Science Lesson Reflection

I taught both of my Science lessons this week in Ms. Spake’s class. They proved to be great learning experiences, as all moments in the classroom have been so far, but they were also fun. Both lessons were on heat, and I found it interesting how much the children already knew about the subject. Many knew what conductors as well as insulators were, several remembered why metal got hot faster than wood, and a few mentioned why using a pot holder on a boiling metal pot on the stove was a good idea. In my first lesson, the class divided into groups and tried to guess which spoon would get the warmest in a cup of hot water- the metal, plastic, or wooden spoon. My original idea was to demonstrate the experiment at the front of the classroom and have them write about it in journals, maybe even including a prediction about what they thought would happen. After pondering it over a while, however, I decided that a hands-on approach would be far more beneficial and memorable. Rather than telling or showing them, the students could find out for themselves. While many felt the metal spoon would get hot fastest, not everyone agreed. One boy knew from experience that “wood burns in a fire, so it must get really hot”, while another girl had remembered burning her arm on a plastic car seat one time, so plastic was bound to get the hottest. Obviously with a hands on activity like this one, the students were going to be somewhat excited and rambunctious. In spite of this, I really didn’t notice the children getting off task at all during the lesson. Each group member was busy participating, arguing with each other about the anticipated result, even discussing past experiences that seemed relevant to the science activity.

My second science lesson was taught in the school’s science lab on Friday, which was a nice change of pace. It was clean and open, with enough group tables for students to adequately work together rather than having to move around in desks in a cramped classroom. In this lesson, each group had to find a way to keep their ice cube from melting, using one material of their choosing. I brought in newspaper, felt, aluminum foil, paper towels, and Styrofoam cups for them to choose from. All the groups first had to discuss and choose which material to use, and write down why they chose what they did. Listening to them plan and decide together was fascinating. Some thought for sure that the felt would be too hot and would definitely melt the cube, while others rationed that newspaper would work, but only if it was wrapped and taped up securely. Interestingly, a few girls in one group thought that fanning or blowing on the ice cube would keep it “cool” and thus stop it from melting. A group of boys chose the Styrofoam cup and filled it with water, thinking that the water would sustain the cube and keep it cool, not realizing that the exact opposite was true. When their cube was almost gone after only 7 minutes, one of the boys sighed and told me, “I guess we chose wrong, Mr. Russell. Oh, well. At least we learned something . . . and we had fun.” I couldn’t have said it better myself.