best underwater camera kids image
Jeff
As a teacher, how would you teach a biology class and what type of things would you do to make sure the kids learn?
Answer
First and foremost science, and biology in particular, should be about "doing". The surest way of killing enthusiasm for science in kids is to have them sit and remember lists of terms, diagrams and flow charts and call that science. Science is the process of investigating a thing/situation/problem etc. So at no time should they be doing anything other than investigating their topic.
I would take the syllabus for your area and see what skills and knowledge the syllabus says they need to learn over the year, and then create activities that give them those skills and knowledge but gives them it by getting them to actually do something.
There is much of Science that is not visible to the naked eye, eg protein synthesis, DNA coding, cellular organelles etc, get the kids looking down the microscope at these things. Chloroplasts are spectactular because they flow around the cell in a process called cytoplasmic streaming, if you are careful you can look at blood cells flowing through capillary beds by putting a live gold fish under a microscope and looking at its tail.
Draw pictures of these things, create 3d models on the computer (at the same time teaching them how to use 3d modelling software such as Maya or 3ds max - a very valuable skill to have for the next generation of scientific illustrators - and if I am not mistaking free to put on school computers I think: http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/item?siteID=123112&id=14185424 ), learn the scale of things by creating diagrams with scale bars. Stain things with chemical stains (eg iodine to show starch) to show chemical composition, extract DNA (e.g. from strawberries http://www.imb.uq.edu.au/download/large/strawberryDNAextraction.pdf ). Explore function eg grow aquatic plants underwater and collect the oxygen they produce as a measure of photo synthesis.
Manipulate the systems you are examining, eg change the temperature of the water, change the pH, change the wavelength or intensity of light the plants are exposed to and compare the rate of O2 production.
Get involved with local environmental works to study local habitats to learn about ecology. Make what they are learning relevant to situations they may experience themselves, eg investigate ecology, invertebrates, sustainability etc by investigating compost biology. What factors make compost break down faster, produce a compost that supports stronger plant growth.
But above all, always encourage the kids to be thinking about HOW they would investigate these things. Ask the kids, HOW would they investigate what wavelengths of light do plants use for photo synthesis (ie get them to think about how they would look up research that had been done previously, next think about how they would check that this information is true ie perform an experiment to test it). How would you investigate which compost supports better plant growth, what do we mean by "better" (ie taller plants, more leaves, heavier plants, more fruit, more nutritious fruit?)
Part of all of this is to always get the kids to present their findings to the class. Effectively the kids themselves should be teaching the class, ie reporting back on what they have found what they are working on, what they have read. If a group runs into problems with their experiments/studies, as a class get everyone to think about how they would solve that problem. Vary the types of presentations/assignments the kids do, sometimes it might be a talk, some times a building a model, sometimes a multimedia presentation. They should be learning to use the equipment that they will be using again and again as they get older and move to more and more advanced study, ie power point, digital still and video cameras, video editing software, 3d modelling software, graphic design software, pH meters, light meters, thermometers, water test kits etc.
Lastly it is great to learn all these things but you can also spice up the classes by engaging in local science programs (e.g. scientist in schools program here in Australia http://www.scientistsinschools.edu.au/ ) which makes it doubly interesting by having a "real" scientist mentoring the kids, or enter science competitions so the students are not only learning about what they have to do for their school year anyway but there is also the added excitment and team work of supporting each other and entering these competitions and perhaps winning a prize (eg sleek geek science video competition, e.g. http://sydney.edu.au/science/outreach/eureka/index.shtml or http://www.schoolscience.co.uk/competitions.cfm ).
I hope this gives some ideas...
First and foremost science, and biology in particular, should be about "doing". The surest way of killing enthusiasm for science in kids is to have them sit and remember lists of terms, diagrams and flow charts and call that science. Science is the process of investigating a thing/situation/problem etc. So at no time should they be doing anything other than investigating their topic.
I would take the syllabus for your area and see what skills and knowledge the syllabus says they need to learn over the year, and then create activities that give them those skills and knowledge but gives them it by getting them to actually do something.
There is much of Science that is not visible to the naked eye, eg protein synthesis, DNA coding, cellular organelles etc, get the kids looking down the microscope at these things. Chloroplasts are spectactular because they flow around the cell in a process called cytoplasmic streaming, if you are careful you can look at blood cells flowing through capillary beds by putting a live gold fish under a microscope and looking at its tail.
Draw pictures of these things, create 3d models on the computer (at the same time teaching them how to use 3d modelling software such as Maya or 3ds max - a very valuable skill to have for the next generation of scientific illustrators - and if I am not mistaking free to put on school computers I think: http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/item?siteID=123112&id=14185424 ), learn the scale of things by creating diagrams with scale bars. Stain things with chemical stains (eg iodine to show starch) to show chemical composition, extract DNA (e.g. from strawberries http://www.imb.uq.edu.au/download/large/strawberryDNAextraction.pdf ). Explore function eg grow aquatic plants underwater and collect the oxygen they produce as a measure of photo synthesis.
Manipulate the systems you are examining, eg change the temperature of the water, change the pH, change the wavelength or intensity of light the plants are exposed to and compare the rate of O2 production.
Get involved with local environmental works to study local habitats to learn about ecology. Make what they are learning relevant to situations they may experience themselves, eg investigate ecology, invertebrates, sustainability etc by investigating compost biology. What factors make compost break down faster, produce a compost that supports stronger plant growth.
But above all, always encourage the kids to be thinking about HOW they would investigate these things. Ask the kids, HOW would they investigate what wavelengths of light do plants use for photo synthesis (ie get them to think about how they would look up research that had been done previously, next think about how they would check that this information is true ie perform an experiment to test it). How would you investigate which compost supports better plant growth, what do we mean by "better" (ie taller plants, more leaves, heavier plants, more fruit, more nutritious fruit?)
Part of all of this is to always get the kids to present their findings to the class. Effectively the kids themselves should be teaching the class, ie reporting back on what they have found what they are working on, what they have read. If a group runs into problems with their experiments/studies, as a class get everyone to think about how they would solve that problem. Vary the types of presentations/assignments the kids do, sometimes it might be a talk, some times a building a model, sometimes a multimedia presentation. They should be learning to use the equipment that they will be using again and again as they get older and move to more and more advanced study, ie power point, digital still and video cameras, video editing software, 3d modelling software, graphic design software, pH meters, light meters, thermometers, water test kits etc.
Lastly it is great to learn all these things but you can also spice up the classes by engaging in local science programs (e.g. scientist in schools program here in Australia http://www.scientistsinschools.edu.au/ ) which makes it doubly interesting by having a "real" scientist mentoring the kids, or enter science competitions so the students are not only learning about what they have to do for their school year anyway but there is also the added excitment and team work of supporting each other and entering these competitions and perhaps winning a prize (eg sleek geek science video competition, e.g. http://sydney.edu.au/science/outreach/eureka/index.shtml or http://www.schoolscience.co.uk/competitions.cfm ).
I hope this gives some ideas...
How much does a waterproof camera cost?
vannax3
I want a waterproof camera so I can film stuff underwater :p
I'm looking for a regular camera, nothing professional. Like a Cool Pix or something .... Lol, but waterproof! About under $200 if so. And also, if I can't afford anything over $200, how much are waterproof CASES?
LAST QUESTION! If I can't get a waterproof camera or case, are there any ways to make my camera waterproof, or things to put it in? Thank you!
Answer
My waterproof camera cost about 125$. It was money well spent. I've had it for a year now and it's great and works wonderfully. You can buy a
camera WITH a case, like I did. You can find little kids underwater cameras for a lot cheaper but they don't work quite as well.
My waterproof camera cost about 125$. It was money well spent. I've had it for a year now and it's great and works wonderfully. You can buy a
camera WITH a case, like I did. You can find little kids underwater cameras for a lot cheaper but they don't work quite as well.
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Title Post: How would you teach biology to Middle School kids?
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