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
Lisa,
ReplyDeleteI don't think it was a disaster at all, it was an example of how the water cycle worked, and it did work, and most of all, the students were excited about it. Get them excited to learn is half the battle. Although, I do think as 4th grade teachers we are luckier, in the fact that a lot of our students are easily excited by science.
I am interested in your lesson. Did you find it online? I don't teach the water cycle, but I do teach plants. I could use this to teach plants and roots since grass is a fibrous root system, and incorporate the water cycle into it. I would love you know more about your activity, let me know how you planted it (in dirt etc. ) and/ or what website you found it from.
Thanks
Julie
Hello!
ReplyDeleteI hope you are feeling better; I agree with Julie in that it was not a disaster. I wonder if you might be able to have the students write down and draw their observations, but then continue to come back to the "biome in a baggie" concept as you progress through the water cycle. In other words, students could document what they think might be happening, and then update their thoughts throughout the unit. Amy :)
Lisa,
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear about your illness. I agree with Amy and Julie that this activity was a success since the students were engaged. I think this idea has great promise. It has the added component of the effect of time. Often we have students draw the water cycle but don't reinforce that the steps aren't in an exact order (evaporation can happen before runoff) and the steps can have differing durations depending on the air temperature and other variables.