Hot Stuff

I think that the materials used in this week's experiment discouraged the conduction of heat.  According to Tillery, Enger, and Ross (2008) conduction is the transfer of heat from one material to the other.  The materials used in this experiment that were the best insulator were those materials that prevented this heat from escaping or being conducted.

If I were to repeat this experiment I would test glass and rubber.  I believe the rubber would be the best insulator.  I am basing this belief on the knowledge that when I put my hot coffee into one of those plastic coffee cups with the rubber wrapped around it, I feel less heat though the rubber than I do through the plastic.

Because I don't teach heat transfer with my 4th graders I would have to do more investigations and research on this topic before I approached it with my students.  I say this because my knowledge of this topic is limited and I want to make sure that I develop my knowleded base before trying to explain it to my students.

Engaging Guided Inquiry

The focus question chosen to for this guided inquiry experiment was “How do different surfaces affect the momentum of marbles?”  In order to test this question, the learner set up two ramps.  The ramps were made by using four science textbooks and stacking them in two stacks of two.  A grooved, twelve inch ruler was placed on each stack of books so that one end of the ruler was on the books and the other end was on the surface to be tested.  The grooved ruler aided in keeping the marbles traveling in a linear path.  In order to create a fair test the only variable changed was the surface the marbles would roll over.  The same size marbles were used and the stacks of books were both placed onto the smooth tile floor.  The only difference was that a carpeted rug was placed at the end of one of the rulers.  In order to determine how surfaces affect momentum, the focus became to observe and measure how far the marbles would travel over a carpeted surface versus a surface with no carpet.  The discovery that was made confirmed the hypothesis; the smoother surface caused the marble to travel farther than the carpeted surface.  Momentum, in this case, is not affected by the marbles mass or velocity because both of these variables were constant until the surfaces changed.  When the surfaces changed friction became a more noticeable player in that the momentum of the marble rolling over the carpeted surface slowed much quicker than the momentum of the marble rolling on the smooth surface.

Engaging in a guided inquiry experience helped the learner further understand the scientific concept because it allowed for hands on investigation using familiar materials.  This experience also motivated the learner to apply the skills necessary to conduct an experiment to explore the concepts of momentum.  This process also enveloped critical thinking strategies such as making inferences and drawing conclusions.  The activity was engaging and the learner was not stuck reading about a science concept, but was instead applying the concept to a particular design.  It is easy to follow an already created procedure to complete an experiment, but to have to actually design the procedure and then put what you design into action is a challenging way to make the learner think about the process and not just the science concept being learned. 

One of the challenges faced in this process was the minimal amount of collaboration that took place.  Both the inquiry process and the engineering design process call for an extensive amount of collaboration and teamwork to get the project or experiment accomplished.  The learner found that without collaboration, ideas in design of the experiment were limited.  This confirms the old adage that “two heads are better than one” in some instances and it drives home the importance of collaboration amongst any group of learners.

This kind of experience will be a huge benefit to any science student.  This kind of guided inquiry gets the student thinking outside the cookie cutter recipe of doing science demonstrations and experiments according to a preplanned set of procedures and it gets them to creating, thinking, and designing.  It helps them to reach that higher level of thinking skills that all learners need.  The biggest challenge students will face in using this kind of instruction will be getting them used to thinking for themselves.  This process needs to be scaffolded so that all students, struggling or not can participate successfully.  Overall, this guided inquiry experience drove home the importance of doing the science as opposed to reading about the science.

Brand New Course

It's great to be starting a new course with familiar folks.  I am fortunate to be able to participate in this program and gain such wonderful ideas and insight from so many wonderful people.  I know taking on a Master's program is a challenge, especially with the demands of teaching our own kids, but it has been so worth the extra effort.  It has kept me going and given me so many new strategies to apply in my own classroom.  It has also kept me fighting to get science education back on the forefront of our classrooms.  I am enjoying the collaboration and I feel more confident as a professional.  I appreciate all of those educators out there that are in it for the kids and because they are just as passionate as I am about teaching.

I will continuously send out thoughts and prayers for each and every one of us.  Lord knows we need it.