Team building
Optimal science learning depends on teamwork, and while some children seem to have a natural ability to work with others, that's not the case for all children, or all adults for that matter. Good collaboration takes skill, and we can build that skill in many meaningful ways.
Material organization
Worthy hands-on science teaching and learning depends on good material management. That takes time, and that also requires teaching. Students need to learn about the materials they are using including how to use the materials and how to put the materials away. And good material organization depends on space too. One reason many elementary school teachers may shy away from science teaching is that we simply don't have a lot of space for the materials we use to forward great projects. Nevertheless each year we keep working at this, and each year we get better and better at it.
Learning patterns
Young children benefit from patterns--when lessons follow a similar pattern, it allows student to spend more time on the actual learning than understanding what to do first, next, and after that. In general, the pattern I hope to use next year involves these steps:
- Begin with a meaningful question
- Hypothesize about what the answer might be
- Engage in an activity related to the question as a team
- Follow a lab plan that includes stop scripted steps and some open ended steps so students know what to do, and are given opportunities to test, create, and try out options related to the question
- Clean-up
- Share in the rug area.
The most successful learning experiences this year were short, purposeful lessons that didn't include too many steps. Those learning experiences fit into the time available and left time for greater exploration and discussion. Some of the learning experiences were too big for the time or for students' capacity to complete all those steps at once--learning experiences like that are best broken down into smaller steps.
Background knowledge and extensions
Getting students used to checking their online homework list and including both previews and enrichment opportunities on that list helps students to learn about what's coming up and then extend the learning on their own time if interested.
I enjoy the challenge of working to teach the science better and better--it's a good challenge for me at this point in my career. Onward.
