Science Methods Course

Lesson Plans & Unit Plan

In my science methods class, I created a unit plan containing three lessons plans and a summative assessment. It is a Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) style storyline build around the anchoring phenomena of a balloon car. Please view it here.

Practicum

As part of my practicum experience at Huron High School, I "engineerized" a lab that studies the path of a projectile. In the original lab students were given step-by-step instructions on how to build a "Popsicle stick catapult" along with a picture of what it should look like. Then, the students measured the effect changing the angle the catapult was pulled back had on the distance the projectile traveled and were given extra credit if they could hit a target 3 meters away. I "engineerized" the lay by removing the instructions on how to build the catapult and giving students the goal of hitting the target. This was done in an attempt to integrate more engineering practices into the curriculum as recommended by NGSS. My version of the lab can be found here.

On the final day of my practicum experience, I taught a brief lesson on Atwood's machine before leading a laboratory investigation of Newton's second law. Here is the lesson plan I wrote for this activity, and here are the laboratory procedures we carried out.

Laboratory Safety

As part of my science methods course, I completed the Flynn Scientific Laboratory Safety Course because I believe laboratory safety is very important. Here is my certificate of completion.

I am very strict about laboratory safety. When I was an undergraduate physics major at U of M - Ann Arbor, I handled some pretty dangerous stuff (radioactive isotopes, liquid nitrogen, concentrated acids, high voltages, etc.). While high school laboratories do not present as many dangers as university laboratories, I will always take safety just as seriously.

DACTM/MDSTA Conference

I also attended the DACTM/MDSTA conference in the Fall of 2018 to learn new methods of teaching math and science and to grow as a professional.

1. Here is a Prezi I made to communicate information from one session.

2. Here is a FlipGrid I used to communicate information from another session. The password is ScienceRules!

3. Finally, here is a padlet I posted information from several sessions to.