Maggie Conrad's Elementary Science Methods Blog

     1. What did you do in the lab?    2. What was the big question?  3. What did you learn in Thursday's discussion?  4. Read the online textbook,           1. What did you learn?            2. What was most helpful?           3. What do you need more information on?  5. What questions, concerns, and/or comments do you have?          In the lab this week, we went over our assignments and our test. We talked about the Goldfinch investigation and talked about how there is more flooding, which is destroying their food, so they are having to move. We then did an investigation of climate change. We had four different groups of two, and we all looked into five different articles. We looked for data to support that climate change is happening. We then thought of different questions from these articles and answered them. We also created...

    1. What did you do in the lab?    2. What was the big question?  3. What did you learn in Thursday's discussion?  4. Read the online textbook,           1. What did you learn?            2. What was most helpful?           3. What do you need more information on?  5. What questions, concerns, and/or comments do you have?      In the lab this week, we discussed the movie Before the Flood in groups. We discussed the primary points, major issues, questions we want to be taught, and how we'd like to be taught. We then moved into NASA images of climate change happening. It would show us a before and after picture. We went over our formative assessment data. Our driving question for this lab was, "Is the Goldfinch, Iowa's state bird, in danger, and how do we know?  We looked into the mapping of precipitation in Iowa. My group got North East ...

   1. What did you do in the lab?    2. What was the big question?  3. What did you learn in Thursday's discussion?  4. Read the online textbook, Chapter 5           1. What did you learn?            2. What was most helpful?           3. What do you need more information on?  5. What questions, concerns, and/or comments do you have?         This week in the lab, we talked about the assignment on the sweater article. We then moved into the layers of the earth and what layer is older and newer. The bottom layer of rock is going to be older than the top layer because more sediment is being added to the top layer. With this, we looked at different visuals and discussed what we thought was older/younger. However, there were different factors like faults and dykes. We talked about how these affected the different layers. We then moved...

   1. What did you do in the lab?    2. What was the big question?  3. What did you learn in Thursday's discussion?  4. Read the online textbook, Chapter 5           1. What did you learn?            2. What was most helpful?           3. What do you need more information on?  5. What questions, concerns, and/or comments do you have?         I wasn't in the lab this week, but by looking at the PowerPoint, we were asked the question, "What is a rock?" We then looked over our Activitymania assignment. They discussed our assessment. They went over the dangers of comparison and went over some questions from the test. Then, they shifted to the layers of the earth, and we watched our videos about convection currents. They then did an investigation using a starburst, a torch, aluminum foil, and a knife/cheese grater. They created sedimentary...

  1. What did you do in the lab?    2. What was the big question?  3. What did you learn in Thursday's discussion?  4. Read the online textbook, Chapter 5           1. What did you learn?            2. What was most helpful?           3. What do you need more information on?  5. What questions, concerns, and/or comments do you have?           In the lab this week, we talked about when certain events happened. We talked about humans appearing, dinosaurs ruling the earth, the first land plants, the first land animals, and when the moon was created. We placed these on a timeline as to when we thought they occurred. We then looked into the formative assessment results. We then worked in groups and looked into a certain billion years. We looked into different important events during that time. We wrote it on a sticky note and then placed i...

  1. What did you do in the lab?    2. What was the big question?  3. What did you learn in Thursday's discussion?  4. Read the online textbook, Chapter 5           1. What did you learn?            2. What was most helpful?           3. What do you need more information on?  5. What questions, concerns, and/or comments do you have?        In lab this week we presented on our different topics. My group presented on the origin of the Earth. We heard about the origin of the universe, the lifecycles of stars, galaxies, black holes, and the exploration of space: past, present, and future. I learned more about how the earth is constantly shifting due to plate tectonics. I also learned that the shifting of the plates can cause different things like earthquakes, mountains, and trenches.  I also learned that there are 2 trillion different galaxies...

 1. What did you do in the lab?    2. What was the big question?  3. What did you learn in Thursday's discussion?  4. Read the online textbook, Chapter 5           1. What did you learn?            2. What was most helpful?           3. What do you need more information on?  5. What questions, concerns, and/or comments do you have?           In the lab this week, I was not in class but talking with my table group and looking at the slides, they did two formative assessments. They also reviewed last week's discussions about the sun and the moon. Then, they talked about our assignment that was due. It was an interview talking to Harvard graduates/staff and also high schoolers. One point that I remember is that if teachers assume that your past teachers taught you, they will just build off of what they assume you were taught. Also, ...