Now that I have nearly completed reading this entire textbook I have come to a grand conclusion as to why I do not like it: it seriously neglects special needs. When I read the first half of the book, the majority of the activities appeared to be feasible by children of all capabilities and should a special need arise, the activities seemed to be easily adaptable. It is only now that the book has covered topics such as sound and light that I have grown worried. The textbook seems to consistently make sweeping generalizations that everyone is able to perceive light and it neglects the fact that some children might have visual impairments which do not allow them to experience light in the way that someone with almost perfect vision can. Not all individuals with vision impairments are completely blind, many can see some light, but evidently their experiences of light will not be like mine or yours. They may only be able to see shadows and thus for this reason it is important as educators to ensure that we have a good understanding of the individual needs of the children in our classrooms so that we will be better able to cater learning experiences to their needs and abilities.

            On the other hand, much like the sound chapter, I found that the topic of light can be more easily understood and actively experienced by children because there are so many opportunities to just explore it in its everyday context. Because so many children come into contact with light on a daily basis it is easier for them to relate to it. The more experiences that a child has with a particular topic, the more they are going to be able to understand it. Physical experiences are very valuable, from my point of view. I feel that children with behaviour difficulties tend to benefit the most from being able to experience concepts with their bodies because it gives them the opportunity to move around and freely explore without confining them to a desk. Children can explore their own shadows while outdoors, which provides for more informal learning opportunities and more teachable moments. The ability to provide children with these types of informal experiences is by far in my eyes the most important attribute that a teacher can have. It has been my experience that the best learning occurs informally as children usually appear to be much more receptive and engaged when they are exploring something that is of interest to them.

(Word Count = 426)      

Sound is definitely yet another topic presented in this textbook which I know little about. I do not recall ever learning about sound while in grade school and I am pretty sure that all that I actually know about sound is from an episode of The Magic School Bus. I distinctly recall watching this show when I used to go to my best friends house for lunch and we were always fascinated with the topics that were being discussed. We always wondered why we never learned about half of what was discussed in this show and sound was definitely a topic that we wanted to learn more about. I remember this particular episode involved the characters of the show going to a sound museum and it was so interesting because you could actually see the vibrations that caused the different sounds. Unlike the show however, it is not that easy to show children the vibrations that create sounds, but the textbook provides some interesting insights into how to make children aware that these vibrations do exist. For example, the activity on page 280 provides children with the opportunity to see the vibrations of different objects and realize how they make different sounds as they vibrate. Obviously we cannot explore this concept with everything that creates sound, so it is extremely important that children are given these types of opportunities so that they are aware of how sound is produced.

            The activities in this chapter were more interesting than those presented in many of the previous chapters because they allowed for much more first-hand experience of the actual concept that is being discussed. The children actually have the opportunities to feel vibrations and to see them in relation to the sounds that are created. They are not simply being told about it or watching it happen; they are actually feeling and experiencing it! I am a firm believer that it is these types of experiences that remain ingrained in the minds of children and help them consolidate their learning.

            I have to say that while I was reading this chapter I did have one very important concern that was constantly lingering in the back of my mind. I wonder how one can and should go about teaching children with hearing impairments about sound? Some children with less severe impairments will not have as much difficulty because they will be able to hear some sound, but what about children who have no hearing at all? Would it not be difficult to teach them about something that they are not actually able to experience for themselves? I would imagine that it would be very difficult to understand the concept of sound if I was unable to hear, but then again I cannot really speak to this because I am able to hear. Does anyone have any ideas on this topic or any suggestions on how to go about teaching the concept of sound to these children?

(Word Count = 497)

            The topic of simple machines was definitely something that I never learned about when I was in elementary school. I recall first hearing about simple machines when I was editing a unit test that my cousin wrote for her grade two class in her first year as a teacher. When she handed me the test I recall asking what simple machines were and she looked at me as if I was insane. She then started listing all sorts of names for the most common simple machines and I was somewhat in a state of shock. I never knew that a ramp was considered a machine. As far as I was concerned, a machine had to be something that was complex and operated by technology. I had never even heard of a wheel and axle and she just sat there and explained everything to me. When she was finished I was upset that I had never had the opportunity to learn about this fascinating class of machines and I realized that they play an integral role in many of the more advanced machines that we use today. They also help make our jobs easier, especially in terms of lifting and moving materials.

            As I read the chapter I realized that many of the activities, although interesting, did not provide children with the opportunity to engage in building their own simple machines. I think that if children are given the chance to build their own simple machines they will be better able to understand how they work. Materials should be incorporated in the children’s block play area which will encourage them to create simple machines. For example, providing simple wheels and some rope can encourage children to create their own pulleys. Adding long slats of wood and items that can used as fulcrums can encourage children to create their own levers and explore the various classes of levers on their own simply by experimenting with the placement of the fulcrum.  

            Perhaps the biggest problem that I have with the activities is the fact that they seem to be specific purpose and not open to adaptation and trial and error. The majority of the activities do not really offer children the opportunity to explore on their own and I have found that this seems to have been a recurring theme throughout most of the textbook. As educators it is definitely important for us to be able to take these activities and find ways to adapt them so that they are more challenging for children. For example, in the activity described on page 271 with the pulleys it is possible to incorporate different types of materials for the children to lift. Children could also experiment by creating their own pulleys. Also, for the single and paired wheels activity on page 268 the children could create their own cars using beautiful junk such as thread spools for wheels instead of using the suggested Lego blocks or K’nex materials.

(Word Count = 493)

Interestingly enough, I do not ever recall formally learning about either of the two topics that were discussed in the readings for this week. I remember superficially touching upon the subject of magnetism on my own as I played with the magnet set in class during free play time and this was about it. We never had the time to sit and explore as a class or even discuss magnetism. The same goes for gravity as well. We never formally discussed what it was and as I was reading the chapters for this week I realized that I missed out on a lot of important experimentation and exploration with regards to both topics.

            I must say that when I first started reading the chapter on magnetism, I was turned off by the opening sentence which discussed that “attractive people can draw us to them; others can repel us.” I honestly do not understand why the authors of this book would even consider placing something so demeaning in this text. This textbook is about teaching children science. Were they trying to be humorous by adding this in? I do not find this funny and I am sure I speak on behalf of many people when I say that this comment has no place in this book.

            Aside from the annoying little quip at the beginning, the rest of the magnetism chapter was quite informative. I learned a lot about magnets, for example, they can be used to create other magnets. The new ideas that I learned are definitely important, because I knew literally nothing about magnets other than the fact that they attract certain objects.

            The gravity chapter was also very informative. Even though it only focussed on teaching children one concept it was interesting to see that were so many different ways to go about teaching this idea. After reading this chapter I realized that it is very easy to incorporate gravity into a lot of different areas. For example, when discussing weight this is a great opportunity to discuss the topic of gravity and gravity also ties in nicely with balance. I like the fact that unlike most of the activities discussed in the previous chapters, this chapter consisted of several activities that could take place outdoors. The extension ideas for integration into the other curriculum areas were also very important and I liked most of them especially the one on creative movement. I thought that this would make an excellent cool down activity for the children when they get all riled up. This would be a good thing to do at the end of the day just after last recess because children tend to be exceptionally out of control around this time of the day. The pendulum painting idea is also a great idea and it can lead into a great discussion about gravity and how it causes the paint to trickle out of the bottle.

(Word Count = 493)

As I was reading the assigned chapter for this week I came across quite a few activities that I have done with my own classes in my various placements. The activity on page 214, which describes the categorization of rocks was very familiar to me. I remember doing this activity with my preschool class and the ideas that they had were amazing. For this activity, I basically set out a bucket of rocks in the middle of the table during our small group time and I also placed sorting trays on the table. We never explicitly told the children that they had to sort; they just did it because of the way that the materials presented themselves. I scooped up handfuls of rocks and gave them to the children and most of them began to devise their own categories upon examination of the rocks. One girl sorted her rocks into sparkly rocks and un-sparkly rocks; one of the boys sorted his rocks into shiny rocks and not shiny rocks. The categories that these three-year-olds came up with were quite amazing. Based on the activities that I read about in this chapter, it is obvious that rocks are a great sorting tool for children as there are many different ways for children to categorize and classify them.

Although I found this chapter to be refreshing at first, it was not long before I came across an idea that I did not agree with. The section on rock formation which is found on page 216 suggests that children “can be given bits of simple information about the mineral content of rocks and about the way rocks were (and are) formed”. Once again, this textbook is underestimating what children are capable of understanding. Why should we dumb down the process of rock formation? Shouldn’t children be given the opportunity to fully explore the process of rock formation if they are interested in doing so? I think so. There is no sense in prohibiting children from exploring a topic, especially when they are clearly interested in it. By allowing the children to explore you might be sparking even more interest and curiosity in them, which could lead to further inquiry and discovery. Also, if the children learn about it now and they come across it later again in life, they will be able to have a better understanding of it because they would have already encountered it at a previous time. The importance of these early experiences should not be overlooked and educators should ensure that they provide children with plenty of opportunities to explore and find the answers to their own questions.  

(Word Count = 439)

Although both of the chapters assigned for this week were interesting, I must say that I found a lot more to disagree with in chapter 7 and thus I will be referring to this chapter in my entry. I must say that there were quite a few ideas that did not mesh with my views on children’s learning. One such example can be found on page 152 in the experiment about empty containers. The overall premise of this activity seemed like a great idea, but then the authors made a comment that “this activity can be disorderly unless you set limits for feather-blowing space”. Set limits? Why should we set limits on where the children can blow their feathers? Shouldn’t this be left up to them to decide? I think that disorder is sometimes a good thing for children to experience, because not all children benefit from highly structured, orderly activities and making sense of disorder is a far more engaging experience for them.

Another comment made by the authors on page 153 in the activity which discusses feeling the substance of air through the use of plastic bags and straws also attracted my attention. The authors’ commented that the “children should leave the plastic bags at school so that younger children at home will not pick up the idea of playing with plastic bags”. I thought that this was weird. Even if the children just leave the bags at school they will probably want to go home and show their parents and family members what they have learned and they will probably do this by using bags that they find lying around at home. What makes these authors so sure that by leaving the bags at school the children will not be able to show their younger siblings at home or even continue to play with plastic bags at home by themselves? I think that prior to taking part in this activity, the classroom teacher should take the time to explain the dangers associated with plastic bags.

            I have to admit that I liked the idea of creating helicopters and gliders; however I was not impressed with this textbooks approach to creating them. The textbook was very product oriented for these activities and it recommended providing the children with templates so that they can look at them to create the same thing. Templates? Does this not go against what we are taught in most of our classes? This brought back memories of when I was a child and I used to try to duplicate paper airplanes that I saw other children make. I always had a difficult time folding my paper exactly like they did and thus this would lead to a lot of frustration on my behalf. I think that for this activity to be more inquiry-based the children should be encouraged to create their own gliders and experiment with different variations in design and how these changes affect the performance of their crafts. 

 
(Word Count = 500)

            This chapter definitely contained far more inquiry-based activities than the chapter on the human body. I like the idea that most of, if not all of, the activities can be completed outdoors in the natural environment especially since many of them require the use of rain water. Experiencing and experimenting with water as it naturally occurs can be an engaging opportunity for any child. As a child I remember always loving to go outside right after or even during the rain. Puddles always amazed me and I remember experimenting with sinking and floating objects in different depths of water. I would use natural objects such as sticks, stones and leaves and I liked predicting which items would float and which items would sink.

            I liked that the textbook discussed that shape can affect buoyancy. I think that it is important to provide children with all sorts of materials to illustrate the properties of objects that float and objects that sink. It has been my experience in various placements that far too many children develop the false notion that all heavy things sink and all light things float. This is mostly due to the fact that the materials that are being provided for children to experiment with do not provide them with ideas that go against this principle. It is important for educators to provide children with all kinds of materials of different weights, shapes and sizes so that they can develop the idea that density is the real predictor of whether something will float or sink. The development of this concept will definitely not occur in one sitting and thus it is important for children to have opportunities to explore it while engaging in water play at the water table perhaps.

            I remember completing the activity that was described on page 174 and 175 at one of my placements. At this particular time in the year the children were showing an interest in snow, especially since there was virtually no snow at all on the playground and it was the middle of February. I brought in different sizes and shapes of ice and we created our own experiment by deciding on different places in the classroom that we could put the ice. Prior to the implementation of the experiment, the children made their predictions about which chunks would melt the fastest and we recorded all of their ideas on chart paper. We checked on each piece of ice throughout the course of the day and whenever a chunk completely melted we made note of this and the time that it occurred at. Once the end of the day neared, we discovered that the chunk that we placed near the heater on the window sill melted the fasted and I asked the children to explain possible reasons why this might have occurred. I think that this experiment is a great idea because it can be adapted to suit the needs and interests of any class.

(Word Count = 494)

This chapter was not as good as I expected it to be especially considering the fact that it deals with the human body. I always thought of the human body as being something interesting that was sure to spark all kinds of inquiry, but as I read this chapter, I was bored. The first lesson in this chapter discusses the uniqueness of each child; however I was disappointed with the activity that was suggested. There are things other than our weight and height that make us different as human beings. Instead of focussing on just these attributes, which can make some children feel self-conscious, this activity could focus on characteristics such as eye colour and hair colour among many other things. Also, I was disappointed that this activity would suggest discussing weight and height with such young children because at this age they do not really understand what these numbers mean. What is the sense of children being made aware of these numbers if they have not had the opportunity to actually explore them and construct meaning out of them?

I also found many of the activities to be too structured at times. Most of them reminded me of those clichéd science experiments that so many teachers are guilty of performing on Friday afternoons just to fill time. I think that it would be far more fulfilling for children to explore things out of their own accord without having to follow set instructions on how to conduct an experiment. I am not saying that teachers should abstain from providing children with these kinds of experiences, I am just saying that it can be possible to alter these experiences so that children can experiment with the materials in ways that make sense to them. The overall learning process will be much more engaging and creative for the children if they are able to experiment at their own will and try to realize where they might have gone wrong. Learning from one’s mistakes is far more beneficial than simply going through life without exploring. It is through exploration that children make sense of their world and it is important as educators that we provide them with the opportunities to do so.

As I was reading this week’s chapter I came across a section on page 109 which discussed the death of animals. I completely agree that it is important to make children aware of the death of a classroom pet and to have them take part in some form of a burial. This is fine when the children know the pet, however, what disturbed me was the fact that the book mentioned that similar actions should take place if children encounter a dead bird on the playground. Are the authors of this book not aware of the diseases that humans are capable of contracting from birds and other animals? Not too long ago the community was being warned that if they came across any dead birds they were to call animal control immediately so that the bird could be tested for West Nile virus. With the possibility of bird flu in other parts of the world, people really should not be handling any deceased animals, especially those that they are not familiar with. Other animals, such as squirrels, raccoons and bats, should be avoided because of the possibility of rabies which can be very dangerous for humans.

If I were to come across a dead animal while outside with my class for example I would tell the children that they should not touch the animal because it could be sick, even though it may look fine. I would then tell them that I have to call animal control so that they can come and test the bird to see how he died. I think that it is important that children are aware of the fact that although animals may be interesting to observe, there is always the potential that some of them can be dangerous to human beings. As an educator I think that it is important to make children aware of the potential dangers in their surroundings without instilling too much fear in them.

The section on classroom pets (page 94) also stood out for me because it discussed that although classroom pets are not necessary it is important for teachers to be aware that not all children are able to experience the responsibility of caring for a pet. As a young child, I did not have any pets at all and I always felt like I was left out. I remember having a pet caterpillar when I was in the first grade and this is an experience that I always treasure because although it was only a caterpillar, it was my only pet until I was ten years old. I wish that I could have had more enriching experiences taking care of larger animals like some of the other classes. Having a class pet can be a memorable experience for all young children and it is important for teachers to consider whether having a pet will be a beneficial experience for the students prior to inviting one into the classroom.

(Word Count = 491)

"The ability to admit to not knowing everything is one of the traits of a good teacher. When the teacher's own sense of wonder is alive and active, curiosity behaviour is modeled for the children." - Chapter 2 (p. 23)

As I was completing the assigned readings for this week, I came across the quote mentioned above and I was overcome with the desire to show it to everyone that has ever said that as an educator I must know everything. There is no way for someone to know everything and I think that if there was life would be so dull and boring because no one would be able to experience the sense of enjoyment that comes along with exploration. I am a believer in the notion that it is far more meaningful for children to come to their own understandings as they explore the world around them and thus because of this it is not important for me as an educator to know and tell them about everything. In my more recent experiences, I have found it to be more rewarding when I am in the same position as the children in terms of my knowledge. It is much more challenging and meaningful for me to experience the situation from their point of view especially because it offers me a glimpse of how the child must feel at that particular moment as he is attempting to make sense of what he is experiencing. My feelings and ideas throughout the entire process are much more genuine in these situations because I am actually just as curious and eager to make connections as the children are.

Although these particular experiences have been amazing, they do not occur as often as I would like them to. In my placement last semester, I did not have the opportunity to explore a novel and exciting topic with the children. I recall my field educator using a supposed "hands-on" science resource book which was extremely boring and consisted of all sorts of material that, to be quite honest, most of the children in my class had already studied. During these lessons the children had to sit on the carpet as the teacher lectured about topics such as the caterpillar life cycle, which as I see it, is something that should be experienced so that one can gain a true appreciation for it. I completely detested the fact that my field educator simply dictated the information to the children without even once offering them the opportunity to explore the topic on their own.  The children were not curious at all and many of them essentially had the attitude that if the teacher did not seem to care than why should they. Looking back, if I were to do this lesson with the children I would have asked them to tell me what they knew and I would have recorded their answers to show them that their ideas are important. To further improve on this I would have asked the children if there was some other type of animal that they wanted to study and we could have looked at it together as a class and examine it in its true form if possible.

(Word count = 498)