Students are required to attend a field experience along with this science course.

Questions to Answer: The practicum experience should introduce you to the status of science education in the elementary school. Give the last page to the classroom teacher. Try to find out as much as possible about the following questions. Record in your journal comments on what you saw of each area as well as what the classroom teacher told you. Please make it easy for me to find these areas in your journal by putting them in a separate section or marking them as science questions answered.

1. Find out how frequently science is taught. How much time is allocated to science on a daily/weekly basis? How much have you actually seen?

2. What are the topics that are included in the science program? How are decisions made as to what and when science is taught? Which topics have you seen taught?

3. Are hands-on materials used? What kind, and how frequently? Which science textbook or program is used? Other resources? How flexible can he or she be in using such materials? What do you think of the text and/or materials used to teach science?

4. Does the teacher feel comfortable teaching science? How important a part of the academic program does the teacher view science? Do you see evidence of this in her/his classroom?

5. Are children with interest or aptitude in science provided an opportunity to pursue their interests? How?

6. How are science content or processes integrated into any other part of the classroom curriculum? Did you see any evidence of this in the classroom?

7. How does the teacher plan units and daily lessons? What assessment techniques does the teacher typically use? Look at her plans and assessments to get a sense of their nature.

Classroom Activities: Please try to accomplish the following activities in this suggested order (depending on what is possible in your particular assignment). Be sure to document these in your journal and mark it so I can find it.

1. Observe the class and teacher.

2. Observe the class doing science or science-related activities, if possible.

3. Discuss with the classroom teacher methodology and responsibilities in science education.

4. Study and discuss with the teacher his or her lesson plans for science.

5. Teach one science lesson with teacher's approval, or one other subject-area lesson where you can include some science concept or content. You must report on a lesson where science concepts were incorporated in some way, and submit the lesson plan with your journal.

Documenting your practicum experiences: For each day you participate in your practicum classroom, you need to write a journal entry recording what you did, what you found out, and your responses to what was happening in the classroom. Include answers to the above questions, notes from observations, and an analysis of what you found out about science and what you observed of pupil activity (see format below). Turn in those entries which reveal science-related reflections and answers, highlighting where they occur and labeling the questions above to which they relate. You are not required to turn in all your journal entries if the other entries relate only to other course's assignments.

You need to turn in the first part of your practicum journal for review on Oct. 21. I will offer some comments at that time, and return it to you.

At the completion of your practicum, write a summary statement about your experiences and what you learned in the practicum classroom. Analyze what your learned about science instruction in the classroom, about children's concepts of science, and about your reactions to the classroom. Conclude with reflections on how you would do science in your own classroom, based on what you observed. The practicum journal for the second half of the semester, along with the summary statement, is due on December 2.

JOURNAL FORMAT:

A number of theorists and experts (Cruikshank, Dewey, Schön, Zeichner) indicate that various types of reflection become a way of knowing about our actions. This learning through reflection facilitates our decision making, and further reflection provides us with a feedback mechanism whereby we can continue to improve as teachers. The purpose of this Reflection Journal assignment is to provide you with an opportunity to reflect about your field-based experiences and to provide us with a means of "conversing" with you about those experiences.

Each time you make a field-based visit, you should make an entry in your Reflection Journal using the format described below (Posner). The sooner you commit your reflections to paper, the better the quality your responses are likely to have.

A. HEADING

Include the date, your name, the school, the grade, your field-based teacher’s name, time spent, and number of students.

B. SEQUENCE OF EVENTS

Make a brief listing of all events during your time in the classroom. (We really mean just a list, for example:

1. Observed teacher do calendar time.

2. Read to group of 5 children.

3. Assisted children with science activity.

4. Helped teacher clean up hands-on materials.)

C. ELABORATION OF ONE OR TWO SIGNIFICANT EPISODES

An episode is an "event or sequence of events complete in itself, but forming a part of a larger one." Select one or two episodes that are significant to you because what happened excites you, causes you to rethink an initial idea, convinces you that your initial idea was valid, or bothers you. Whether the episode you report was a success or a failure, it is significant if you learned something important from it.

Once you pick an episode, describe it in detail. Reliving the experience will enable you to think about what you felt and thought during the episode, how you perceived the responses of the children and the teacher to your actions, and who or what contributed significantly to shaping the events.

C. ANALYSIS OF EPISODE(S)

State why the episode was important to you and how you interpret it. Write about what you accomplished, problems that emerged and how you followed up on them, and what you learned. This last point is the most important. You may have learned what works and what does not; if so, describe what you concluded. You may have learned something about children’s concepts of science, their use of language, or their values. You also might have learned something about planning for teaching science. Whatever you learned, write about it. Also think about what questions remain unanswered upon reflection of this lesson. Your journal is a good place to record those.

As I respond to your journals, I will be looking for comments which fall into one or more of the following three levels of reflection (Van Manen, Zeichner & Liston):

Technical Rationality - reflections on WHAT happened; focuses on events relying on personal experience and/or observations without due regard for a system or theory

Practical Action or Contextual - reflections on WHY decisions were made; concerned with clarifying the assumptions and predispositions underlying competing pedagogical goals and with assessing the educational consequences of a teaching action

Ethical or Critical Reflection - reflections on what SHOULD be; concerned with the worth of knowledge and the social circumstances useful to students

Questions listed below are presented to guide your thinking and not as a list which should be responded to at each entry in your journals.

1. What were essential strengths of the lesson?

2. What, if anything, would you change about the lesson?

3. Why was the lesson successful (or not successful)?

4. Which conditions were important to the outcome?

5. What, if any, unanticipated learning outcomes resulted from the lesson?

6. Can you think of another way you or the teacher might have taught this lesson?

7. Can you think of other alternative pedagogical approaches to teaching this lesson that might improve the learning process?

8. Do you think the content covered was important to students? Why?

9. Did any moral or ethical concerns occur as a result of the lesson?

Thank you for allowing a Berry College student in your classroom. Your help with these assignments is much appreciated. Feel free to call me, Sam Hausfather at 236-1719, with any questions or concerns about this practicum for science methods class, EDU 407/607.

Questions to Answer: The practicum experience should introduce the student to the status of science education in your school. The student will record in his/her journal comments on what was seen in the following areas as well as what you told him/her.

1. Find out how frequently science is taught. How much time is allocated to science on a daily/weekly basis?

2. What are the topics that are included in the science program? How are decisions made as to what and when science is taught?

3. Are hands-on materials used? What kind, and how frequently? Which science textbook or program is used? Other resources? How flexible can he or she be in using such materials?

4. Does the teacher feel comfortable teaching science? How important a part of the academic program does the teacher view science?

5. Are children with interest or aptitude in science provided an opportunity to pursue their interests?

6. How are science content or processes integrated into any other part of the classroom curriculum?

7. How does the teacher plan units and daily lessons? What assessment techniques does the teacher typically use?

Classroom Activities: Students are to accomplish the following activities in this suggested order (depending on what is possible in your classroom):

1. Observe the class and teacher.

2. Observe the class doing science or science-related activities.

3. Discuss methodology and responsibilities in science education.

4. Study and discuss lesson plans for science.

5. Teach at least one science lesson with teacher's approval, or one other subject-area lesson where some science concept or content can be included.

Children's Science Concepts: Students will be asked to report on how children reveal their own conceptions of science concepts, and interview one child (either in school or out) about her/his science concepts.

Return to EDU 407/607