though the article is a few years older, the lessons and information are still highly relevant and would easily engage students that teachers have in their classrooms today. Overall, the article was fantastic. References Lemaster, J., & Willet, V. (2019). Pushes, pulls, and playgrounds: Learning forces and motion through nonfiction text and exploration on the playground . Science and Children, 50-56.

Article Review

The article Pushes, Pulls, and Playgrounds: Learning Forces and Motion Through Nonfiction Texts and Exploration on the Playground, by Jodi Lemaster and Vicki Willet (Lemaster & Willet, 2019)... See More

The article Pushes, Pulls, and Playgrounds: Learning Forces and Motion Through Nonfiction Texts and Exploration on the Playground, by Jodi Lemaster and Vicki Willet (Lemaster & Willet, 2019) explores a kindergarten teacher’s classroom unit on force and motion. The unit begins with a review of the importance of interweaving science and literature, while keeping lessons engaging for students. The article describes the process of introducing the unit, working with available materials, and then going through the unit’s planned activities. The authors describe interactions between the students and teacher. Then, the article describes the assessments the teacher conducted, as well as the manners in which the teacher differentiated for various learning needs. Afterwards, the article included a reflection on the successes and backfalls of the unit, talking through the ease of facilitating the unit for other educators. This article has many benefits and a few drawbacks. One of the merits is how easily the unit from the article can be replicated. The authors do an excellent job of being informative and helpful. The authors, Lemaster and Willet (Lemaster & Willet, 2019) go into clear details and include various steps that the teacher takes throughout implementing the unit. Additionally, the article goes over various challenges that the teacher faced throughout the course of the unit, and how the teacher overcame them. The article had the benefit of including student work and real-life conversations, so that readers could have an example of what to expect throughout teaching this unit. Furthermore, the unit was excellent about including materials that most educators have access to, making it simple to recreate the activities. As far as drawbacks go, Pushes, Pulls, and Playgrounds: Learning Forces and Motion Through Nonfiction Texts and Exploration on the Playground, by Jodi Lemaster and Vicki Willet (Lemaster & Willet, 2019) were few and far between. While the writers did discuss some differentiation, more information about specific levels of differentiation would have been interesting to read. This way, other educators may determine how to differentiate for struggling and gifted learners. However, overall, the article was an exceptional source of learning and inspiration. The authors, Lemaster and Willet (Lemaster & Willet, 2019), described the unit thoroughly and did a great job of creating interest. This would be a remarkably fun and engaging unit to implement with my own students. The teacher did a fantastic job of creating lessons and learning activities that both excited and interested her students. Her plans gave educators a way to quickly assess students and support their learning needs. Additionally, it used materials that most teachers have within their schools, making the activities easily replicable. Even though the article is a few years older, the lessons and information are still highly relevant and would easily engage students that teachers have in their classrooms today. Overall, the article was fantastic. References Lemaster, J., & Willet, V. (2019). Pushes, pulls, and playgrounds: Learning forces and motion through nonfiction text and exploration on the playground . Science and Children, 50-56.