Thursday, November 20, 2008
Week 9
This Friday is a little crazy. The school is having the students take an exam. All grades, except for seniors, take this exam. Each day different periods are selected to take the exam. So each class is doing something different. First period is Astronomy; half of the class is seniors. They worked on their portfolios, while the other students took their exam. Two of the chemistry periods were taking the exam and the other two had taken it yesterday. For the classes that took it the other day, Mr. Ambrose talked about covalent bonds and molecular formula. I was not able to assist today as much as usual due to the exam and the teacher catching the students up.
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Week 9 - Saturn and Valence electrons
These last few weeks I haven't been presenting anything. I have been focusing on helping the students, one on one. They seem to benefit from me walking around and checking up on them while they work on something. Whether they say it or not, it appears that they like someone caring about their work. Students are more willing to show me their work and want to know if they are doing it correctly.
For instance, the students had a homework assignment due today but were already given homework for the next day. A lot of the students were asking questions and working really hard to finish the assignment (the one due the next day)in class. I asked a certain student if they had turned in their homework. The student did not remember there was homework due and sure enough when he pulled it out there wasn't even a name on the paper. I told him there was 15 min left in class and he should work on it and I figured he could get most of it done to get partial credit. He told me he wanted to work on the other assignment because it was easier. I smiled at him and explained how easy the other assignment was if he took a moment to look at it. Sure enough he started working on it and finished most of it and turned it in when the bell rang. He just needed someone to give him a little nudge and some encouragement.
This week I cam in on Wednesday because I have a presentation on my research this Friday. In astronomy they filled out another profile, this one was on Saturn. In chemistry they learned about valence electrons. The students seem to be picking this stuff up pretty well.
For instance, the students had a homework assignment due today but were already given homework for the next day. A lot of the students were asking questions and working really hard to finish the assignment (the one due the next day)in class. I asked a certain student if they had turned in their homework. The student did not remember there was homework due and sure enough when he pulled it out there wasn't even a name on the paper. I told him there was 15 min left in class and he should work on it and I figured he could get most of it done to get partial credit. He told me he wanted to work on the other assignment because it was easier. I smiled at him and explained how easy the other assignment was if he took a moment to look at it. Sure enough he started working on it and finished most of it and turned it in when the bell rang. He just needed someone to give him a little nudge and some encouragement.
This week I cam in on Wednesday because I have a presentation on my research this Friday. In astronomy they filled out another profile, this one was on Saturn. In chemistry they learned about valence electrons. The students seem to be picking this stuff up pretty well.
Monday, November 10, 2008
Week 8 - Halloween
First period Mr. Ambrose gave a quiz on Jupiter and then discussed a moon of Jupiter, Ganymede. After he lectured on it, I went around and helped answer students questions on Ganymede or any other body to help finalize their profile sheets.
The chemistry classes had a quiz and an exciting lab. It was a Flame Test Lab. This was going to be the first really risky lab. The students would be working with fire and chemicals; of course the students were really excited. At each station there were 8 samples of different chemicals. They dipped a paper clip into the chemical and then held it in the flame. They would write down the color of the flame. One of the chemicals were labeled unknown, but was one they had already tested. They had to identify it by the color flame it produced. I walked around and assisted the students throughout the lab. Between the quiz and the lab, the students were very busy throughout the class and seemed to enjoy doing the lab.
The chemistry classes had a quiz and an exciting lab. It was a Flame Test Lab. This was going to be the first really risky lab. The students would be working with fire and chemicals; of course the students were really excited. At each station there were 8 samples of different chemicals. They dipped a paper clip into the chemical and then held it in the flame. They would write down the color of the flame. One of the chemicals were labeled unknown, but was one they had already tested. They had to identify it by the color flame it produced. I walked around and assisted the students throughout the lab. Between the quiz and the lab, the students were very busy throughout the class and seemed to enjoy doing the lab.
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Week5/Week6/Week7
Week 5 -
I did not attend any classes because I was at a conference presenting my research.
Week 6 -
In the astronomy class Mr. Ambrose has started doing a long solar system unit. He goes over a body (moon, planet, comet, etc.) roughly once a day. The students write down important facts about the body being discussed on a worksheet. They keep these worksheets to help them on tests and eventually they will turn them in for credit. today they were specifically talking about the Moon. The conference I went to had people presenting on everything in and around our solar system. I was able to contribute a fact or two that I had just learned about the Moon. Most of the students seemed to be intrigued that we don't know everything about the closest object to the Earth. Mr. Ambrose and I discussed me doing a presentation on Venus next week, since Venus is my dissertation work.
For the chemistry labs Mr. Ambrose had a interesting lab that helped them understand mass. They weighed a piece of not chewed gum. then chewed a piece of gum until it lost its taste and weighted it to find out how much sugar is in a piece of gum. The risk part is trying not to have gum all over the classroom. The students were very cooperative and seemed to get the idea of the lab. They all enjoyed chewing gum (since they are not supposed too) and then comparing their answers to the actual package.
Week 7-
This week I got to lecture/present a power point on Venus for the Astronomy class. Mr. Ambrose and I thought this would be great for me and the students. Venus is the basis of my research, so it was very easy for me to tell them some basics stuff about it and then try to explain my research to them. My research entails understanding Venus' dynamics. I use a 3-D model to simulate what we think is going on and compare it to data. There isn't any direct wind measurements on Venus so we simulate airglow on the nightside. The chemistry is being blown from the dayside to the nightside therefore you get the winds right if you have the airglow right. Most of the students thought it was interesting but did not quite get why anyone would care. That was a vaild observation. I feel like I did not get my point across very well, due to lack of experience describing my research to younger students and the bell ringing with the students running out. The class overall was fine. They all got their planet profile filled out and seemed to learn a bit more about the planet than they expected.
In chemistry they are learning about Bohr Models. This was pretty basic for most of the students. Mr. Ambrose had a lot of examples for the students to work through before doing it for homework. There was a couple of classes the students were very eager to show their answers. They would go up and write their answers on the overhead for the rest of their classmates to see the answer. It was nice to see these students finally feel confident about something they just learned in class. Also it seemed like the disruptive behavior is settling down. I think I could make a connection between disruptive behavior and not learning in class. =)
I did not attend any classes because I was at a conference presenting my research.
Week 6 -
In the astronomy class Mr. Ambrose has started doing a long solar system unit. He goes over a body (moon, planet, comet, etc.) roughly once a day. The students write down important facts about the body being discussed on a worksheet. They keep these worksheets to help them on tests and eventually they will turn them in for credit. today they were specifically talking about the Moon. The conference I went to had people presenting on everything in and around our solar system. I was able to contribute a fact or two that I had just learned about the Moon. Most of the students seemed to be intrigued that we don't know everything about the closest object to the Earth. Mr. Ambrose and I discussed me doing a presentation on Venus next week, since Venus is my dissertation work.
For the chemistry labs Mr. Ambrose had a interesting lab that helped them understand mass. They weighed a piece of not chewed gum. then chewed a piece of gum until it lost its taste and weighted it to find out how much sugar is in a piece of gum. The risk part is trying not to have gum all over the classroom. The students were very cooperative and seemed to get the idea of the lab. They all enjoyed chewing gum (since they are not supposed too) and then comparing their answers to the actual package.
Week 7-
This week I got to lecture/present a power point on Venus for the Astronomy class. Mr. Ambrose and I thought this would be great for me and the students. Venus is the basis of my research, so it was very easy for me to tell them some basics stuff about it and then try to explain my research to them. My research entails understanding Venus' dynamics. I use a 3-D model to simulate what we think is going on and compare it to data. There isn't any direct wind measurements on Venus so we simulate airglow on the nightside. The chemistry is being blown from the dayside to the nightside therefore you get the winds right if you have the airglow right. Most of the students thought it was interesting but did not quite get why anyone would care. That was a vaild observation. I feel like I did not get my point across very well, due to lack of experience describing my research to younger students and the bell ringing with the students running out. The class overall was fine. They all got their planet profile filled out and seemed to learn a bit more about the planet than they expected.
In chemistry they are learning about Bohr Models. This was pretty basic for most of the students. Mr. Ambrose had a lot of examples for the students to work through before doing it for homework. There was a couple of classes the students were very eager to show their answers. They would go up and write their answers on the overhead for the rest of their classmates to see the answer. It was nice to see these students finally feel confident about something they just learned in class. Also it seemed like the disruptive behavior is settling down. I think I could make a connection between disruptive behavior and not learning in class. =)
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