Why Science is Cool: Science Classroom Visit

I have to admit I am going to be pretty biased in ALL of my blogs when I get to brag on Pequea Valley...what can I say, they are pretty awesome. Today I was able to observe in a biology classroom.  This was two fold, one because we need to observe in a science classroom but it is even more helpful to me because our every sophomore at Pequea Valley takes biology and they take agricultural biology  as well.  The biology teachers and the agriculture teachers have a common planning period to stay on track and to have open and constant communication.  

Today's Lesson: How do passive and active transport transport material across the cell membrane?  

Students reviewed diffusion and were introduced to osmosis and terms associated with osmosis. The lesson material was intriguing, but it was the methods, engagement and use of technology and other tools that I really liked. 

Methods & Engagement

During the class there were a variety of methods used, some very student led and some teacher led- allowing independent work and notes in their interactive notebook.  While working through notes, there was constant questions and communication to keep students engaged and on task- and she seemed to always engage with students that had additional questions.  One of the topics we were discussing in common plan the other day was students not always remembering important vocabulary.  It was neat to see today how the teacher helped students grasp this.  When reviewing facilitated diffusion she asked what does 'facilitate' mean?  She then tied it to how teachers at Pequea Valley are called learning facilitators, a student responded "it means to help".  She then used that same definition when reviewing the concept.  With every new vocabulary word- hypertonic, hypotonic and isotonic all of the students were prompted to think of other words with 'hypo, hyper and iso' in them, a really cool technique! 

Tools & Technology

Pequea Valley is a one-to-one apple outstanding program so every student has a mac book.  To use this, the instructor had students using Gizmo to do an online interactive lab on diffusion.  Additionally they had a worksheet that went along with it.  An additional tool she is using as part of the class is interactive notebooks, which are really cool to me.  I am interested to hear what learners think (also I'm now contemplating using them for one of my courses!)  They used their interactive notebooks to make a flap book and continue notes and diagrams for the next topic of osmosis.  Not only were learners using technology in the classroom, but she was using it in unique ways as well, using her Ipad for the slides so then she could still use her computer for questions and other things to help students, and everything was using google drive as well.  I still have much to learn about technology, but excited to try the same and use my Ipad and laptop in a similar manner. 

So Why Does This Matter? 

Well thankfully I have the opportunity to ask questions during our common plan! But simply sitting in there helped me to see what some of our students are receiving in their other classes.  I am a firm believer that we NEED to have science concepts in agriculture- I've seen this before, and I still believe it.  I think students are better prepared when we do this, but it has to be purposeful.  I could simply add science components but to make it really meaningful to students, I need to be in communication with science teachers and try to crosswalk what is happening in my class. 

Top 5 Take Aways:

1. Use technology AND other tools, it can't be a crutch and it needs to enhance a lesson. 
2. Ask and answer student questions. 
3. Tie concepts to students prior knowledge, from other classes or experiences.
4. Enhance vocabulary by practice, questions and repetition. 
5. Try out new technologies!