Do We Need Another Sputnik?

In this week’s class assignment, we were asked to read and discuss an article from the New York Times by op-ed columnist Thomas L. Friedman (2010). In this article, Friedman contends that the US spends far more time and money on the ‘war on terrorism’ and giving foreign aid than on becoming better educated, more productive, more technologically advanced and more innovative as a nation. He refers to the Sputnik era, which was initiated when Russia sent up the first artificial satellite in 1957. This set up sort of a battle between the United States and Russia. While the US was creating their own first satellite and dragging their heels, the Russians had sent up Sputnik 1, which was bigger and better than the US’s Vanguard. The US public speculated that if the Russians could beat us with something as technological as creating an artificial satellite, then they may also have had the capability of using this in nuclear warfare from space. The Department of Defense heard the American people and responded by approving funding for the Explorer – all the while the Russians were working on Sputnik Two, which included sending a dog into space. One thing lead to another and a critical US response to the Sputnik creation was the development of the institution of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in 1958 (Garber, 2007).

In 2009, the US Department of Defense budget was 683.7 billion dollars (DOD, 2009). The Education budget for 2008 was 596.6 billion dollars (NCES, 2011). This is not as huge a difference in funding as Mr. Friedman is implying, although 87 billion dollars is still a substantial amount of money.

Here’s my take: we need to change the way we teach in our schools if we want our students to be able to work in a competitive market worldwide. President Obama has created the Race to the Top Program so that schools can create an academic environment that will reform education so that all children can succeed, recruit and retain outstanding educators and administrators, aid administrators and educators in assessment, and enable our students to be prepared to compete in the world market.  As a teacher in Seminole County Florida, I have not been aware of any change whatsoever in how we approach the STEM subjects (except for a handful of teachers that are up to date on best practices and have taken the initiative on their own to change the way they teach). I was surprised to discover that my own school board had voted against applying for the Race to the Top grant last year due to the fact that it was ‘not specific enough in nature’. Somehow the same school board changed its mind this year and they are searching for someone to write the grant proposal and maintain the grant.

I think that most often, schools can be their own worst enemies as administration and teachers cling to the teaching the same old subjects the same old ways. Although we don’t have a Sputnik to encourage Americans to want to be genuinely aware of our world competition, we as teachers can personally be responsible to create and maintain change in our classrooms and in how we influence administration to want to change.

References:

Department of Defense. (2009). Budget . Retrieved from: http://www.gpoaccess.gov/usbudget/fy09/pdf/budget/defense.pdf.

Friedman, T. L. (2010, January 17). What’s our sputnik? [Op-Ed]. The New York Times [Late Edition (East Coast)], p. WK.8.

Garber, S.(2007). Sputnik and the dawn of the space age, Retrieved from: http://history.nasa.gov/sputnik/.

National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). (2011). Fast facts. Retrieved from: http://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=66,

Backwards Design Lesson Plan

For class this week, we were to use a method for creating lesson plans known as the Backwards Design. Normally I go with the flow and create my lesson plans as mandated by whatever administration dictates- which is usually either by strand or by benchmark. I rarely look at the State Standards specifically when we create lesson plans using this method, instead I may glance at the Standard and proceed to write my lessons with the textbook and benchmark at hand.


I wrote a lesson plan on Animal adaptation for my Backwards Design Lesson plan that answers the following Essential Question: What are some examples of physical and behavioral characteristics that help an animal survive a change in its environment? The question was based on the State Standard: The student understands the mechanisms of change (e.g., mutation and natural selection) that lead to adaptations in a species and their ability to survive naturally in changing conditions and to increase species diversity.

Initially I wanted to write a lesson about the Air Potato, which is an invasive species that did not need to adapt  in order to thrive in Florida. After considering the State Standard, I changed my plans and decided to create a lesson plan where my students would design an animal along with proper adaptations so it could survive in the desert, a tropical rain forest, the arctic or a fresh water lake. 

My students worked in pairs to create the animal design and then make that animal with its new adaptations out of play-do. The above is an Arctic Tundra Pony. The students wrote that its fur changed to brown in the summer and in the winter it was white. The creature had long thick fur to keep it warm and wide feet so it wouldn't break through the snow in the wintertime.

Once done creating their newly adapted animals, student teams traded and were instructed to discuss in teams what animal they now had and what adaptations were made for survival.

My students loved this lesson- they were able to use prior knowledge along with new knowledge learned in class about animal adaptation. I have many ELL students that are quite bright but struggle with textbooks and language. This lesson worked particularly well with this group, as it was about design and application of knowledge rather than rote textbook memorization. 

I would definitely recommend using the Backwards Design Method when it comes to creating lesson plans. You know you've hit a target goal, and you can get very creative with your lesson (which my students love).

Presentation Tools

This week we were asked to evaluate online presentation tools after experimenting with them. Prezi and Glogster were internet based, while Power Point is software that normally can be used with MS word.

Prezi has a fairly easy to follow format for both the user and the reader. I used a premade format and had a hard time finding out how to change the background for my presentation. A bit slow when working with links. It took a few minutes to find my way around, but with patience I have begun to get creative:  .http://prezi.com/bawkiey9hp0a/manatees-the-gentle-giants/

Powerpoint- There is much to be said about using Powerpoint, I am familiar with the format, I can use as many pages as I need to get my information in, I can fit videos in my pages. Not everyone has the software for Power Point (or the patience to read all I’ve written) which limits the audience.

Glogster – there are distracting ads at the opening page, It took a few minutes to find my way around but once I did, I found the site fairly easy to use. I like that I can use links for websites, giving me an opportunity to share outside information. So far downloading video and images has been easy. The reader can choose to click on any link they choose with Glogster, compared to Prezi’s system of mapping out content.

http://www.glogster.com/kmbeard123/welcome-on-glogster-/g-6lqeqm09dm4meauv6cakaa0?s=nameglog

I am still evaluating both Prezi and Glogster. They both have advantages and disadvantages. I will go with the program that gives me the least amount of difficulty in the long run.

Modeling Tectonic Plate Movement (or how sugary can it get?)

This week I was given the assignment of modeling an Earth movement with my students. Since I don't have a classroom right now I borrowed my friend's two sons and tossed in one of my own. They were a little reluctant to 'work' on a weekend but a little bribery and the promise of sugary snacks did the trick.


I decided to do an activity with tectonic plate movement. In the process, I learned a lot myself as to the specifics of what happens under the Earth, where different plates converge and how they shift. I had to do a lot of reading and certainly a LOT of writing for the portfolio write up of this inquiry. As usual, a week and a half of writing, editing, contemplating and planning took up the majority of my time. What looked like a simple lesson plan was actually a masterpiece (in my mind!) in the making. 


First, I had the boys tell what they knew on a sheet of paper, which they passed to the boy on the right until all 3 boys added their comments. This gave me an idea of what they knew and to what depth. Sean is older than Keegan, who wrote the second comment (*is struck with awe*). Keegan is a little self conscious of how much his brother knows and he does not, hence the comment. The third student, Chris, added a simple comment (convection currents) which is an important part of tectonic plate movement that Sean did not originally mention. 

This next paper was started by Keegan, who had nominal knowledge of tectonic plate movements. That was fine with me, and gave me an idea of what depth of knowledge  I would need to  teach him new concepts.

The next step was my engagement activity. (If I were to do this in a standard classroom, I would do this on one day and the next day I would have my students do the main inquiry with frosting and graham crackers). I had the boys take Snickers bars, crack the candy shell and manipulate the candy in different ways, modeling basic plate movements. They especially liked the divergent movement and made little mountains last out of their candy bars, which when done they proceeded to eat. 

After I had the boys watch a short video from National Geographic on tectonic plate movement along with a discussion, the boys were ready to use models to create plate shifts on their own. They modeled continental-oceanic collision, transform plate boundaries, divergent plate boundaries and continent to continent plate boundaries using vanilla frosting for the asthenosphere, chocolate frosting for the lithosphere, fruit leather for oceanic plates and graham crackers for continental plates. I let Keegan refer to  the sheets showing the different types of tectonic plate movements while I talked all of the boys through the task. 

Here's an example of an oceanic rift from a divergent plate boundary. The asthenosphere is almost showing under the thin layer of lithosphere:  

Here's an example of Continent to Continent collision. The boys realized that they were creating a small 'mountain range' without my prompting. 

To wrap up the lesson, I had the boys write a summary. I thought Sean did an outstanding job, so I will share his example:

If I were going to do this lesson over again, I would have done the candy bar inquiry on one day and the graham cracker/frosting tectonic plate modeling the next day. I think the boys were a bit overwhelmed by the end, then again they had had an awful lot of sugar in one sitting. 

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Natural Disasters and Students

Here in Florida, our most prevalent (and notorious) form of natural disasters is the hurricane. We have not had one in several years but as you know they can happen spontaneously. Hurricane season is fairly long; from May 15^th to November 30^th yearly.  One year (2004) four hurricanes swept through central Florida, creating massive devastation that still leaves scars on the countryside.  Hurricane Katrina in nearby Louisiana, with winds striking the area at over 125 mph, created the worst disaster in the country by hurricane since 1928.

It is one of our state standards to teach preparedness yearly. SC.5.E.7.7: Design a family preparedness plan for natural disasters and identify the reasons for having such a plan.

Some of my students remember the hurricanes of 2004, while others (like me) have moved to Florida after 2004. I always teach preparedness as part of my lessons on weather, starting with a discussion about their experiences. We then brainstorm a list of items a family will need as well as things that they will need to do to get ready. Most of the time they don’t think of odd things like putting your patio furniture in your pool, and filling the bathtubs with water for the family to use.

I then show the kids short videos as well as have them check out the FEMA website for preparedness: http://www.fema.gov/hazard/hurricane/index.shtm. After that, the students make brochures which are sent home to be shared with their families, who sign and return them to me.

The Red Cross is a natural for helping others out. In the past, my students have proposed having a bake sale, washing cars and selling handmade crafts to raise funds for those in need. Unfortunately we were not able to do so due to school protocol. I did encourage my students to donate from home, and helped out by matching funds for the donations. 

Science Journal Blog: 21st-Century Topics and Tools

Awesome websites for kids – Physics version

I think the most difficult part of this week’s assignment was in getting myself to stop playing with these websites and start writing about them instead.  I used many of these websites with my classroom this week as part of a review for our state tests. My students were fascinated and deeply involved when checking out these websites, it was all I could do to get them off their computers and out the door for lunch. 

This website had to have been my favorite. The graphics were excellent- ForgeFX simulations paired with the textbook publisher Prentice Hall to create over 100 simulation based learning applications, this is just a sampling. Student’s computers have to be able to download Adobe flash. In my class, some of my student’s computers were able to and some not, which created some frustration for my class.

I have used the cell structure sim as well as the solar system sim with my class via my Smart Board, although my student’s favorite was the design and test simulator.

http://www.forgefx.com/casestudies/prenticehall/

The next site is called the Strange Matter Exhibit. It’s all about materials science, introducing the field to students, with a link to videos with scientists that work with materials along with some great interactive activities like Zoom!- where kids examine the structure of materials, Materials Smackdown, where kids learn about the properties of materials, The Transformer where kids learn about processing materials and lastly, the Change The World Challenge, where kids explore the performance of materials.

http://www.strangematterexhibit.com/whatis.html

Then there’s the yuckiest site on the internet- http://yucky.discovery.com/flash/ this website was created for Discovery Kids. There’s a page for science fun and games with well thought out explanations for our future doctors and scientists; subjects like Gross and Cool Body, Roach World and Worm World are a blast to investigate.

Science Journal Blog: 21st-Century Topics and Tools

Awesome websites for kids – Physics version

I think the most difficult part of this week’s assignment was in getting myself to stop playing with these websites and start writing about them instead.  I used many of these websites with my classroom this week as part of a review for our state tests. My students were fascinated and deeply involved when checking out these websites, it was all I could do to get them off their computers and out the door for lunch. 

This website had to have been my favorite. The graphics were excellent- ForgeFX simulations paired with the textbook publisher Prentice Hall to create over 100 simulation based learning applications, this is just a sampling. Student’s computers have to be able to download Adobe flash. In my class, some of my student’s computers were able to and some not, which created some frustration for my class.

I have used the cell structure sim as well as the solar system sim with my class via my Smart Board, although my student’s favorite was the design and test simulator.

http://www.forgefx.com/casestudies/prenticehall/

The next site is called the Strange Matter Exhibit. It’s all about materials science, introducing the field to students, with a link to videos with scientists that work with materials along with some great interactive activities like Zoom!- where kids examine the structure of materials, Materials Smackdown, where kids learn about the properties of materials, The Transformer where kids learn about processing materials and lastly, the Change The World Challenge, where kids explore the performance of materials.

http://www.strangematterexhibit.com/whatis.html

Then there’s the yuckiest site on the internet- http://yucky.discovery.com/flash/ this website was created for Discovery Kids. There’s a page for science fun and games with well thought out explanations for our future doctors and scientists; subjects like Gross and Cool Body, Roach World and Worm World are a blast to investigate.