Class 11/13

Due to a holiday, Veteran's Day, we did not have class on Tuesday the 11th. In the beginning of class we were introduced to our final project. I was unable to be at this class because I had to take my PPST exam in Sioux Falls, but I did get notes from my group. The project was introduced as the "Bell Ringer" meaning, an attention grabber. It is, what I understood, a way that we will excite our students and make them interested in a topic. After we briefly talked about the final project, we continued the "Good Sock" lab. We continued from where we were last time with two glass bottles filled with hot water, one having a wool sock over it. The data we collected on our lab quest was similar to those around us. This let us know we were in the right direction. I am excited to learn more about our final project. I love the hands on projects we have in this class. I am definitely a more hands on person and would much rather do a presentation or project as my final rather than a final test or paper.

Class 11/6

In today's class we mainly just reviewed the study guides to prepare for our upcoming quiz. I felt it was very difficult to hear the answers people were giving in class because of their quiet voices. Because of this, I had a hard time answering some of my questions. I also felt that the discussion was a little rushed. I spent majority of my time trying to keep up or find my place or trying to hear other people's answers. After our discussion about the study guide we began an experiment called "A Good Sock." This experiment involved two glass bottles filled with hot water. We placed a wool sock over one of the bottles and used a thermometer attached to a data collector to find the temperature. We compared this temperature to that of the other bottle of water. We didn't have all the right material and were running out of time so Dr. E said we would continue this experiment in the next class.

Class 11/4

There were a few midterm projects to be presented yet today. The first group to present did a lesson plan with a mystery box talking about living and non-living things. I thought this presentation was a good idea. Another group that presented made an animal book about different animal characteristics such as, fur, feathers, and scales. I thought this lesson plan was very good for young children. After the presentations were finished Dr. E began a lecture about thermal energy. She discussed how some things heat or cool faster or slower than others. We also learned that water has a specific heat because of its density and the molecules are closer together. Dr. E followed this discussion by explaining how to calculate changes in thermal energy. Dr. E used many relateable examples in class and I thought it made the lesson and ideas much easier to understand. Such as, the example of Michigan being surrounded by lakes so it make the temperature harder to drop in that particular state. I felt like I really understood this idea and can relate it to every day scenerios.

Class 10/28: The Presentations Begin!

In class some groups began presenting their midterm projects. All the groups that presented demonstrated real teacher like qualities and creative lesson plan ideas. One group's presentation was unsuccessful. I thought this was a really good lesson to everybody in the class because, well, we are human and things WILL go wrong. As teachers especially we just have to learn from our mistakes and help our students learn from our mistakes. The group continuously tried to fix the problem and try their experiment again but never had successful results. I think it was really great that they didn't give up and kept trying. This sets a good example for students of any age. Seeing an experiment turn out differently than it was planned also put me at ease a little bit and made me a little less nervous to present my lesson plan. Even though things might go wrong, there's always a lesson learned!