Drying
Off…
Reflections
of our museum visit
In
“Talking Their Way into Science”, Karen Gallas (1995) explains that young
children must be allowed to construct their knowledge about science by imagining
possible worlds and then inventing, criticizing, and modifying those worlds as
they participate in hands-on exploration.
Children
need to develop possible theories about their questions and then proceed to
investigate these theories.
The
classroom environment is not always conducive to the “mile wide and inch deep”
theory of instruction.
Our
visit to the Franklin Institute was a wonderful extension of our water
unit. Upon learning that we could use
the museum to further our investigations, we took advantage of the “free
admission” for teachers and came to map out and pinpoint three crucial areas
for inquiry.
The
Franklin Institute’s staff was extremely welcoming and
helpful. We were encouraged to bring in items to
modify our chosen exhibits.
After
planning and implementation of our water unit our day for the visit arrived.
Highlights
of our visit were…
v
Solid and meaningful inquiry experiences
v
Parents took an active role (parents reported a comfort level which
built a better teacher/parent learning partnership)
v
A sense of community between teachers and museum coordinators
v
Museum has an education department for resources
v
Children’s behavior was paramount (especially compared to groups
without a specific focus)
v
Enabled us to build and extend our coherent unit
v
Met National Science Standards
We
would like to express our gratitude to the Franklin Institute for their wealth
of knowledge. Their support has changed
our approach to filed trips and will continue to make them purposeful and
meaningful in the future.
We
thank our administration for their support.
Patti
DiLeo pdileo@mail.berlintwpk12.nj.us
Janet
Jennison
jjennison@mail.berlintwpk12.nj.us
Robin
Schaffer
rschaffer@mail.berlintwpk12.nj.us
Parent
comments
“This
is different than any other museum visit we’ve been on.”
“We
really had fun and learned so much!”
“Team
work was extraordinary.”
“Is
it time to go already?”
“It
was a well planned and executed.”
“They
especially enjoyed the inquiry experiences where they could actually make
something happen.”
“It was very interesting to see the wheels turning in their
heads and knowing what they wanted to do and making it happen.”
“The children worked cooperatively with each other.”
“Magic”
|
GETTING YOUR FEET WET… An Introduction |
Classroom Investigations |
The Museum Visit |
STAYING AFLOAT
.. Helpful Hints |
Reflections |