Chronology Current Month Current Thread Current Date
[Year List] [Month List (current year)] [Date Index] [Thread Index] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Date Prev] [Date Next]

Re: Review of MS science....



PHYS-L@lists.nau.edu writes:
Hi all-
The notion that busy middle-school teachers welcome suggestions
from us self-styled experts in the general population simply eclipses
reality. If your local school administration has designated you, of
accepted you, as a consultant then that is quite another matter.
Regards,
Jack

and something I have been been saying for a long time and getting
tremendous flames for even thinking it: Many of the experts (above
author's words) who write science materials for or teach teachers how to
teach in HS or MS have RARELY held a full time position in that capacity.

With my tongue in cheek, I think? ".......but,they did sleep at a Holiday
Inn Express last night!"

.......teaching lower and middle school is very different from and much
harder than upper levels -- even if you have the most up to date and error
free knowledge and experience.

FYI: a pre-service science teacher in my graduate laboratory methods class
(just last night) and as a student teacher in a MS science class: Topic
for the MS student teacher lesson: Meteorology. Pre-service teacher
grappled with two opposing views and statements in two excellent texts.
The meteorology text states that P and T are inversely related and the
chemistry text (and the pre-service teacher's knowledge) was that P and T
are directly related, V constant. The emphasis in the Meteorology text
was that as T decreases, the density increases, thus the vertical column
of air above an instrument would record a higher pressure for colder air
than for warmer air. The pre-service teacher is not un-intelligent and
the ridiculous large amount of time spent trying to sort out and arrive at
the conclusion of an open system and a closed system was probably not well
spent. This pre-service teacher did ask several experts, they replied that
the Meteorology text must be wrong. This is not as simple as stating to a
MS student that the volume did or did not remain constant. It is difficult
to get MS students to understand that the actual volume of the air that
was cooled changes and this is compounded by a three variable change
simultaneously. The volume of air (the atmosphere), in the meteorology
point of view, may not appear to have changed as the T decreased TO a MS
student. A less rigorous student teacher would have just explained it
(and got the needed sleep) as it was correctly explained in the
Meteorology text and in the MS science text, but without the subtle and
important -open vs closed theme. These students may then come to US
science classes with a major mis-conception concerning P and T
relationships and we would/should have a difficult time to assign the
blame. This pre-service teacher almost began to make a very poor
decision about a career in education. This same pre-service teacher did
know, understand and teach that humid air is less dense (and rises in the
atmosphere) than dry air at same P and T.

jim ealy
Education by Demonstration