How have your views on writing questions changed?
After our class discussion, my views on writing adequate questions has changed. I have realized that questions need to be incredibly clear so that students know what is expected of them. If a question is too broad such as "What is an ecosystem?" the student may not know where to start when writing their answer. Had this been a question for an essay project and the parameters allowed the students to turn in a three or four page paper on this topic, this would have allowed the students enough writing space. Though, for a short response question, students would not know what topics within an ecosystem to touch on. To make this question adequate for a short answer question I would narrow down the question. Asking, "What kind of animals are in this ecosystem?" or even "What are some of the different factors that make up an ecosystem?", would be more applicable to a short answer question.
We also discovered within our group that sometimes diction can make all the difference between a good and bad question. Some of the questions we analyzed as a group had good intentions but were not quite up to par. Adding a few words for clarification or changing a couple words, morphed a so-so question in a a great question.
Monday, February 27, 2012
Monday, February 20, 2012
The Lion King and the Big Idea
How does Lion King ecology inform our Big Idea?
Our big idea for the purpose of Applications of Biological Science is that organisms interact with each other and their environment. This big idea relates to the Lion King Disney movie because it exemplifies how organisms interact with one another. The lions in the movie interact with their environment for survival. They have to find and kill their food in order to live, whether that be other animals or bugs. Also, they rely on rivers and streams as their water source. Pride Rock is their environmentally made home and source of shelter. The younger lions knew that there were parts of the environment they were not allowed to visit because of the harmful interactions they would have to endure in this area with the hyenas.
The lions live together in a community and participate in beneficial interactions between one another. Since lions are at the top of the food chain, they had no problem finding food to eat. This represents a harmful interaction for the lions prey. Once Scar and the hyenas took over as the leader at Pride Rock, the social interactions between the animals changed. The hyenas, who were used to being inferior to the lions, were now on top and could boss around the lions as they pleased. Although, this does not truly put them on top of the food chain because a lion could still easily kill a hyena.
How have your ideas changed (if they have) as a result?
Watching the Lion King informed me of various different interactions between organisms and their environments. I still believe that this main idea is extremely important to teaching, but it has also showed me that how I choose to teach will greatly affect my students. If I teach by Mufasa's values of leadership I will be fair to all of my students and not be a dictator in the classroom. Though, if I chose to teach like Scar I would frighten the children into following my rules or else they will be punished. My personality and goals will help to shape the rest of my class.
Our big idea for the purpose of Applications of Biological Science is that organisms interact with each other and their environment. This big idea relates to the Lion King Disney movie because it exemplifies how organisms interact with one another. The lions in the movie interact with their environment for survival. They have to find and kill their food in order to live, whether that be other animals or bugs. Also, they rely on rivers and streams as their water source. Pride Rock is their environmentally made home and source of shelter. The younger lions knew that there were parts of the environment they were not allowed to visit because of the harmful interactions they would have to endure in this area with the hyenas.
The lions live together in a community and participate in beneficial interactions between one another. Since lions are at the top of the food chain, they had no problem finding food to eat. This represents a harmful interaction for the lions prey. Once Scar and the hyenas took over as the leader at Pride Rock, the social interactions between the animals changed. The hyenas, who were used to being inferior to the lions, were now on top and could boss around the lions as they pleased. Although, this does not truly put them on top of the food chain because a lion could still easily kill a hyena.
How have your ideas changed (if they have) as a result?
Watching the Lion King informed me of various different interactions between organisms and their environments. I still believe that this main idea is extremely important to teaching, but it has also showed me that how I choose to teach will greatly affect my students. If I teach by Mufasa's values of leadership I will be fair to all of my students and not be a dictator in the classroom. Though, if I chose to teach like Scar I would frighten the children into following my rules or else they will be punished. My personality and goals will help to shape the rest of my class.
Monday, February 13, 2012
Teaching and Learning
How do you view teaching and learning?
The ultimate goal of teachers nationally is to pass as much knowledge on to their students as possible. Thereby, leaving them enlightened and inspired toward their own educational journeys. A dedicated personal philosophy of teaching is essential to guide young minds to a state of higher learning. When I become a teacher, I plan to incorporate numerous techniques into my repertoire which will allow my students to gain expertise in the subjects I have the passion to teach. To be specific, my teaching strategies will include applying constructivist teaching procedures to inspire active learners.
Constructivism is a common psychological term explaining that in order to attain educational growth, students themselves must delve into topics and build their own knowledge base by being active learners. I will provide the raw materials for students to actively engage in their education by using interactive teaching strategies. Specifically for teachers, Social Constructivism is the key to learning because it presents social interaction as a necessity for educational growth. In my future classes I hope to interact physically and intellectually with my students.
How do you view big ideas as related to teaching and learning?
Using big ideas is essential to teaching. This gives teachers a broad starting out point from which they can work off of. A teacher may start a lesson off by stating "All life has a common ancestor", and then create the days lesson off of this idea. Without a main idea, students will have a much harder time trying to understand why they are learning specific material.
The big idea that we considered in class was that organisms interact with each other and the environment. This particular big idea is related to teaching because each teacher must have individual relationships with each student in order to be effective. Also, students should be interacting with one another to develop social skills and learn from each other.
The ultimate goal of teachers nationally is to pass as much knowledge on to their students as possible. Thereby, leaving them enlightened and inspired toward their own educational journeys. A dedicated personal philosophy of teaching is essential to guide young minds to a state of higher learning. When I become a teacher, I plan to incorporate numerous techniques into my repertoire which will allow my students to gain expertise in the subjects I have the passion to teach. To be specific, my teaching strategies will include applying constructivist teaching procedures to inspire active learners.
Constructivism is a common psychological term explaining that in order to attain educational growth, students themselves must delve into topics and build their own knowledge base by being active learners. I will provide the raw materials for students to actively engage in their education by using interactive teaching strategies. Specifically for teachers, Social Constructivism is the key to learning because it presents social interaction as a necessity for educational growth. In my future classes I hope to interact physically and intellectually with my students.
How do you view big ideas as related to teaching and learning?
Using big ideas is essential to teaching. This gives teachers a broad starting out point from which they can work off of. A teacher may start a lesson off by stating "All life has a common ancestor", and then create the days lesson off of this idea. Without a main idea, students will have a much harder time trying to understand why they are learning specific material.
The big idea that we considered in class was that organisms interact with each other and the environment. This particular big idea is related to teaching because each teacher must have individual relationships with each student in order to be effective. Also, students should be interacting with one another to develop social skills and learn from each other.
Sunday, February 5, 2012
Data vs. Evidence
Teaching a Lesson Without Language-No Way
After participating in last classes conversation on language, I view language as all forms of communication. There would be no way to teach a lesson without language. In my mind, language encompasses sign language, oral language, and thinking. Even thinking about what you are about to say uses language because without it, what would we think? In class we discussed whether a simple expo marker was language and most of the class decided that it was. Since we all thought "pen" in our minds when we looked at it, we used language to identify it as such.
Data vs. Evidence
Our class came across the discussion of whether information was data or evidence when completing the Mr. Xavier activity. The story of Mr. Xavier's unfortunate death (possibly a lion?) had many examples of both data and evidence. From class discussion, we deduced that data is factual information that can be qualitative or quantitative and supports evidence. Evidence is relevant, observable data that is constructed to fit a theory and used to make inferences.
It was difficult at first to try to pick which statements were data or evidence, but after using our constructed definitions it became easier.
After participating in last classes conversation on language, I view language as all forms of communication. There would be no way to teach a lesson without language. In my mind, language encompasses sign language, oral language, and thinking. Even thinking about what you are about to say uses language because without it, what would we think? In class we discussed whether a simple expo marker was language and most of the class decided that it was. Since we all thought "pen" in our minds when we looked at it, we used language to identify it as such.
Data vs. Evidence
Our class came across the discussion of whether information was data or evidence when completing the Mr. Xavier activity. The story of Mr. Xavier's unfortunate death (possibly a lion?) had many examples of both data and evidence. From class discussion, we deduced that data is factual information that can be qualitative or quantitative and supports evidence. Evidence is relevant, observable data that is constructed to fit a theory and used to make inferences.
It was difficult at first to try to pick which statements were data or evidence, but after using our constructed definitions it became easier.
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