The First Day!

Preparing to Educate and Inspire the Future!

Tuesday was my very first day of Science Methods. I had a little bit of an overwhelmed feeling, but I expected that and it wasn't so bad. Once we began doing activities, I settled in a bit more. One of the first things we talked about on that day was the need to shift the classroom into the digital age. Today, children have IPads, computers, televisions, and smartphones that connect them to the world. For modern children, it is natural to use technology as they have never lived in a world without it. So, it is only logical to integrate technology into the classroom as much as possible. Doing so will play off of the children's strengths and comfort to better their overall school experiences. I am excited to incorporate technology into my lessons. I have found in the past that the children simply have more fun when they are able to interact with programs like Khoot and other online tools. In my last methods class, Language Arts, I had created an activity on Power Point where the students had to take turns moving the different examples of figurative language into the correct categories. My two students were really excited and engaged the entire time as they tried to help each other decide on what category was correct. 

Much like is Language Art, technology can be introduced very easily when teaching science. It is almost impossible to not incorporate it into a science lesson! The solar system is a great example of a topic that will benefit from the use of technology. For example, a teacher could take the students on a virtual field trip into the galaxy, making the planets and constellation come to life before their eyes. Many teachers can even use online textbooks for that have interactive sections that expand the students' knowledge. I think the idea of an online textbook is great. Students and the teacher have access to the book where ever and whenever it is needed, without having to bring it along. That ability makes it much easier for children who are constantly on the run from one sport to another to transport their homework with them. It certainly would have made my school career easier! Technology is not going away and is only expanding, so it is time for it to be fully embraced in schools.

Aside from science, schools can also use technology to introduce the class to one another. We are actually do that for our Science Methods class. I had choosen to use Voki. Voki is a progarm that allows the person to create an avatar that can be animated to say anything. I started working on my introduction to myself and found Voki very easy and fun to use. I would definitley recomend it! I also really like that we get to make our introduction interactive! I think it should be fun to share!

On our first Tuesday, we also drew pictures of scientists. We had no specific instruction on how to draw our scientists, just to draw whatever we thought one looked like. I had suspicions that the majority of people would draw male scientists, so I drew a female scientist. I thought that most people's scientists would be a male because the stereotype of a scientist is usually an older male, mad scientist caricature. I would be interested to see if children automatically draw the same archetype. In reality, anyone can be a scientist. My aunt Michele is actually a scientist at Seimens and is in a higher position that many of her male coworkers. It should be an important value thought to children that ANYONE CAN BE ANYTHING THEY WANT TO BE! Everyone has a bit of a scientist in them when they are curious about how things work, propose new ideas, and propose new ways to solve a problem. I believe if a wider variety of scientists were represented in the media of different genders and different ethnicities, then more children would be inspired to become a scientist one day. I hope as I am teaching science, the students can find a love in what they are learning, even if it is not what they want to do when they grow up.

I am ready to face any challenge thrown my way this year and to come out successful on the other side! Be prepared for a Spectaular Sapce Aventure and a fantastic year!