Round one implementation for my Dream It is that it can happen, but did not work the way it was planned. I am going to take scaffolding the scientific method longitudinal. Since I see students once a week the maturation over years is important in this project. I need to develop scientific thinkers at a younger age.
This Dream It may not happen this year. I am changing from the eighth grade students to the fourth grade students. Hoping this change will be more effective over longitudinal years. This is going to take time, but it will be time well invested. With this journey starting with fourth grade children I think the instruction will stick and be more meaningful. They are still excited about school when we begin the complex process. Together we will explore questions and work hard on thinking in a higher order fashion. There will be excitement for investigation with room for practice which will build confidence. The more practice at the earlier years will provide students with self-assured experiences. With these solid experiences students begin to develop investigations independently.
My Dream It project is to encourage student independence for scientific investigation through scaffolding the scientific method. I promoted students to be creative in their own way based off their interests as I introduce and modeled each piece of the scientific method. I felt that through modeling and breaking things down they would naturally motivate and pick a topic that interests them. Many did but then went we met again a week later the excitement and momentum was like starting back at square one again. So again I would model and introduce another piece. I felt the excitement with the students again. Then a holiday would require a day off or even a scheduled field trip, so it might be two weeks before I would see them. This would make meeting deadlines and keeping momentum going difficult. At one point students were focusing on the creative parts more than doing the research and completing the experiment. Time is ticking and students are not producing each piece that was modeled. I found myself frustrated and had resorted to having them go back to the traditional science fair project. I needed them to focus on a completed project. Students still learned and accomplished many things. First of all they had never used their Email accounts nor did they work in a Google Drive. They learned how to create a Google document and how to retrieve it later and view feedback. They were able to revise and submit more than once for final assignment grade. I think this was one of their first research projects they had been required to do. Students need to learn how to read an article and paraphrase.
For round two I am starting with the fourth grade students. They will work in groups and develop a science fair project as a group before they move on to individual projects. I want them to see the whole big picture using the parts of the scientific method to make a whole finished project.
This Dream It may not happen this year. I am changing from the eighth grade students to the fourth grade students. Hoping this change will be more effective over longitudinal years. This is going to take time, but it will be time well invested. With this journey starting with fourth grade children I think the instruction will stick and be more meaningful. They are still excited about school when we begin the complex process. Together we will explore questions and work hard on thinking in a higher order fashion. There will be excitement for investigation with room for practice which will build confidence. The more practice at the earlier years will provide students with self-assured experiences. With these solid experiences students begin to develop investigations independently.
My Dream It project is to encourage student independence for scientific investigation through scaffolding the scientific method. I promoted students to be creative in their own way based off their interests as I introduce and modeled each piece of the scientific method. I felt that through modeling and breaking things down they would naturally motivate and pick a topic that interests them. Many did but then went we met again a week later the excitement and momentum was like starting back at square one again. So again I would model and introduce another piece. I felt the excitement with the students again. Then a holiday would require a day off or even a scheduled field trip, so it might be two weeks before I would see them. This would make meeting deadlines and keeping momentum going difficult. At one point students were focusing on the creative parts more than doing the research and completing the experiment. Time is ticking and students are not producing each piece that was modeled. I found myself frustrated and had resorted to having them go back to the traditional science fair project. I needed them to focus on a completed project. Students still learned and accomplished many things. First of all they had never used their Email accounts nor did they work in a Google Drive. They learned how to create a Google document and how to retrieve it later and view feedback. They were able to revise and submit more than once for final assignment grade. I think this was one of their first research projects they had been required to do. Students need to learn how to read an article and paraphrase.
For round two I am starting with the fourth grade students. They will work in groups and develop a science fair project as a group before they move on to individual projects. I want them to see the whole big picture using the parts of the scientific method to make a whole finished project.