NSTA Web Seminar

On the 25th of September we did not have face-to-face class but we were required instead to attend a web seminar about astronomy. I was sceptical about this web seminar when I first heard about it for a couple reasons. First of all, I had never attended a web seminar so I didn't know what to expect and thought it might be confusing. Secondly, I was not very knowledgeable of the subject astronomy so I didn't think it would be of interest to me. Putting my scepticism aside, I attended the web seminar and actually found it to be interesting. I learned a few things about the elements of stars and how starts explode. I think having this web seminar was a very good way to tie technology into learning. There are so many technological tools available that can enhance a student's learning experience, eluminate being one of them. I thought the instructors for the seminar were very helpful at answering questions and involving the students in discussions. I also thought it was neat to see how where everybody was from and hear advice from different teachers. The only problem I encountered was that the program "froze" on my computer towards the end of the seminar. Technology is wonderful when it works but definitely frustrating when it does not! Overall, I was impressed with the seminar and think this approach to teaching is interesting and helpful. I ended up with a much better outlook on astronomy and web seminars than I had going in.

Graphing Your Motion

While doing the lab "Graphing Your Motion" about velocity and acceleration, we ran into a few difficulties. The lab quests that we were using had not been properly charged so we were unable to get the correct readings. The technical difficulties we encountered on our first attempt with this lab were important to realize that a backup plan should always be made. Often people encounter problems with technology so I thought it was a very important lesson as a future teacher. After our setback the first day we felt a little discouraged attempting the lab a second time, but everything turned out smoothly. Our lab quest was properly charged for our second attempt which made the lab a lot easier to understand and follow. During the lab we had to set up a motion sensor which was connected to the lab quest we were using. One of our group members walked slowly away from the motion sensor along the tape we set on the floor one meter apart for four meters. One of the other members dealt with the lab quest and saved the graphs while one was reading the directions aloud and the other was recording the information. It was interesting to see how the change in rate, speed, and velocity changed the look of the graph. When our group member walked slowly backwards away from the sensor, the graph had many evenly spaced up and down moving lines. As we experimented with a faster pace walk the further apart the lines were on the graph. After this we tried to see if one of the group members could match the graph by walking the same speed as before. We found this difficult to get the speed and motion exactly the same as before. I found this lab to be interesting once we finally got past the technological difficulties. I think doing this future in the experiment as a teacher, I would provide more time to experiment with the technology and get used to using it before I assigned questions.

The Science of a Kiss: Measurement, Mass, and Energy

The second lab we did in class was called, “The Science of a Kiss: Measurement, Mass and Energy.” The materials used for this lab were Hershey’s Kisses, a meter stick, scale, and a calculator. The class had to estimate how many Hershey’s Kisses were in a long jar and how many were in a smaller, but rounder jar. Our group guessed that the jars both held the same amount of Hershey Kisses. Then we used a meter stick to measure the mass of one Hershey’s Kiss. We had to drop the Hershey’s Kiss from a height of 0.1 meter, 0.5 meter, and 1 meter. After this we used the measurements and velocity to find the kinetic energy and potential energy. When we were done calculating these formulas it was announced that the small round jar actually contained more Hershey Kisses. I thought that this activity was a little bit confusing. I had trouble really understanding what the measurements meant and why I was using them for this activity. The directions were a little bit vague. Had I understood more and had better direction I think this would be a good activity for students to understand mass and measurement.

Snowflakes

The "snowflakes" lab was the first lab we performed in class. I thought it was a great way to warm up to the class and introduce the fun activities that can be tied into science. To start this lab we needed someone in the group to gather the materials which included, colored paper, scissors, a ruler, and instructions. The instructions directed us step by step to fold the paper into certain squares. After this we could cut in different shapes and sizes to make our own unique designs. This allowed us to be creative and unique, which I find is very important especially with young children. When we were finished cutting we opened up our cut paper to find a very neat snowflake. Mine ended up having a star in the middle with cool shapes of triangles and circles around it. This activity was a fun change from lectures and notes. This would be a great activity to teach future students about patterns and would be fun to look at actual patterns in nature.

The "Moving Man" Critical Reflection

The “Moving Man”

While playing with the “moving man” there were a few observations I noticed about the correlation between velocity, acceleration, and position. The Velocity increased on the chart as I moved the man closer to his home. This associated with the speed and how fast the man was going per second. If I moved him faster the line would increase. Depending on how quickly I moved the man would depend on how high the line was on the chart. As I proceeded, I moved the man in a backwards motion which caused the graph line to drop quickly. If the man was not moving at all, the line would become straight. The acceleration had a very similar pattern to the velocity. The only difference was that the lines in the acceleration graph would move more easily with motion of the man. For instance, if I barely moved the man a half of a meter the acceleration would exaggerate the movement a little more than the velocity graph. The position graph moved in the same direction as the velocity and acceleration graphs, but in a much less drastic and more gradual way. The man’s final destination was his house which was indicated at the top of the chart in the position graph. When I moved the man to his house the line on the position graph reached the top. After I was finished moving the man I could play back how I moved the man and it was interesting to see how fast and slowly he was moving and how the graph's depicted his movement.

I think this was an interesting educational activity. This is definitely a good way to introduce a topic or subject and to get the student’s minds curious about science. It is a good activity to create questions and allow a student to possibly come up with their own formula or way of determining velocity.