Research Article

On the first day of class, we were told to close our eyes and imagine a scientist. We were then provided with colored pencils and construction paper and instructed to draw what we imagined. I began to draw a woman with glasses in a field working with plants. Once everyone was done drawing we all walked around the room and observed what our peers drew. We were told to see what was similar, different and interesting between all of the drawings. I noticed that a lot of students drew men with glasses in a laboratory holding beakers. All of the pictures had scientists with glasses and typically wacky hair. I only saw about three other drawings of a woman and none in a different environment other than a laboratory, out of the 25 students in my class. This is was really telling of what we assume about a scientist. This showed that there is a general stereotype about a scientist and overall a common misconception. To further learn about this, I read the article " Breaking Science Stereotypes" by Alec Bozdin and Mike Gehringer. This article was about a national study about students' perceptions of scientist, this was very similar to the assignment I just described. 69 students participated in this investigation, one fourth-grade class and two fifth-grade classes drew pictures of "a scientist doing science". This assignment happened four weeks before an actual scientist visited the class and then repeated after the students met a scientist. The students were graded by the " Draw- A- Scientist- Test- Checklist ( DAST-C). This is a way for researchers to evaluate the students' drawings by using a rubric that checks for specific characteristics in drawings. The results were very similar to my experience in my class. Most students drew their scientist as a white male working in a laboratory. Their research stated that 77% of students drew a white male as their scientist. The results were disappointing but not unexpected so the researchers really wanted to change this misconception. The researchers had a female chemical engineer and a male physicist visit the classroom. The scientist explained to the students their jobs and then completed a science experiment with the students. The scientists were not the "typical" scientist the students envisioned. Although the male scientist was white, he was not wearing a lab coat, instead, he wore a suit and tie. This was probably shocking to the students because 86% of the students drew the scientist in a lab coat. This is important that the students understand this because a scientist can work in so many different fields and can have a range of clothing requirements. The female scientist was great for the students to see since only about 20% drew women. So many are in the field of science and it is important that it is known! Young girls need to know there are women in the science field and they can one day be one as well! I thought this was a great opportunity for the class. After the scientist completed the experiments with the students, the scientist left and was not discussed. Four weeks later the students were instructed to draw a scientist again. This time the number of students that drew a white male in a lab coat decreased by 20%. I think these results are a great outcome! I believe this was beneficial to the class because they learned that scientist can be in any field, and race and any gender. The students were able to see real-life scientist which is so eye-opening for many young children. These children need physical experiences so they can more likely remember important information. It is crucial that teachers catch these misconceptions and guide students in the right direction. I thought this article was so interesting because it connected to the same assignment my class did, and the results were very similar. It was in general just an intriguing article because we often look over these common misconceptions. I really enjoyed this article and I suggest others also read it!

Article:
Bodzin, A., & Gehringer, M. (2001, January). Breaking Science Stereotypes. Retrieved December 5, 2018.

Book Trailer

To finish the semester everyone in the class was instructed to make a book trailer. I never heard of a book trailer, but this ended up being one of my favorite assignments. A book trailer is similar to a movie trailer because it is a preview that makes the viewer want to see more! To make a book trailer you take pictures or video clips of particular pages in the book that you think will intrigue the viewer. Once you have chosen these sections of the book you can make a trailer narrating the pages and engage the audience. This assignment was very different than anything I have ever done so I was excited to get started! To begin this project I searched through a selection of science trade books. I went to the curriculum library at Mount Saint Mary College and began to look for a book about plants. I chose the book, " A Seed is Sleepy", written by Dianna Hutts Aston and illustrated by Sylvia Long. I picked this book because I liked the formatting, the book was written using poetic language, but also provided interesting facts on each page. I also really liked the illustrations found throughout the book. This book is non-fiction and provides the reader with some interesting facts about seeds across the world. Once I found my book I completed a handout to give to my class that included the title, author, and illustrator of the book, a synapse of the book, how I would use this book in a classroom, a and standards that could be used based on the book, you can see this here. Next, I created a storyboard where I can organize the photos I chose from the book to intrigue my audience. I used Google Slides to complete my storyboard and I wrote a script in the notes to follow so I knew what to say when I was narrating, you can find this here. After I finished this, I moved onto making the actual trailer, I used the application called VoiceThread. This is where you can upload pictures or videos then add an audio clip along with those attachments. I never used this application before but it was really simple to use and I would definitely want my future students to be able to use it for projects and other assignments. Once I finished using the VoiceThread application my book trailer was complete, here is where you can find it. I really liked the outcome of my project and I thought this was creative and fun! I would definitely want to use this with my future students because it is a great way for students to share great books with one another.  I liked this project so much that I wrote this as a lesson for my unit plan.  This is a way for students to use technology and learn about books from any genre!

Science in the News

We all have heard of climate change and global warming but how much do we truly know about this topic? Climate change is any change in our climate including wind, precipitation, temperature, and much more. Global Warming is any changes in temperature across the Earth. Now that we know what these terms mean, let's dive in a little further about this topic. Climate change has been a huge discussion in recent years because scientists have been warning us about these changes that are occurring right now. These changes are harmful to living and non-living things on Earth. Did you know that between 1901 and 2012 the Earth's temperature has risen by .89 degrees, the amount of rainfall has significantly increased and sea levels have risen about 19cm across the world due to ice glaciers melting? Most scientists explain these phenomena by the "Greenhouse Effect", this is the idea of the Earth's atmosphere allowing sunlight to shine through a blanket of greenhouse gases, then once it reaches earth the land and water absorb the sunlight energy, then the energy goes all the way back into the atmosphere through infra-red rays. However, some energy does go back into space, while a lot stays in the atmosphere causing the Earth to warm up. If the greenhouse effect continues to become stronger, the Earth would just keep warming up, causing harm for plants, animals, and even us!  Greenhouse gases come from things like cars, planes, engines, and big industries. Humans are producing more waste than ever before and this waste produces smoke, fumes and water vapor. As these gases are getting trapped inside the atmosphere, the Earth's surface is becoming warmer, this is called Global Warming. Climate change causes land and water to expand and ice sheets to melt, habitats can disappear and a cycle of violent weather can occur. However, there is something each and every one of us can do to make a difference! People can help out by carpooling, walking, planting trees, reducing, reusing, and recycling. By doing these things we can take better care of our Earth!  I accessed a lot of this information from this article. I picked this article because I believe climate change is a very important topic and it is something we discussed during this semester. I think it is crucial that the next generations learn about this because this Earth is their home and they will have to take care of it. The more people know about this issue the better the chances are that the problem is resolved. I would use this in my classroom and let the students do projects on ways they can help climate change. I would also let my students pick any news article that is appealing to them because it is an interesting way to learn new things. I think news articles would help students learn scientific concepts and topics in a different exciting way!