I am going to begin this blog by announcing that I have been offered and accepted a position as the K-2 Science "Specials" Teacher at the charter school my children attend. I am extremely excited about this position and have researched to complete this blog assignment based on that new position.
The school I will be working for uses The Core Knowledge curriculum and one "big idea" for the 1st graders is the concept of matter; states of matter, changing states of matter and properties of matter. In my position most of the content matter will be taught by the students' teachers and I will develop and implement the hands on investigations that will help the students actively participate, experience science and make their own meaningful connections to the content through their inquiry.
Through my research, I searched for interactive web based tools that would be age appropriate for the students I will be teaching and found many interactive activities that would help reinforce the concepts the students learn in their class and in our science investigations. These tools allow students to sort materials based on what their are made of and other physical properties, practice measuring items to centimeters and explore the molecular properties of the states of matter and what happens to objects when heated or frozen. The links are located below:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/scienceclips/ages/7_8/characteristics_materials.shtml
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/scienceclips/ages/6_7/grouping_materials.shtml
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/scienceclips/ages/5_6/sorting_using_mate.shtml
http://www.gamequarium.com/measurement.html
http://www.fossweb.com/modulesK-2/SolidsandLiquids/activities/changeit.html
http://www.fossweb.com/modulesK-2/SolidsandLiquids/activities/changeit.html
While the students will be involved mostly in hands on inquiry when working with me, it is important for them to learn to use technology in their learning in order to acquire 21st century skills. The above activities could effectively be used with small groups or individually and would give the students experience with technology and would also engage them while reinforcing the concepts taught.
A couple of limitations I see to my ability to use these resources is the limited amount of time I will have with each of the classes each week and the limited number of computers in each of the classrooms.
