Research Article Reflection

Curiosity+ Kindergarten= Future Scientists

       I picked the research article, Curiosity+ Kindergarten= Future Scientists by Jenny Sue Flannagan and Leisl Rockenbaugh because I thought that the first page was very colorful and intriguing. I also like that it involves a kindergarten lesson because I like teaching younger grades better than older ones. I believe that younger children are always so excited to learn new things and really look up to their teachers as role models. This made me really excited to read the article and se what I was going to learn.  In this article Flannagan and Rockenbaugh discuss a kindergarden inquiry lesson that involves each of the 5Es.

      I learned a lot of different methods and helpful tips after reading this article and will definitely use the lesson conducted in this article in my future classroom. This lesson involved exploring change, using their senses to make observations, safety rules, different charts, and writing. Before teaching a lesson you want students to be engaged and curious about what is going to be taught that day. Therefore, there should always be high positive energy in the classroom. However, teaching science can be very overwhelming because it involves different materials and/or chemicals that are harmful to students. if used incorrectly. It is very important to always go over the safety rules and make sure students understand the dangers of what can happen if something goes wrong and that they are always wearing safety equipment if needed. It is also very helpful if different graphic organizers are provided for students this way they can organize their thoughts, observations, and findings in a coherent easy way. Teachers can also incorporate different subjects into science. For example, allowing students to practice their reading and writing skills by reading magazines, articles and books for research and writing what they learned after the lesson/ experiment is completed. I also realized that teachers are just there to guide students into the right direction. The experiment conducted in this article shows how teachers help guide students into coming up with a conclusion instead of telling them exactly what to do and what will happen.

      The article starts off with students excited and eager to find out what they will be doing today. Once they found out they will be observing eggs they were very excited. As a class they came up with a list of things they already know about eggs. It is important to list everything you know about something before actually doing the experiment to make sure everyone is on the same page and so that students can always look back at it. After, they were split up into groups to work on their observation sheets.  Having students split into groups is good because students can practice their communication skills by working together and learning from one another. After students were engaged and had their prior thoughts together, it was time to explore. Students used different liquids such as vinegar and water to see what would happen to the egg if it was changed. Students compared and contrasted the differences between the raw egg then what happened to the egg after being changed. Students recorded their predictions, observations to keep track of what was happening. After exploring and conducting their experiment, students put what they did into words and wrote what they did to test out their predictions and find a result. After doing this lesson students were still curious and had more questions so they came up with new experiments to come up with answer to their questions or answer questions based on previous experiments and observations. While teaching the inquiry lesson the teacher observed students involvement, asked questions, and read through their charts and writings. Since the teachers can tell what their students learned by observing their work and behavior it was not necessary to have students take a test.

       Overall, I really enjoyed reading this article and think this lesson is a great idea. Children seemed to have a really fun time while learning and were always craving to learn more. This experiment allowed students to explore and discover on their own with guidance from the teacher. I think it is important to set a positive fun tone for teaching students science at a young age such as, kindergarten. These are children's first experiences with science and as a teacher you want your students to always have a positive attitude that will carry on with them for the rest of their lives.