Week 3

One concern that I had coming in to this job was the struggles I might have connecting the zoo experience to the physics classroom. I've been encountering all sorts of science as I work. One of my responsibilities at the zoo has been do do water testing for the various exhibits. I use probeware and various testing materials to test for things like pH, salinity, ammonia, etc. This is great because I wrote a grant to get several thousand dollars worth of high quality Vernier probeware for our science department, and this is just one extra place where I see similar probes used int he real world, and it is one more reason that technology literacy is an important 21st century skill. One of the Iowa Core's Characteristics of Effective Instruction is rigor and relevance, and I am finding several places where science knowledge is used in the workplace. I've always thought of myself as a teacher who did a decent job of making my class relate to the "real world," but through my externship I feel that I have even more ways of making my class relevant.

I've been mapping out my project in my head that I can use to relate my externship to my physics classroom. I think that it will have something to do with students investigating the physics of some time of animal. That way they will learn physics content, as well as understand that science is interdisciplinary. It will serve as a nice end-of-the-year transition into biology, which is where a lot of my 9th grade physics students will be going in 10th grade.

This week I also had the opportunity to visit Central Campus, which is a part of my district, although I have never been in the marine biology facility. One of the teachers there used to be the aquarist at the zoo, and he often helps the current aquarist if he has questions. It was great to see their facility; they have more aquariums than the zoo! He gave me a tour and I learned a lot about those particular animals, as well as being able to make a connection to several of my students who travel to Central to take the marine biology or aquarium science classes.