Reflection 2:  Students who have had more personal experiences with science, or who genuinely have and interest in it, are going to be more represented in the STEM classroom. Those who have had less exposure will be less represented and easily take a backseat in learning. I think checking that at the door, and seeing every student in your classroom as being on a level playing field (i.e. pretend that they all know nothing about the concept) will allow for teachers to reach more students. 

 

reflection 3: I like the idea of taking something so simple as a  picture (one that is from the students lives) and then using that to push a discussion about health and what we/they do to stay healthy). I think what is cool about it is you could really take ANY picture, and it could be used to launch a discussion. 

 

Activty 4? I guess I like the message here about more connections from home to school as far as science goes. I think it would make science feel more real and relatable to students and not so scary. 

Buuuut, getting parents involved in anything where school is concerned is trick. I understand and appreciation the suggestion about inviting them on field trips and so forth, I just feel like we give students homework for reading and math, it seems like a lot to ask for parents to be involved in other components like science or social studies, but I completely see how if we could really make that happen, how much more powerful learning would be. 

 

Reflection 5: I feel bad for the teacher and the students in this scenario. We want to allow all students voices and opinions to be heard, but what do we do when a student’s culture/family opinion may be controversial or offensive. I also feel like I am at the fear zone of the reflection lens, because I don’t feel like I know enough about science to be confident in teaching it. And actually that’s not true, I know plenty about science, but feel like I don’t have enough time to understand the curriculum

I like the idea that reflections, small group discussions, and unpacking ideas as a class can make science feel more inclusive and less scary

 

Activity 6: This type of learning should be encouraged as it promotes critical thinking, reasoning, evidence

I like how they explain “science” and it begins as a question. That’s an easy way to explain it to students. “engineering” begins with a problem to be solved. Cool!

 

Activity 7: I am alllll for connection across curriculum. I think that we can use reading and writing as a vehicle to drive and feature science learning and understanding, and we could certainly use scientific data and understanding that data by connection it to math standards. We try to do this in reading by connecting the reading we do to history/social studies. I know in 2^nd grade they connected the science to the writing of information. 

When I think of some of the times I “learned” outside of school, they are things like trips to museums where I got to see (maybe touch) but really see things with my own eyes. A lot of it was really reading on my own from exhibit explanations, but because something was right there for me, I was soo much more engaged. That’s hard to accommodate in the classroom. We can’t take field trips every week. I wish we could. Think about Ms. Frizzle. That’s why her kids learned, they got to GO and do it/see/experience it with their own eyes. 

 

Activity 8: Shift in teaching learning : Science facts are attained through context (not memorized)

Learn through engaging in the process (like real scientists)

Learning progression across k-12 (imperative that all science is taught in each grade!)

Connection across ELA and math

Science learning is for all students in all grades

Which shift will have the greatest impact on your students’ learning?

I think that the goal that science will be more accessible to all students will be hugely impactful

Which do you think will be most challenging? Why?

I think making sure science instruction is consistent across grade levels will be really important. 

What are you excited to do differently? 

I am excited for science to feel more question and discussion based and “simple”

Write down two key takeaways for your own learning.

1.       Learning
will be much more activity and question based                                                                

2.        Data and facts that are needed will be introduced not just for the sake of teaching them

Write down two ways this learning will impact your teaching.

1.      
I will just hope to be able to implement this
type of learning in the time we are given to teach science 2. 

Write down one way you will use this knowledge to improve your culturally responsive teaching next school year.