Meaningful hands-on science
St. Joseph's School | 5th Grade | Science | 3/18/09 and 3/25/09| Present: 24
students, teacher and myself | 3 hours field experience including
reflection time
I have been blown away by my observations last week and this of meaningful hands-on activities that can really teach science concepts. The fifth grade classroom I have been in, is learning about Water. More specifically, these past two weeks, they have been focused on fresh water, its availability and pollution.
I got to witness two meaningful hands-on activities, one focused on exploring the concept of aquifers and the other on oil spill generated pollution. The timing for the oil spill pollution activity couldn't have been better what with the Exxon Valdez spill coming around for its 20th anniversary.
What made these activities so meaningful?
Several factors including:
The aquifer activity involved creating a virtual aquifer using ice, ice-cream, sugar sprinkles and food coloring to demonstrate pollution. The fact that the ingredients could be consumed made this so much more engaging for the students. Not just that, the fact that the act of sucking and eating the aquifer was analogous to drawing fresh water from a ground water source, made even the eating a part of the experiment. When all aspects of the activity can be informative, it makes the activity more engaging.
The oil spill activity involved team work including using 4 different tools to clean up the oil that had been spilled on the water.
Creativity in using the tools for the oil spill activity really allowed for student ideas to come through.
Team work in using a combination of tools for cleaning up oil allowed students to collaborate in a way that took their learning to newer levels.
The usage of the tools for the oil spill was not prescriptive. Students were truly allowed to innovate.
Both experiments did a great job of representing the real-life situations they were modeled after. They covered subtle aspects and factors well.
Process observations
For both activities, the teacher followed processes that were effective in the following ways:
Introduced the activity by asking questions that led to answers based on students' real life observations of the phenomena to be studied. This led to all kinds of engaging discussion that got the students thinking about the topic in a way that interested them.
Outlined the activity in clear steps that got the students going but did not inundate them with too much information.
Allowed independent exploration and group work in alternating steps.
Provided a hand-out that captured major steps and had spots for recording observations. This way, if a student felt lost, they could find their way back to the process without necessarily depending on the teacher.
Re-focused students after they had done some independent exploration by introducing new information to make them think about what they were seeing. This way, they remained engaged in a whole class format.
Asked pertinent questions at all critical steps.
Honored and included all forms of student input.
These activities have made me realize how much hands-on work can bring a subject/topic alive. How I wish all learning could happen through hands-on, experiential work.