Ecosystem Fun!

This week was rather interesting. Tuesday in science methods we were able to go to broad river and we attempted to catch fish to put in our ecosystem. However, that was a struggle and it didn’t go quite as we planned. We were not able to catch any fish, but we were able to get rocks, sediment, leaves, sticks and flowers for the top part of our ecosystem. Since we were not able to catch any fish or creatures to go in our ecosystems, Dr. Parker had to go to the store and buy fish for us to put in our ecosystems. This connects to NCPTS standard 6 “Teachers contribute to the academic success of students.” When we told Dr. Parker that we were not able to catch anything, he immediately said he would go to the store and get fish for us. He could have told us we had to try somewhere else or that we had to go buy them ourselves, but instead he was an example of what a good teacher leader was like and he wanted to help contribute to our success with our ecosystems. We were then able to finish building our ecosystem on Thursday.

            What I was most proud of this week was I was able to catch a frog for my ecosystem. I do not like bugs very much but I wanted more life in my ecosystem, so I decided to put my fear to the side and grab that frog. I was most satisfied with the pictures I was able to take for my project “science through my lens.” I was amazed at how much phenomenon there is all around us that we don’t pay attention to on a daily basis. Over the next week and weeks to come, I will continue taking pictures of phenomenon. The way that I contributed to the class this week was in our science project groups and in class discussion on Thursday during class. I was able to talk a lot and help come up with ideas for our science project. Next week I can contribute to the class discussion and continue to contribute to our science project group.

            For my outside research this week I found an awesome app called Pocket Universe: Virtual Sky Astronomy. On this app you can view the sky and see the stars virtually. The app also includes constellation quizzes and a solar system view that shows the planets in motion around the sun. There is also a part of the app that features 3D planets that you can spin. This app brings the universe to life and would be a great real-world science app that students can use to learn and also have fun at the same time. For more information about this app you can visit https://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2479951,00.asp

            An interesting science current event I read about this week was “Teaching methods go from lab to classroom” This article was a combination of psychology and actual testing to see what kids brains do and do not remember. Psychology research shows that children at all reading levels remember at least 25 percent more words when they practiced retrieving the information when they had cues to help them. These cues included images and hands on material. This is exactly what we are talking about in class. Students need to be the ones doing the learning. If they are able to do hands on experiments and use images and objects in their learning, they have a better chance of actually storing the information in their heads. More information and details can be found at the website that follows. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/teaching-methods-go-lab-classroom

My first tweet this week was from mindshift and I absolutely love the image. "Every child needs a champion" We as teachers need to be that childs' champion and need to be the ones who believe in them. My favorite saying from this image is "every child deserves an adult that will never give up on them" This means that no matter how long it takes a student to learn a concept, we can never give up on them. 

My second tweet this week was from George Couros. His tweet was about what should be found in a 21st century classroom. Children need to have a voice, a choice, and they need to be able to create and reflect. They need to have time to critically think, problem solve and then self-assess and connect their learning and integrate ideas. These eight things are all factors that we have talked about and continue to talk about in class. 

Lastly, my third tweet is from Meagan Wood. Her tweet is about how classroom rules are changing. In today's class there needs to be a vision, students need to be the learners, they need to know that it is okay to struggle sometimes, as long as they don't give up. Students need to know that it is okay to do what they are passionate about and lastly, they need to own their education and make it enjoyable and relatable.