Meaningful Academic Language“Establishing meaningful communication with families helps build the student-teacher-parent relationship. Journals
can be a useful tool to bridge school and home. A journal can communicate learning goals, develop scientific vocabulary,
and create dialogue through oral and written language.”
McGough does a wonderful job of providing examples of how a journal related to Science gives the students and parents an opportunity to share learning experiences as they occur in an authentic way. I particularly liked the story of the pop rocks and different soda. The author argues that academic language occurs in academic settings and unless given the opportunity to share in an academic manner, the language does not get developed. The pop rock investigation had the child excited enough to want to share the experience at home. This sharing helps support the student in their academic growth.
There are many rich ideas that can easily be modified to be used in my middle school Design and Engineering classroom. I look forward to implementing several in the next couple of months before school is out.
Really Powerful Must Read
“Equity demands that all students have lab instruction, yet certain populations never get it.” What a powerful statement/ Eisenkraft makes excellent arguments throughout this article based on this presumption. It is assumed that all students know and have experienced some of the most basic investigations when in reality, they have not.
“A lab trains a student in doing science the way practicing a sport trains an athlete.” Science labs provide a common ground for all students. Labs are crucial to help students make meaning of the Science content. Throughout the article, Eisenkraft shares wonderful analogies of how our everyday practices can be improved to make sure we are meeting the needs of all students.
This article caused me to really pause and think about what I do and how I can modify my practice to make Science equitable for all.
Dolphins and MathThe fission-fusion explanation is exceptional. It took me a while to fully comprehend the math involved with this activity. All of the information needed to complete this activity is provided in the article and I intend on trying it with my middle school students. I anticipate there will be some issues with students being able to utilize the math correctly and will initially struggle. Overall though, this will be an engaging activity that will be interesting to the students because of the content, and challenging enough to force them to apply math in a real life application.
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Grade:
Science in Any Language
Type: Journal Article
Grade: Elementary School
Methods and Strategies: Concept-Focused Teaching
Type: Journal Article
Grade: Elementary School
Supercharging Lessons With a Virtual Lab
Type: Journal Article
Grade: Elementary School, Middle School