Pt1420 Unit 6 Essay

For task two I will be analyzing video under the generalist heading and under the subheading Integrating Mathematics and Science number 142. The video is of a third grade classroom conducting an experiment about different types of soil. They are to test which types absorb more water and which how fast the water goes through the water. The first instructional strategy the teacher mentions changing is that at first she had the groups into more of a homogeneous grouping where the higher achievers were paired with the lower achievers, but the teacher observed that the higher achievers were doing the majority of the work. The teacher decided to make the groups into more of a heterogeneous grouping where the pairs were closer to the same achievement

level.
The next instructional strategy that I noticed changing throughout the video is the different types of questions the teacher asked the different groups.

Some groups she would ask more factual questions, such as what the next step in the experiment is or what is that in the funnel with the soil? However, with the next group she asked more probing questions. For example, she asked one girl I see you took twenty nine away from 40, why? When the student answered to see how much of the water was absorbed, the teacher then asks well, how did you know to start at 40? Then she would ask more Socratic questioning. She asks one group a broad question about the experiment and then zeros in on an aspect according to the students’ answers.

The theorist that I see the teacher modeling her strategy after is Jerome Bruner’s Discovery Learning. Discovery Learning is a method that believes it is best for learners to discover facts and relationships on their own (Learning-Theories, 1967). This is evident throughout the video with the students preforming the experiment, collecting the data, and making inferences on their own with the teacher just asking questions about their experiment and what they have observed or their

conclusions.
I believe this was the best approach to this particular lesson because it gave the students hands on experience and they were able to see what soil absorbed the most water. I think student center approaches are the best and they learn and observe more when they are involved first hand.
The teacher uses and facilitates academic questioning right from the start of the video when she asks the first group of students, “Who can tell me what we are learn today? What is our objective in Science?” She continues using academic language throughout the lesson. She is has a great strategy of asking the students what a certain term is and then after the vocabulary word has been identified using that word.
The teacher encourages and questions the students from the beginning of the video when one students says the objective is to see what soil holds water better. She then poses the question, what is the term for holds water better? Then praises the students that use the correct terminology. Throughout the lesson when one vocabulary words is identified she continues to use it and encourages the students to use it also.