Victoria A. Raucci
Time is limited in an academic environment. Students are expected to learn core concepts within a given time frame, and teachers are expected to present lessons and differentiate them as needed for students requiring alternative approaches to learning. In fifth grade, the first science kit (on sound) is distributed approximately three to four weeks into the beginning of the school year, followed by light and color within the same quarter. The first few weeks of school are generally dedicated to establishing routines and setting up expectations, although instruction takes place immediately. Time is needed at the beginning of the year for science instruction to set up science notebooks and review the basics of the scientific method, such as how to describe the properties of a given object. I am proposing that this unit, which will provide the necessary background information for the light and color units, be introduced within one week of the start of the academic year. The activities contained in this unit will serve as the model for all aspects of the scientific method, on which all other units will be based. By starting this unit at the beginning of the year, the students will also learn how to formulate testable questions and in turn, develop clear hypotheses.
The importance of noticing and asking questions will be stressed heavily throughout this unit. After all, this is the first crucial step of the scientific process. Students will not be "fed" the knowledge; rather, they will be encouraged to discover new information on their own. In fifth grade, children are easily affected by the opinions of their peers. They are afraid that their questions will be viewed as "stupid". In conversations with my current students, I have discovered that they feel most comfortable asking questions anonymously, where they are not likely to feel judged. They suggested having a mailbox in the classroom where they can submit their questions. I like the idea of doing this for whole group discussions, especially at the beginning of the unit and in the new school year when we are still building an atmosphere of trust, but I still want the students to keep track of their own questions in their own notebooks. We will be working on identifying types of questions early in the school year to give them an idea of what constitutes a "testable question".
Science notebooks will be crucial in helping students maintain records. They will need explicit instruction in how to record important information throughout the curriculum unit, therefore, all activities contained in this unit will include the type of information that students should be recording. The notebook will contain the students' essential questions, hypotheses related to each activity, materials for each observation, and what they observed and concluded during each activity. Also, a word bank will be established since it is important for students to maintain since they will be exposed to new terminology.
Materials do not need to be elaborate to be effective. Students will be given diagrams of the rods and cones in a human eye as well as diagrams of the canine eyes. Photographs and videos of dogs performing various tasks that will illustrate how they see will also provide students with opportunities to notice and ask questions about a dog's visual acuity. Light fixtures with bulbs of red, green, and blue will be necessary to show the combination of colors that can be seen by the human eye, while only two of the colors (green and blue) will be necessary to show the mixture of colors that can be seen through the eyes of a dog. A laser pointer can be used to illustrate the properties of refraction and reflection. Finally, a simple jump rope can serve as a hands-on apparatus to demonstrate the traveling of light in "waves".
