How I used these materials/Wizards of Wright: Science Workshop WPAFB
From OOGEEP
Submitted by Krista Gerhardt, Wright-Patterson, Air Force Base: Wizards of Wright Program
Consider energy education and your curriculum. How can you incorporate what you have learned into your science curriculum? Brainstorm some ideas that would include a science concept that needs to be taught, a variety of teaching methods to address retention, and the use of graphic organizers.
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[edit] Benchmarks, Standards, Content or Concepts
The 2- day workshop provided a plethora of ideas that I will be willing to pilot with the “Wizards of Wright!” (W.O.W!). The wizards are the talented engineers and scientists at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. The WPAFB’s W.O.W! Program provides portable science kits that the wizards take into local classrooms to excite student to explore science. The simple, inexpensive materials used in the workshop can easily be carried to local classrooms.
Ideas include:
1. Utilizing the 16 Garmin E-treks, already in the W.O.W! inventory, I foresee incorporating lessons from station #3 on The Road Map.
2. The WAVE wizard with his wizard kit can easily be modified to include the remote sensing aspect of the exploration. The kit already includes tuning forks, resonance devices, and Doppler systems.
3. Listening to Rhonda share the importance of alternative fuel options, this would be a strong introduction for the 14 fuel cell car kits in the W.O.W! toy chest.
4. Modify the Part per Million activity from Station 5 to include math calulations.
5. Expand the Density of Plastics in Station 6 to include content from Hands on Plastics.
For the purpose of this assignment, I will focus on Ohio Benchmarks for: Earth and Space Sciences; Science and Technology; Scientific Inquiry; Scientific Ways of Knowing
[edit] Ways to incorporate different teaching methods
- Lecture
Introduce waves and the background content in relation to oil and gas exploration.
- Reading
Using the “jigsaw” technique in which all members of the group are responsible for one section of the content.
- Audio-visual
PowerPoint sharing the different waves and snippets of Bill Nye’s WAVES video.
- Demonstrations
Use the tuning forks to illustrate sound waves travelling through different mediums.
- Discussion Groups
Bring it all together; apply the “jigsaw knowledge."
- Practice by Doing
Use the OOGEEP Wood Sound Box activities and the Skewer Contour Mapping as shared in workshop.
- Teach Others/Immediate Use of Learning
Share new knowledge with others.
- Use of Technology
Use the Garmin GPS units for the Geocaching Activity.
- 21st Century Skills
All of the above address problem solving, teamwork, global issues, technology, career exploration, collaboration, communicating, creativity, and critical thinking skills.
[edit] Models
In Station #4, I would have the students construct a 3D graph of the data representing the Percentage of Fossil Fuels by Usage. Recently introduced to 3D graphs students actually get excited about graphing. The above mentioned Sound Boxes and Skewer Contour Mapping are excellent examples of using models with the students.
[edit] Point of Interest
Based on your warm-up activity, I have re-assessed the way WPAFB Educational Outreach markets the W.O.W! Program. Advertised as class science “demos”, I NOW want to de-emphasize the demo and focus more on students “doing” science. All, but one of the kits (weather) have students “doing” a variety of activities during the 50-60 minute time period. My goal is to re-examine the weather kit so students are actively engaged – not just watching the wizard demonstrate and lecture. Thanks for the experience it was a wonderful 2-days!!!