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Sharing Science | ||||||||||
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Kids Teaching Kids | ||||||||||
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Be An Einstein...Ask Why? | ||||||||||
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On-Line Physics | ||||||||||
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Enrichments | ||||||||||
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Collaboratives | ||||||||||
If you would like any information on these or other collaborative programs please use the following e-mail address: send mail to kskrutvold@uswest.net.
The following Picts are a Spin-off Activity:
We love to see our students "turned on" to what they are learning. We get great satisfaction when we see the obvious signs -- a wide-eyed expression, a look of puzzlement becoming a smile, a gleam and excitement in the eye, an absorption so intense the students' are scrambling to complete the task. We know, then, that our students are involved and enjoying learning.
Over the course of the school year at the International School of Prague, my wife and I would see the signs appearing more and more often. What makes the difference? What makes teaching science applications more than just an afterthought? Hands-on activities of course. What we have done in collaboration, is take applications of physics in the high school science setting to the elementary classrooms. From the classroom activities including the concepts of force, mass, acceleration, energy and momentum, as the key ingredients, came together to do a "Collaborative Egg Drop".
By bringing the high school physics students into a direct working relationship with the elementary students of my wife's' first grade class, we developed a way to bridge the gap of age and academic levels. The purpose of the activity was to design and build an appropriate container which will protect a healthy raw egg from breaking or cracking from the impact of a fall from @ 15 meters. Bridging the gap between grade levels occurred through the appropriate pairing of my physics students with one or two elementary first graders. The pairing was done by taking into consideration a number of components, such as, personality, physical and cognitive development, behavior strategies, and language differences. For example, we had student representation from a number of countries that English is not their primary language, so we tried at all costs to pair in such a way that a high school student working with the elementary student could communicate in the elementary students' native language.
One of the activities goals is to expose students at an early age to interdisciplinary opportunities in math, science, and technology. The interdisciplinary focus even carries over into the other classroom activities that the first graders are working on. The "Collaborative Egg Drop" actually was integrated as a component of the entire first grade classroom curriculum. The first graders are heavily involved in the study of embryology, by actually setting up a hatching and brooding area for chicks that they are hatching. The "Hatch a Chick" program became a strong vehicle for the implementation of a collaborative that brings the two grade levels together in a wonderful way to emphasize science, math, and technology.
For the science teaching to be a purposeful activity we designed the program to facilitate student participation that required the students to be engaged both physically and mentally in a desired outcome, building an appropriate container for the egg to sustain a 15 meter drop. We also wanted the activity to be guided by our desire to have students:
- convey self-confidence
- use critical thinking skills
- convey the understanding of science concepts to their design
- identify problems and solve them effectively
- use communication and cooperation skills effectively
- be creative and curious
- set goals, make decisions, and self-evaluate
- express a positive attitude towards the activity and science
- demonstrate an understanding of the science concepts rather than just facts
- communicate that science is for all ages
By designing and building their own "Egg-tainers", my students and the first grade students not only became pseudo engineers, they also got a chance to apply the concepts of physics in a hands-on approach. This invariably leads to a greater comprehension of the laws as well as a great way to introduce the concepts to the elementary students. We did our drop at the end of the lab to test each bilateral grade teams design, and the classroom was filled with anticipation and excitement.
We began our work on this activity by first developing our strategies to convey the interdisciplinary relationships of the subject areas. These are listed above. Then it was the task to outline the activity for the high school physics students, whom by the way, were only to be guides on the side. Meaning they were to guide the elementary students or be a helpmate, as the actual choice of materials, design and majority of building was to be done by the elementary student.