From: Denise LeBlanc (denise_leblanc@hotmail.com)
Date: Thu Sep 07 2000 - 19:16:01 PDT
From: "Denise LeBlanc" <denise_leblanc@hotmail.com> Subject: "short" Foam Date: Fri, 08 Sep 2000 02:16:01 GMT Message-ID: <F25B58NlyQ3coC886R40000a2bd@hotmail.com>
Hello IFIers!
I'm wondering if anyone has successfully done a "short" Foam (1 to 1-1/2
hours) or other Three-kinds of hands-on activity with teachers.
We are fortunate to have the opportunity to work with ALL of the staff of a
newly opened 6th grade school (principal, teachers, specialists). Our
original plan was to do a complete series of Inquiry workshops: Three kinds
of hands-on, the role of questioning (ice balloons), personal inquiry with
pinhole phenomena, and evaluating and adapting activities (parachutes).
After these workshops the teachers will work together, and with us, to
modify/create their own inquiry based kits and curriculum.
Unfortunately professional development time is much more limited than we had
anticipated and we must eliminate one of the workshop sessions. Based on
prior experiences we are considering modifying the Foam activity (time &/or
materials).
Several options we've considered are:
1) Brief 3 kinds of hands-on experiences (materials?) and discussion during
one of the teacher staff meetings (about 1 hour).
2) Assigning something for the teachers to do on their own time that would
prepare them for a group discussion on distinguishing inquiry-based learning
from other kinds of hands-on learning (before we begin the Ice balloons
workshop). These could be:
--reading articles, or watching video on learning in classrooms
--reflections on their personal experiences: What is their hobby? Why? How
do they go about it?
--reflections on their classroom/students learning experiences: When have
their students been most motivated? most eager to learn more? When have
their students continued experimenting, gathering information and materials
on a subject on their own initiative (outside of the classroom and/or after
the subject is no longer being taught).
--clever, creative teacher homework incorporating three different kinds of
instructions (paper folding, art, bag of material, ????)
I'm really going out on a limb here!!!!! One idea--
Guided: make a straw reed following directions
Challenge: find a way to make high and low sounds using only one straw
Inquiry: explore different ways to make sounds with straws, tubes, etc.
Please give any feedback, or additional suggestions!
Thank you,
Denise LeBlanc
IFI'97 Explore & Discover, Uxbridge,MA
Education Director
Science Discovery Museum
177 Main Street
Acton, MA 01742
978-264-4201
www.ultranet.com/~discover/
_________________________________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com.
Share information about yourself, create your own public profile at
http://profiles.msn.com.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.3 : Tue Aug 12 2003 - 13:28:57 PDT