science in the
elementary school
dr. michael b. leyden
345-2326 -- e-mail:
mleyden@eiu.edu
Goal i:
thinking big
elementary
teachers are drawn from a population that is generally ultra- conservative and
think small.
Look
at michael leyden's life:
el
ed major - lived at home - taught 12 mi from home - married at 23 - 2.0 kids by
26.
What
an exciting guy.
Humans
don't develop great teaching ideas
and unique philosophies with that
lifestyle.
I
sure didn't.
How
could I ever "change schools" -- or classrooms ?
I
decided it would be impossible unless I began to "think big."
we aren't risk-takers and
don't think of ourselves as --
this
causes severe educational & life
problems because we . . .
when
"Leyden's Law" is enacted
. . .
imagine the confidence THOSE "big-thinking" teachers would
have.
this
course opens each day with "news and views" . . . as you discuss worldly things (& the
hidden science therein) found in news clippings you bring to class.
Clippings
about --
Teachers
must become conversant with "the big picture" of life in our world --
so they can ponder whether our curriculum prepares students with the skills
they will need to survive ( literally ) in it.
Once you begin to "think big" you'll be uneasy
about the "teaching" we do
in schools and appalled at the lack of
science in the curriculum.
You'll want to change that.
You will change that.
But you can't make changes
unless you have the power.
You won't have the power
unless you have the knowledge.
You don't get the knowledge
unless you think big ( as you study 10
hours a day ).
On the Internet are five assignments that will help you plant seeds that will
germinate BIG IDEAS in your brain.
Goal ii:
operative knowledge of teaching strategies
There
is a problem with methods courses as they hold out the hope that there is a magic powder that can be sprinkled on
every lesson to make it "work."
The
only thing that will make a lesson work -- is the work the teacher exerts to
prepare - execute - evaluate the learning experience.
But such a deal i make for
you --
Here are five teaching
strategies that will be modeled in this course.
When these concepts are
added to a huge amount of mental and physical preparation ( 2 hours of homework
for every class period ) -- they will design exciting learning experiences for
students and teachers that will really "work."
process science
rationale: an alternative to learning all the "stuff"
the learning cycle
rationale: too many terms without meaning
discrepant events
rationale: piaget theory - disequilibrium & turning on the brain
synectics
rationale: the power of connections
s-t-s: science - technology
- society
rationale: science has a price ?
since these are practices
that seem to "work" in elementary school science classrooms -- they
should "work" in this one.
After you "work" a minimum of two hours of
study per one hour of class time -- we will test to see if these methods
really "work."
Goal iii:
knowing some stuff
these are the "true
science topics" studied in the course - as opposed to the science
education topics. They will vary each semester.
in the Mac Lab of the SSB
are several "disks" --
which are loaded ( about
1,000 pages ) with individual files.
Yes -- I designed and typed
them all.
Each "page" you
see on the Net takes about 3-4 hours of 'work ' to produce.
The science content and
processes of these folders represents my 39 years of schooling and teaching and
typing.
Here are some of the folder
titles ( with tons of files in each ):
Wall Street --- moon ---
planets --- pendulums --- acid rain --- S-T-S --- synectics --- process science
They will be your textbook.
I will not say to you ---
"we just did a bunch of pendulum activities -- go to pull the information
on Pendulums off the disk or Net."
Specific
pages will not be assigned --- as a college senior you will automatically know
that these are topics in which you should be versed to score well
(a)
in life -- 93% of which will not be spent teaching (b) on the tests and quizzes.
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