The Blackbox Activity: The Nature Of Science

Science is in my blood. I grew up always being fascinated in science both physical and environmental. My love for science started early when I was able to play outside every day and performing my own experiments in the backyard. Throughout middle school and high school, I took every available science course, I simply just wanted to know more. I did not know my exact path of study until my senior year in high school. I enrolled into an AP Environmental Science class, a brand new test run course at my school. Thinking back to AP Environmental Science, it was not just the material that directed my study. Ultimately it was my teacher, Mrs. Andre, who strengthen the flames of desire and intrigue to continue along the environmental studies path. Her drive and passion every day is what inspired me to focus on environmental education and communication.

I have always been interested in science, but the hands on experiments have helped me understand and grasp concepts much easier. I recall my first experiment in first grade when the class was given the lima bean sprout experiment, which required students to plant a bean in a paper cup. The purpose of this experiment was to teach us about photosynthesis and practice our observation skills. I recall how others were fascinated about why their sprout grew. I, on the other hand, was more captivated by why the other sprouts did not grow and the factors, which contributed to that outcome. This basic experiment taught me to look at things through different lenses and not always to the most obvious path.

The process skills approach to teaching is defined as the educator helping children develop science skills and processes to confidently undertake their own investigations (Campbell, 2012). These skills are developed through: communicating, science language, asking questions, making sense of phenomena, predicting, modelling, conducting investigations, planning, testing, observing, reasoning, and drawing conclusions of science concepts (Campbell, 2012). When the educator assist children’s learning, it is important to put the emphasis on the nature of science and scientific concepts. Guided discovery approach to teaching requires the educator to ask effective questions that encourage children to explore and extend their investigations throughout science learning (Campbell, 2012). This can be developed through play experiences as children explore their world around them. An interactive approach to teaching children is based on questions that lead explorations and the educators to provide essential resources to guide these explorations (Campbell, 2012). It is the educators’ responsibility to support children’s development, ideas, questions, ways of thinking, and develop scientific thinking. Furthermore, an inquiry approach to teaching relates to children investigating the answers to their own

science -inquiry concepts. In the video clip from lesson 4,minute Students will work together to form hypothesis, observe ,follow procedure ,collect and analyze data, write a conclusion. This lab has four stations, with each stations student were dealing with situation involving phenomenon that they see outside of the classroom, likely on daily basis. so, with each station the Students can be seen using data and their observations as evidence to explain why they were seeing this real-world phenomenon. then students need to answer the lab analysis questions that also connect them with real world. video 2. Furthermore, to help students construct their explanations, I asked questions that push students to make connections to the real world. For example, in video 2, minute , I ask students why organic compounds dose not conduct electricity ? and how about if we try using water and salt ?

The WebQuery, the 5E lesson plan, and the field trip guide, are examples of through which students engage in investigations that enhance learning and that helps them meet the NGSS. These artifacts also indicate my ability to develop lesson plans that promote the learning of science; that align content to the NGSS; that demonstrate the use of assessment to ensure that the students are meeting the standards; and that showcase the use of literature to support grouping strategies and lesson rationale

For as long as I could see the stars, I knew I wanted to reach them. Gazing at the stars gave me time to question how the world worked, and kindled my passion for science. The world of science intrigues me because it varies on so many levels. It ranges from the study of the smallest particles in the world to the research of the seemingly never-ending universe. With so much to learn, I never want to be absent in class and miss the opportunity of discovering something new. Science has influenced me to be curious as to why things work, and motivates me to find the explanations behind things.

Integrating other learning areas in our unit of work and exercising more resources that teachers can use in the classroom base upon our science unit is also a crucial element that our group was missing that needed to be included in our presentation. The classroom environment should include lots of books, visual materials, ICT devices and activities to facilitate learning and keep the student’s interests by promoting questioning and discussion to stimulate their science thinking processes and skills in a creative and encouraging environment. (Pitcher, 2014)

While consequent to opening the first box the groups was inclined to consider that the capsule is a farce used by someone to simply play games with people's minds, the message it contained played an essential role in making us understand the importance of our discovery. These objects were practically put inside this box with

On Tuesday the 20th of September, a presentation was required of all students to show a video of individual experiments after a week was given on the day of the original assigning. Given the task of performing an experiment in order to become acquainted with the Scientific method, students of Biology 621A were required to record their experimentations in full - providing a question to be answered, constructing a hypothesis, designing an experiment that would aid in the proving (or disproving) of the hypothesis and collecting the data found from the experiment. These would go on to be graded based on their overall presentation quality, and content in regards to the mastery of the scientific method while proving its functionality and existence in scientific experiments no matter how small, while determining factors like independent or dependant variables.

The experiments would serve to prove that science is observable, understandable, and thrilling. After each exercise would be an explanation of the experiments' concept(s). Once I finished presenting my proposal, Mr. Davis folded his hands and peered at me from across the table. I held my breath. He unfolded his hands and turned the palms up. He grinned. He thought it was a great idea as it fit into the national Boys and Girls Club aim to implement a STEM program into local clubs. I was

Learning is by far the most valuable tool today. Knowledge is the stepping stone that allows people to excel beyond their previous circumstances and aim for greatness. As President of my school’s Science National Honor Society, I helped start a local outreach to an elementary school called Innovation Charter two years ago; this year, we received a grant from the American Chemical Society to fund our project, allowing us to impact the school even more than last year. Innovation Charter is full of students with low socioeconomic statuses, so our goal is to bring quality education to children who aren’t afforded those benefits. While at the school, we perform a myriad of fun and interactive science experiments and explain the scientific principle

In Stuart Firestein’s manuscript, Ignorance: How It Drives Science, he argues that ignorance is unquestionable characteristic of scientific success. He delineates ignorance not as blatant idiocy, but rather as “a communal gap in knowledge” and even postulates that it fosters the greatest research in science, because it is comprised of the dynamic energy required in the journey for scientific innovation (Firestein 7, 15). Moreover, he articulates that ignorance in academia can exhibit itself in various ways, including “the incentive of possibility”, and most importantly, exploration driven by the unknown; it asks scientists to choose “a particular place of darkness” to investigate (Firestein 62). In contrast to his strong trust in these “dark

As part of the science curriculum, it is mandatory to introduce the concept of enquiry through experiments and investigations. The practical element of science promotes the idea that children need to develop a certain level of scientific enquiry through a wide range of activities suggests, Cross and Bowden (2014). Some examples of scientific enquiry can range from; nature walks in order to observe the numerous mini beasts amongst the school

They are given several minutes to explore. Students must find a desirable question to research and conduct the experiment based on their observations.

Science is, by its nature, inquiry based and science knowledge is built through processes in which discoveries of the natural world are made (Abruscato, 2000). It utilizes discovery and scientific thinking process to explore and learn knowledge and skills. Learning by doing is the new efficient method in teaching science. For kindergarten, this method leads to better understanding of science concepts and builds skills that children will use in future life .What a child can do with assistance now, they can later do on their own (Vygotsky, 1978). John Dewey (1916) stated that children must be engaged in an active quest for learning and new ideas. Inquiry is important in educating kindergarteners because it not only keeps them interested in lessons but also helps them retain more information when performing exploration and investigation. Children are naturally motivated to learn and actively seek out information to help their understanding (Piaget, 1950).The success of students who participate in hands- on inquiry activities suggests that if students have first hands experience with science, concepts are easier to understand and apply and students are generally more favorable to science and have better understanding of the nature of science .Within a conceptual framework, inquiry learning and active learner involvement can lead to important outcomes in the classroom. In kindergarten, students who are actively making observations, collecting results and drawing