Field trips and Language

I must admit I was disappointed that we were unable to actually go on a mini field trip. I think the information we have been given in these two classes has been valuable and important.It was good to think about all the difficulties and considerations in planning a trip and the planning form will be a good guide when I plan one for real. I also think the information about the language of science and thinking of ways to help my students get familiar with all the new words was valuable. However, I think the delivery of the information could have been improved as I found the last two classes very long with too much lecture style. I felt that the quantity of information presented could have been done in much less time than it took and it was the drawing out of the content to fill two hours that made it feel slow and made it difficult to maintain my attention. Perhaps a few more changes of pace within a two hour class would be helpful in the future.

Inquiry Labs

I enjoyed doing the inquiry lab in class. It was enlightening to actually do one as I have heard of them, but having never done one myself,I wasn't clear on how they worked or the benefits of them. Now that I have experienced one, I will know how to set them up for my students and will have an idea of what the experience willbe like for them. I found that the lab felt more enjoyable and more challenging than a regular lab as you had to plan it out yourself. The results were also more exciting to get as I didn't know the answer and other groups hadn't 'gotten there first' as they do in traditional labs. i thought the days lecture on Monday wasn't all that informative however, as we were aware of most of what you said from doing the lab ourselves previously. But overall, I was happy that we learned about inquiry labs.