Thursday, December 3, 2015

The Teacher Becomes the Student by Christy Williams


 

 
 


This year I have been honored to represent our school at REMSL.  What is REMSL?  It is the Rice Elementary Model Stem Lab sponsored by Conoco Phillips.  It is a nationally renowned program that promotes science education by training elementary school teachers to deepen their professional knowledge, explore the latest science concepts, and learn new teaching methods for elementary students.

 


Over the summer, I took a week long course.  We went to the Children's Museum one day.  We were given a scavenger hunt and had to do different experiments throughout the museum based on science curriculum.  During this school year, I have to miss a few days of school to be a student.  In my class, we are given the science concepts and asked to explore these concepts through hands on learning experiments.  It is the most fun I have ever had learning!

 


As teachers, we are given many of the supplies to do these experiments in our classrooms.  I love being able to share these experiments and ideas with other science teachers on our campus.

 


During each class, I am challenged to think outside the box and find new ways to explore science concepts.  We often do STEM projects where we are given a problem and materials and asked to come up with a solution.  Every idea is a possibility! 

 

 
I have been able to build a tower out of notecards that would hold a teddy bear, build circuits, learn about slope and distance by building cars out of classroom materials, create a marshmallow catapult, create a model of the earth, moon, and sun, play with shadows, create rain using water and ice, design a Mars habitat, test water retention in soils, and experiment with weathering, erosion and deposition.  I am learning so much!  The best part of REMSL is coming back to TWE and sharing all the wonderful ideas and possibilities with our science teachers!!!!

 

.


 I am documenting my classes on Twitter. Check it out at #twehowl







No comments:

Post a Comment