I believe math and science are two of the easier subjects to have children participate in, mentally - physically - using all their senses to gain knowledge by more than just sitting at their desks, taking notes (& then dozing off or fidgeting w/ their neighbors or made up toys).
My chosen classroom works on math & science when I am in there to volunteer. I am amazed at their brilliance. Today - while preparing them for their unit test in science, the teacher was performing a song for them about the different rocks in the rock cycle. Singing to the tune of "Row Row Row Your Boat" - she introduced them to singing in a round (which was hilarious to watch - as it seemed that most of them had never participated in such a thing before). By the end of the song, the participation level was high, the children were giggling over the fact that "it sounded like gibberish", and then continued singing for their own pleasure.
A smooth transition was then made - going into math. Fractions. Adding fractions. Comparing fractions. Learning about fractions. Yesterday they were given a problem:
The following fractions are not equal.
Why?
Which one would be the larger?
1/2 + 1/3 or 2/5?
She had them work alone on this problem yesterday, then turn in their work (even if they had written nothing down - she just wanted to see where their thought process was heading).
Today she handed back their work, explaining that some of them were spot on, some still needed to investigate a little bit more. The students were put into groups of 3 for about 15 minutes to discuss their findings. I walked around listening to their ideas, as they took out strips of paper to make the different fractions, or watched them draw pictures - some pie graphs, others were rectangles portraying the different measurements. I was amazed at their ability to figure something out -- before being fully taught. Some helped those who weren't understanding by drawing it out, then using physical items to state their claim. In the end, everyone sat back in their seats while the teacher called on 5 children to show off their handy work.
I truly believe children today are quicker thinkers and are more intelligent than we give them credit for. I really love that this teacher lets them use their imaginations to figure out ways of learning math and science.
No comments:
Post a Comment