As I think of the way we used the kits and taught science this year, there were a lot of positive efforts including the following:
- Each teacher took leadership over specific science teaching/learning goals
- We established rotations to teach all science standards
- We scheduled some team days to complete grade-level STEAM projects
- We acquired many supplies to support the program
- We instituted a lot of fun projects
- We created related websites and online review exercises to support student learning
- We utilized related online programs
I also believe there's room for growth in the year ahead including the following efforts:
- Now that we understand the kinds of time, space, and preparation the teaching takes, we will probably re-look at the schedule to make sure we have the right time of day and day of the week to teach this material.
- I want to organize the lessons I taught in a good order so that the lessons fit into the time available.
- I would also like to integrate some of the lessons with the math teaching/learning efforts I lead.
- I want to reorganize my classroom to better support science teaching and learning. I want to make it more lab-like where materials are easily accessible to students to support the study.
As I review this year's efforts in the months ahead, I'm sure I'll make this list more specific and tailored. I look forward to the efforts ahead.