Amazing Adaptations

Wisconsin is always known to have crazy weather, and September has been no exception. Wisconsin can go from sunny and 80 degrees one day, to 50 degrees and windy the next day and weather that is everything in between that. I do not want to talk about the study of climate and weather today, but it is a very interesting science topic to study. Today I want to talk about the amazing adaptations the human body makes in regards to weather.

The last few days have been mid-fifties which is typical for a Wisconsin fall and everyone has been saying how chilly it has been. It so interesting to me how our bodies adapt, because right now mid-fifties feels cold to us, but when it is mid-fifties in the middle of January or early Spring we feel like it is a heat wave. It is the same in spring when we have a really warm day and people make comments like, "It's so hot outside", when during the middle of summer it would be considered a very cool day. I wonder how our bodies adapt to these weather changes, and how quickly it changes. It would be very interesting to take a person and have them live in different climate regions to see how quickly they would adjust. For instance take a person from Florida, where its hot and humid almost all of the time, and put them in Wisconsin during a heavy winter storm.

After doing some researching it seems as though there are many processes that help to control and regulate body temperature, especially in extreme climates. For example people who live in extreme cold, like the Inuit have an increased basal metabolic rate, increased fat insulation of vital organs, and a change in blood flow patterns.

What to know more?

Am I Smarter than a 5th Grader?

Over the course of today I have been looking at possible math lesson plans for my group to teach. I have been also thinking about what tomorrow, my first day of clinical placement in first grade, will be like. Last week Friday we talked about the state standards for math, and this discussion made me very nervous. I am very nervous and anxious for the time that I will be teaching math in my clinical placement as well as in my future student teaching, and teaching positions. I am extremely nervous because I am not sure I know math content all that well. I am not confident in my abilities to teach math well. After reviewing the standards it scares me to think how smart my students will be, and many of things they will be studying I have no memory of learning and if I did learn, I am not sure I could explain why the math works. Math is something that I have always struggled with. I have taken the math courses at UW-O, and learned and explained how the math worked, but I am not positive I could explain what I learned to someone else. My math skills have improved greatly overtime. My skills have improved the most by tutoring students in the classrooms I have been in. In fact, a few months ago I took the Praxis II and did the entire math section by hand (because I forgot my calculator!) and still passed. A few years ago I can almost say for certain that I would not have been able to pass that test by only using hand calculations. What makes me most nervous is when students will be asked to explore why something works the way it does it math. This portion of math makes me the most nervous, because what if while the students are exploring they discover something that I am not aware of that is correct, or vice versa that it is incorrect. I know that I need to continue to increase my knowledge in mathematics and through more knowledge I will gain more confidence to teach math.

One way I think I could improve my math skills and become more familiar with what students know is to use the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics website. The website contains great resources and even sample problems that students will see.

National Council of Teachers of Mathematics

To Be or Not to Be...

Hmmm... I wonder if I made the right decision to be a social studies minor. Michelle said in class the other day there is a need for teacher's to have backgrounds in both math and science and this got me thinking about my decision to become a social science minor. Now don't get me wrong, I love the social sciences they are all very interesting to me and there is a definite need for them to be present in schools. However, I really also enjoy the sciences. I especially enjoy studying biology and the aspect of environmental conservation. I was reminded by this enjoyment on our outdoor biodiversity field trip during Wednesday's class. I am also reminded of this on a daily basis when I go on walks through the Bubolz Nature Preserve in Appleton. I own all of the Planet Earth and Blue Planet series, as well as many other science documentaries including SharkWater filmed by Rob Stewart (If you have not seen it yet, you should!). So with all of this science around me, how is it that I chose social science?

As I reflect on this question, I can easily remember why I did not choose to be a science minor and it boils down to the study of chemistry. Now I know that chemistry is just one field of the sciences, but I am fairly certain I would need to have some classes in chemistry to be a science minor and even just thinking about taking a chemistry course causes me to have anxiety. I do not enjoy chemistry for one second. I both fear and despise it. As a reflective professional does, I thought about why I have these feelings towards chemistry, because after all I only took one chemistry class and that was in high school. I know why I don't enjoy chemistry and it all boils down to the chemistry teacher. Let me start by describing how he set my classmates and myself up for failure. First his grade point scale was too ridiculously easy and not at all acceptable. To get an A in the course you had to have an 80% or higher, to have a B you needed to have at least 60% , to have a C you needed to have at least 40%, a D was all the way down to 20%, and failing was anything less that 20% in the course. How ridiculous is this? First it set me up to believe that chemistry was very hard and there was a pretty good change I am not going to understand it at all, especially if I get a C with only having 40% of the information correct. It also made me feel as though I didn't have to try because I am fairly certain that on any test of quiz I can get at least 40% correct by pure chance, and if not 40% for a C, I could easily get higher than a 20% and still pass the test. The grading scale but itself made it very difficult for me to even believe that I could do well in chemistry, and this mental state did not help me at all in the class. Second, the teacher was just terrible. I can remember going over the concept of balancing equations maybe twice and we were expected to just know it and understand it (like that happened). The teacher fell asleep during his own class as we were watching "important" videos. He also set us up to fail. At my high school there were 8 sets during the day, and chemistry was probably taught 4 or 5 of those sets. The teacher by "chance" left out an upcoming test and answer key on the front counter/desk. Of course the first set of classes for the day copied down the multiple choice answers to cheat (he never changed tests), the answers were shared between friends and passed on through many of the sections. Well, the day of the test people cheated and of course he found out. I was in the 8th and last section of the day and we took the test. By this point he knew some people had cheated so he changed the test, he made every single one of the multiple choice answers to be the letter A (all 25 of them). After we took the test he yelled at us for cheating (even though not everyone, including me had cheated) and told us that all the multiple choice answers had been changed to A. Now, from a student stand point I would never put the answer for multiple choice questions to be A, 25 times in a row even if I did know the correct answer. It was not okay for students to cheat, but as I mentioned before not everyone did, and students like me who did not have the answers felt cheated, as though it was an unfair test.

Now, what was the point of sharing this experience? Teachers have a profound effect on a student's confidence in the subjects they are studying. This teacher made me feel like I couldn't study or understand chemistry, and even when I passed the course I did not feel like I accomplished anything because his standards were so low. I do not want my students to have the negative feelings I have towards any subject. So it is very important for me to not show any negative feelings towards a subject, and to remember that even something as simple as my grade point scale can represent information to my students. I truly believe that this one experience changed my feelings towards science and maybe even changed my decision to avoid becoming a science minor. Maybe it's time for me to give chemistry a fair chance, and now that Michelle explained what the Excel center look for possibilities to gain a science minor and license in the future.

I'm dreaming of a white winter....

Okay, okay, I know what you are thinking, "Why on earth is Amy thinking about snow already? She must be completley crazy!" Well okay, maybe I am a little crazy. We are experiencing some especially beautiful weather right now and there are many fun activities to do in fall. However, I love winter! I do not love Wisconsin icy roads or extremely cold weather but there are so many fun things to do in winter, and I can't wait to do them! I love ice climbing, skiing, and snowshoeing and naturally you can only experience these activities during Wisconsin's winters.So in thinking about the activities I am looking forward to this winter, I started thinking about the science that goes along with these activities. As I go ice climbing I experience science as temperature changes directly effect the ice I am climbing. If the temperature is too warm, the ice is very wet and difficult to climb because the picks easily get stuck. If the temperature is too cold, the ice becomes very brittle and shatters in pieces when you hit it. Science and math are present when we tie ropes and use angles and pulley systems to help us climb. As I snow shoe it takes the integration of math and science to explain how snowshoes keep you from sinking in knee high snow banks. When I go skiing the weather patterns and temperatures directly effect the quality of the skiing. Snow temperature effect the type of wax put onto the skis, and the temperature of the iron used to apply the ski wax. Down hill ski racers use this science to compete at their best. Even for the snow to fall science is in charge. Social studies also plays because there are certain regions of the United States that receive different amounts of snow, or no snow at all. I will enjoy this fall's activities as well observing how science is involved with the seasons changes, but I look especially forward to this winter to see what science has in store for my activities.

Where am I ever going to use this?

"Where am I ever going to use this? Why do we have to learn it? This is so pointless, I am never going to use it again!" As a student I have mumbled the previous phrase and questions countless times and as a future educator, I am sure I will hear them from my own students countless times. As I think back on my education and my experiences in the classroom these statements are often uttered during math and science lessons. I can also recall on several occasions that after these statements were made the the teacher simply responded with, "Trust me, you will see and use it again later on in your life." This answer is not at all satisfying, especially when trying to keep a student interested in the topic. I believe that teachers need to do a better job of showing students how the topics they are learning are truly relevant to their lives in order to help them understand and maintain interest.

As I sit here on a very slow day at work, I am completely surrounded and engulfed by math and science. I currently work as a sales associate and scuba instructor at a dive shop in Appleton. Each and everyday I come to work I am completely encircled by math. When I open the store, I count the cash for the store. As customers come in I use math to calculate discounts, tax, shipping and payments. I use math when calculating how much weight an individual will need in order to be properly weighted while scuba diving. Science is also constantly present through out my work day. Science is needed to understand the physics of diving, filling scuba tanks, and the chemistry of the salt water aquarium that is located in our shop. Science and math are always inter-related with the sport of scuba diving. The science of physics explains why something works the way it does, and then math is used to solve the problem. For instance,science explains how and why objects are either positive, negative, or neutrally buoyant in water. Math is then used to calculate how much more or less weight is needed to make it positive, negative, or neutrally buoyant in the water.

Science and math surround me each and everyday and most of the time I do not even realize it. As a future teacher it will be important for me to help students recognize that on a daily basis science and math surround them, and it is a very important topic for them to learn about.

The following link is to a lesson plan put out by PBS designed around the science and physics that effect scuba divers by using a documentary of the sinking of the Andrea Doria.


Andrea Doria Science Lesson Plan

The Light Bulb Turned On

Through the course of my education at UW-Oshkosh, I have taken several language arts courses. The topic of teaching vocabulary has come up in almost all of these courses. I have read the research about teaching vocabulary, and I have practiced different methods and techniques of teaching vocabulary but it was not until my science methods class on Wednesday (August10th) that the light bulb turned on, and something just clicked inside my head. Professor Fleming was guiding us through an activity,when she said " Don't ever introduce vocabulary before the activity." She then showed us through an example, by defining the term "model" through the activity. Now, I have read the research and listened to lectures about how to teach vocabulary but it was not until today that it truly become clear to me through the example that was given.

As I think back on my own education, I can remember how I was exactly taught new vocabulary words for each new unit I was studying. Almost always, before beginning a new unit the teacher would write the vocabulary words on a board followed by the definition. We would then record the word and the exact defintion given into our notebooks. Learning vocabulary like this did not work for me, and I am sure for most students it does not work. Students, including myself, do not retain vocabulary this way and even if they do they only know the word and it's exact defition and no conception of how it is to be used in a sentence, or how it is really related to the content. Using the word and defining it through the activity is much more vauluable. Not only am I able to better recall the meaning of the word, in this instance "model" but I am also able to recall how it was used in a sentence, and what a real "model"looks like becasue I drew one with my own hands.

The statement that was made by Professor Fleming,"Don't ever introduce vocabulary before the activity", was so simple and one that I will easily remember and continue to use.