class 9/30/08

Today's class period consisted of online assingments. The first thing we did was complete a reading guide questionnaire regarding chapters three and four of "Ready, Set, Science!" This questionnaire really made us apply the information we acquired from reading these two chapters. The reading guide took a while to fill out, however, it was a great review of the information that was covered within chapters three and four. An example of a question stated, "How can educators harness young children’s shared base of understanding and skill to help them learn science?" I answered this question with information I came across pertaining to the book. I believe that was the main goal of the assignment. Instead of just reading about the chapters, we learned how to apply the information to situations as well. I should briefly cover the importance of these two chapters. Chapter three pertained to foundational knowledge and conceptual change. The importance of this chapter was to understand to not look at children ideas of the world as misconceptions, they should be looked at as stepping stones on a path towards more accurate knowledge. We can help children gain an understanding for the world around them by using these preexisting ideas and elaborating on them. We can also restructure a network of concepts, achieve new levels of explanation, and more.

Chapter four of the text pertained to organizing science education around core concepts. The important part of this chapter was to understand the benefits of learning progression to students. It highlighted the benefits of focusing on core concepts and learning progressions. I have a feeling that we are going to see a shift from standard classroom teachings to learning progressions in the near future. Because of this, it is important to understand the concepts behind this form of teaching. In the end, all of this information is extremely important to understand as future educators. This helps to provided our students with the best possible education we can provide for them.

Along with completing the reading guide, we also completed the weekly discussion. This discussion focused on the advantages and disadvantages of incorporating science technology within the classroom. This was a very interesting topic of discussion. However, there was a ton of information to address and talk about. Overall, today's out of class assignments covered a ton of important and insightful information into the field of science!