Lab Teaching Assessment Review

For my teaching assessment review I ran the labs associated with my minerals and rock unit.  The lab was to introduce students on how minerals develop.  In groups of two I gave students cups, water, epsom salt, string, metal washers and popsicle sticks for stirring.  They added the salts to the water in the cups and then placed all of the remaining materials in the cups and placed the cups above the class so that we could watch our minerals grow and develop.  The students then began a simulated lab on minerals.  The students were directed to follow the following link: http://www.glencoe.com/sites/common_assets/science/virtual_labs/ES03/ES03.swf.  This lab simulated minerals in the classroom so that students could use various tools and independently run 15 different lab tests on various minerals.  Students were then required to answer a series of 5 questions about their last set of minerals and how they could identify the minerals using the various online tools.  Students were allowed to work as partners on the minerals lab as well.  

The use of these two labs fully integrated the information in the unit about classification and identification of minerals and minerals in rocks.  The students were fully engaged and enjoyed the both hands on lab as well as the simulated lab.  The students are looking forward to seeing their minerals begin to grow.

The following photos are from my class both during and after the minerals hands on lab: 

On the same day that earth science was doing minerals, my physics kids were building catapults to go along with their unit on energy/simple machines and a review of momentum.

The day prior to the labs, I gave the students a 10 minute verbal quiz about the characteristics required to make something a mineral.  I asked the students to name the four qualities that every mineral must have.  Most students were able to quickly name the four requirements: 

1) naturally occurring 

2) an inorganic solid 

3) have a definite chemical composition and 

4) a specific crystalline structure.

Because these four qualities had been incorporated into their interactive notebook and discussed ad nauseum with them in the lecture and power point opening to the unit.  I enjoy minerals and rock development, but sometimes you can only say the same thing so many times per day before it get to you.

I was surprised how much the kids enjoyed the simulated lab.  I thought that they might have found it some what juvenile, but they actually enjoyed it immensely.  They liked that they could relate minerals and technology.  The lab also incorporated videos that gave small supplemental enrichment of information on individual mineral development and uses.  The videos related the minerals to everyday materials used in a students life (ie copper, silver, quartz, gypsum, and halite).  Most of the students didn’t want to have to watch the short videos at first, but once they watched a couple then they wanted to see all of the videos on the minerals.

I enjoyed teaching this lab and giving the kids both hands on and simulated approaches to their mineral unit.  I learned that sometimes they just need to be coaxed into trying new things, even if I think they seem juvenile.  I would change the use of the simulated lab to an independent lab separate from the hands on lab.  I would use the hands on lab to break up and run through the qualities of minerals more practical and relevant.

In unison with the simulated lab students were required to answer several questions about the minerals that they tested.  My students were able to accurately test and chose which mineral was being tested 80% of the time.  Several students achieved 100% recognition of the minerals in the lab.  I hated not having additional time to expand the mineral lab to a hands on scratch and chemical test of the minerals.  I think that would have been the connection that sealed the deal with some students.  

I really enjoy any hands on lab or field trip where I can engage students in the real world application of knowing what kinds of minerals are in their small little part of the world.  Many students asked if it would be possible to dig up some rocks and minerals on school property so that we could test “real” stuff.  I think the fact that they were interested in such a lab means that they are connecting with the material and assimilating the information into their performance of understanding.

Pre-Assessment Review

My unit for earth science covers the development and classifications of minerals and rocks.  As I am attempting to become a social science teacher, but currently teaching physics and earth science I decided to supplement the science with a little historical perspective.  The use of the Bowen article is to familiarize the students with a face for those who studied and developed the scientific approaches and assessments to earth and its characteristics.

For my pre-assessment I had several of my physics students test out a potential pre-assessment for my earth science class.  I asked my students to review/skim read an article about N.L. Bowen for the intro to my mineral and rock unit study.  I provided the 8 physics students with a printout from the following link: http://www.geosociety.org/gsatoday/archive/18/5/pdf/i1052-5173-18-5-10.pdf 

I asked my physics students to then do a quick write about the article.  Bowen is considered a "rock star" to the geo-sciences.  My physics students responded in general that they had not learned of N.L. Bowen when they had earth science.  Not one of the students could tell me before reading the article who N.L. Bowen was.  After reading the article and doing a quick write summary of the article the students told me they would be interested in learning more about Bowen.  My physics students are higher performing students than my earth science, not because of knowledge, but because of age and skill set.  With this in mind I was not sure if my earth science students would be as intrigued by the historical perspective and information of the Bowen article.  

I think using this article, an actual full read through and eventual research web quest into several of the historical leaders in the earth sciences would assist my earth science students with relating more closely to the material.  Instead of learning that there was a man who developed this series for classifying and indicating the development of minerals in the formation of rocks, students could learn a deeper and more relatable perspective to geology.

I think in order to make this assessment more effective I would use the article along with the web quest style search for additional materials to introduce the students to mineral and rock history.  I could then segway into the actual scientific classification and development of the rocks and minerals.  I would also use the short video clip on the rock cycle for my students to be introduced to the rocky cycle.  I have a video from BBC on the history of geology that discusses Bowen and Hutton (Men of Rock!!).  I would supplement these two videos in as a portion of the lecture on rocks and minerals.  I like to provide my students with note taking worksheets so that they can follow along to the video and remain engaged searching for information that is missing from the notes.  My students are very visual, kinesthetic, and auditory learners, so using a video with a note taking worksheet with graphics helps them to assimilate the information more productively.

I was generally surprised that my physics students did not know who Bowen was because the text for the school, that they used as well, spends several pages discussing Bowen and his theories.  I was generally expecting my physics kids to want to learn more and decided to share some of the earth science work with them.  I offered a couple of my physics students a chance to do some extra credit in the class by assisting me in developing the web quest for the students to research earth science persons such as Bowen and Hutton.  The students brought back several very interesting articles and graphics about the historical perspective of geology.  I plan to incorporate these elements into the lesson and have the physics students join my classes a couple at a time to assist and guide students in their research efforts.  The physics students can guide and assist their under class-men as well as supplement facilitation of the information thereby increasing their exposure to the material and reinforcing their own performance of understanding of the information that they helped to develop. I think the incorporation of the older students will also encourage students both with the assimilation of the material as well as spark their enthusiasm for the project and information.  I will follow up this post with a review of how the unit was received.

Links to the videos mentioned in the post:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYfuI2uZLmg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bkyXvYP4jM

My passion for teaching

Hello, My name Is Genny Church.  I am currently working on my Masters and credential.  I obtained my BA in History and I would love to teach HS history.  I currently teach HS Earth Science and Conceptual Physics in the capacity as long term sub (and because I passed the SS CSET and I am working on the Science CSET).  I love my kids. Because this week is Halloween my physics class is working on a pumpkin chunkin lab and I hope to post about it (with video) to my blog.   My class has a website that is still in the making (https://sites.google.com/site/scienceofchurchclassroom/) I have only been working with these science classes for about three weeks. I was the long term sub to complete the year last year for this same school. I am really looking forward to some wonderful insights and take aways from this course.

I always wanted to teach, but spent 15 years working in the legal field.  I left the law and don't regret it one bit. Teaching is a tremendous blessing and I love going to work (more days than not). I am passionate about history and love to share that with the kids.  I love when I bring another student into the realm of history buffs.  Making history relevant to everyone is something I have always found to be second nature for myself.

My Personality Test Results

I did both tests, mainly because I always feel like the questions are flawed and too rigid to accurately indicate a real personality response.  I believed the Kisa test to be more accurate in my opinion.  

MMDI indicated that I am a go with the flow type personality. I did not really agree with this as I know I prefer structure. I believe my personality of introversion and fact appreciation is very helpful to my career choice of History instructor.  I left the idea of teaching to work in law for many years and it felt like a duck to water type fit.  Now that I am back to teaching I feel like the compassion and ideals that I have learned from my children has assisted me in further developing my skill set as an instructor.

I am a rather introverted person, and my relationships with students tends to be that of willing facilitator and helpful assistant.  I want to engage my students beyond my own content area and regularly make sure that I am aware of projects that they may be working on in another content area so that I may address those same concepts from my content area perspective.  I believe this provides them with multiple modalities and resource scenarios. Students often come to me to assist the with writing or large projects because I can break down the concepts and guide them through the process.

I am very aware of various learning styles.  I submitted a personal question and response form to each student asking their name, nick name, favorite drink, favorite subject, learning style and what 5 items they could not live without on a deserted island as a means of getting to know them on a more personal level. Many of them provided very helpful responses so that I could assist them with their personal learning style and assessment approaches.

Here are the results from the Kisa test:

Personality is: ISTJ- Introverted 68%, Sensing 55%, Thinking 80%, Judging 77%, Extroverted 32%, Intuitive 45%, Feeling 20%, and Perceiving 23%.

Here is the link to the results for the mmdi test: http://mmdi.me/m/nqpn/Genny/

According to the report I was 68 % ESTP and 66% ISTP

ESTP If your closest personality type is ESTP then you are an action oriented problem solver. You enjoy getting things done, and taking action to solve practical problems. You are in your element when there is a crisis requiring urgent action, which you are able to resolve. If you have any particular skills (e.g. sports, crafts or sales) then you enjoy applying those skills to reach a tangible goal (winning a game, making a sale, or building something tangible).

ISTP If your closest personality type is ISTP then you have both a logical and a practical mind and therefore enjoy solving tangible problems. You are very interested in how things work, and may have a tendency to take things apart if you don't know how they work. You may also enjoy using your craftmanslike skills to fix things that are broken, or doing investigative work, collecting facts and clues to find out the truth of what has happened.