Week 2

Week 2 of my research study


This past week was a crazy one. Between benchmarks and preparing for the MSA's, there was not much time for other things. However, even the smallest of activities still can make a difference.



Challenge of the Week:

This weeks challenge has students graphing and predicting percentages. My students have been working a lot with fractions and drawing their fractions. I wanted to students to get practice displaying data in a picture form such as graphs in order to show answers and data. I also wanted to use a question that would make students think beyond about things that they would not normally pay attention to.

Q: The following gases are found in Earth's atmosphere: Argon, Neon, Carbon Dioxide, Nitrogen, Methane, Nitrous Oxide, Helium, Oxygen, Water Vapor, and Ozone. Select 5 gases that you think are the biggest percent to make up the atmosphere. Create a bar graph of the percentages of each of the 5 gases you pick. The total does not have to equal 100%. Ex: Neon = 20%; Nitrogen = 15%; Oxygen = 10%; Oxide = 5%; Helium = 1%

I gave my students until Friday to solve the problem. I advised students to take all week to solve the question and conduct research. I noticed that most students took 2-3 days to answer the question and others would complete the question in 10 minutes. I noticed that the students who answered in 10 minutes seemed to make a guess based on prior knowledge. Students who took 2-3 days to answer seemed to have researched the topic.

This past week I had 10 students answer the challenge. 2 of the students had the correct answer and the correct percentages. It seems that these two students researched the answer. The other answers generally contained the same five elements (water vapor, nitrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide, and ozone). My conclusion is that these other 8 students solved the problem solely on prior knowledge. The students seemed to be really interested in this weeks challenge. I had students come up to me all throughout the week showing me their answer and explaining what they did and why. I loved that the students wanted to share with me their thinking because it showed me how engaged they were in the problem. In conclusion, always connect the content or problem to something that the age group would really enjoy.

This week's challenge of the week was from a Pre-Service Teaching Institute I attended at the NIA in Hampton, VA. Thanks Becky Jaramillo, Sharon Bowers, and Gay Reilly!


Activity of the Week
For the activity this week, since there was benchmarks and other test preparations, I am going to share an activity I used last semester.

Topic: Reading - Text Features

Part of the reading unit I was teaching involved text features. The students worked in groups to read the article and find text features. The original article used for this lesson was a standard article that the curriculum suggested. In order to connect the lesson to the students, I decided to use a different article.

I used the article Two Suns in the Sky from Science News for Kids. (http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/2007/05/two-suns-in-the-sky-3/). The students used an organizer of their choice in order to find the text features in the article. The students had to find at least 3 text features and state what that specific text feature tells us about the article. For example: "The picture tells me that the some planets orbit two stars instead of one."

Reflection:
The students loved the article! They never thought about the fact that there was a possibility that a planet could orbit two stars instead of one. They were fascinated with the content in the article. Since the students were intrigued by the article, they were able to complete the task at hand in a more engaging way. Students were not misbehaving in their groups, but having lively discussions about the article and what the text features told about the article. This is what I aim to do with every lesson. Have the students engaged in a lesson that might normally have been not engaging at all.



Follow STEMegration on Twitter at www.twitter.com/STEMegration