In "Plant Life Cycle", we learned about the different stages of the plant life cycle, and just how cool plants can be! First, we started off by drawing out the life cycle from what the students already knew. Then, the kids got to dissect their very own kidney bean, which had been sprouted the night before. Using toothpicks, they picked apart and identified the various parts of a young plant within the bean. We also talked about the different parts of plants we eat (roots, stem, fruit, and seed), as well as the important role of pollinators. Afterwards, everyone got to dissect their own flowers.
I was the first to teach this week, and everything seemed to happen in a whirlwind. We got right into it, after a driving snafu ended up with me arriving just as class was about to start. I had a great time getting the kids excited about plants, simply by telling them a really neat story about acacia trees. It was also great to see everyone having so much fun dissecting the seeds and flowers. Some kids even found the seed pods within the flowers they had, and were absolutely astounded. As I went around checking in with everyone, some kids made a “flower salad.” I asked them what was in the salad, and they started listing off flower parts: “Well, we have a little bit of the stigma, some sepal, tossed with some ovules!” The toughest part was definitely the transition between each class, because I only had 5 minutes to clean up, set-up, and prepare for the next group. It was really great to have my team by my side! Everyone we met within the community was generous and kind. All of our homestays were so wonderful, and I was grateful that they let us into their homes for a week and treated us with such kindness. It was a small, close-knit community, and it was great to experience a different pace of life away from the city. I also enjoyed spending time with the kids at school, because they were so curious, so willing to learn. I hope to see some of these kids in college someday! -Angela Feng In "Food Webs & Their Impact on Ecosystems", we introduced the ideas of food chains, food webs, and trophic levels, which we discussed through several examples and activities. One of these activities involved assigning each student a role in the food web and then using string to create a food web between the various students; this helped emphasize the interconnectivity of different parts of an ecosystem. To drive home the importance of food webs, we then talked about an example relating to the extreme decline of the wolf population in North America over the past few centuries and how that has impacted the ecosystem. By playing a game similar to “Heads-up 7-up”, the students were able to use their critical-thinking skills to understand how a declining wolf population would have impacts extending far beyond the single species, such as causing the population of deer to explode, which in turn would reduce the amount of vegetation available as habitat to other animals.
Going into the week, I was somewhat nervous about how effectively I would be able to teach this lesson, since my practice run-throughs did not go as smoothly as I expected. Estimating the timing of the lesson was also challenging, since it was difficult to predict how long certain activities would take for the students. However, while I was initially worried about running out of time, I actually almost ended up facing the opposite problem of not having enough to talk about, and in some cases near the end I had to do some quick thinking to recall additional discussion topics. Overall, I learned that a lot of preparation has to go into teaching even a single lesson, especially with anticipating unexpected circumstances. For example, it turned out that many students had the misconception that wolves frequently ate humans, and trying to modify their perspective was an interesting experience. Nevertheless, all of the preparation certainly paid off, as teaching this lesson was a very rewarding experience, and ultimately I felt that I was able to communicate the concepts effectively. For example, I was very gratified to see that many students were able to use their critical thinking skills to predict how the removal of wolves might affect other organisms in the food web. First of all, I was extremely impressed by the hospitality and kindness of almost everyone we interacted with, including my host family. Although Castle Rock is a rural community that differs significantly from the suburban environment where I grew up, everyone was very kind and welcoming, and I greatly enjoyed interacting with different members of the community. In particular, I enjoyed having the opportunity to feed our host family’s horses and cows, which gave me an appreciation of a rural lifestyle. In addition, spending some time in some of the town’s coffee shops and antique stores was a fun way to get more immersed into the community. One thing I learned about the community was how popular hunting and fishing were among the students; this gave me another useful perspective on various environmental issues and how to best present them to students who have had different experiences growing up than what I was used to. -Joshua Fan In this lesson, the children defined “habitat” for themselves and began to explore how the different elements within a habitat (food, water, shelter) could affect the size of the population living there. We started by having the kids draw their own “habitat” that included their life requirements (food, water, shelter). we then compared their life requirements to those of animals to show that we aren't that different. Then we learned that those “life requirements” and their availability within a habitat are the limiting factors that determine population size. Using a game called “Oh Deer” we saw how deer population size changed when the availability of food, water and shelter fluctuated. We ended by discussing how humans can have an effect on the availability of resources in an animal's habitat through pollution, erosion and a variety of other man-made factors.
I was absolutely floored by what an incredible experience this turned out to be. I started the week a bit nervous to lead a lesson and unsure if my material was going to be effective. I felt that some of the concepts that were being covered in my lesson were a little complex and I would loose some of the kids. But I found that having a couple of days to watch my teammates and see how well they held the classrooms attention helped me to feel confident when my lesson came around. I was also concerned that my nerves would make me blow through the lesson very quickly and I wouldn't be able to fill up the 50 minute class period. This was not the case at all, I ended up having to change some of the curriculum on the spot to make sure we got through everything before they had to leave. In the end It was an incredible and (not to be cliche) life changing experience. I have been on the fence about pursuing teaching after college and this was the push I needed. I loved interacting with the kids, seeing them understand hard concepts, see them engage and have fun with the material. I will certainly participate next year and I hope to go back to castle rock. I felt very welcomed and invited by the community of Castle Rock. Our homestay families were incredibly accommodating and hospitable. It was wonderful to stay in a place that was very different from Seattle in many ways. Many of the kids mentioned owning livestock or using wells on their land and it gave me an appreciation for the work that goes into living in a more rural area. I didn't realize what a beautiful and historically significant place Castle Rock is until visiting. Visiting Mt. St. Helens was enlightening and gave me an appreciation for how resilient the community of castle rock has been since the 1980 eruption. -Emi Schwartz In this lesson, we covered the salmon life cycle and the seasonal migrations both Atlantic and Pacific salmon take on their journey. We used specimens to learn what morphologies characterize different stages of development, and what each one needs. Afterwards, we talked about the large scale of salmon migrations, and compared that to how far the students themselves had traveled. The students then turned into salmon for a short game about the risks that salmon face. The students got really excited about the game, and though at times it could get rowdy, they were always very engaged and I think the interactive format really helped them wrap their heads around the factors of population decline. We also talked about local species, and brainstormed what we could do on a small-scale individual level to help out the species - and ourselves. We wrapped up the day by doing an analysis of the game we played earlier, and talked about the cost of human impacts and ongoing efforts to help mitigate population decline.
I really liked teaching this material, both because it was something that I had a lot of personal experience with as a marine biologist but also that the kids had lots of experience with. This lesson really hit home the value of teaching locally. Focusing on salmon, it was really easy to start in with something that a lot of students had experience with (salmon fishing) and I was actually very surprised at the thoughtful discussions that followed about how salmon populations affect them personally. Using a local example really does help to open up a conversation about what their community needs and how to balance those for the greater good. At the end of the day, the kids brainstormed small-scale things that they as 5th graders could do to help out, and I think that the exercise was overall empowering them with knowledge of what was happening in the community while also presenting very tangible solutions. Bringing in samples of the fish also really helped get the kids pumped about the topic even before the class began. I had jars of fish specimens sitting on the tables when the kids walked in, and the result was they were immediately engaged with the material as soon as they walked in the door. As I said before, I felt as though I learned a lot about the community based on how the kids responded to teaching. We got an intimate understanding about the major veins of environmental and scientific education, both formally and informally (by families or by other means) and I think that that familiarity with the community’s inner workings is extremely important for designing effective curriculum. -Alia Hidayat We started off on Friday talking about a familiar volcano located near the community: Mt. St. Helens! We talked about the different ecosystem impacts the volcano had after it erupted over 30 years ago. The kids were very interested in this topic, because many of their parents had actually lived close by when the volcano erupted. We also talked about various animal adaptations in relation to the recovery of that area. We wrapped up the week by bringing everything together on the topic of ecosystems, and had the kids build their very own “mini” ecosystem. Together, we filled jars with gravel, soil, moss, and plants. Then, we screwed on the lids, and stood back to admire our handiwork. After everyone had finished with their terrariums, the teaching team handed out certificates of achievement to the students, and we bid them farewell.
We had such a great time building terrariums with the kids, and just hanging out with everyone on our last day. Many of the kids drew pictures and notes for us as a thank-you for spending time with them that week. It was incredibly touching, and it will be wonderful to return to Castle Rock next year. - The Castle Rock EASB Team |
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