Leigha Thompson

ELED 3221-002
Science Observation
During my fifth grade science observation at my clinical school, I learned many
tools that I can use in my future classroom. My cooperating teacher teaches science for
three blocks. Therefore, I was able to observe science the entire day. I recorded
information from first block where there are twenty-three students. Nine students were
females and fourteen were males. In the block I observed, twelve students are African
Americans, five are White, one is Asian, and five are Hispanic. The class block that I
observed for this was considered the lower students in the flexible grouping.
My cooperating teacher was teaching the students Newtons 2nd Law of Motion:
Acceleration. My teacher started the lesson with an anticipation guide that has questions
to help students solve misconceptions. The question was, Two objects can have the
same speed but different velocities if they are traveling in different directions. The
students complete these before each lesson, so that the teacher can see what previous
knowledge the students have about the content. The students will check if they agree,
disagree, or it depends. Then, they will explain their thinking behind their decisions. The
incorporated Strand 2 because the students were making knowledge claims and defending
them with evidence.
To explain the concept, my teacher started with an acceleration video from
StudyJams. She would stop the short video a few times to ask comprehension questions
to make sure the students were paying attention. After the video, my teacher had the
students turn to their partner and say, Newtons 2nd Law is on Acceleration. I observed
the students using interactive notebooks for science to add the learned information
actively.

Leigha Thompson
ELED 3221-002
For Newtons 2nd Law of Acceleration, the students learned that force equals mass
times acceleration. This was Strand 2 because the students built on their previous
knowledge of force and mass. I like how the teacher made this information relatable for
students. She gave the example that there was an elephant versus a poodle and the
students had to decide which would need more force and why. This incorporated Strand 1
into her lesson because she made the students be able to understand the concept and see
the relevance in the real world. They each created a prediction, then explored with
textbooks to put this formula into action. The students can to the front for a
demonstration using two textbooks versus one textbook to explain acceleration.
Science was taught through inquiry multiple times throughout instruction. The
teacher used inquiry by exhibiting the students curiosity and allowing them to come up
with possible explanations. When my cooperating teacher read the anticipation question
allowed the students were curious to what the lesson was going to be about today. Also,
the students were allowed to explain their thinking for the question, even though they
have not learned the content yet. This lesson used inquiry when my teacher was having
the students observe the two textbooks to see which would accelerate further based on the
force she put on them.
Overall, I think that students realized that Newtons Law is used in their lives
daily. They learned that the more force that is applied, the faster the acceleration of the
object. Also, the students learned that the greater the mass, the greater the force needed to
accelerate the object. While completing their exit ticket, you could tell the students
learned the content by putting Newtons Law in their own words.