First Days of School

Teaching Instruction Overview

• For the first two weeks I plan to provide the students with opportunities to investigate and explore various aspects of science• Curriculum documents Strand A: Scientific

Investigation Skills and Career Exploration for grade 10 for example will be

followed• A variety of inquiry, engineering, and model practice strategies labs, demos, and investigations will implemented

Teaching Instruction Overview

• Every day of the first two weeks I propose to do a hands on type activity to gather the attention of the students and to engage them from the start• Whether it is a POE demo, something for

them to construct or build, or a scientific model that students can

describe with their own words

The First Day

• The first day will be exclusively demo filled with student questioning and interaction• The demos I plan to perform are as follows:Gummy bear dropped into KClO3

A glowing pickle Splints with different coloured flamesLevitating Ping Pong BallBalloon skewerMilk of Magnesia

Example Second Day

• The second day will be a continuing of some demos• The demos I plan to perform are as follows:Hand fireballA card magic trick• A mini investigation will occur• A student handout on getting to know them will be handed out

Student Get to Know Handout

Behaviour• At the start of every class a statement along

the lines of, “Please put all phones, music, and food away”. • State how phones, food, and music in the

laboratory is not a good thing• Detail important overall safety rules, give

real world cautions and examples experienced when I was working in the lab

Behaviour

• Students have to ask to go to the washroom, one person out at a time, the student goes after the next one comes back• Students are expected to bring pen and

pencil to every class (will have boxes of pens and pencils handy to avoid students leaving to grab them)• State that shouting out answers is never

acceptable and share an internal reflection process for students to answer questions to themselves before sharing with class

Routines

• Learning goals will be provided within the first 15 minutes of every class depending on the opening activity • They will be clearly visible by means of chalk

board, white board, Word Document, or PowerPoint• The students will have a learning goals

specific book where they only copy the learning goals into

Routines

• Student desks will be set up in pairs• The students will chose the pair for the first

week• Every other week the pair will change so the

students get used to working with different people and ideas (as the work place is like this)• Class will end with students cleaning up

their desk area or lab space

Cognitive Practices

• After week one, during one of the experiments/demos I will model what

I observe in a reaction like KMNO4 and glycerol, for example• I will ask students what they think will

happen and what they think they should be looking for in a chemical reaction• I will guide them and make them feel

comfortable as they provide serious input• I will then give a thorough protocol for

experimental observation

Cognitive Practices

• For one activity the students will simply be given the materials and asked to perform the task, for example, the students will be given 15 uncooked spaghetti noodles and mini marshmallows and asked to build the tallest stable tower (many learning benefits) • Perform a Hard Rock Candy making lab and

prompt as to whether baking/cooking is an art or a science to engage in critical

thinking practices