Going beyond the Textbook

I had a great opportunity to teach a combined class (grade 3 and 4) during my internship. The students were wonderful. There was a great spectrum of learning levels and a mix of learning styles. When teaching Science, I wanted the students to get experience of learning beyond their textbooks. As well as I thought of ways to touch upon the vast learning styles (visual, auditory, linguistic, kinesthetic, logical, interpersonal, and interpersonal). 

For science, I was teaching the class "Types of Forces" (Buoyancy, Electricity, Static Electricity, Magnetic Energy, Friction, Gravity, and Natural Forces). After explaining the concept and allowing students to predict/explain the concept in their own words, a combination of hands-on activities, games, and visuals helped the students learn the types of forces in a fun and interactive way. Here are some examples:

 

(1) BUOYANCY: I divided the class in small groups and gave them a bunch of objects in the classroom. As a group they had to predict whether the objects would sink or float and record their findings. After discussing the materials that made the objects and why they sank/floated, the students saw what Buoyancy was for themselves. Plus without them knowing, they were accountable for their own recordings. This really helped students who learned especially through working with people (interpersonal learners), looking at the objects floating and sinking (visual learners), and/or working with their hands and learning through the sense of touch (kinesthetic learners). 

(2) NATURAL FORCES: I first began to explain the force of wind and water through erosion and the immense wind blowing during a snow storm. But to visually see the immense force of nature itself I projected bits and parts of the videos of a tornado, hurricane, and mudslide which the students watched wide-eyed. Of course, I ensured that we learned Science with an ethical understanding, by discussing how dangerous these natural forces can be to people and that its important to not look at  these videos as "woah that's awesome", but rather consider those who might have be impacted.

• Tornado
• Hurricane
• Mudslide

(3) FRICTION: I was able to use an online game to show the students what friction was. It showed a visual of a car going over different types of surfaces (which made the car go either slow or fast). That inspired me to bring in all types of different mini surfaces such as: wooden planks, tiles, a plastic table cloth, carpet pieces, etc along with Hot Wheels and small race cars for the students to test out friction for themselves. This made them great at predicting and understanding why the cars rolled faster on some surfaces, while slower on others. This catered to various learning styles.