Sunday, January 16, 2011
STEM Lesson
In this weeks's assignment, I adapted a motion lesson Ive utilized in the past using K'nex. As I was designing the lesson I came to realize I often implement the 5 E's, I think all lesson should incorporate these aspects in order to be successful. Obviously all componenets are essential, but I think elaboration and extension carry the most weight. It's imperative we develop lessons that are meaningful and relate content to the student's interest. That being said, I did struggle a bit with this assignment and think I crammed too much into this lessson. I implemented too much of the unit, which can be overwhelming to some students, rather than focusing and on one ar two concepts. It was a perfomance assessment, which, I think I may also struggle with time constraints now that I reflect back on it.
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Chris,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you the five E's should be a part of every lesson. Do you find that you do these normally though? When I was doing my lesson I did. It makes it harder for me to put down on paper and untangle it all. While I agree that elaboration and extension are important, for me I thought that the explanation part was key. To me this is where they are making those connections to other scientific ideas. For me this is the point in which it turns from being a cool experiement into the actual learning. I agree all parts are reliant upon each other and it was hard to seperate them all out. I too feel like I cram too much into lessons when I have to write them all out like we do for class. Time we, never seem to have enough of it do we?
Hi Chris,
ReplyDeleteDoesn't it feel like we never have enough time to do all that we need to do as educators? I feel that one of my weaknesses is time management. I want to complete an exciting lesson that provides for elaboration and extensions but never have enough time to do it all. I have to remind myself that sometimes less is more. My challenge is deciding what to cut corners with since all of the 5 E's are so important.
Hi Chris,
ReplyDeleteI had similar issues. I actually attempted to implement my lesson and it was definitely too much in too little time. I understand that it may help in understanding but I feel under the gun with time when I know that there is content that must get covered by a certain time of the year. After trying the lesson I'm now 2 days behind. Oh well.
Hey Chris,
ReplyDeleteI like what you said about elaboration and extention carrying the most weight. I agree. We do use the 5E's when we plan, but we don't use such and ellaborate plan when we do them, they are automatic. I struggled with the lesson plan as well. I don't necessarily agree that you planned too much. I like to overplan simply because I know I am going to have some of my students, mainly my gifted students that will fly through the experiment with ease and will be ready for the next challenge. I think it is important that we always have a next step planned, even if we don't get to implement it.