And more Science Projects...

This week the students were finishing putting together their science projects as I was able to work with both the second and third graders. I worked with the third grade class first, and many of the groups were pretty much done putting everything together on their board. I helped the few remaining groups finish putting their boards together, including the group I had work with previously with creating a circuit. We put the circuit back together as we had it before, and taped it to the board so that it could be presented to everyone else in the class. Once I finished with this group, the person who was in charge of explaining their project during the science fair went over some of the information she was going to discuss. I helped her understand the circuit as thoroughly as possible, and she did a very good job in going through the steps that they took to get their results. The most interesting part about this project for them was that they got the wrong answer, saying that using a longer wire will produce a brighter light than using a short wire in the circuit. My CT and I discussed this a little and he told me that if that is what they found, then they should use that as their results/conclusion. I found this very interesting because it is allowing the students to use their own observations to get their results, even though they may be incorrect. As long as my CT goes back over this information with them, I think it will prove to be a very rewarding learning experience. Later in the day I worked with the second graders, and their projects were a little more disorganized. I mainly helped them put their boards together, and again had to assign jobs to students as many of them were lost in their groups. They did good job, though, decorating their boards with pictures from the internet that related to their projects. Finally, the students went down to the cafeteria because Impression Five was there for a small assembly. They did an interactive experiment with a few of the kids, mainly to get them motivated for the night as the school was invited to go to Impression Five with their families and participate in the activities that they had set up there. Overall, I observed a variety of science activities today, and all most of it was hands-on for the students. For the class that I work with, this is very important because it provides the motivation that would not be there if they were just doing stuff out of a textbook.