Modeling Watersheds

I really enjoyed implementing the Earth science model lesson plan for this week.  Working with students who are genuinely interested in learning science, so much so that they are willing to take time out of playing their video games and riding their bikes during summer vacation, was more like playing then working.  That is what teaching should be, enjoyable. 

I think one of the best parts about using a model with this experience was in allowing the students to create the model themselves.  They had such a great time balling up the foil and using wet newspaper strips to create a landscape.  They had even more fun figuring out where the lows and highs were and where they think the water would flow.  And of course the most fun of it all was actually spraying the colored water and turning their hands into Smurf models when the blue dye got on them. 

Using this model however did have some pitfalls.  In the future I would use actual rocks rather than balled up newspaper and foil in order to get a more natural result.  I would also have students create the landscapes ahead of time and let them dry instead of doing a fast model.  And last, I would remember to not put as much blue dye in the water as MY fingers also turned Smurf blue.

In the end, models are important scientific tools and are highly beneficial when used within the classroom.  I can’t imagine teaching science without them.

Natural Disaster Education in Compassion

A few years ago, during my student teaching experience, I showed students a video of the tsunami that hit Thailand in 2004.  They were stunned to watch as the waves crested onto shore and overran the homes and people sitting on the beaches enjoying their vacations.  It is by watching these natural disasters that students understand them not just in a detached way but on a personal level, learning that the people affected could just as easily be them. 

Within the classroom there are many options available for teaching students to appreciate that humanitarian cause of a natural disaster.  If a natural disaster is occurring at the time of instruction then this is so much more powerful.  They can see how horrible the results can be.  And they can see the story developing and learn as the numbers of casualties, injuries, and costs to repair just keep increasing.  If students are learning about natural disasters without one currently occurring then the first thing I would do is have them read the accounts of a natural disaster.  A creative way to do this would be to take the stories of the people involved in the Great San Francisco earthquake of 1906.  This information can be obtained through sites such as Eyewitness to History (http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/sfeq.htm) which provides stories from those that were there.  Through reading these stories, acting them out as if they were the people involved, they will learn the heartache of the devastation. 

To learn about organizations that help the people involved in a natural disaster, I believe that having students work together in cooperative groups to research an organization and then sharing it with the class provides the greatest learning opportunity.  This allows students to find information that is pertinent but also they are able to determine what is most important to them and what affects them most. 

In times of natural disaster schools should band together to help in any way that they can.  I have experienced before having the staff at our middle school compete against the different grade levels in a penny drive.  My favorite part of this was when the different groups brought in quarters, dimes, nickels, and even dollars which they would put into the jars of the other teams which incurred a penalty.  It was a lot of fun, but most importantly it raised money to help people in need.  Every method to get students interested in helping others is open as an option.