After dealing with a flair up of my oh so not wonderful bladder disease (interstitial cycstitis) it has been rough getting back into the swing of things.
Anyway, I am back and ready to rock.
I had fun with my Modeling Earth Science instructional plan. The use of a model to teach the water cycle was a good experience for me and my students. I used a "Biome in a Baggie" to demonstrate the processes of the water cycle. As I began implementing the lesson I soon realized that this model would have been better used after building background knowledge and viewing more real-world applications of the water cycle.
Basically, my thinking was I would have students plant grass seeds in a containier and have them place the container in a gallon Ziploc bag so they could observe what happens. That did not go as planned. We ended up planting the seeds on a Friday and when we came back on that following Monday the grass was growing and there was water droplets on the bag. The students were excited, yes. However, we did not have enough background knowledge built up before exploring the how the water cycle is represented in the "Biome in a Baggie." I wanted them to be able to tell me how the "Biome in a Baggie" demonstrates the water cycle, but instead of them telling me, I ended up telling them. They did a good job of summarizing the processes of the water cycle, but they struggled in making that connection to real-world application. That is why I say that "Biome in a Baggie" needs to be saved for the end of the water cycle unit as opposed to kick starting the unit.
This activity also provided insight as to the writing skills we need to focus on, such as organization and providing evidence to back up our findings.
Considering this is the first time I have ever used "Biome in a Baggie" in relation to the water cycle, I don't think it was a complete disaster. I think with a few nips and tucks, I can make it an awesome end of unit assessment.
Lisa
