Monday, March 14, 2011

First Lesson Plan

After completing the most recent, and first, lesson plan for the Nature of Science class for Walden University, I have realized the importance, as well as the possible variations, of a lesson/project that I have done since my first year teaching. I have always grown confused, and almost aggitated, when students enter my class with plenty of scientific factual knowledge, but little relevant and realistic knowledge. Students can name much of the equipment in the laboratory and how to safely use them, but they have little knowledge about how actual experimentation is carried out when they are not given a recipe to follow. I created the lesson to try and remedy that, at least as much as possible.
Students often believe that scientists perform experimentation using a similar recipe (or as they have always been taught, the "Scientific Method") as their classroom labs and that this ultimately leads to a major breakthrough (which, from the beginning, is exactly what they expected). By researching a historical experiment and the process that led to a breakthrough of their choosing, they realize the unpredictable and surprising path that most experiments take.  Not only do they realize the unpredictability of research, but also how often times a scientist ends up with more questions than answers at the end of a study. Students enjoy this assignment and I have found that they gain an appreciation for the hard work a scientist puts into their research and also for the historical relevance and importance for a major breakthrough.

2 comments:

  1. Mark,

    It is always comforting to know that teachers are giving students information about lab experiments and how they follow the scientific method. There is a journal for young scientists that shows the scientific discoveries of teenagers. One such place is http://www.journal-for-young-scientists.net/


    Thanks, Adam

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  2. When I teach the scientific method, I always stress to my students when we determine if our hypothesis were what we anticipated or not, I never say wrong. Students are fascinated to find our the trials and errors that lead to inventions and discoveries. I don't think my students ever end an investigation where there aren't all sorts of I wonder ifs and if we did it again ... Science is great.

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