Grades 5 & 6
You have seen how integrated math and science are with the SAE curriculum (Jet Toy). Now compare with AIMS or GEMS. Please make sure you find mathematics integrated more than just graphing data. That is a fault of some programs "integrating" mathematics. There is so much more than just making a graph, especially with these grade levels.
When looking in the TRC, please find a different AIMS or GEMS topic than already posted! There are numerous titles from which to choose!
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I looked at the GEMS book on acid rain. The book allows for an inquiry based lesson. The activities in the book offer great learning experiences and there are so many different ways to go about teaching what acid rain is. This book sets up the learning into eight different sections where each section plays off of the one before hand. The book incorporates math in several ways. There are ways to include graphs by using the data the children collected, and then they can analyze and interpret the results of the experiment. The book discusses how to read a pH scale to determine the acidity of water The children also use measurement throughout every experiment. They are asked to fill several graduated cylinders with a certain amount of ml, so the students have to have an understanding of measurement. The class can use communication skills as they discuss with one another what acid rain is and what the effects it causes to us. Students will be using their problem solving skills to find out the answers to their many questions while trying to explain their thought behind their answers. These are great science lessons and also have the advantage of incorporating math skills.
I looked at the AIMS book about Environmental Sciences called "Our Wonderful World". The activities in the book are about air, water, transpiration, soil, plants, and animals and insects. The book features an index of skills at the beginning which I thought was really effective. One could look at the skill they need or want to teach and find an AIMS lesson that incorporated that. Each lesson is put together in a similar format so that when flipping through the book one could easily identify any given piece of information they are looking for. It lists the math skills and science skills so that there is no question about what exactly you are teaching. I specifically looked at the "What's in the Air?" lesson. This emphasizes whole number operations, averaging, and graphing for math. For science the lesson focuses on observing, collecting and analyzing data. The students get background information about air pollution. Then for the procedure the students take contact paper and put it in a type of frame and hold it in the air. Later they analyze and graph anything that was caught on their contact paper. They look for trends and patterns as well.
Like I said before, the same type of format is found in every lesson. Students recieve background knowledge, a specific question is asked (so that problem solving is the foundation of the AIMS lesson) and do a type of experiment. They always analyze the data. This is a great tool for teachers to include in the integration of math and science in their personal classrooms.
I looked at the AIMS activity book for grades 2-6 that dealt with water, “Water precious water”. I thought this book was awesome, it consisted of about 30 lessons that discussed various ideas about water such as; the water cycle, water conservation, and water quality. I thought all the activities seemed very engaging for students. The book incorporates math in many different ways, and most lessons were not just graphing. There was plenty of measuring, comparing, computation, sequencing, plus so much more. Most of the lessons also seemed to be open inquiry focused.
One lesson I thought looked really excellent, was “Rain Away”, this lesson discussed erosion. It had the students predict what would happen to soil on a bare hillside when it rained. Then it had a hands on experiment that showed the kids first hand what would happen. It had the students draw pictures of their predictions and results, make measurements, compare, and calculate differences. I think this is a great way to incorporate math and science into one stimulating lesson. I thought all the lessons were interesting and thought provoking, and are easy for teachers to follow.
I picked out the GEMS book called "Buzzing A Hive." It is for students in grades 1-3. Browsing through the book one of my favorite parts was the way it incorporates creative and crafty ways to use math and science in the classroom. One in particular was having the students make paper honeybees. Students count out the legs, and other body parts, including the wings, thorax, abdomen. This is a great way to utilize math and science in a stimulating fun way. Some other great activities included making posters and murals of the life of bees. These activities are ways to help students gain knowledge of math and science in a fun, unique way. Some might even forget they are using math and science. That was always a plus for me!
The back of the book even gives detailed pictures of body parts of bees, their hives, and life stages. These are interesting activities that as a "new teacher" i find exciting and less intimidating than a standard math or science book.
I looked at a GEMS book entitled Involving Dissolving. Throughout this GEMS magazine they discuss the concept of dissolving and how some solids disappear while others do not. This book has 4 different activities that help students grasp the concept of dissolving. In the first activity the students are asked to make homade gel-o. Initially the students will be forced to measure out each ingredient using measuring cups (This is an example of how math has been incorporated into the science lesson, fractions, adding). The class will then be able to witness the powder dissolve into a liquid and then into a jell-o solid. In activity 4, Disappearing Eggshells, GEMS incorporates another way for kids to grasp the concept of dissolving substances. Instead of starting out with a powdery substance, they started out with an eggshell and watched that disappear in the vinegar. Once again this activity incorporated mathematics because the children had to measure each ingredient and track what was happening to the eggshells every day.
These GEMS activities are very similar to the JET toy experiement because both of the activities covered a variety of different topics while doing one simple experiement. For example the first experiement in GEMS covered terms such as solute, solvent, and solution. In the JET toy activity we learned terms such a force and power. These experiments are great example of how teachers can replace textbook learning with the experiment base process.
As the children do these experiements they will be using many different skills. First, they will be learning how to communicate and cooperate because they will be working in small groups. Next, they will be learning how to work independantly because they will be conducting the experiment by themselves. Lastly, they will be using their problems solving skills to answer the question of, what happend in this experiment?
The book I used was a GEMS guide for Liquid Explorations. The lessons are very helpful and do a great job of explaining the purpose of the activities, along with a rationale of why these activities are important. The lessons focus on the inquiry and investigation processes of science to help students gain an in depth understanding of concepts. Students literally explore various liquids and how they interact with each other and with other substances. They explore different forms of liquid and observe many different uses of liquids. In a science curriculum, it is vital that children learn and use a variety of processes in problem solving. This is also true for math curriculum. In the liquid lessons, children use a variety of problem solving skills to analyze information. They analyze patterns that occur in their experimentation with liquid. They take measurements and record data, graphing data for comparison. The experiments relate all of the information to real life experience. In comparison to the SAE curriculum, the GEMS were very similar. Both provide hands-on activities that give an in depth look at the concepts, and provide practice at multiple processes of inquiry and experimentation.
I explored the Paper Towel Testing GEMS activity. I picked this activity because I vaguely remember testing paper towels when I was in elementary science. This activity has real world connections because it’s a consumer science—you can test many everyday products to determine their value and quality.
When conducting experiments, students test wet paper towel strength and absorbency. There is also an activity to determine the best buy.
Math is used in the wet strength test a couple of ways. Students pour 5 teaspoonfuls of water onto the towel to be tested. The math aspect: Measurement. Students place weights on the wet towel and count how many it holds before ripping. Again, measurement is used, and addition as well (when determining total weight).
For the absorbency test, students count the drops of water that a towel will hold before starting to drip. The math aspect is measurement again-they need to know how much water the dropper holds and how much water they’re placing on the paper towel. Addition is conducted as well.
The most obvious math activity in the lesson is the cost per sheet lesson. Students take the cost per roll, divided by the number of sheets per roll to determine the price per sheet. A great extension activity would be to have students check out prices in a grocery store. Have them check out the Net Weight compared to the price and find the best deal.
I liked this activity. It has a great mix of science experimentation and math concepts. Plus, you don’t need a classroom full of specialized science or math materials to accomplish the tasks. It’s an inexpensive and rewarding activity.
I looked at the gem book called Bubble-ology, grades 5-9. This book is filled with six exciting activities to do with bubbles. These activities provide students with the opportunity to develop mathematic and scientific skills. The first activity allows the students to experiment with blowing bubbles and make observations. Next, the students are required to use their math skills to measure and record their data. This activity also introduces the scientific concept of a fair test by challenging the students to determine which brand of dishwashing soap will make the biggest bubbles. The students observe how soap affects the surface tension of water and investigate the role of evaporation in bubble formation, as they test the effect of different amounts of glycerin on the size of bubbles. The students are also asked to calculate averages and graph the results. As you can see math and science are integrated throughout these fun activities. Bubbles are a blast to play with and an excellent demonstration of a scientific phenomena!
I checked out the GEMS book on Global Warming & the Greenhouse effect. There are eight different Sessions in this book. The sessions include lessons on the greenhouse effect, global warming activities, carbon dioxide detection, and the effects of climate change on our planet. In my favorite session, “Modeling the Greenhouse Effect,” students set up and perform an experiment to learn about the greenhouse effect. Students work in groups of four to construct a model of the atmosphere using 2 two-liter bottles. One is left uncovered, and one is covered with saran wrap. A 100 watt light bulb is placed between the 2 two-liter bottles. Temperature changes are recorded once a minute for fifteen minutes. Students will come to realize that the one covered will heat up more quickly, which can be compared to the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere trapping heat from the sun. These lessons focus on observation, data collection and analyzing trends related to the greenhouse effect. This book incorporates several activities which would be very engaging for students, as well as teaching them ways to lower their carbon footprint. The book incorporates math in many different ways. Students gather, record, graph, and analyze data in meaningful ways. Also, like Jeff mentioned, the lessons focus on the inquiry and investigation processes of science to help students gain an in-depth understanding of concepts. I think this was a great book, and one that I would definitely use in the future.
I chose to use a Great Explorations in Math and Science (GEMS) guided-discovery teacher's guide. The title of the guide is 'River Cutters' and it covers the erosion process of rivers over time. One of the areas that this GEMS guide concentrates on is helping students to understand "deep time, to gain a more accurate sense of how long the river features" actually take to form. The 'Time and the River' activity uses math throughout by correlating seconds (in the activity) with thousands of years (in real world settings). Every two drops of water per second equals 17 real world years in the erosion of the river model. The data collected by the students is then transfered to "The 12,000 year Timeline". This data collection process is quite similar to the JetToy activity we did in class this week. Also in comparison with the JetToy activity, the GEMS guide(as Josh also mentioned) is a little more structured with less chance for student chosen explorations. That being said, I feel that this GEMS guide is absolutely great at giving students a learning experience that they get to see and touch!
My GEMS book focused on Magnifiers specifically for grades 6-9. Throughout the unit students discover how different magnifiers are used and what makes them different. The students also explore what makes one lense better than another. In order to teach an effective unit on magnifiers the book recommends having at least 2 different class sets of lenses, as well as easier to find items such as: a one-gallon jug, extension cords, tracing paper, and a lamp shade. After doing all of the activities the students will have had the opportunity to develop important skills of manipulating laboratory materials, taking measurements, observing and comparing as well as using problem solving skills. The younger students may find this unit a bit challenging where as the older students may treat it as a slight review at first but will be challenged throughout. Progressively through each activity students acquire concrete knowledge of the properties of lenses, enabling the higher order thinking required in high school.
In my second attempt to participate in this blog, I looked the Ames book called machine shop. This book offers unique activities that address simple machines. The book is based off a girl and her friend who deal with the concepts of these machines. It also explains how machines do not create energy to work, and every activity talks about the conservation of energy.
The beginning of the book explains general and specific concepts of machines to give students an idea of how they are run. Mass, force, friction, and gravity are all represented by a character that describes each as if it were human, giving students the ability to conceptualize each. Although the book is quite overwhelming in my mind, my favorite activity is the Great Catapult. With this activity each student designs his/her own catapult and measures the distance it hurdles something through the air. Students measure, predict, compare, and record their findings. I do think that the book does a great job of incorporating hands on activities in math lessons, making them more fun and less intimidating.
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