Comment to other groups video post

My computer will not let me post a comment on someone else's blog. I'm not sure if this is due to something I am doing wrong, or the computer. However, here is my comment to Amanda Call's groups blog. I see a major conundrum that keeps coming up in your blog is the videos ambiguity pertaining to the ADHD issue. I agree the video was unclear to why the further east you go the more boring it gets. I as well would have liked to see the details or explanation behind this. Furthermore, I liked how you said education is set up for a different generation, this is the perfect way to put our education predicament. It is obvious our society, and the world, have evolved, why has our education system stayed the same. You all using the word generation really exemplifies a problem in the education system. Our society and our education system have a major generation gap, and hopefully we as future teachers can somewhat close this gap.

Changing Education Paradigm: Nicole, Alexandria, Katherine

#1. As a group we found the presentation, and content provided useful and entertaining. A main point was how education needs to change. The video presented different options for this change and different issues inside our current education system. As a country ADHD has increased with time, and the presentation demonstrated probable reasons to why this increase is happening. The video exemplified how divergent thinking is hindered by our education system.

#2. As a group we all agree with the prominence with ADHD and the fact that it is not an epidemic. In the school setting Alexandria has seen this, “upping of medicine” or referrals to the doctor to solve attention issues. Katherine particularly liked the idea that our education system is like a factory. Expanding on this idea we see as a group that students/kids are just thrown into the system and all expected to produce similar results. Feeding off this idea a point Nicole found very interesting, is why we are in school based off age. None of us have ever thought of why we are divided by our age, and is age really factor in education. We all resonated with the comments on academic and non-academic students. In our past schooling experiences this topic was drawn on and we all knew if we were the academic or non-academic type.

#3. We would have liked to see more evidence to why ADHD was so prevalent in the east side of the country. We know that ADHD is prevalent in the west as well and we feel like this topic deserved more attention. Also, we would have liked to see more discussion to when the “ADHD epidemic” started and its origins. We realize that there is no one answer to the issues in our education system, however he stated many problems and few suggestions. We as a group would have liked to see some suggestions to change all the issues he presented. 

#4. For Nicole videos like this are in a way discouraging. Since, it focuses on all the issues, that are long embedded into our system it makes us think as future teachers that we will just become part of this system. On the flip side, as Alexandria pointed out, this motivates us as future educators to see what we need to change and how important this change is. Katherine pointed out, as future teachers maybe we should not jump to medication or diagnosis of ADHD. Maybe trying to find out what the root of the boredom is will be a better more natural solution to the attention problems.

#5. We feel divergent thinking is really something we as future teachers, and as students need to implement in this class. The part of the video that states, here is the question and there is only one answer, and it is in the back of the book, is very true for many of the classes we are in. As a group we feel falling away from this idea and implementing divergent thinking is really important. 

QTF Reflection Blog #3

I really enjoyed a lot of aspects of the QTF assignment. It changed how I defined science in my first blog mostly because it made me realize how narrow my first explanation was. In doing the first blog I defined science with in a few sentences. This, however, was not all inclusive, and coming up with as many questions as possible proved to be a more all encompassing approach. I particularly liked how the word teaching changed and enhanced most of the questions we came up with. I like to think of all subjects in relation to teaching, since I am so close to student teaching. I would now change my opinion to what science is, to science is everything. From education, to technology, to exploration and infinite topics in between I realize science is nearly impossible to define. A major word involved in what science is, is exploring. Science almost always involves, exploring, doing experiments, collecting data, creating hypotheses, all involve exploring. All the acts I used to define science in my first post all involve exploration of a topic. Therefore, a word I feel encompasses some or most of what science is, is exploring. The QTF assignment helped us as students explore how to develop ideas to help us understand such open ended questions.

Group Blog

1.    Katherine, Alexandria and Nicole

   What is science? (open)

2.       What makes a good science teacher? (open)

3.       Are experiments all that makes science? (closed)

4.       What are the best methods for learning science? (open)

5.       What are the best methods for teaching science? (open)

6.       Should science education depend solely on students constructing their own knowledge?(open)

7.        How can I make it fun? (open)

8.       Should all be fun or all be lecture based learning? (closed)

9.       Is group work a good way to teach/facilitate science learning? (closed)

10.   Should technology be integrated into the teaching of science? (closed)

11.   What is a better way to learn science? (open)

12.   What is doing science? (open)

13.   How can you learn science? (open)

14.   How can I teach science? (open)

15.   Is learning science dependent on doing science? (closed/open)

16.   What topics are most important in science? (open)

17.   Is there a specific order science subject should be taught? (open)

18.   Should the science topics be chosen by the teacher or the students? (closed)

Closed to Open:

-          Is group work a good way to teach/facilitate science learning?

-          How can group work teach/facilitate science learning?

Open to Closed:

-          What are the best methods of teaching science?

-          What is the best method of teaching science?

Prioritize Questions:  Three Most Interesting

1.        What is science?

2.       What are the best methods of teaching science?

3.       Should technology be integrated into the teaching of science?  

***Our URL to our prezi is posted on katherines blog**** and we sent it to your account

Post #2

Science to me is experimentation, exploring, testing, gathering data and above all else proving. I feel science is the basis of our lives and our surroundings. We use science everyday and we as humans are science. Our bodies are made up of the very cells we study and explore in biology. Science is all encompassing in our daily lives and above all else I feel in our society we use science as justification. My personal experiences with science have been very up and down. Growing up I was not a fan of science at all, I despised chemistry in high school, and still hold a grudge. My teacher and I were on separate pages, which made it even harder to get into. However, college has changed my perspective on science completely. I adored Mel's class 262 (I think), I honestly have never learned more and enjoyed learning so much. The way he presented the information and the way he had us construct our own knowledge proved to be a useful teaching strategy for me. Science is now my emphasis in the teaching program and I feel my pleasant experiences in college deserve the credit for that. I was a poly sci major before switching to teaching, and I always approached all my papers and assignments with a scientific approach. Using science to back up and explore political idea's was the surest way to have a strong argument. I once wrote a paper only using scientific research on GMO's to prove why they are such a poor choice and how it will eventually catch up with us. However, I always go about politics with a what is my argument and how can I use science to prove it.

First practice post! My expectations in this class are to learn the content pertaining to physical science. I really have enjoyed the other two NTSC classes and am excited for this last one. I am hoping to become more comfortable with the concepts involved in physics, and further my science knowledge. I also plan on enjoying this class I love hands on classes, especially hands on science activities. Our teacher reminds me of Bill Nye the Science Guy, which is a good thing. There is always something to learn from these classes and having a teacher that fits the title, Mr. Science will only make it more fun!