Using Models To Teach Science

Using models to teach science concepts helps students to understand and “experience” the big idea.  With technology changing daily, the opportunities to use computer models are endless.  In addition, the use of physical models allows the students to see science in action.  For my lesson on Earth’s movement, I chose to use a physical model to show the relationship between the Earth and Sun.  Demonstrating this relationship allows students to understand the cause of our days/nights, seasons and years.  For this activity, I used a light source in the middle of the room (lamp) to represent the sun and a globe representing Earth.  After turning all of the lights off in the room, except for the sun, students held the globe and demonstrated the rotation and revolution.  Students were able to see how days and nights happened as well as seasons and years.  One way that this lesson could be made more complex and higher order would be to give students a location, time of year and time of day to demonstrate.  This lesson was very successful in that students enjoyed it very much and were able to understand the concept.  The only problem I ran into was the amount of students.  Because it is summer, I did not have access to a class, so I was forced to use my own children and the other neighborhood children to teach.  This was not ideal, but went as well as can be expected.  It was very clear that seeing this concept helped the kids to gain a better understanding.

Natural Disasters

Natural disasters occur all over the globe.  In my area of the country, hurricanes and tornadoes are a common threat.  Many of my students have had experience of coping with the aftermath of a natural disaster.  The Hurricane season of 2004 was particularly difficult for central Florida, because we experienced 3 hurricanes within a very short time.  Even if students have not experienced a natural disaster, they can feel concern and a responsibility to help others, as a global citizen.  Because we live in an ever-shrinking world, what happens on one side of the planet can have a direct impact on citizens everywhere.  This effect may be financial, dealing with goods or personal considering the amount of mobility in the world today.  Having an understanding about types of natural disasters is important for all students.  One of the most important aspects of this type of lesson is creating a classroom environment where students not only learn about events of the past, but also keep current on events happening in real-time.  By staying connected, students become active participants in the global community.  Seeing need in the world and responding to it teaches students the benefit and rewards of service to others.  A great way to get students to help is to allow them to coordinate or plan a service project.  This will foster ownership or “buy in” on the part of students.  Examples of projects my students have participated in are selling the plastic bracelets to benefit tsunami victims and shoeboxes full of personal items for Hurricane Katrina victims.  The possibilities are endless and the benefits to students are immeasurable.