Using stories to teach science concept

I was suggested to teach science to the kids by using stories as a continuation on the previous lesson on teaching with virtual experiment. Unfortunately, the kids were having their revision and i had to cancel my lesson instead.

Anyway, this is what I planned to do.We can use stories to teach science to young kids. This a wonderful story about the water cycle for young children without the big words: condensation, evaporation and precipitation. These big words then can be gently introduced after the story.

Activity #1: Online Story: To the Mountain and Back - Drippy the Raindrop by - The Water Cycle by Joel Kimball



Drippy the Raindrop is also a great introduction of how wonderful and important is water as a resource. They will fall in love with this wonderful character as they join him in his wonderful adventure!


The story of Drippy will speak very clearly to the children about what happens in the water cycle.

Activity #2: Discuss the Water Cycle - Drippy the Raindrop & The Water Cycle at Kidzone's
After reading the story, casually go over the four stages of the cycle. For more specific information please visit : The Water Cycle -- keep it very simple and for very young children (2 - 4) you can even skip the big words and concentrate on the process using Drippy as part of the discussion.

Materials: KidZone: The Water Cycle Color Posters & Coloring Pages
For this discussion you may want to use and display the KidZone's Water Cycle Posters found at the bottom of the page in the link provided. Also read the content of the display posters that suggest different activities (boiling some water to see evaporation, for example) You can also put some of the pages together for a fun coloring book!

1. Evaporation: Drippy evaporates. Why? The heat of the sun causes him to evaporate and become a vapor that goes up and he becomes part of the cloud. (illustrate: boil some water in a kettle so children can see the vapor rising).

2. Condensation: Drippy is now in the cloud and meets another raindrop who has also evaporated -- Captain Salty. While in the cloud, it is colder and Drippy is condensing and turns into water again (read poster for activity that demonstrates condensation).

3. Precipitation - What happens after a while in the cloud? Yes, it starts to bounce and shake. Why? It gets very heavy now that Drippy is water - (and all the other raindrops that have accumulated have also turned into water) the air cannot keep Drippy and the other raindrops up there . The cloud bounces and shakes - (precipitates) and Drippy and all the water in the clouds come down as rain drops or rainfall. Now sometimes it comes down as rain, or it can be hail, sleet or snow, it just depends on how cold it is.

4. Collection: Finally, Drippy ends up falling on a stream and then unto the river, which carries him back to the ocean and this will happen all over again -- this is called collection. It is important to add that some of the rain will fall on land and become ground water - the water we, animals, and plants use.

Using Virtual Experiment To Teach Science Using ICT

Why use virtual experiment to teach science?

To take the advantage of using current technology to use the software environments which:
- mimic a real situation of interest,
- current computer technology allows the creation of special purpose,
- is accessible and rich environments that have, in the area of data collection and analysis,
- the potential to give learning experiences well beyond those of traditional textbook exercises.
- can be freely used over the web.

Another advantage is that some experiments are too dangerous to be demonstrated in the science lab, for example experiment that involves using fire, can be demonstrated using virtual experiment.

Virtual experiment allows the teacher to mimic the real situation virtually such as in teaching explosions and about the spread of infectious diseases.

The Activity:
Virtual Experiment on changing the state of water (liquid, solid and gas) and also some of the process that are involved in changing the state (evaporation, condensation, freezing, melting and boiling).






The pupil trying the virtual experiment on the IWB.


Another pupil trying the same activity.


The pupils answering the exercise sheet.


The Lesson Plan


LP virtual expt -

The Fill-in-the-blanks exercise

fill in the blanks exercise -

Report:
The activity was done in SR Katok, Brunei III on Monday, 19th October 2009 with Primary 5 pupils due to unexpected circumstances. The same activity was done by my group partner, Md. Suria bin K. Karim (08B1042) at SR Muhammad Alam, Seria on Saturday, 17th October 2009 with year 4 pupils.

Evaluation of the activity:
Most of the pupils enjoyed the lesson and some of them prefer this than using the actual manipulative in the science lab. This is reflected in their ability and understanding towards the lesson from the marks that they got from the exercise sheet that was given. On average, the pupils got 7 marks out of 10. although none of them got 10 out 10, the mode from the marks is 6.

Using Euclidean Reality software and Geometer Sketch Pad to teach mathematics using ICT

Euclidean reality software and geometer sketchpad can be used to teach mathematics using ICT.
The properties of a straight line, a triangle, a rectangle and a circle can be taught using these two software. Some of the examples are in the activities below:

Activity 1a:
1. Draw a straight line and label the points A, B and C.
2. Measure the length of AB, AC and BC.
3. Measure the angle of ABC.



Activity 1b:
1. Draw the line AB, then draw the line BC.
2. Label the points and measure AB, and BC.
3. Measure the angle ABC.



Activity 2:
1. Draw the triangle ABC and label the points.
2. Measure the length AB, BC and AC.
3. Measure the angle of ABC, BCA and CAB.
4. Add all the 3 angles in triangle ABC.



Activity 3:
1. Draw and equilateral triangle and label the points A,B and C.
2. Measure the length of each side.
3. Measure all the angles and add them together.



Activity 4:
Draw a rectangle and label the points A,B, C and D.
Measure all the sides.




Activity 5a:
1. Draw a circle
2. Measure the radius and find the diameter.
3. Calculate the circumference and area of the circle.



Activity 5b:
Similarly, we can use Geometer sketch pad for circle.
We can use the auto-calculate feature on the software to measure radius, circumference and area of the circle.



Using Euclidean and and Gsp

The Use of LOGO Programming Software With Upper Primary Pupils

What is LOGO Programming?

LOGO stands for Logic-Oriented Graphic-Oriented. It is a software in which we use simple programming language to draw simples shapes and pictures on a computer. It has a pen called a TURTLE which can be instructed to draw pictures. The turtle in LOGO really resembles a turtle which sits on the floor and we just instruct it to move and then create the shapes traced by the movement of the turtle.

The LOGO screen is split into two windows in which one is a display screen which the turtle making the moves and the other one is a command input box in which we key in the commands and execute them by pressing the enter key.


Uses of LOGO Programming in Education

Logo fits easily into the mathematics class, but it can also be used to explore other areas. The focus in most classrooms is not on programming, but on the thinking processes that Logo encourages. It has been used to develop simulations and to create multimedia presentations. It is accessible to novices, including young children and also supports complex explorations and sophisticated projects by experienced users.

Report:

In the lesson, I chose five year 5 pupils in my previous school, Sekolah Rendah Katok ‘A’, Brunei III. They only have basic knowledge about computers and this is their first time using the LOGO Programming software.

The pupils were able to draw squares and rectangles. They know the basic features of the shapes such as angles and the number of sides. I drew out the answers from the pupils regarding the number of degrees in a right-angle as well as in a triangle, that the sum of all angles is equal to 180 degrees. I also asked them what is the main difference between a square and a rectangle in which they answered that squares has all sides equal, while in rectangles, only two sides are equal. When I showed them some other commands, they seemed to understand them and replicate the shapes that I asked them to draw.

After the lesson I interviewed the pupils and they told me that it was difficult to use the commands at first. But after a while they got used to the idea and found out that the use of the REPEAT command is easier when compared to the keying in the steps manually to draw the shapes. The pupils also found it enjoyable and they are looking forward for similar lessons in the future.

The lesson would be more successful if the teacher is more familiar with the commands in the software and the pupils to have more time to use the software properly. Another problem would be the number of available PCs that are accessible to the pupils. The use of the software is recommended for other educators provided they master the software first before teaching it to their pupils. The lesson will require in-depth planning while time and patience are also essential in making the lesson successful.











Pc Logo Lesson Plan

Pc Logo Notes

How to use spreadsheet program in teaching mathematics and science?

What is spreadsheet?
A spreadsheet is a table which displays numbers in rows and columns. Spreadsheets can be used for a variety of purposes (accounting, budgeting, charting/graphing, financial analysis, scientific applications). Spreadsheets can exist in paper format but the electronic spreadsheets are able to perform automatic calculations on changing data. For example, a teacher who uses a spreadsheet to record student marks is able to determine student averages and class means. This can save users drastic amounts of time.

Uses in education
The popular spreadsheet program that is used extensively is Microsoft Excel. Excel has a lot of potential and uses. Some of the applications of Excel in schools are such as in calculating and visualising data, e.g. in calculating students’ marks, budgeting in accounts classes as well as charts and graphs in mathematics classes among others.

Excel can be applied to teach mathematics and science in the primary schools. One specific example is using spreadsheet i.e. Excel in teaching Science for the topic food and nutrition.



Food and Nutrition


Food Intake Diary

Teaching Mathematics with Virtual Manipulative

Teaching the concept of conservation of volume using virtual manipulative (VM) using a website from the National Library of Virtual Manipulative (NLVM).

http://nlvm.usu.edu/en/nav/frames_asid_275_g_4_t_4.html?from=category_g_4_t_4.html



By using the interactive whiteboard (IWB)to conduct a lesson like a pop-quiz. I asked the pupils to sit in front of the IWB and initially I asked all of them to participate in answering the problem by making guesses. Then moving on to questioning them in selective groups and then individually. After the activities, I asked the pupils to try the VM themselves on the desktop PCs.

From what I have observed, some of the pupils are still in transition period, some of them are still confused about the conservation of liquid. The pupils really enjoyed the lesson when I asked them about it at the end of the class and even before, when I asked them to come over to the ICT lab, they were really excited and motivated. Some of the pupils also asked for the website because they want to try it again at home in their own time.



The pupil trying the virtual manipulative on the IWB.



Another pupil trying the virtual manipulative on the IWB



The pupil trying the virtual manipulative himself on the desktop computer.

Lesson Plan Vm

ICT in Primary schools - How the schools are doing it?

From my observation at SR Katok, Brunei III and by asking my other friends from various schools, last week, I found out that the primary schools in Brunei are following the basic directives from the ICT Department of the Ministry of Education. ICT as a lesson is provided for 1 period (30 minutes) weekly for both lower and upper primary classes while selected subjects such as Mathematics, English, Science and Bahasa Melayu have 2 periods weekly of ICT across the curriculum spread over the schooling terms.

ICT as a subject is handled by the designated ICT teacher, while ICT across the curriculum is handled by the subject teacher with the help of the ICT teacher.

The ICT teachers' roles are to help the children with the basic ICT knowledge such as typing skills, using the internet to search for references and components knowledge as well as assisting other teachers in conducting their lessons using ICT. ICT teachers also conduct some ICT workshops for the teachers in the school during the staff development.

Primary schools are now equipped with fast internet connections and also interactive white-boards (IWB) as well as computer projectors for use in classes. Various softwares are also provided for the teachers to use in their lessons such as the HotPotatoes and other interactive activities software. Teachers are encouraged to use the facilities in their lessons.
Some teachers use IWB in their lessons in place of flashcards. The use of powerpoint also helped a lot, especially in saving time for the teachers in which they don't have to write on the whiteboards anymore.

Teachers use ICT to help the children to link from the concrete manipulative to virtual manipulative and help them to think abstractly. Such examples are like using the Youtube to show video presentations on natural phenomena like the water cycle, rain processes and how things work. Some teachers also use ICT to conduct math quizzes and also use various websites for the children to play math puzzles and activities.

Instead of handing the work in written-form, children can now type their work and some of the best work are displayed at a blog so that the children can access it and share it with the others.

More over, with the introduction of MobiTel project, children are now introduced to using MacBooks. The children are exposed to other sort of programs to aid their learning.

Overall, ICT does help the children's learning to an extent as it helps in attracting the children's attention towards the lessons while the use of concrete materials is still needed because some children are not yet developed to think abstractly. Some problems that usually arise in primary schools usually due to the school being short-staffed in the ICT department and also due to the time constraints in handling ICT across the curriculum lessons.