Lab 1B Reflection Oscar Newman

Questions:
1.What went well during your instruction?

Many things went well during instruction. First, the use of scientific practices was genuine as
the graduate student role players engaged in an authentic investigation. Student questioning,
tentative proposals of the identity, conjectures were exactly what a teacher would hope for.
For example, when a classmate suggested that the bones were hollow, this led to speculation
that the identity was that of a bird. When pushed on this evidence, she admitted that she had
no basis for comparison other than that the bones felt light, but was still drawing on prior
knowledge to inform her observations. What would require more intention with students in the
SOP program might be avoiding frustration with not knowing or being incorrect, but the test
pupils were wonderful. Second, the lesson provided the opportunity to further explore
Islandwood resources. As the lesson evolved with my lab group, we explored what resources
were available. As soon as we found the coyote skeleton, we knew we had a rich resource for
the kinds of things we had planned to teach.

2.What did you learn from the experience?

I learned that even with adults, it is challenging to balance authentic, chaotic inquiry with
formal record-keeping in a classroom setting. I imagine this would be even more pronounced
with 5th graders, so it may be necessary to have clearer guidelines about what students were
expected to record. I would also need to determine a way to harness the resource of the
chaperon.

3.What helped make the co-teaching successful?

Our planning was democratic and involved input from all members. Anita helped ensure this
as we discussed possibilities one day: she she wanted to make sure that we were only
discussing the project when we were all present, and this was valuable. As a result, the lab
felt like we were all doing the work.

Additionally, I was able to learn more about my colleagues as they used their unique gifts in
the lab. For example, the Anita's presentation of the background story was very unlike the
original idea that had been pitched, but it was creative and fun. Also, Alex noted it was nice to
be directly incorporating the readings we were doing for class in the design of the lesson.

Finally, during the lab itself, we were all contributing to the flow of the lesson and adapting the
timing in response to how the pupils were responding. This was no small feat with three
people.

4.How will this experience impact your next time teaching in lab?

I will perform a version of this very lab during my SOP teaching week next week. I am glad
that I have a new activity I can use, and I am excited to look at differences in how it went with
our peers in the Graduate Program versus with school-age students. I am excited to learn
about other resources to teach science practices. Last, I am interested in how reflecting on
experiences like this will relate to our group project on changing student self-perceptions as
scientists.