Animal Research

Our class found out a few weeks ago that they will be taking a field trip to the Detroit Zoo.  In preparation, we are taking time to learn about what we may see on our trip. 




We started by studying the map.  The children are already quite familiar with maps because of our unit previously.  This knowledge helped us understand the layout, animals, and what to expect.  We looked at the list of animals, the general layout, and figured out what to expect.




We wanted to learn everything we could!  But we didn't have the time (or the patience), so I had an idea.  What if we each took an animal, researched it, and then shared what we learned with the class?  I shared my thought with the children and they agreed it was a great idea.  From there we went to the Detroit Zoo website to see their official list of animals.  Which one did we want?

Then we used multiple resources to do research.  We looked at the zoo website, teacher tube, classroom bookshelves, Epic, and RAZ kids.  This helped us read all about the animal of our choice.  While reading we picked out information we thought was interesting.  We wrote it down.

It will take us at least another week to finish researching and recording before we start figuring out a way to present what we learned to the class.  Stay tuned!

Force and Motion Reflection

After exploring the ideas of friction, gravity, motion, and force, our whole group investigation came to an end.  We had a poster board full of sentences written on sticky notes.  It was time to look at what we had done, remember how we learned those things, and make sure our poster was full of true information.

We looked at each idea on the top of the board and thought about each one.  These ideas were written down when we started this investigation.  These are the children's raw thoughts on force and motion (explained further here).  For each note, we discussed, voted on whether we thought it was true or false, and came up with examples of what we had learned or what we did to prove otherwise.  If the statement was true, we checked it off.  If it was false, we moved it down below.  

Thanks to a certain franchise the children had heard about forces, but weren't thinking of them as scientists.  After spending weeks investigating, we revisited this original idea.  Yes, "force" was mentioned in Star Wars and yes, it was kind of a big deal.  However, our job as scientists is to think of things scientifically.  We all agreed that the force scientists talk about does not mean you hold your hand out and "magic" things happen.  Debunked!

This idea was most likely inspired by the one above.  Some children came into this investigation thinking that a force was something almost magical.  As a class we talked about the value of learning and how great it is to now know something different.  Our proof was in the sticky notes!  Force is a push or a pull.  Nothing mysterious, magical, or surprising.  Debunked!

This sticky note originally was missing the word "can".  We took the first thought and modified it.  Ideas like this one were common when we started.  These ideas showed an initial understanding.  What the class had a problem with was the statement, "force means you're strong."  We changed it to make it a possibility- can mean.  Sometimes forces aren't strong.  Sometimes people can't pull something heavy from the ground.  But they can try, and that is an example of a force.  This sticky note shows an example of what force can mean.

When I let the class know we were coming to an end, they wanted to share their knowledge.  We decided to put the poster in the hallway to showcase our work.  I suggested writing a narrative to explain what people were seeing so they could understand the hard work behind it.  This is what they dictated as I typed.

One day we were learning about force and motion.  We had ideas about it.  We wrote them down on sticky notes.  Some ideas were wrong, but it was okay because we hadn’t learned about it yet.  We read books.  We used ramps.  We dropped things.  We watched videos.  We tested out ideas.  Then we looked at our sticky notes and decided which ideas were true or false.  Now we want your class to learn about it.  It is all true.