Edna
Forum Replies Created
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I agree. The more a student shares his or her project, the more revealing the details. Students can use feedback to improve his/her investigation.
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Great idea with inviting experts. I even think some of the volunteers from our Science Fair Judging may be willing to provide advice or act as a sounding board if students want to delve deeper in an investigation.
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I think the key to success with student reports is starting with a rubric. I always have students brainstorm in a whole group setting to develop the rubric. They will be familiar with the expectations. Also, peer review helps with students including all components when working with fourth graders. When students read-aloud what they've written or have a classmate read the report can also help student identify misconceptions or missing information.
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Some challenges that I have encountered are students not use to working with other kids and lack of materials. One or two students may take the lead, and the other students sit and let them work on the project. Sometimes supplies can be an issue. I may be the only contributor of common household supplies (i.e. paper towel rolls, newspapers, jar lids, ...) Therefore, group sizes may be a bit larger if I had to gather or purchase what was needed to conduct the investigation. Our school encourages the use of Kagan Cooperative Learning strategies which leads to excellent activities, but the teacher must intervene to ensure participation from "all" students. I try a variety of groupings after observing student interaction. Some students prefer working alone so it is a challenge to convince students that two heads or more are better than one.
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In talking with fourth graders, there is much interest in this field of designing games. With our current situation in school, we are finding at our school that many kids are users of technology, but several have limited experience with developing a product. We will use some of our in-class time each week preparing them to use various programs when online at home two days a week.
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It sounds like Project Budburst is simplistic. I could use this to help identify plants already on our school playground. We have a garden, and would to install bird houses and bird baths. We could research the types of birds in our area, and what type of plants we need to plant to attract these birds. Once this is established, the younger grades could use Project Budburst and then go into e-Bird in the intermediate grades. Great idea with comparing the data over time periods. This would lend to students monitoring the plants while in the elementary grades at our school.
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*The citizen-science project that I chose to research is e-Bird. Since I am investigating the Northern Mockingbird, I wanted to learn more about this singer. Using e-Bird, I found where the Northern Mockingbird was observed 22,503 times with 197 photos and 5 audio clips for West Virginia when I chose "all years."
This photo was on e-Bird. Credit given to Davette Sealer, Jane Lew, WV, US (3/4/2017)
"The difference isn’t always obvious, but songs are usually more complex and carry a clear pattern. Calls, on the other hand, tend to be shorter and simpler—often just one syllable long." Source: https://www.audubon.org/news/a-beginners-guide-common-bird-sounds-and-what-they-mean
I was able to look at the number of observations in the various counties in West Virginia, and discovered that Wood County where I live was ranked 5th in submitting information to e-Bird. It listed the observers by county and the number of species they identified.
*Anyone can access the data on e-Bird, and students could use the data with guidance. With the amount of information, I would provide a web quest that would guide students to the data that I want them to gather.
*I will use e-Bird to help students study the species of birds found on our playground. This website would be useful after some initial lessons introducing bird watching. Fourth graders can definitely use e-Bird with assistance.
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Classroom setting versus a more relaxed environment definitely makes a difference with participation. I have even seen this with remote learning. Students that don't normally participate in class very much have been more involved with remote learning by having messaging and Zoom meetings. The setting makes a difference for learning and participation.
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Making that real-world connection in Science piques student curiosity. The majority of students seem to love anything we do outdoors. I agree with the need to do some groundwork before going outside. Discussions about types of questions and even the simplistic definitions of scientific terms. The lessons went into great detail explaining some common misconceptions, such as hypothesis and how it can be misconstrued if saying it is an "educated guess." I like the idea of taking the reference questions and reworking them into observational and experimental questions. I think I will get reference questions from several students when we start our project. The idea of researching and checking the reliability of the source will be an excellent hook.
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@Edna GLOBE website: https://observer.globe.gov/do-globe-observer/clouds
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I attended an online workshop in May with Joshua Revels through our Fairmont, WV NASA location. He provided one of the best sessions about clouds. It was centered around GLOBE. He shared many resources. This was focused on elementary, but I am sure some of the information would easily transfer to 6th grade. This is their website: https://www.nasa.gov/centers/ivv/home/index.html.
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I downloaded e-Bird and am taking the e-Bird Essentials course. My students will be able to use e-Bird on their iPads at school. Since all students have iPads this will not be a problem if we are back in the classroom in the fall. (Challenge) Otherwise, if we continue with remote learning, my percentage of student participation will be affected due to lack of devices and/or wifi. With e-Bird, I plan on forming an Early Bird Club which is an idea that I am borrowing from another post I read earlier in the course. We will research the best types of birdhouses and bird baths for our location. We can tap into local resources to help with identifying what is best for our playground. We have WVU Extension Service in Parkersburg, WV and Bird Watchers Digest in Marietta, OH. Modern Woodmen provides free binoculars each year for students and I have several sets of higher end binoculars acquired through grants. Some of the learning outcomes will be students learning to identify species of birds, become familiar with species common in our area, record observations carefully distinguishing actual observations (sight, sound), discuss characteristics which help identify certain species, share our data via classroom e-Bird, and discuss notes after each birding adventure.
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I completely agree with you in let's try to figure out the answer together. Students then see the teacher as a resource versus the person who "knows it all." Nature is has many unknowns for children. As an elementary teacher, it amazes me how little students independently seek nonfiction books about plants, birds, and other things that surround us in our daily lives. Yes, we give students opportunities to discover their surroundings.
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As an educator, I can be a catalyst for my students by providing them opportunities. I love field trips. Our field trip to the wetlands always encourages students to be in an investigative mode. Students record what they see and hear (sketching, words, ...). I like the idea of post-it notes to record "I Wonder" questions. The use of the Seek app will be motivational. Each child has an iPad, but team work seems to produce more results. With safety as an issue at this point, just simply using our playground (trees, flowers, and other plants) will provide a place for observation and I will provide time for Wonder questions. Also, I like the resources available on the Internet. Our WVU Extension office has partnered up with Energy Express and is posting daily half hour recordings for students. Yesterday, 7/14 the topic was bird banding. I learned a lot about this process while at home. Success will be utilizing the outdoors for observations and wonderings, but if I am limited on location I will use the Internet and books to enrich my lessons.
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I like the prompts for observing. This is a great idea. I guess I never thought of distance of sounds and how sounds make us feel. I plan on incorporating both of these ideas when I do sound maps in the future. Thanks!
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The most impactful thing about creating my sound map was listening for 10 minutes without doing anything else. I think students would find this a bit difficult, as well. We multi-task constantly. The challenge for me this school year will be to make modifications for the sound map for my hearing impaired student. I will consult the teacher of hearing impaired to make modifications for this student. Some of the things I heard included leaves rustling in the wind, crickets chirping, a neighbor's air conditioner, traffic on a highway (Rt 50) down the hill, a motorcycle revving his engine, the metal part of the flags and flag poles clanging, and 3 different kinds of birds chirping. This is a great activity. I have taught a similar activity when I focus on onomatopoeia during my poetry unit.
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I love the idea of having an "Early Bird" club. Students that get to school early or can arrive early could participate in this club if they are interested. The eBird project will probably be a great place to start. It makes sense to start on a small scale and build from there. I plan on using the idea to have students design ideal bird feeding areas, and finding the best location for birdhouses and bird baths. With all the resources I have read and listened to, I think I just need to prioritize and start with one idea find out interests and go from there.
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I love the idea of students creating brochures and/or posters to inform the public about invasive species. In our reading book, we have a story about invasive species in Puget Sound. I like the idea of making connections children's literature to the environment, specifically invasive species in our area. Task performance of having an end product of students work would be priceless. ;-)
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I am responding to your post because this is the one that I thought would be harder to discuss. I agree with you about unexpected results are part of the learning process. Sometimes, that can lead us to a deeper understanding of what we are trying to understand. I looked at this practice as a multitude of paths that students or I may not foresee until we are in the midst of our investigation. Therefore, details would be more elaborate as we pursue other avenues.
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The three best practices for teachers include: position youth as people who do science, frame the work globally and locally, and attend to the unexpected. I liked the idea mentioned during Tuesday's webinar in connecting to scientists via Skype, Zoom or other methods. With students interacting with scientists and understanding the importance of their jobs, I think students will be excited to develop expertise and join the ranks. I plan on using the SciGirls videos to increase student awareness of jobs available in science and to discuss interests. The two Citizen Science projects I would like to start at my elementary school are Project Bird Feeder and eBird. Both of those projects would help students go from local perspective to a more global perspective. As far as attending to the unexpected, I think we allow learning to steer us in various directions. Therefore, I don't think I can describe this until after I see the many paths our learning may take.
This photo was on e-Bird. Credit given to Davette Sealer, Jane Lew, WV, US (3/4/2017)
"The difference isn’t always obvious, but songs are usually more complex and carry a clear pattern. Calls, on the other hand, tend to be shorter and simpler—often just one syllable long." Source: https://www.audubon.org/news/a-beginners-guide-common-bird-sounds-and-what-they-mean
I was able to look at the number of observations in the various counties in West Virginia, and discovered that Wood County where I live was ranked 5th in submitting information to e-Bird. It listed the observers by county and the number of species they identified.
*Anyone can access the data on e-Bird, and students could use the data with guidance. With the amount of information, I would provide a web quest that would guide students to the data that I want them to gather.
*I will use e-Bird to help students study the species of birds found on our playground. This website would be useful after some initial lessons introducing bird watching. Fourth graders can definitely use e-Bird with assistance.
