My Observation Of Science Talks In The Classroom

This week in the classroom I got to see a lot of different approaches to learning and different subjects. I got to observe a science lesson which had a lab attached to it. The classroom teacher and the science lab teacher, both worked collaboratively to teach it. The lesson was about plants. They had students draw a diagram of a flower in the science notebooks as the classroom teacher drew it on the board. The labeled all of the parts and wrote down definitions. For the most part, none of the students had any problem doing this. After, the started the lab. This is when the separate lab teacher began. They were going to split into groups and get some flowers, celery, two glasses of water, and some food coloring. Most of the students got into

It gets them thinking about the subject in different ways. A question is posed and students discuss freely what may be the solution. No students are put down for their thinking. They express whatever comes to mind. Eventually, usually the class comes to a conclusion, or a way to come out with a conclusion. Sometimes this is by doing an experiment, like this flower experiment. I thought about how this student may have felt more comfortable writing down his conclusion if he had discussed it with people who may have felt the same way. Maybe the class could have had a discussion on the topic and questions of what would happen. They could have explained their thinking and maybe this boy could have gotten some new ideas from others. He would also have seen that each student thinks differently and that is ok. I think also if teachers show students that they don’t always know the answer to everything too it may help. For example if a student asks a question the teacher really doesn’t know the teacher could admit to not being sure, say what they think it may be, and explain a way they were going to find out the answer. This models to students what they can do and how