Thank You!

I want to say how grateful I am for my Science class, for my class mates, and my professor. In just 3 weeks, I have learned so much and gained more confidence than I ever thought I could. It is refreshing to be in an environment where people support each other, rather than put each other down. Where if you don't understand something, you're not afraid to admit it because your peers voluntarily and openly share their information and ideas, rather than covering them up. Where it's OK to guess, because there is no wrong answer when every answer will help guide us towards what we're looking for---knowledge and understanding of the world around us. Where we can learn from each other's knowledge, experiences, and opinions in a community where we can truly work together to help each other rise, so we can in turn help our children rise, learn, achieve, and thrive. I'm going to miss this class, Thank you for opening my eyes to this new world of teaching and learning!

A Day at the River

During our Project Wet activity, we got to go to Stones River and observe what was in the water! We learned how to tell if water is clean or polluted by the fish and organisms we found in the water. I had no idea you could tell how clean the water is by taking a small sample of a few creatures in it. We put the ones we found in ice trays to observe, and then let them go unharmed when we were done. It's amazing what you notice when you really look! It turns out the part of Stones River we examined was pretty clean! But we have to be so careful of what we put down our drains, because it can end up in our rivers and lakes.

Call 811!!!

So the other day, we had a phenomenal guest speaker, Mr. Swoape. He is from the gas company---the natural gas company. I learned so much from him. He taught us that in order to start a fire, (DON"T TRY THIS AT HOME OR ANYWHERE!!!!) you need 4 things: oxygen, fuel, a catalyst, and what's the fourth?---MATH!!! I thought you only needed the first 3 things. It turns out the proportions of oxygen and fuel have to be right to start a fire.

Mr. Swoape also taught me that when I'm metal detecting, if I'm going to dig deeper than just a couple of inches, or if I'm going to plant a tree, I need to call 811 first. It's a FREE service, where the gas company will come out and make sure there are no gas lines running where I want to dig, so I don't bust a pipe and put myself and those around me in danger. Natural gas is actually harmless until there is so much of it, that it starts taking the place of the oxygen or it lights on fire! So if you smell something that smells like rotten eggs, a skunk, or a dirty diaper, it might be a leaky gas line, so GET OUT OF THE BUILDING AND TAKE ELVIS WITH YOU!!! I also learned the different colors of each utility. When you see these lines on the ground, here's what each color means:

White- Dept. of Transportation
Red- Electric
Blue- Water
Yellow- Gas

This presentation was awesome! I would love to have him present in my classroom one day. It was so exciting! I wish I had taken a picture of it..I picked the wrong day to forget my phone. For a picture and a little more info, check out Kim Geary's blog:
 http://scienceadventureselementary.blogspot.com/2015/05/natural-gas.html?m=1

Poem Tree!!!

This Project Learning Tree activity combined my love of poetry with my love of trees!!! I loved being able to go outside on my own and write poetry about a tree! During this exercise, I wanted to observe a big tree, so I searched for my tree a little further than the rest of the class. I was so tempted to climb it and write my poem in the tree! This showed the class and myself that in our own classroom outside activities, we have to set parameters for our students or they might wander off like I did! 

This isn't my original poem from class, but my original poem was about a maple tree. This poem is a true story about my maple tree at home. I traced the biggest leaf on my baby maple  tree. It's only about 2 years old, and look how big its leaves have gotten! 

I can't wait to do this activity in my future classroom. I loved the idea of shaping it like a tree or like the tree you observed, and it doesn't even have to rhyme.

THIS IS A PICTURE I TOOK FROM THE FERRIS WHEEL AT BONNAROO WHEN I FIRST MOVED TO TENNESSEE ABOUT 5 YEARS AGO. I LOVE HOW IT SELFLESSLY PROVIDES SHADE FOR PEOPLE ON A VERY HOT DAY! <3 :)

Veggie Garden in the Classroom!!!

One of our Project Learning Tree activities was that we had a few different food items on the table, and in groups we had to guess where each item came from. For example, olive oil comes from an olive tree. Gum originally came from chicle (the word for gum in Spanish!), which is a sap that comes from the sapodilla tree. This exercise is a great way to get people to think about what they're eating. Tennessee ranks one of the highest in obesity rates. In school, I remember having the DARE program, which gave us information on why not to do drugs, drink alcohol, or smoke cigarettes; but I don't remember learning about the effects that the food we eat can have on us. We hear how smoking can cause heart disease, but obesity is also a major contributor to heart disease (which is the number 1 killer in Tennessee). Obesity is just one health problem that poor eating habits contributes to; there's also diabetes and other health problems. Type 2 Diabetes was once rare among children. Now, the number of children with Type 2 Diabetes is increasing, due to obesity. When children (and adults) become aware of where the food they're eating comes from, when they realize that we consume so many ingredients we can't even pronounce, when they learn how to read nutrition labels, they become more aware of what they're putting into their bodies and are more likely to adopt wiser eating habits. When I went to school, we did discuss the food pyramid, but it didn't really get the point across. This is where the Plate Method comes in handy. This exercise is a good way to implement the Plate Method.

I have seen the Plate Method at work; I have seen adults and children lose weight on it and better control their diabetes with it. The Plate Method basically says that half of your plate is vegetables (non-starchy vegetables), a quarter is your protein (which doesn't have to be meat; it can be beans or other forms of protein), another quarter is your starch, and you can have 2 more starches with it, with each one being either a glass of milk, a tortilla, a piece of bread, a fruit, etc. You also have to keep the size of the plate in mind. The size of our dinner plates have really grown from what they used to be in the past.

I can't wait to implement healthy eating in my classroom! It is so important! Along with this exercise, you could start a little herb garden by the window in your classroom or even start a school vegetable garden! When children grow their own vegetables, help their parents pick them out at the grocery store, or assist in preparing the food they're going to eat, they are much more likely to try new vegetables. Chop Chop magazine is a great resource for getting kids to eat healthier. It has fun, easy, healthy recipes they can put together on their own. I got a few tips from this magazine that I use at home. For example, you can save about an inch of the carrot tops and put them in a jar or bowl half covered in water; soon it will start growing little leaves you can put in your salads or food to give it a great healthy flavor! You can also keep about an inch or two of the root tip of your green onions, put them in a jar with water covering half of the vegetable, and it will grow new green onions! It saves you money, and it's the part you probably throw away anyway, and it's healthy!!! You can grow these things very easily in your classroom with very little care. All you have to do is add a little more water when it starts getting low. Check it out!

CHOP CHOP MAGAZINE

Or check out their blog!!!

http://www.chopchopmag.org/blog/white-house-kitchen-garden

MY CARROT TOPS AT HOME

The Health Department has free classes for schools where students get to cook and receive their own chef hats, aprons, and a plate method plate. They love it! Look into it for your classrooms. The Health Department's phone number in Murfreesboro is (615) 898-7880. Ask for LaShan Mathews or Aubrenie Jones.

I'm all about children eating healthy to prevent them from getting deadly disease when they grow up. And the kids will take what they learn home, and even get their families to start eating healthier!!!

Here's a book that would go great with this lesson!!! 

Mortimer's First Garden by Karma Wilson

References:
Plate Method Image: Lara Rondinelli. (2013). Retrieved from: http://www.dlife.com

Chop Chop Image. (2014). Retrieved from http://www.chopchopmag.org/magazine

Chop Chop Blog: Eddie Gehman Kohan, Founder, ObamaFoodorama.com. (2015, April 29).

Retrieved from: http://www.chopchopmag.org/blog/white-house-kitchen-garden

Sounds of Silence

Our Project Learning Tree lesson on sound made me think about silence and the sounds of silence. Our society puts a negative connotation on silence. It is seen as a tool for oppression or as a symptom of sadness. This doesn't hold true in all cultures. In an anthropology class I took in college, I learned about some of the different ways other cultures portray silence. For example, I've heard that to some Japanese, it's rude to not take a moment to think when someone asks you a question. This makes sense to me. I notice that when someone asks me something and I take a quiet moment to think about what they've asked me, they keep talking to fill the silence. In the classroom, when a teacher asks a question, students are expected to answer right away. I usually felt I needed a little time to think about what I was going to say before I raised my hand, and I often didn't have that time to in school. By the time I thought of what to say, the discussion had moved on. Some teachers would see this as me not wanting to participate, or they thought I was shy.

Silence between two or more people doesn't have to be "awkward silence;" it can be a sign that you're comfortable. In a conversation, you might feel like you have to keep saying something back and forth. For me, sometimes I want to talk or listen to music and sometimes I want silence. (Note: When I say silence, keep in mind that our world is never completely silent, due to ambient noise). Silence helps me clear my head and think. Silence helps me learn, because I can't hear others or what's going on around me as much if I'm talking. So often people ask me if I'm OK because they say I'm being so quiet. Why do people associate silence with sadness? You can be sad and quiet, or you can be sad and want to talk about it. Or they say, "you're shy," or "are you mad?" In our society, sometimes people feel like they need to fill every moment with words or some kind of sound, like music or the TV. This is sort of like how people think they need to fill space with material things like furniture. Empty space (which in reality is not empty at all) can be peaceful and liberating, like the desert.

NEGATIVE CONNOTATION OF SILENCE

THIS IS THE KIND OF THING THAT COMES UP WHEN YOU GOOGLE SILENCE

ONE WAY OF ENJOYING SILENCE

Silence can help you clear your mind and improve your concentration to learn, work, or focus on a specific task more efficiently. Don't get me wrong, discussing, collaboration, and learning from each other through the use of words is extremely important, as well as speaking out when injustice is being done. I'm an English major---I love words and sharing information, but in our noisy world, the proper use of silence is also important, not just for peace of mind but also for being aware of your surroundings, observing, and learning. I like how during our Adopt-A-Tree exercise, we were asked to observe a tree in silence. It's important to see, hear, feel, smell, and taste while you're not talking so you can fully experience your senses. When you talk at the same time you do something, you're thinking about the words you're going to say while you observe, so you're multi-tasking and not providing your full attention and all of your senses to the exercise of observing or the task at hand. Collaborating is also very important, because someone else might notice something you did not. The process of observing and learning is important to do both in silence and through words, on your own and with others.

I had a hard time finding articles on the positive side of silence, but here are a couple. De Geest's The Negative Persona of Silence is on how our society views silence as something negative:
https://eview.anu.edu.au/anuuj/vol3_11/pdf4/ch02.pdf

Sally Jones' Speech is Silver, Silence is Golden: the Cultural Importance of Silence in Japan touches on how people view silence in different ways:
http://wfae.proscenia.net/library/articles/de_geest_persona.pdf

Sometimes, I need quiet time to myself to recharge my batteries. Some people mistake wanting to do "nothing" for laziness. Stillness is not laziness.

This blog touches on that and the importance of stillness in this fast-paced world:
http://m.huffpost.com/uk/entry/5034604 

I share Christopher Robin's idea of doing nothing. Clip from Winnie the Pooh:

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10102339171772874&id=6311234&refid=12&__tn__=H

This book would be perfect to read out loud with the PLT lesson on sound. I love it!

Quiet in the GardenWritten and illustrated by: Aliki

Something to think about: In music, the resting notes in between melody notes play a major role in the composition of the song.

I like the idea of implementing "Slow Down to Speed Up," in the classroom. (I'd like to learn more about this concept for another blog).

References:

De Geest, Heather. The Negative Persona of Silence. Retrieved from: https://eview.anu.edu.au/anuuj/vol3_11/pdf4/ch02.pdf

Jones, Sally. Speech is Silver, Silence is Golden: the Cultural Importance of Silence in Japan. (1999). Retrieved from: http://wfae.proscenia.net/library/articles/de_geest_persona.pdf

Robertson, Kelly. Image retrieved from: http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://fearless-selling.ca/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Silence.jpg&imgrefurl=http://fearless-selling.ca/tag/using-silence-to-close-sales/&h=610&w=900&tbnid=zazcV0bDk4nFsM:&zoom=1&docid=IZrCLLtmlQTM1M&ei=wQ5mVZr-NdGMsQTUwYCYBA&tbm=isch&ved=0CJIBEDMoYjBi

Earth's Journey Through Space

So thinking about moss and why one might judge direction based on where the sun is shining made me think of the Sun, the Earth's tilt, and the seasons again; so I started researching it, since I still didn't feel very confident on the explanation of the Earth's tilt in relation to seasons. I had to visually see it in motion to grasp the idea, so I looked up some videos. This particular one made it click for me. The smaller square on the bottom left shows the Earth on its axis as it orbits the Sun. By visually seeing this phenomenon rather than trying to visualize it in my head, I was able to better understand the process. 

While I was watching this video, I started thinking about the way our solar system sort of spirals through space around the center of the galaxy. I had never really thought about it like that before. From seeing diagrams in books, I had usually pictured the solar system orbiting the Sun like on a flat plane (hmm...like how they used to think the Earth was flat), so I did some more research and found this video on Youtube. There might be some misconceptions in this video, but I liked this 3-D way of looking at it. If you watch it, watch it until the end. It gets a little repetitive, but how it ties in at the end is eye-opening. The helical motion of Earth going around the Sun mirrors life on Earth, from the pattern of a flower to a seashell to our DNA!!! Think about the seashell exercise we did in class, and how some of the seashells had spiral, or helical patterns, like the Earth's path and the shape of our galaxy!

This got me thinking about how fast the Earth is really travelling. We usually think of the Earth as travelling at the speed it takes it to revolve around the Sun, which pretty much takes a year. But what about the speed that the Sun along with our solar system is travelling around the center of the Milky Way galaxy? This is called a cosmic year. A cosmic year is about 225-250 million years! The Earth is travelling around the galaxy at 500,000 miles an hour!!! Our galaxy, the Milky Way, is 100,000 light years across! And that's just one galaxy part of clusters upon clusters of galaxies!

Earthsky.org

References:
Earthsky. (2014, January 6). Retrieved from: http://www.earthsky.org

Kurdistan Planetarium. (2008, December 2).Earth Rotation and Revolution Around a Moving Sun. Rettrieved from: https://www.youtube.com

DjSadhu. (2012, August. 24). The Helical Model-Our Solar System is A Vortex. Retrieved from: https://youtube.com

A Mossy Misconception

On 05/18/15, our Science class went outside to examine a tree as part of Project Learning Tree, where I unexpectedly came across a misconception!---"Moss always grows on the North side of a tree.” I love nature and learning to survive in nature with nothing but nature. One of my interests is navigation using only natural resources. I always thought that if I happened to get lost in the woods, I could look for a tree with moss or lichen growing on it. Whatever side that moss is growing on is North, and from there I would have an idea of which way to go. During our Adopt-A-Tree exercise, while we were observing our tree, I noticed that it had moss and lichen growing on it. As I walked around the tree, I also noticed that the moss and lichen grew all the way around the tree, and I wondered, “I thought moss ALWAYS grows on the North side of the tree.” So I did some research. Dan Johnson, assistant professor of forest-biology in the college of natural resources at the University of Idaho, says this concept would make sense since the North side of a tree gets more sunlight than the other parts of the tree, it should be cooler, more damp, and have more shade—perfect conditions for mosses.” First of all, he says moss would then grow on the North side of a tree in the Northern hemisphere, and on the South side of a tree in the Southern hemisphere. However, anything can create those conditions, such as the shade from one tree on another. Also, if an area is very damp, moss can grow all around the tree and higher up than the moss we might regularly see at the bottom of a tree. He does not recommend using moss growth to navigate.

So then I started wondering why the Sun would hit the South side of a tree in the Northern hemisphere and the North side on the Southern hemisphere. The UCSB Science Line says that because of the Earth's tilt, we get more direct sunlight to the South in the Northern hemisphere and more direct sunlight to the North in the Southern hemisphere; therefore rooms facing South have more sunlight than rooms facing North. I always thought that since the sun rises in the East and sets in West, plants that need full sunlight should be planted on the Eastern side of a house. (Or is that a misconception?) From what I'm understanding, the Sun will always be brighter to our South because the US is above the Tropic of Cancer (which is below us), where the sun's rays hit most directly for us in the Summer Solstice. But the land from the Tropic of Cancer to the Equator will have the Sun to its North and South as the Earth moves around the Sun from Summer to the Fall Equinox (where the Sun's rays will hit directly over the Equator). Therefore, for us here in the US, plants would get the most amount of sunlight facing South...or Southeast? The more I learn, the more I need to learn!

Anyway, this survival myth is still busted! The air within 60 centimeters (just about 2 ft.) off the ground is always moist since water is constantly evaporating from the ground. Natural Navigator.com says, “If you manage to find a near vertical smooth surface that is not close to the ground and it has moss growing on it then there is likely to be only one reason for it staying moist: it is in the shade in the middle part of the day when he sun is doing most of its drying. It is very likely to be the Northern side in Northern latitudes.” However, if water is hanging from overhanging branches, even on a South side, moss will thrive. In a thick forest, where light doesn't penetrate that far in, or in damp areas near standing water for example, moss can also be found on all sides of trees, branches, and rocks. As Leon Pantenburg explains in his Blog, “There are apparently so many variables about where and when moss grows in a forest that a firm rule can't be established.” So using moss or lichen as a GPS apparently cannot be trusted. There are just too many variables.

Here is a video of the moss and lichen on a tree in my yard. I tried to upload the video on here, but it didn't work. So you can just see it by clicking on this link:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4vdbHnciHMTbEpQVFVHUXVNY1E/view?usp=sharing

You can see in this video, there is lichen and mold growing mostly on the North side, but there is still some on the South side, and just a little on the West and East side. The lichen growing on the South side looks like it could be due to that branch being in the shade of the trunk to its right. So even if moss and lichen did grow mostly on the North side, it is not just on that side and can still be misleading where it grows on different parts of the North side. So, in conclusion, there is some useful truth to the concept behind this myth, so I would take moss growth into consideration for navigation, but I would not solely rely on it.

NORTH SIDE

WEST SIDE

SOUTH SIDE

EAST SIDE

Also, Check out Leon Pantenburg's blog on why this myth is busted. He has some great pictures of moss growing on all sides of a tree, even on the tops of them!

http://survivalcommonsense.com/busting-the-finding-directions-by-tree-mossfeed/

So what about using a stick as a sundial to tell direction or time of day? Or using a leaf, a needle, and water to tell direction? So many questions and possible misconceptions to explore!!!

References:
McCarthy, E. (2014 , April 21). Does Moss Really Only Grow on the North Side of Trees. Retrieved from: http://www.mentalfloss.com

UC Regents. (2015). Why Does Moss Only Grow on the North Side of Trees Answer. Retrieved from: http://scienceline.ucsb.edu

Gooley, T. (2013. October 18). Moss on the North Side of Trees. Retrieved from: http://www.naturalnavigator.com

Pantenburg, L. (2014, October 27). Survival Myth Busted: finding directions by tree moss. Retrived from: http://www.survivalcommonsense.com

Concept Mapping

05/14/15

Today we went into more detail on concept maps. I learned that concept maps can be used to construct your knowledge. It is like taking a snapshot of your brain. The more ideas generated in a concept map show fluency in that subject, and stringing these ideas together shows efficiency. While the construction of a concept map can illuminate the knowledge someone has on a specific topic, it can also unveil hidden misconceptions a student may have. A concept map can be a great way to see what a student knows before and after a lesson.

In class, we were asked to quickly construct a concept map on the seasons. I felt a little uneasy with this exercise. A concept map shows how you're organizing your thoughts, and I felt like I needed more time to organize my thoughts in my mind before I could put them down on paper. Then, I wanted to go through a few rough drafts until I could come up with a final, organized map. Concept mapping scares me a little, because I feel my brain makes so many connections, it's hard to put it all down on paper neatly and organized. I didn't write much on my map, because there's so many things I can tie into one subject, likes the seasons, that all that information gets stuck trying to make its way out neatly and organized into the right categories on this piece of paper. I was uncomfortable letting my teacher look at my messy paper, but that's the point. Our brains are a mess of information, and the concept map takes a picture of that mess! Concept mapping can help us organize information and make sense of it, while discarding misconceptions and improving comprehension!

Check out this blog on concept mapping!
http://info.shiftelearning.com/blog/using-concept-mapping-techniques-for-elearning-content-analysis

Or this link!
http://www.schrockguide.net/concept-mapping.html

Doing Science

Ready, Set, Science! (2007) states that one of the main reasons why it is important to teach science well is because, “For some students, science will become a lifelong vocation or avocation” (p. 3). This is very important, because we need to continue producing scientists; interest in science has decreased, and we need scientists to survive and improve. One of the reasons why students might not show an interest is due to the way that science is taught. Steering away from constant didactic teaching and into inquiry learning in the classroom is one way to get students more actively involved.

The other day, I was talking to my mom and I said, “I wonder how much of a difference elementary school can make on what a person chooses to do for a living 10-20 years later.” And my mom responded, “Well, you know, I remember in 6th grade, the teacher gave us a flower to examine to learn about its parts and components. I had never seen a flower in that way before and it fascinated me. I know that project is what made me want to be a biologist.” Instead of learning about a flower from a picture and words in a book, we can learn about it by looking at a real flower up close, where we can see it, smell it, feel it, look at it through a magnifying glass or microscope, and so on. In How Children Learn (2001), Stella Vosniadou discusses how curricula and instruction are, “attempting to become more student-centered rather than teacher-centered, to connect the school to real-life situations, and to focus on understanding and thinking rather than on memorization, drill, and practice" (p.7).

This is my mom in elementary school. Check out the smile on her face when she's outside experiencing her environment, as opposed to her demeanor when she's just sitting at a desk taking notes. 

My mom said that the times she was “doing science” are the ones that stuck with her through the years and motivated her to become a biologist.

As Dewey argued, "Inquiry teaching involves allowing children to learn from direct experience and cultivate their natural curiosity" (p. 7). Those few projects in school where the teacher guided students through an active way of experiencing and learning about their environment, really did play a significant role in shaping the way someone, like my mom, views the world today---like a scientist!

Photographs By: Marta Aronna (my mom) pictured below :) <3

Michaels, S., Shouse, A, Schweingruber, H, & National Research Council. (2007). Ready, Set, Science!: Putting Research to Work in K-8 Science Classrooms. Retrieved from:

http://www.nap.edu/catalog/11882.html

Vosniadou, S. (2001 July). How Children Learn. Retrieved from:
http://www.curtin.edu.au/curtin/dept/smec/iae
http://ww.ibe.unesco.org/publications.

Division of Elementary, Secondary, and Informal Education; Directorate for Education and Human Resources; & National Science Foundations. Foundations: A monograph for professionals in science, mathematics, and technology education. Inquiry: Thoughts, Views, and Strategies for the K-5 Classroom. Retrieved from:
gmcgrude@nsf.gov
http://www.ehr.nsf.gov/EHR/ESIE/index.html

The Beauty of Collaboration

On 05-12-15, our Science class did a group activity with paper dinosaur bones called The Great Fossil Find. Each group pulled out one bone at a time from an envelope, with only a few bones accessible to them, and tried to predict what our dinosaur would look like as a whole. At one point in the exercise, we walked around and looked at what other groups had put together with the specific resources available to them. Each group's dinosaur had something in common with the other and something that differed. That's the beauty of collaboration. Through conferences and the help of technology, scientists are able to communicate and share their findings and knowledge with others throughout the world. Whether someone's findings are right or wrong, we can learn from them. In school, some students may not want to participate in class if they fear they might be wrong. A "wrong answer" is not wrong! “Wrong” answers are ideas and predictions that can lead us to discovery and learning, and are a very important step in the process. The fact that we each have our own opinions and perspective on things makes our ideas unique and useful. How would we expand our knowledge and improve our world if we all thought in the same way and didn't bring a variety of ideas to the table? Our knowledge used to double every 100 years, then every decade, and now it doubles every 12 months! I believe a big part of that is due to our expansion of communication through technology. Collaboration is key. Dr. Kat said something like, “You can be very intelligent but if you don't share your knowledge with anyone, it doesn't help anybody or help the world,” and that is the point of learning science and teaching science well---to better understand our environment and improve our quality of life.

Each group's awesome dinosaurs

My First Blog!

Hi everyone!
This is my very first blog! Technology has grown so much in the last few years that I'm a little behind and a little intimidated by it, but I'm excited to start catching up and learning new ways of communicating and sharing information with one another. This is also my very first teaching class. I can't believe I've learned so much in only 3 days! I haven't been in school since I graduated from UCR in 2009. It feels great to share ideas and to learn from one another. I look forward to continuing our discussions and expanding knowledge and information through our blogs!