Introductory Physical Science

After spending an entire day observing a science lab, I realized that there were some very valuable techniques that I have seen and applied to a peer's research findings discussed in last night's Methods course.

The teacher for science was incredible in her realm. The students were very interested in the project and I believe it was because she was so confident in them that she let them work on their own. The students are very independent and are always asking questions. Asking questions in this type of introductory class was encouraged. I feel that the students thrived in an environment where everyone was competing for teh teacher's attention. In the collaborative class, there were next to no questions being asked. I feel that since there were half the amount of students in the collaborative class and that the teachers' time was not as scarce as in the other classes that the students were less inclined to ask a question. When the teacher's time was less, the students were more likely to want her attention. When she had too much time to give, they were not as interested in it!

This is at least how it was seen on a middle school level.

To apply the skills learned in the media center, the media specialist can suggest or order books that relate to science, science labs, student situations in a lab, etc. This can also be applied in the media center by researching topics related to the curriculum such as their element research report.

I see value in the media specialists coming into the classroom to see what the students are working on.

I was much better at helping students later in the day when they came to teh media center to graph their scientific data because I knew what they were working on it class.