For my inquiry-based instruction lab this week, I decided to do an activity that introduced students to the concept of the Tragedy of the Commons. In this activity, I gave them all a bowl of Goldfish crackers and Swedish Fish. They were to fish, using chopsticks. We played three rounds: the first, they did not have a fishing limit, the second they still did not have a fishing limit, but a storm did not allow the fish to repopulate, and the third time, they had a limit of three fish per round. The ultimate goal of the activity was to allow them to see that if you over-use a resource without taking into consideration environmental factors or other people's usage of the same resource, it is easily depleted.
I was really excited for this lab because I thought that I had a solid lesson and topic. However, inquiry seemed hard and I was hesitant that I was covering all the bases. I think that my biggest downfall came when presenting the lesson, because I made it very teacher-centered. I also gave poor directions, which caused quite a bit of confusion. One way that I think I could improve this would be to ask the students to read the instructions first and then ask them to reiterate what they read for the class. This would also allow my lesson to be more student-centered.
While I did struggle with creating a student-centered atmosphere, I can see myself improving in my teaching. I am becoming more confident. In fact, this is the first time that I did not walk around holding my lesson plan! It stayed on the table the whole time, which is a big step for me! I also notice that I am beginning to walk around and interact with students more, which is good.
I also think that my lesson was pretty solid. I think that it was a nice way to teach about human impact, as well as explain why we have some of the bag limits and laws that we have in place. Overall, I think that my students had fun with the activity, and I am excited to implement this lesson at my cooperating center!
Morgan,
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing! Sounds like it was fun and you are spot on to be thinking about those five essential elements of inquiry and how we can move to more student centered instruction.
What the core question with today's lesson? Did you provide it or did the student's frame it?
It sounds like you had a great lesson Morgan! I wish I would have been in your lab group because your activity seems very interesting and engaging while teaching students an important lesson! I struggled with making my lesson more student centered as well but it is awesome that you realize this and can make necessary changes for next time. Keep up the good work!
ReplyDeleteMorgan,
ReplyDeleteYour lesson was very engaging and I feel it would be a good one for the students as a conditioning lesson because there was guidance through the process but yet we though of questions while we had obstacles thrown our way through out.
Very good job, awesome lesson idea!
Morgan,
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like a great lesson that would really captivate the learners attention. I think that many of us struggled with moving across the continuum from the teacher centered to student centered but it will come with time and practice. Also it is great that you can see the accomplishments that you have made in lab over the semester.
I was going to do this lesson! I remember doing this in High School and it made a really big impact on me and helped set the stage for a career in environmental science! I like your swedish fish idea with this, we always just used gold fish. I'm looking forward to teaching this in the Spring!
ReplyDeleteAwesome reflection Morgan! It sounds like the lesson was a lot of a fun and a great hands on way to teach this subject! It's awesome to hear that you are more comfortable in the classroom and are able to put your lesson plan down!
ReplyDeleteMaking the lesson more student centered and less teacher centered is also something I struggled with! Keep up the great work!
Morgan! It is making me happy reading all of these reflections and hearing that everyone is feeling more comfortable teaching! I have the privilege of being in your lab and I think that you definitely growing! There is also something that we could have improved on or done better at; however, I will say that as a student in your lab I would have never picked up on the little things. I was engaged in the lesson and as a result I learned a thing or two! Keep working on keep it student centered and you will be golden! Great job!
ReplyDeleteMorgan - despite the fact that your lesson used fish - it was not at all "fishy!" You were creative and fun and your message on the tragedy of the commons was recieved! I am glad that as you reflected you realized things that you could do to improve and make the lesson more student oriented! Yay for Improvement!!!!
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