Scientific Method Piktochart

Here is a Piktochart I made about the Scientific Method.

This investigation into the Scientific Method has been a trip down memory lane for me.  I have not reflected or even used the Scientific Method since I was in high school.  I had to take 1 science course to fulfill the core requirement when I was an undergraduate student.  I took Earth Science and I really do not recall doing experiments in which we utilized the Scientific Method.  We mostly studied rocks and weather patterns, again answering questions based on material we had read in the textbook.  It is no wonder I never decided to pursue a career in the sciences since my whole experience with science classes has been reading material and then regurgitating whatever I read!  I never had the opportunity to explore the material in a hands-on fashion.   Real scientists must make their observations in person.  How could they make scientific discoveries just reading about them in books?  Now, as an adult, I would imagine studying marine biology or even biology would be fascinating.  I wish I would have been given that opportunity in elementary school.

A Visit to the DECOMPOSITION Lab

I absolutely LOVED watching this video!  While watching the fruit and vegetables decompose was disgusting, the fact that the students were so engaged in learning science over the two and a half weeks was just wonderful!  They were really engrossed in the project.  They had to behave like real scientists since they had to wear gloves and some students made face masks so they would not have breathe in the smells.  They also had to record data everyday and draw conclusions from that data as to what was happening with their specimens.  Again, I said it before, it does not take very much expense to keep students engaged.  It just takes some creativity on the part of the teacher.

What is Inquiry?

The next article I read was "What is Inquiry?" written by Kayoe Stewart.  This article delves into the definition of inquiry.  Like the author, I believe we are all born with inquiry.  This is what propels babies to explore the world in which they live.  Young children possess an inordinate amount of wonder.  They love to poke and prod and explore!  I went through more than one video player when my children were young thanks to their explorations!

When students get to school this sense of inquiry may be encouraged during the early elementary years.  However, by the time children reach the 4th or 5th grade science becomes a set of rules, formulas, and standards and is no longer considered "fun." 

When my sons were young I, as a parent, loathed science fair time.  It was not fun in my opinion.  Getting them to set up the project and come up with a project were very tedious affairs.  There was also little inquiry involved, since they usually just found a project on the internet and followed the instructions. 

Last year, I was a graduate intern at Little Britain Elementary school in New Windsor.  One of the 4th grade teachers was able to really engage her students by purchasing some science kits from Lego.  The students worked in groups to assemble robots.  They then conducted experiments with the robots.  I really found this to be "fun."  The students enjoyed the activity and were excited to participate.  I hope when I have my own students, I will be able to make science fun and engaging for them in the same way.  I do not believe we need to spend a lot of money to engage students.  In fact the 5th graders at Little Britain last year were able to observe bald eagles right outside their classroom! 

I hope those students will continue to build on the experiences they had last school year and remain engaged and inquisitive.  This is what inquiry is to me.

Myths of Scientific Inquiry Instruction

In this article, entitled Busting the Myths Surrounding the Inquiry-Based Science Classroom, the author dispels several myths surrounding Inquiry-Based Science instruction.  One claim he refutes is that the Inquiry-based classroom is chaotic.  

I agree with the author, Kayoe Stewart, that Inquiry-based classrooms do not have to be chaotic.  This falls back on the teacher to have excellent classroom management and very explicit standards of what is and not acceptable.  However, I will say from my own experience this is not always the case!  

I am a substitute teacher.  One of my very first assignment was in a special education middle school class.  The students were to make their way around the classroom and conduct 5 separate science experiments and then answer questions/observations on a worksheet.  That sounds pretty simple enough.  However, one of the girls accused several boys of eating a substance included in one of the experiments.  I believe it was baking soda, however that really doesn't matter.  They were not supposed to eat the experiments!  The accuser also welcomed the hostilities of the boys she accused and an argument ensued.  They were all eventually sent to the office.  

Another myth he dispels is that inquiry based science is only achieved through hands-on experiments or learning.  Stewart argues this is indeed included.  However, minds-on learning should also be occurring.  I agree with this.  The students could be following experiments based more or less on a recipe where they follow directions.  However, there should be questions that go along with the experiments that force the students to think about what they are witnessing.  Also, when working in groups, all students need to be involved.  It should never be passive.

I am excited to use inquiry-based learning in the science classroom.   I believe it will keep students engaged and hope it will peak their interest in science to encourage them to stick with it and go further.  

Geckos Save Lives

The TED talk about the gecko feet was fascinating.  The result of studying gecko feet and how they cling to  walls is an adhesive car seat!  This made me think about the technology we have in hospitals now to save lives which did not exist only 20 years ago.

My father had a heart attack the same year I graduated from college in 1993.  The surgeon had to perform cardiac bypass surgery in order to restore blood flow to his heart.  He fully recovered.  He lived happily for the next 20 years.

Then in 2013 he had another heart attack.  This time, however, the surgeons were able to insert a stint by going through an artery in his leg.  His recovery time and time spent in the hospital were much shorter.  Again, he made a full recovery.

To me, the advances we have made in medicine are truly astounding.  People live longer now than they ever have.  I wonder if some of these advances were the result of studying animals and their characteristics such as the gecko?

This would have been me in science class back in the day!

Science is NOT Simple

I remember being in the 7th grade and the teacher had bulletin board cut outs over the coat closet.  There were six of them, one for each step of the Scientific Method.  They had simply one word on each cut out with a picture: observe, hypothesis, experimentation, analysis, conclusion.  We had to know the steps, in that order, and what they meant, for the test.

I can remember reading the text book and studying for the tests.  This is completely different from the way students learn science today.  Today students are expected to engage in activities and learning is more hands-on.  If I had learned science that way in school, I am sure I would have found it far more interesting than I did. 

The only time I was able to experience science as something engaging and fun was when my parents took me to the Museum of Science in Boston.  School science was not at all like science at the museum.  I went to a small Catholic school and I am sure the resources were not plentiful.  We definitely did not have Smartboards back in the 80s!  However, I am sure there could have been a way to make it more interesting than just reading about science.  So, my take away from this study on the Scientific Method is that it is much more complex than I had previously thought, and that we need to find creative ways to engage students from the very beginning.  Otherwise they may be turned off from science for the long term.