October 16

Today, we did safety lessons on the Internet about the Internet. We also did a scavenger hunt about safety. The worksheet would be a good thing for younger children. The question about not meeting with someone online and what to do if you feel uncomfortable was something I think children should have to be taught in today's technological world. I think the scavenger hunt was kind of fun and would have been better if I was a young kid again. I think it is important to be aware of children's surroundings in teaching about this information. Likely, children will have lots of questions and as an instructor you should be prepared to answer these questions to make them feel comfortable. It's hard enough to watch out for strangers in town, and now they have to worry about it even when chatting with friends on the Internet. P.S. I loved Doug as a kid.

October 14

Today's class was a work day. We watched a short video on youtube on how to use a webcam and upload the video to you tube. We were allowed time to work on our midterm project which was needed to make sure we were on the same page. We also found out that we could use videos that we find on the internet instead of having to make our own videos. This was great since my group and myself are pressed for time this semester. So, it was good to make sure that we had things ready and in place.

October 7

Today we discussed science safety that need to be taken in lab procedures. We learning about the possible damage that can be done to your eyes and clothes. We then did an activity that demonstrated the difficulty of trying something new for the first time. We took a mirror and a pencil and had to write our name and a sentence so it appeared correctly through the mirror. This activity was very challenging and provided an interesting insight into the learning process of students. I had done this activity before so I was probably a little better at it because of that.

September 30

We had our class online. For our online assignment, we had to answer questions from modules over chapters 3 and 4. We were asked to share our ideas on how educators harness young children's shared base of understanding and skill to help them learn science, how misconceptions help children learn science, and a couple other questions about the scenarios that are placed in each module. Through these questions we learned that children are natural learners/scientists, and they are always ready and willing to learn at that young of an age. They also have a rich knowledge of how the world works and using cause and effect. By using hands on experiments we can help put science into a different perspective and help them build those great connections. By learning from their misconceptions, students are able to use those a stepping stones to build on their experiences. Those misconceptions can lead to one big idea and they can build off of their ideas and also make more connections. We also to analyze a couple of class experiements and how they were effective and what we would change about them. For this assignment we also got to put ourselves in the shoes of parents, and how we would like to be incorporated into our children's learning. From reading the chapters we can learn alot and can get a lot of great ideas to use for classroom instruction.

Web Seminar

I did not attend the seminar, but I did go through the PowerPoint and a few sites. Our universe amazes me more every day. The seminar discussed stars. I understood most of the information given. I knew that stars were mostly made of Hydrogen and Helium. I did not remember that the most important factor in how a star evolves and dies is based on its’ initial mass. To think that clouds can condense enough to form a star is a hard point to wrap you mind around. The seminar discussed high mass stars and how they are brighter and have shorter lives then low mass stars.(High=Rigel; Low=Sun) The star classification was also something new to me since I really only found out about it about a month ago. I enjoyed trying to figure out the mystery star, which I think was composed of Iron and Magnesium. I was wondering about a neutron star and how it was formed since I cannot, for the life of me, remember. I thought that the seminar must have been very enlightening and very useful in information for teaching students about stars.

September 23

We did an experiment on acidic acid today, and used different types of acid to create a reaction with baking soda. We did vinegar, water, pink grapefruit juice, white grapefruit juice, lime juice, and orange juice. The acid that had the most reaction was lime juice which was really shocking to me. The next one was the vinegar and that reaction went about 3/4 of the way up the bottle. I also was surprised at what little reaction the grapefruit juice white or pink was. This reminded me of the old volcano trick in elementary school where you make a volcano spew out red food coloring. Fun stuff.

September 18

Today in class, we talked about nutrition and how important it is for students to be healthly. We tried to make different meals under a certain amount of calories to pass the test. If your meal had too many calories it would make you try again, and this was on a website. We also did worksheets that gave us the tools to meal plan for ourselves and it was a lot of fun. The only thing is that hotdog was the only source of protein, and that is not a very good source. We also received a handout on nutrition information and how much a serving size is along with what types of food are good for you. My mother is a nurse, so I get nutrition guides all the time.

September 16

Today in class we designed a safety game, and learned about different safety issues. The importance of safety in a science room is very important because every child needs to be safe in their actions. We also discussed the difference between the past and today's terms in science, for instance, content is the accumulated results of science, and now the content and process is linked. There are 4 different strands in connection of science to the real world connection. The first strand is understanding scientific explanations, strand 2 is generating scientific evidence, strand 3 is reflecting on scientific knowledge, and strand 4 is participation productively in science.