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5th Grade Science Curriculum Washington Heights Elementary School - Mr. Cameron West Shore School District

INTERVIEW: What is your philosophy on teaching science? I love science, and feel it is extremely important. I think it has to be relevant to the kids, however. They basically love this stuff, and I love to teach it, but it is the first thing to get cut in curriculum and "time crunches".

Do you have the opportunity to do experiments in class or take field trips? Yes, a few experiments...simple ones, non dangerous, but good. We take one science oriented field trip when we go to Whitetail Environmental Center and do a stream study, where the kids get soaked and walk in a creek, measure speed, characteristics, etc., and find "critters" under rocks, etc.

Do you always have to add to the curriculum? ABSOLUTELY!!!!!!

What resources do you use to expand the curriculum? My own materials that I have gathered over the years, newspaper articles, "freebies" from the water company, and the all time best - the internet.

What's the topic your students like most? They really like energy, environmental issues, resources, etc. Also the human body, when I get time to do it.

What are some classroom management techniques that you use in Science? Same as regular classroom. The noise level of course is up when they are doing experiments, but rules are still followed. When someone can't follow the rules, they lose the privilege of doing the experiment or activity, and must work to do it in another way.

What do you use to assess your students? Class observations and notes, class participation, notebooks kept throughout the unit, quizzes, and unit tests.

What kind of adaptations can/do you use for those in need? ESL - water it down to simple terms, use lots pictures, etc. For learning support - we adapt all tests like give extra time, eliminate choices, or give choices if open ended, etc.

How is science integrated with other subjects? In our school we have 3-5th grade teachers. I teach all science, another teaches all social studies, and the third teaches two marking periods of science and two of social studies. So, because of classes switching in this manor it is very difficult to integrate science into other subjects.

Do you use inquiry-based learning - where the kids ask questions and find the answers on their own with you as the facilitator? Yes, as much as possible - many of my lessons get "sidetracked" by kids pertinent questions, and that is what makes it enjoyable.

What have you learned/observed that colleges are not covering in pre-service education? CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT SKILLS!!! and be realistic....you will never have time to make science the most important subject - sorry!

What advice can you give to a pre-service or first year teacher? Enjoy the kids, and try to minimize the "junk" that is required. Build a relationship with them, take the time to talk to them, discuss things that are relevant to them, and supplement curriculum to make it more "fun".

OBSERVATION: Before the lesson began I looked around the room to see what resources or information was available to the students. Washington Heights is a learning focused school so there was a bulletin board that had the Unit Essential Question, "Why is it important to conserve Earth's resources?" and the Lesson Essential Question, "What are non-renewable resrouce and why should they be used wisely?" listed for the students. Mr. Cameron started the lesson by telling the students that he had graded their quizzes on coal energy which the students did not do well on, he felt he needed to review the information with his class. He started out by asked the students what the uses, advantages, and disadvantages were for coal energy. He gave the students a few minutes to answer the various questions and it was discovered that the students were confused by the uses and the advantages. He took the answers the students gave even if they were wrong. In the case where the answers were incorrect he gave them a second chance and possibly some information that may help them come up with the correct answer. I noticed during this review that most of the students were not paying attention and didn't seem to think it was big deal. Even though Mr. Cameron was frustrated and disappointed with the quiz scores he was able to include praise when he was doing the review with his class for the good ideas and correct answers. He decided to tell the students there may be a quiz tomorrow on solar energy and reviewed for that for a few minutes.

He was now finally ready to get into his lesson on wind energy. Mr. Cameron asked the students to get their books out and turn to the Wind Energy section. He also had the students take out their notes. The lesson started with the definition of wind energy. He has a smartboard in his room so he used that to type all of the notes on that the students were to copy. The definition of wind energy was: energy from air in motion. Next, he used this website: http://www.eia.doe.gov/kids/energyfacts/sources/renewable/wind.html to supplement his science curriculum. He was able to tell the students about the History, How Wind Machines Work, and Wind and the Environment. He continued to list the uses of wind energy including that can generate electricity. He also had them write down that wind can be caused by different air temperatures. The students were able to copy this diagram into their notes as well.

Mr. Cameron also used their prior knowledge about coal energy and its process to develop a process and diagram for wind energy as well. A coal source was drawn which produced steam which then turned the turbine. This turbine then makes the generator work and produces electricity. Mr. Cameron then asked his students how to insert wind energy into the process by eliminating the polluntant from coal at the same time. After taking a few ideas from the student he showed them that by removing the coal source and steam and replacing it with wind as the renewable source. Next, he explained that wind blows across the blades of the turbine. This lifts and turns the blades which generate electricity.

The student then took out their flip books. The flip book was made up of multiple pages that could be flipped to see each lesson and the information related to the type of energy. This flip book had been used for each energy source to list the advantages and disadvantages to help the students study.

No pollution Wind is free Wind will not run out - is renewable
 * Advantages**:

The turbines must be in a certain place where wind is available Special Equipment is needed Doesn't work when it is not windy Noisy Can kill animals
 * Disadvantages**:

Mr. Cameron was able to bring some real life experience by asking the students if they had been on the turnpike going towards Pittsburgh and saw the turbines near the Somerset exit. Most of the students were able to make the connection and were able to ask questions and talk about the turbines and energy sources. At the same time the students were able to see a picture of a wind turbine, perhaps to jog a memory of seeing the turbines on the turnpike.

The last portion of the lesson was the class reading a page of information from the textbook which discussed wind energy. Some of this information was reinforcing what Mr. Cameron had previously taught the students during the lesson.

REFLECTION: The lesson plan had an essential question that asked how can wind energy be used as an energy source? I think this question was answered during the lesson because the discussion was completely about wind and how energy can be developed using wind. The lesson plan showed an activating strategy which had the children making word webs with all energy sources. I did not find these word webs being used in the classroom when I was observing although he did use a flip book that included the advantages and disadvantages of wind energy. Mr. Cameron was able to include the key vocabulary that was listed on the lesson plan. The students did not use the frayer to record the definition, illustrations, advantages, and disadvantages. The class did read the pages in the curriculum that discussed wind energy. I think Mr. Cameron ran out of time to do the graphic organizer comparing and contrasting wind and solar energy and the "plus/minus/intriguing" sheet. The class may have completed this in the days after my observation.

Mr. Cameron did tell me during the observation that the science curriculum did not provide a lot of information about wind energy or any topic really, so he has to supplement the curriculum almost daily. He uses the internet a lot to add to the lesson and make sure he children understand what is being taught. I think this is easier to do because he has a Smartboard in his classroom. The Smartboard connects directly to his laptop which he can use to show the website to the class. I really like this way of teaching because it seems like most of what you need can be right at your fingertips. The curriculum discusses comparing how much wind energy is used in place of barrels of oil but these situations were not used in the class discussion.

I know that I will need to have a more detailed and accurate lesson plan than Mr. Cameron does because I will be a new teacher who will be watched a bit more than a 32-year veteran. Overall, I think he did a great job teaching the topic of wind energy because he was able to get the information out easily, answer questions from the children, and keep them interested throughout the lesson. This is very important to help ensure the students get the information they need to be successful when discussing energy sources.