Week 1: Notebooks, Labs, and Dr. Seuss

DIFFERNDOFFER DAY: 

1. What does it mean when someone knows how to think?

When someone knows how to think they are able to come to a conclusion about something, even if it's new material. A valid conclusion might not come immediately, sometimes it just leads to more questions.

2. How does a teacher teach a student how to think?

A teacher can teach a student how to think by allowing the learner to be different. Let them build their knowledge for themselves in whatever way makes sense to them. 

BY NOT GIVING THEM THE "RIGHT" ANSWER. 

3. Have you ever been in a class where you really had to think?

Most of my educational experiences as a student have revolved around recreating known results. There was no room for genuine sense making. That is, until I started this program. Methods 1 was the first exposure I had to a teacher not confirming the "right" answer, and it threw me for a loop.

REFLECTIONS: 

1. "Five Good Reasons to Use Science Notebooks"

So far in this program, we have firmly established the importance of starting with the learner's prior knowledge, but what happens if the learner isn't aware of the ideas they currently heave? Keeping an educational journal forces the learner to articulate and fully form their ideas which then can be built upon. Having the opportunity to wrestle with ideas in a safe place, like a private journal, reinforces the importance and the necessity of being wrong and normalizes the uncomfortable feeling. Journals can even be a tool in building confidence, and can give a deeper insight to the thought processes of even the quietest of students.   

2. "Private Universe" 

This was a fascinating video. This video reinforces the importance of using the learner's prior knowledge, and how difficult it is to break prior conceptions. This also goes to show the importance of language usage and manipulatives, because the teacher was using more technical language and demonstrations to explain the concepts whereas the students used the language they were familiar with did better when they had manipulatives to help work out their understanding.

STUDENTS SHOULD BE THE DOERS AND WE, THE TEACHERS, SHOULD BE SPEAKING IN THE STUDENTS' EVERYDAY LANGUAGE.