Teacher Ashley C

Going into camp I was not nervous about the experience because I knew I would be working with four other classmates. Having to do this by myself would have been intimidating. Especially since this would only be my second time designing and implementing an authentic inquiry-based science experience. Never having learned science through inquiry myself, I have no experiences of my own to refer back to which makes it very challenging to teach others in a way that is unfamiliar to me. Even though I questioned my ability to design and implement an authentic inquiry-based science experience I felt confident in our ability as a group. Together, I knew we would be able to use each others ideas, build off of what each of us had learned from our experience conducting concept interviews, and incorporate information from our course readings to create an authentic inquiry-based science experience that would be memorable while at the same time meaningful, not only for our students but for us as well.

Concept Map of Student's Work Throughout Camp

The hardest thing for me all week was the unknown. By this I mean not knowing what ideas our students would come up with or how our students would respond to our questions. For example, the very first day of camp we had our students write a list of questions they wanted to investigate after they observed Charlotte Beach. Not having any idea what the students would come up with or how difficult it would be for them to come up with questions left us unsure about our plan for the rest of the day. Even thought this was the first time I witnessed the unknown it was not the only time. Throughout the week when our students developed a model, determined how they wanted to collect data, brainstormed ways to visually represent their data using graphs and analyzed their graphs to draw conclusions I again experienced the unknown. As the week went on I started to get used to the unknown and develop ways to approach it. One way we did this was by making sure we provided time for our students to write down their thoughts before sharing them with the group. This way not only did our students have an opportunity to think before they were put on the spot but we were able to prepare ourselves. While the students were writing each one of us would check out what the students were writing or if a student seemed to be struggling one of us would sit down with them and find out what they were thinking. Doing this helped us preview what our group discussion might look like. This took away a little bit of the unknown and gave us a minute to compile our thoughts. I learned very quickly that putting ourselves on the spot caused us to ask more leading questions. However, recognizing that we asked more leading questions when we put ourselves on the spot did not always help us avoid these situations. Later on in the week we realized that we could adjust this habit if we paused for a moment after a student shared their idea(s). Pausing allowed us to think about what was just said and phrase a question in our heads that would push the student for a scientific explanation rather than try to have them guess what we were thinking. For example, some of the questions we would ask included, “what do you mean by that”, “can you say more about that”, and “can you explain why.” After this week I realized that the unknown is scary but if you can roll with it it leads to valuable and deeper outcomes.

Everyday involved something different than the day before. I am used to being able to run through a lesson with one class and make immediate changes before I run through the same lesson with another class. This was not the case at camp. Each day we needed to accomplish something different and never had an opportunity to try the same lesson again. We did however have the opportunity to make changes to the way we structured the lessons. For example, we realized that we needed to assign roles to each teacher. During each activity there was at least one leader, one observer, one person in charge of taking pictures/videos, one organizer and sometimes one or two co-leaders. Not assigning roles left us with too many chefs in the kitchen. Our students did not know who to talk to or which question to answer first. We overwhelmed them when roles were not predetermined. Another way we changed the structure of our lessons was by taking advantage of our one to one student to teacher ratio. Recognizing that we had a lot to accomplish in a short amount of time while trying to meet the needs of each individual student presented problems for us at times mainly because we were trying to do everything as a large group. As soon as we started to identify activities that would best be accomplished if we took advantage of our one to one ratio we noticed that our students were taking more away from each experience.

This week long experience would have been drastically different had I not have four other amazing individuals to work with directly and many others to learn from. The five of us learned a great deal from each other along the way and approached each day with a purpose that related to our overall camp goals. At times I did not feel that we were as creative as other groups nor did we take advantage of all the technology that was available to us. Some examples of the other groups creativity included; wearing the same color shirts throughout the week not just on Monday and Tuesday, decorating signs for each individual student rather than one big sign for all students, making a video of their groups experience throughout the week, recording student reflections on the iFlip, creating a concept map using inspiration then having students add ideas to their concept map by writing directly on the SMARTBoard that was showing the concept map, and using a jeopardy game to get to know their students on the first day. Each day we tried to introduce our students to certain technologies that they may not have used before but thought would be useful for them to learn at that point in time. Students had experience with pH probes, labquests, Excel, cameras, iFlip, Google Earth, Keynote and SMARTBoards. We would have liked the students to do more with all of these but we struggled due to time restrictions. One of the things we did well when we incorporated technology was provide short focused sections of time in which the students could play with the tools. This way when it was time for them to use it   in conjunction with their investigation they were ready to use it purposefully.

Overall, this week left me more exhausted than any other week I have experienced during the three years I have been teaching. However, it was a rewarding learning experience that I would regret not having been a part of. As the summer is coming to an end I am starting to think about ways I can use what I have learned from camp in my classroom. Seeing the excitement and pride on our students faces throughout the week, has refueled me with energy to start another year with a new bunch of students, helping them discover the joy of science through experiences that go beyond textbooks and worksheets while fostering an environment in which they learn how to “think like scientists.”

ABSOLUTELY AMAZING does not being to describe what I experienced today. It was not like a science fair but more like a conference where scholars shared their work. Check out the article and video of this experience provided by RNews.

Today was the day our group has been preparing for all week, the symposium. Even though at the beginning of the day we could not say for sure which of our group members were going to be attending, we were impressed by the turn out, three out of five students attended (Shania, RaeShawn, and Hadaree). When it was time for our students to share their work with the other groups, their parents, and other visitors, all their hard work throughout the week as well as the practice runs completed yesterday paid off. Our students showed grace under pressure and adjusted very well to the fact that two group members were missing. They eagerly agreed to present additional information and if they were nervous they did not show it one bit. Agreeing to present more information than they originally practiced showed that each student had taken ownership of the material and felt comfortable sharing what they had learned. As we sat in the auditorium waiting for the presentations to start we asked Shania, RaeShawn, and Hadaree if they wanted us next to them as they presented, they all said yes but as soon as their presentation began it seemed like they did not need us, all three of them stood up at the podium, together, hunched around the computer and with ease presented their work. They were all smiling and beaming with pride, it was incredible to watch them up there.

Not only was this an incredible opportunity for our students to showcase their work but it was also an opportunity for more learning. Our poster had two double line graphs to show how graphs can be misleading because scales can be changed. These graphs brought up some very interesting conversations centered around pH and what constitutes a significant change in pH. For example, two questions were specifically asked by a visitor to our groups poster, (1) if we were talking about the human body would the change we saw in pH be significant? and (2) is the change in pH we saw, significant in terms of bacteria? These questions pushed the students thinking further by requiring them to think about their study and what they could do to address questions like this. It was science at its best, presenting findings and discussing future studies.

Adjustments we would make if we could do this symposium over again …

• To improve our interactive poster we should have had more probes and provided a targeted experience with these probes. For example, we should have brought materials such as Windex and orange juice that would have shown a change in the pH. This way the pH probe would have been used in a meaningful way, one that demonstrated what the students did during their experiment.
• Set up our table in a way that is conducive to an interactive environment. Today we had the poster in the center of the table with the whirlpacks, bucket of water, probes and labquest in front of the poster. This set up made it very difficult for our students to show others how to use these tools and also view the information on their poster at the same time. Instead of putting the poster in the center of the table we would move the poster to one side and set up the tools on the other. If space was not a factor we would make sure the table we set our stuff up at was not against a wall. Being able to use all sides of the table would encourage movement around the table and eliminate congestion.
• Explicitly address future implications by including them on poster and discussing them with those who visit poster.

Where did the time go? How did it get to be Friday already? Would our students be able to draw conclusions from their graphs? Would there be enough time for our students to make a poster and power point presentation? What happens if our students do not get to practice their presentation, will be there time to practice tomorrow? At this point I sound crazy but these were all of the questions that were on my mind as I drove to camp today. After reminding myself to breathe, I took a minute and thought about all that we had accomplished so far. Doing this reassured me that we would be able to get through what we intended to get through. All week we have been able to recognize what if anything needs to be modified on the spot to make sure we get to the most important parts of the lesson plan.

I was most concerned about the time it would take our students to draw conclusions from their graphs because this was something we had planned on finishing yesterday after they analyzed their graphs. It was our intention to get through drawing conclusions yesterday so today we could focus on their presentation and poster. Even though we did not get to drawing conclusions yesterday like we had planned we were all hoping that the reflective piece each students had worked on yesterday, with one of us, would pay off today and make drawing conclusions do able in a reasonable amount of time. The reflective piece certainly helped but more time was needed to draw conclusions than we had originally planned. We decided it was important to take this extra time because we wanted our students to wrestle with their ideas and have to work through their thoughts rather than try to remember what we told them. The way we had our students draw conclusions was a team effort.

Jake started the conversation by showing each students blog post on the SMARTBoard and asked each of them to share what they wrote. As each student shared their thoughts Carli wrote them on the white board and kept track of how many students mentioned the same idea. Next we had them transfer the information on the white board into their notebooks. When everyone had finished we asked our students to use the information they had just written in their notebooks and make connections between them and their question. We wanted the connections (in other words their conclusions) to be written down in their notebooks so they could see their thinking and be able to contribute to our discussion. Knowing that we have students at different levels we again took advantage of the one student to one teacher ratio. After several minutes of working individually with students we transitioned back to our large group and discussed the conclusions that could be drawn. To start this discussion I had the students tell us which of the stories written on the left side of the white board they used when writing their conclusion. The ones the students used were circled, the ones that the students did not use had a dash drawn through the number and the ones that some of the students used but some of the students did not use were left alone for the moment but revisited later. What came next involved looking at the three important key words the students had previously identified in their question (pH, bacteria and algae). When students were asked if the pH affected the bacteria four of the five students said no, the pH did not affect the bacteria. Instead of agreeing with Shania, Juan, RaeShawn, and Josh I asked Hadaree if he could explain why he thought the pH affected the bacteria. This way we could all figure out what was making Hadaree say there was a relationship between the two. When Hadaree shared his thoughts we realized that he thought the pH values changed because the numbers after the decimal were different (i.e. 8.05, 8.66, 8.40). With the help of two different graphs (see Jake’s GRS Camp Day 5 post) and discussions with Shania, Juna, RaeShawn, and Josh, Hadaree realized that all of the pH values were essentially the same. Students were also asked if pH affects algae and if algae affects bacteria. After the discussion about pH and bacteria all of our students were able to agree that their research did not show a relationship between pH and algae. In order to draw a conclusion about algae and bacteria our students added color to their model, green was used to represent algae. Making their model reflect what they saw at the beach helped them picture the relationship between algae and bacteria. Without this visual it was difficult for the students to determine the relationship between algae and bacteria. This portion of the day, although it took longer than we had planned, would not have gone smoothly had we not used each other as resources and allowed each student to process their thoughts in their notebook before sharing. Way to go team!!!

Throughout the day we all struggled to keep one student in particular motivated and focused on the task at hand. Since this particular student was pretty set on the fact that he was not coming to the presentation tomorrow because his family was having a birthday party for his younger brother his interest and focus drastically changed. It never occurred to me to ask what time the birthday party was or point out that the presentations are in the morning and most likely the birthday party is in the afternoon so it is possible to do both. Addressing these things with this student might have helped us plant the idea that coming to the presentations was not out of the picture. Conversations like these might have helped us avoid the lack of focus on the students part because the possibility that he could come would have held this student accountable for his actions. Finding out more about the birthday part could also have helped us figure out if the birthday party was being used to cover some thing up such as not having a way to get here tomorrow or not wanting to come. Another way that we could have handled the fact that this student was pretty sure he was not going to come tomorrow would have been to take advantage of the iFlip. Using the iFlip we could have recorded the entire group presenting their work and inserted this clip into the presentation or we could have recorded each student doing one part of the presentation. Doing this would have moved the presentation up a day, in a sense, and made sure that all our group members were represented. I wish I had thought of this sooner.

Not only did the idea of not coming to the presentation keep this student from being productive, food also presented an issue. The other day this student had mentioned that he did not eat breakfast because he did not like the cereal that was offered. Today he made the same comment but food presented a bigger issue today. All this student talked about was going to get snacks and how other groups got to eat at the cafeteria. He kept on asking if we would take everyone to the cafeteria and buy them lunch. As the day went on I was having a difficult time figuring out if he was really hungry or if he had gotten used to the idea of going to get a snack part way through the day or if he was board and had nothing else to think about other than food. For all we know it could have been a combination of all these reasons. However, it did make me think about the importance behind making sure students basic needs are met before learning can occur. If students are hungry or tired it makes it very difficult for them to learn. This leaves me wondering what can I do to make sure my students basic needs are met?

Today “The GETREAL Scientists” worked very hard, organizing their data, observations and overall findings to develop an argument based on evidence. There was a lot to get done today but we were well prepared with a plan that used low risk situations that were fun, engaging and relevant to our goals and objectives. By the end of today we wanted our students to create graphs for their data, develop a story for each graph they created and relate their stories to their research question. In other words we wanted our students to analyze their data, develop an argument based on evidence and draw conclusions.

Rather than refer to what the students were doing today as analyzing data we came up with the story analogy because we wanted our students to understand what they were doing and not get confused by a word they possibly have never heard before. To do this we used USA TODAY graphs to introduce students to the idea that each graph has its own story. This was our way of getting our students to look at graphs and explain the meaning behind them. Each student was given two graphs that related to their interests. Looking at the graphs students were asked to create a story that described the information presented. All the graphs were different and each student got to choose which graph they wanted to share their story for. Giving students different graphs encouraged everyone to participate because when they shared their story they were the only one looking at their graph. This meant they did not have to worry about other students critiquing or correcting them when they presented. As students were creating their stories we went around and asked them questions about their stories so we could assess whether or not they were able to figure out the story for their graph. The purpose behind this activity was to give our students an opportunity to practice a skill that they would use later on by presenting the idea using materials that were free of science content. This way when it was time to create stories for their graphs they would have an experience to refer back to in the event they needed help. Even though we had practiced with the USA TODAY graphs first, it was challenging to get our students to create a story for the graph they made. Each student had a different story and it was apparent to us that we needed to spend more time developing the story so when it came time to relate their story to their question they would be able to do so. For a while it seemed like we would never be able to get everyone on the same page in regards to their graphs story but we took advantage of our one to one ratio (one student to one teacher) and managed to engage students in some in depth conversations that required students to think about their thinking and in some cases change their thinking. It took some perseverance but we all stuck with it and by the end of the day each student, with the help of one of us, was able to develop a story for their graph and relate it to their research question. Each students thoughts were published to their blog and will be revisited tomorrow to reinforce the meaning behind their data and what it means in regards to their research question. Analyzing the data would have been very difficult if we did not take advantage of our one to one ratio because all of our students were at different levels. Some students required quite a bit of scaffolding while others were completely independent. Taking advantage of the opportunity to work with our students individually pushed each of our students thinking to new levels.

Another things we encountered today also dealt with graphs and the idea of using two y-axises. We asked our students how they wanted to take the information from their data table and represent it using graphs. Immediately they started to suggest the types of graphs they could use, line graphs, pie graphs, pictographs, bar graphs, double line graphs, and double bar graphs. Together, as a group, they determined the variables they wanted to graph, location, pH and bacteria colony counts. When asked what type of graph they wanted to use the first suggestion that was made was a double bar graph. After asking questions about when do you use bar graphs, when do you use line graphs the students changed their minds and decided that a double line graph would best represent their data. We ran into a bit of confusion when we started to label the x and y axes and did not have a place to put pH. As we were discussing their double line graph it dawned on us that our students might not be aware of the possibility of two y-axises. It worked out to our advantage though that the students had drawn two separate graphs one representing pH vs location and another for bacteria colony counts vs location. This helped us talk about what a graph would look like if the two separate graphs were combined and eventually we were able to help the students recognize that they needed one label for bacteria colony counts and another for pH. Looking back there are two things we could have done to help us as well as our students address the idea of having two y-axises, (1) had examples of a variety of graphs for students to look at and use as models, (2) picked one line on the double line graph to look at first then drawn lines from each point to the values marked on the x and y axes then asked students to match the values from the graph with the values from the data table, this would have helped them recognize that the number on the y-axis were for either pH or bacteria colony count not both.

Before we got in to writing stories for graphs we took some time to learn more about each other through an icebreaker we borrowed from Kaitlin’s group. This was one of our two favorite activities of the day, the second being the balloon races that we did during snack time. The icebreaker is called “would you rather” and involves using questions that require you to pick one of two choices. For example, “would you rather drink one gallon of ketchup or one gallon of mustard?” We all had a blast answering these questions!!! One question in particular was pulled out of the bag by a student and said, “would you rather have 100 friends that are OK or 3 friends that are great?” The student answered by saying he would rather have 100 friends that are OK but it was his explanation that shocked all of us and allowed us to get to know him on a much more personal level. He said the reason he picked 100 friends that are OK was because he does not have any friends. After he said this my heart sank. We all reassured him that we are his friends and talked about Shania’s blogs that specifically talked about the new friends she had made throughout camp. Had we used this icebreaker sooner in the week we might not have gotten a response like this because we were all still getting use to each other. It was nice to know that everyone felt comfortable enough with each other to share an explanation for their answer.

Things to work on over the next few days …

1. continue to take advantage of our one to one ratio
2. make sure we take advantage of the technology that is available to use, show students how to use and incorporate situations where they get to use it

This morning when I was driving to camp I was a nervous wreck and it was not even my day to lead our group. What made me so nervous was the transition from the beach to the lab. At the beach there was so much for our students to do and the atmosphere made it feel a lot more like a science camp than a school related event. Today our time was split between working in the lab where “The GETREAL Scientists” counted bacteria and a classroom where “The GETREAL Scientists” learned how to put their data into Excel, upload pictures/videos and blog. What helped ease my nervousness was that fact that we have such an amazing group of students that it does not matter where they are or what they are doing they are always eager to learn and fascinated by the experience. Today, thanks to Shania, Hadaree, Juan, RaeShawn and Joshua the transition from the beach to the lab, although unorganized at times, was easy.

What I found myself doing today was forgetting the fact that for many of our students, today was a day they will never forget because it involved a lot of firsts. For example, the first time they wore lab coats, safety goggles and rubber gloves, the first time they set foot onto a college campus and even further into a college science lab, the first time they used a computer program to organize and graph data, the first time they had a chance to write their thoughts down for others to view and also the first time they saw themselves doing science (we showed them the news clip on the RNews website as well as videos and pictures we have taken of them). Some times it is easy to forget that our students have not experienced all that we have and we need to capitalize on this fact and enjoy these experiences with them!

Today we had a few bumps in the road mainly because we did not make time to let the students know what was on the agenda for today. Without an agenda our students did not know what direction they were headed, what path they were going to take to get there and what the end goal for today was. Just as we need to see what lies ahead it is important to share this with our students because it gives them a purpose for moving forward and puts meaning behind what they are doing. In our case today, we were moving between buildings and posting an agenda was not as easy as it has been the last two days. However, during our debrief session an idea was shared that would have been perfect for our situation today. I love this idea so much that I have to share but first I must give credit to Jim, Brittany, Julia, Rebecca and LaToya because they have been using this technique all week. This group has been writing their agenda on index cards and handing out an index cards to each student at the beginning of the day, this way the students have the agenda at all times. Brilliant!

After “The GETREAL Scientists” had finished collecting their bacteria data we all headed back to the classroom and split up into two groups. One group started learning how to use Excel while the other group learned how to upload pictures and videos then the groups switched. During this time I noticed that we were limited by the number of computers we had available and this meant that each student did not have the opportunity to practice using Excel. What we could have done to address the computer shortage is taken advantage of our one to one teacher to student ratio. Even though we were short one computer in the room we were working in, one of us could have taken one of the students to another room that had computers that were not being used. Before leaving we could have set a time in which to rejoin the group so the rest of the time could have continued on as planned.

Excel and blogging were big hits with our students but we did not get as far as we would have liked with either. Tomorrow we are planning on spending more time on both. One thing we could have done to help us get farther along with both involves using stations. Today we introduced our students to Excel, blogging, uploading pictures and videos all of which could have been separated into stations. At each station one of us could have worked with one student on one of the new skills/techniques/programs. We then could have determined a time limit for each student to spend at each station. Rotating students from station to station not only would have kept their energy level up but it would also increase the chances of them remembering what they learned.

Things to work on over the next few days …

1. make time for students to reflect throughout the day not just at the end (sometimes we end up packing so much into one day that our students are always doing something and we never give them a chance to stop, breath and take in what they have done)
2. stay away from introducing new things with big vocabulary words instead use analogies that students understand first then connect the analogy to the new vocabulary word

Today was our last day at Charlotte Beach and words cannot express how incredible the last two days have been. We have experienced everything from unbearable smells to boat rides collecting data and it does not stop there, two local news crews from Channel 13 and RNews interviewed members of our group and we even had our pictures taken by reporters from the Democrat and Chronicle (article and pictures). Amidst all the excitement our group accomplished a lot, worked extremely well together, eagerly put on hip waders when it was time to collect data and had a ball doing it!

The highlights from today included the icebreaker we used to revisit yesterdays work, plating and the closing reflection/discussion. Not only did the icebreaker reinforce the importance of knowing each others names and remembering what we did yesterday it also helped us welcome Joshua to our group. We wanted to create a low risk situation in hopes to make Joshua feel as comfortable as possible so we all stood in a circle with our name tags on and tossed a ball back and forth. The ball signified who’s turn it was to talk and without mentioning that we wanted everyone to have a turn, the ball made its way all around the circle. How amazing is that!

Plating was another part of today where our group excelled. Every student had their own section of the table to plate the samples collected. Purple gloves were worn while using petri dishes, coliscan gels and pipettes to prepare plates which will be used tomorrow to determine the number of bacteria at each site. Since every student had their own sample to work with and their own area to work at they were all involved, no one was watching everyone was doing!!!! To improve this experience the students should have been the ones that labeled the petri dishes. By labeling the petri dishes for them our students did not have to think about the sample they were plating. Factors such as where the samples came from or who collected it did not have to be addressed. Unfortunately, the petri dishes were not the only things that were labeled for them. The whirlpacks were also pre-labeled. I felt by doing this we took away a valuable opportunity for our students to understand what they were doing with the samples they collected because we told them how to set things up.

It is crazy how fast the past two days have gone by. I am starting to get nervous and stressed because it feels like we still have so much to do in a short amount of time. Even though we accomplished everything we had planned for today as well as yesterday I am realizing that we have skipped some crucial steps along the way. For example, today when “The GETREAL Scientists” developed a protocol they only verbalized it which meant they never had a chance to write it down. Even though methods were discussed during this time as to how data collection was going to occur there was a lot of confusion when the group split up and started collecting data. It was a hectic time for all involved. The interesting thing about this part of the day was the students did not mention or seem to be bothered by the confusion involved until prompted during our reflection. All of this probably happened because we had taken our group out to the beach for an icebreaker and stayed there when we switched modes to develop the protocol. It was a great idea to start the day on the beach away from other groups and lots of noise but after the icebreaker we should have found a place where we could all sit down and work on developing the protocol and more specifically the methods we intended to use to collect data. To address this, we decided that we would type up the protocol that the students verbalized today and present it to them tomorrow with the opportunity to revise parts and add details.

Another thing the we realized was we never made time for our students to make a data table because a data table had already been drawn in their notebooks. This data table should have been used as a model if the students were struggling to create their own, rather than requiring them to use the data table we provided. By providing a data table we did not allow time for our students to process what they were collecting and how they wanted to organize their findings. We were restricting them and guiding them when we needed to scaffold this experience for them. Drawing the data tables in their notebooks the night before presented a problem later on in the day when students were collecting data and lead to many empty data tables at the end of the day. Tomorrow when we have our students revisit what they did at the beach we are going to focus on the data table paying particular attention to the data that was recorded and making it available to everyone in the group.

Not being at the beach for the rest of the week makes me concerned about what the next couple of days hold. As we plan we need to be thoughtful of and creative with ways to keep students engaged and interested in the learning experiences.

Things to work on over the next few days …

1. in order to make sure everyone is contributing to the group and feels that their ideas are valued we need to give students time to reflect individually then ask each student to share their ideas, this way thoughts can be compared and discussed
2. continue to distribute roles so students are not overwhelmed by to many teachers

Looking back on our first day of camp, not only did we accomplish a lot but we also got to know more about our students. For example, what interests them, what makes them shut down, what they excel at, what they struggle with and what motivates them. Today we had four students (one girl and three boys) instead of five (one girl and four boys). Juan is the quietest but will contribute when prompted. RaeShawn enjoys taking pictures and works well with others especially ones he has just met. Hadaree is very observant and is great at thinking scientifically. Shania although quick to point out that she was the only girl in the group asks great questions. She does however shut down if Hadaree is extremely vocal. Taking the time to find these things out as well as notice them is going to make it easier to plan experiences for the rest of the week. From what we observed today we have already modified some of the experiences we were planning to do tomorrow to account for and play off each students strengths as well as welcome Joshua to our group. It was and still is very important to us that we create a community within our group. Throughout the week we want to make sure everyone feels like a valuable member who has something to contribute and would be missed if they were absent.

After taking some time to get to know each other we split our students into two groups so they could explore and observe Charlotte Beach. One group walked the beach while the other group walked the pier then both groups switched. It was important that we did this because not all of our students had been to Charlotte Beach. In a way this worked to our advantage because everything the students were observing fascinated and intrigued them. Their interests had been peeked and questions started to arise such as “what would happen if the pier was not here?” While the students were making observations along the pier I took note of their attention to detail. They really took their time and were serious about their work. I loved that this carried through the rest of their work too. I thought it was really cool to see students excited and interested about science outside of school!

When it was time to share their observations each student had their own set of colored post-it notes and was asked to write down one observation per post-it and stick it up on the group chart paper. Every student participated and you could tell that they really enjoyed posting their observations for everyone to see. I noticed that the poster was very crowded when the students had finished which made some observation difficult to read. If we do something like this again we should think about using smaller post-it notes and/or a larger area to stick the post-it notes on.

In addition to making observations students created questions based on their observations and eventually after doing some research narrowed down their focus to one testable scientific question. Again this was an area where every student participated. We realized at this point that our students are very willing to participate if they all feel like they can do something individually that will contribute to the overall group goals.

The last three things that we did before camp was over was a “show and tell” with technology, then the students created a model and reflected on what they did today comparing it to their past experiences with science. Students got in the water and learned how to test pH with pH probes and pH tablets.

I could not have imagined a better start to camp! The weather was perfect, the students were excited and our plan for the day helped our students build a strong foundation for their week long experience. We did an incredible amount of work, yet there were no complaints and lots of smiles and laughter. So far we are off to a fantastic start and I am looking forward to seeing what the next couple of days bring.

Things to work on over the next few days…

1. incorporate more technology
2. play off students strengths so that all are equally engaged