Week 8 Blogpost

 

1. The big question addressed in the lab, and a description of what you did.

In the lab this week, the big question addressed was "How can we support play that is exciting but not dangerous?" Our focus for the lab was still directed towards the question "What affects a rider’s speed down a slide?" We began by examining the forces at play and how gravity affects the speed of a rider. Then we examined how friction affects a rider's speed while going down a slide. Our class was then split into two groups that would further investigate friction and weight, and their effects on the speed of a rider. We conducted this investigation by using different AI tools to investigate friction. We figured out lesson plan ideas for 5th-grade students to help them understand friction. AI was able to provide us with valuable information about friction and help us understand how to effectively implement a lesson on friction for 5th-grade students. However, we noticed that AI doesn't know our students and their backgrounds, and it creates very general/broad lesson plans. It does, in fact, give you good ideas that you can expand on and develop further, making them more related to your students and curriculum. This was beneficial for understanding how AI can help me create lessons in the future. 

2. What did you learn in the Lecture?

In the lecture today, I learned that friction is required to prevent an object from sliding. Friction keeps your car from sliding down the steep driveway. If an object is not moving, friction is involved. Two factors influence the amount of friction acting on the object. The first one is the type of surface (e.g., Stickiness, roughness), and the second one is how hard the surfaces are pushed together. Using a picture of a kid going down a slide, I learned that the forces at play are the force of the slide, the force of gravity, and the direction of friction acting against the direction of the slide. A key thing for me to remember is that friction only acts when it needs to. Another thing I learned from the lecture is why things fall at different rates. This is because of the air drag force that is applied on an object going against the force of gravity that pulls us down. The last thing I learned is that gravity pulls harder on more massive objects, and the more massive an object is, the harder it is for the object to accelerate. As a result, these effects cancel each other out, explaining why a rider's weight doesn't matter when going down a slide.

3. Answer questions about the reading.

1. What did you learn?

After reading "Assessment to Support Learning," I learned how formative assessment can be embedded into science instruction to support all students, especially those who struggle with science concepts or have learning challenges. The article demonstrates that formative assessment is not just a one-time event, but an ongoing process that helps teachers identify student misconceptions, provide timely and specific feedback, and adjust instruction to meet the diverse learning needs of students. I also learned about practical strategies such as color-coding notebooks, sticky notes, diagrams, and the "line of learning" approach, which makes it easier for teachers to assess understanding and for students to reflect on their learning. Table 1, in the article, informed me about different NGSS practice standards from grades 3-5, which stated specific formative assessment strategies that can be used to support standards. This gave me ideas about how I can implement formative assessment strategies into my future teaching practices. I learned that when providing feedback to students, it needs to be meaningful and help connect students to their learning. It's also important that teachers continually make small adjustments to practices to fit the needs of students, helping them succeed and stay invested in science. 

2. What was most helpful?

What I found most helpful was the detailed examples of how teachers use formative assessment tools in real classrooms, and being able to understand the thinking process of teachers when using formative assessments. This helped me understand the times when formative assessment should be used and the different ways it can be used to support students' learning outcomes. Also, something that helped me was when the teachers in the article explained how the formative assessment they used benefited their students' learning. 

3. What do you need more information on?

I felt like all the concepts covered throughout this article were explained in a way that made it all make sense to me. It would never hurt to have more examples of how the different formative assessments can be used within the science curriculum. Also, maybe how formative assessments could look different when a science journal is not involved. Altogether, the article was a great learning opportunity, giving more ideas on how I could implement these practices into future teaching. 

4. What questions/comments/concerns do you have?

I wonder if technology can/will impact the formative assessment practices we use for teaching?