Message-Id: <l03102800afc7241123c6@[204.185.50.46]>
Date: Fri, 13 Jun 1997 09:44:26 -0700
To: DanS@california.com
From: Shirley Brungardt <meg024@mail.connect.more.net>
Subject: teaching science
Caution:
It is marvelous to see motivated students exploring and learning, but the
reality of most teaching situations is that not all students are motivated.
They need direction and guidance. They need modeled behavior. I don't
believe transcripted lessons, ie. Madeline Hunter type lesson models, work
with hands-on investigative science. There are however some conventions
which need to be included with experience learning. The teacher must be a
coach encouraging observation, questioning, assisting with experimental
methods most importantly the concepts of controlled experimentation. If
the student changes more than one variable at a time, which variable caused
a different result will not be known. As long as you stick with textbook
labs this may not be a problem, but my experience is that children who are
given materials, time, and freedom rarely "stick with the script". This is
great. It is just what we are after, but their are dangers too. It is
therefore necessary that the students be given all appropriate warnings
about the materials they have at hand including cautions about combinations
of these materials that they might create.
It has been said that a picture is worth a thousand words and a model is
worth a thousand pictures. I do believe this to be true.
As to textbooks, there are probably none that you would find more
satisfactory that the one you are now using. There is no way to do an
adequate job of teaching to the district's curriculum and the student's
interests without stepping out of the covers of that book. Don't be a
textbook teacher. Don't be a fill-in-the-blank worksheet teacher. Use the
resouces on the Internet for current activities like National Science and
Tech week. They post new activities every year. Join NSTA and use the
professional magazine for your level. Read and use NSTA Reports
newsletter. Request the freebies. Get current and stay current.
Remember when you plan units that "less is more". Students need to study
content areas and need to study them in depth. You can't leave out the
background material for your labs and you need to help the students see the
connections between the concepts they discover, read about, and experiment
with, and life.
(FYI: I have taught 33 years at grades 4-7 both in self-contained and
departmentalized situations. I don't claim to be an expert but wanted to
share what has worked for me.)
Shirley Brungardt
14516 C. Highway or R. R. #1 Box 343
Rayville, MO 64084
Voice & FAX # 816-470-3712
meg024@mail.connect.more.net
shirleybrungardt@hotmail.com