I was extremely nervous about the Bubble’s experiment that we were going to be doing with the students at Haw River. When we did the experiment in class, both I and several of my group members had a difficult time understanding everything about the experiment. If he did not understand what the experiment showed, how were we going to explain it to the 2nd graders that are more then likely not going to understand the experiment as well? I suppose that my worries with the experiment came from my lack of knowledge of surface tension, but the students had not been exposed to surface tension either and they knew nothing of it and I just think that this was a bad experiment to introduce them to it. They needed definitions and examples that we did not have time to give them BEFORE the experiment was done.
I was also nervous that Nicole and I would not be able to get the paper clip to float. If the paper clip did not float in the water, then there would have been no difference in the plain water and the soapy water. We did get the paper clip to float, but the students did not seem to grasp WHY the paper clip floated in the water and not in the soapy water. Part of them not understanding was mine and Nicole’s fault because we did not know as much as we should have about surface tension, but I wonder if the students still would have understood the lesson even if we had the knowledge to teach them.
This experience really taught me about how important content knowledge is!! The students did have a few questions that I managed to stumble my way through answering, but I was not able to answer them in a way that would actually teach them. I think that the lesson of surface tension was lost in our inability to teach the lesson and the student’s distraction with the bubbles. They LOVED blowing the bubbles both in the soapy water and then again with bubble solution. I think that this could be a good lesson to teach to students that are a bit older then second grade that have had the background lesson on what surface tension is, and if I knew more about surface tension and how/why everything in the experiment worked the way that it did.
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I totally agree with you on how the science experiments went. Mine seemed to be a flop also but not because the students were not interested or eager to learn. The fault is on the lack of prior preparation with the students on this science lesson and on the simple fact that I know almost nothing about surface tension. If we plan to teach an inquiry lesson I need to be prepared to answer as many student question as possible and if I do not know the answer, be able to show them how to find it. Great post Anna.
ReplyDeleteAnna -
ReplyDeleteI definitely sympathize with you in being nervous about completing the experiment! I was so sure that I should have done more research about surface tension in order to fully understand it and be able to "teach" our students about it. However, I was very please at how my attitude towards the experiment changed after doing it. I realized that allowing our students to do all the "researching" we were able to give them a richer experience than if we were just to lecture to them. They were able to try out all the elements themselves and make assumptions and conclusions on their own - they were hardly even worried about understanding a complete definition of surface tension and were not discouraged that they paper clip did not float.
Overall, I loved the inquiry-based discussion which took place.
Melissa Eller