Week 12 Blog - Elementary Science Methods (Addyson Junge)

Week 12 Blog - Elementary Science Methods (Addyson Junge)

April 20, 2025

    Figure 1

  1. What did you learn this week?
    • Today, I learned to think like an adult/teacher and a child/student. As I went through the lab activity, I had several predictions and explanations as to why something floated or sank, weighed heavy or light, conducted electricity or not, and was magnetized or not (Figure 1). However, when I had to put on my "child" cap, this activity seemed slightly more difficult. I kept asking the question, "Why does this happen?" During the lecture, we talked more about property types and how that affects characteristics, such as density, volume, mass, etc. 
  2. Which parts did you find clear and which were confusing?
    • Something I found clear was the idea of water being 1 g/mL. Not only did this make a lot of sense to me, but it was also super interesting. Something else I found clear was that when you cut something in half, it does not change the material. As stated in the Pressbook: Properties of Matter section, "They do not change no matter how much or how little of the material you have" (Neal & Nordine, 2019). Something I found confusing, however, was identifying how you know when you made a mistake in your work, whether that be incorrectly measuring volume or density. But then I ended up asking Dr. Nordine how you can know, and then it made more sense. 
  3. What are new or remaining questions? 
    • As I write my blog post, I am still left with the question of why or how certain substances conduct heat and electricity. I need to start thinking with my "child" cap rather than my "adult" cap, because I feel like I might be overcomplicating things. And once I find this out, how do I teach this to children? Also, what happens when my students ask me something and I am unsure how to answer?

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