EDU 267 Science Artifact

I chose to use my lesson plan from the science fair because of the environment we used and the obstacles we faced in that decision. We chose the picnic table, because for the experiment we wanted to do a flat surface was needed and a table was a obvious choice. If I could go back I would try to find a more unique flat surface where students could play around with difference textures to see how that effected the bubbles. We also had to face the fact that other groups had more exciting locations like swings, slides, monkey bars etc. So Once we had students at our table we had to maintain there attention, but keeping this in mind I knew we needed something fun to keep them engaged in addition to the bubbles…Hence the goggles. The location of a lesson can either make or break it really, we are so used to teaching in a classroom setting but who says you need to be in a classroom to learn?? In the future, I hope to take my students on nature walks, field trips, or as simple as the back yard. This is how we can spark their natural “wonderings” in science!

What I have included is the physical lesson plan we used to orchestrate the activity. Now, a lot of the day was trial and error and listening to the student’s wonderings around the bubbles. We also quickly learned that some students have a hard time blowing into the straw resulting in a bubble taste test…

Going deeper our lesson transformed before our eyes as students dipped their bracelets in the bubble mixture to make different shapes and some even used their hands. It got messy but that made it fun. There is definitely some truth to the idea that “if you want to teach a 2nd grader, you have to think like a 2nd grader.” I can model the lesson 100 times, and go through the process with them but why can’t they stick their hand in a bucket of soap and see what happens? If I was 7 years old, I would do it too! The lesson became itself through curiosity and allowing their brains to think critically about the substance. They made observations and predictions! They questioned, and used problem solving skills to make it work. The reality is that this happens all the time in schools. Environment can open up the possibility for learning without limiting what they already know. We talk a lot of giving students the tools to learn, and skills to build their schema but sometimes if you present an idea or theory, you can let the students ask the questions and drive the lesson towards their own learning. We can see how there brain navigate to better our own understanding of them!

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