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Science and health instruction naturally lend themselves to…
Science and health instruction naturally lend themselves to inquiry-based strategies. They both benefit from effective and thoughtful grouping strategies to promote inquiry and collaboration. This will lead to high levels of student exploration, acquisition, and self-awareness in learning. Observations of colleagues can help support teacher’s knowledge of these strategies and facilitate the implementation of new and fresh inquiry methods.
Allocate at least 4 hours in the field to support this field experience in a K-12 science and/or health inclusive classroom setting.
Part 1: Observation and Interview
Observe your mentor teacher’s classroom and discuss the aspects of teaching science and health in that specific grade-level. Pay close attention to how the teacher promotes inquiry, collaboration, student exploration, acquisition, and self-awareness.
After observing, discuss with your mentor teacher the following:
Current science and/or health standards the class is working on during the lesson
How the mentor teacher is gauging student achievement of learning objectives
The classroom setup and student grouping factors that promote inquiry and collaboration
How to innovatively promote inquiry and collaboration in the areas of science and health for all students
How to further promote student exploration, acquisition, and self-awareness in an inclusive classroom
Using information obtained from your interview, with your mentor teacher identify 5-7 students whom you believe would benefit from future small group instruction intervention. At least one student in this group should require modifications and/or accommodations. Discuss your small group selection with your mentor teacher and ask for permission to work with this group in future field experiences. If possible, review the IEPs/504s and previously implemented intervention strategies of each student in this small group with your mentor teacher.
Part 2: Activity
Based on your observations and interview, work with your mentor teacher to create a remedial activity that will be implemented with your small group in the Topic 3 Clinical Field Experience.
The activity should:
Address the diverse needs of students in the group. Along with the necessary accommodations, consider ELL, gifted, and early finishing students in the group.
Include strategies to support students with content specific vocabulary, reading comprehension, and/or writing fluency in health and/or science.
Promote inquiry and collaboration in areas of health and/or science.
Provide an exit ticket at the end of the lesson with an open-ended question of your choice about what students learned from the lesson.
Additionally, you will be creating a lesson in the Topic 3 assignment to potentially teach in the Topic 4 field experience. Discuss with your mentor teacher science and health learning objectives for the lesson. The lesson should integrate fundamental concepts of either physical, life, or earth/space science with health education.
Use any remaining time to observe and/or assist your mentor teacher or another teacher and work with an individual or small group of students on instruction in the classroom.
Part 3: Reflection
Write a 250-500 word reflection including the following:
Summary of the lesson observed in your field experience and mentor interview, including discussion of standards, how student achievement is gauged, and classroom setup/grouping factors.
How the teacher promotes student exploration, acquisition, promotion of self-awareness, inquiry, and collaboration in the areas of science and health for all students.
Describe the activity you plan to implement with your small group in the Topic 3 Clinical Field Experience B.
Discuss the factors considered when developing this activity with your mentor teacher.
