The Stars Aligned
1/25/2019
It’s not everyday that the stars align, but for the 8th grade class and me last week, they did. Teachers work hard to integrate all that they teach, and that challenge cannot always be met. However, a few weeks ago, I settled in to watch my favorite TV show - 60 Minutes - and they had an amazing story that fit in with everything we’ve been studying in science (energy flow in organisms - cellular respiration and photosynthesis - biofuels - the environment and plastics) and language arts (literary nonfiction, informational and argument writing)! The story was The Unlikely, Eccentric Inventor Turning Inedible Plant Life into Fuel. The news segment is a short story of an eccentric man who sets out to make a significant scientific breakthrough with little to no science experience. I was fascinated by what I saw, and I knew that my students would be too. So, I set up students to watch this 60 Minute segment, annotate it, rewrite and reorganize their notes and ideas, select one central idea, theme, or issue, and write a 500 word essay on what interested them the most. This assignment fit right in with the literary nonfiction unit 8th graders are focused on currently. We learn a bit of his story and we learn about the science involved - just like literary nonfiction. Since so much of our world is brought to us in this “TV magazine” or video format these days, the listening and annotating without pause skills have become even more critical to master. Students have to be able to use these skills to connect, learn, organize, and communicate back their ideas. As their essays come in, I find they each took on different focuses for their essays: the inventor’s life story, plant based plastics, involving ordinary people in science, global warming, plastic pollution, and so on. We have the saying, “the stars aligned”. But what we really have done is more easily seen the connections there are between us and the world. Finding and making these connections, whether the process is “aligned” or not, is the foundation of understanding and thus the driving force behind our purpose. Science in Action - Making ConnectionsComments are closed.
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Sarah Mariner
Ms. Mariner earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Biological Science from Colorado State University, and was awarded a teaching certificate through the University of Alaska, Southeast. Her varied background includes being an environmental education field instructor in Massachusetts, Colorado, and Baja, Mexico. She also served two years as a Peace Corps volunteer in the Dominican Republic. Archives
April 2021
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