Hands on Lab
Spring 2016
Internship in Science Teaching
BIOL 498
Spring 2016
Tanya Heaston/Dr. Bev Marcum
Office: PHYS 205 / Holt 330
Email: sheaston@csuchico.edu
bmarcum@csuchico.edu
CLASS OBJECTIVES: The Hands-On-Lab is a classroom facility on the Chico State campus
that provides early experiences for college students to teach science to elementary and middle
school students. The science curriculum is Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) based
and specific for grades 4-5-6-7 & 8. College student interns will gain mastery of science
concepts at this level. The laboratory exercises focus on hands-on experiences emphasizing the
science and engineering practices in the NGSS. Interns will actively use research-based
instructional methods in their teaching. In addition, interns will evaluate the success of the
laboratories and the teaching experience using a modified lesson study research method. The
primary objectives for the lab are for the college interns is to learn how to communicate about
science, provide experiences in a sequenced manner to promote understanding, and to assess
with probing questions whether understanding has occurred as a result of these experiences. The
primary objectives for elementary students and their teachers is to develop positive attitudes
towards science and to have an exciting experience that motivates continual, life-long learning
and enthusiasm for science.
Upon successful completion of this course students will be able to:
1. Write a reflection regarding knowledge gained during teaching experience.
2. Use scientific and engineering practices in acquiring knowledge and solving problems.
3. Understand basic concepts of life, earth, and physical science through investigation and
experimentation.
4. Provide and implement lesson plans and activities for elementary school students
5. Become familiar with the Next Generation Science Standards and the three
dimensionality of the performance expectations.
6. Develop skills in analysis, problem solving, and communication.
7. Explain the key properties of water and describe various laboratory experiments that can
be used to demonstrate these properties to elementary and Jr. High students.
8. Explain the key properties of matter and describe various laboratory experiments that can
be used to demonstrate these properties to elementary and Jr. High students.
9. Explain the key properties of electricity and circuits and describe various laboratory
experiments that can be used to demonstrate these properties to elementary and Jr. High
students.
10. Explain the key properties of plate tectonics and cite evidence that plate tectonics can be
used to explain geological and biological phenomenon.
11. Explain the key properties of the digestive system and describe various laboratory
experiments that can be used to demonstrate these properties to elementary and Jr. High
students.
12. Explain the key ideas of the rock cycle. Use evidence to categorize rock types.
Hands on Lab
Spring 2016
CLASS HOURS:
Lab times:
Friday;
Training/Debriefing meeting:
9-10, 10-11, 11-12, 12-1
Friday
2-3:50pm
This course is Credit/No Credit. Successful completion requires your participation in all
labs and debriefing meetings. Attendance, punctuality, and attitude as well as quality of
your journal reflections will be part of the credit grade.
ATTENDANCE AND PARTICIPATION:
• It is required that you attend all labs and debriefing meetings throughout the semester.
Attendance and participation are important components of your grade
• You must attend labs for the time and day you sign up each week during the
semester. Punctuality is extremely vital and tardiness will reflect on your
attendance and participation.
• Two absences may be made up (with pre-arrangement) by attending an alternate lab.
Participation in every make up lab is required.
COURSE Content
The following topics will be covered. Student interns will learn pertinent content background for
the covered labs, be trained to teach various components of the labs, and then have the
opportunity to teach these labs to visiting elementary and Jr. High students from various Redding
school districts
Introduction to Course
Water Laboratory:
Properties of Water
Chemical structure of water
Water as an absorber of heat
Cohesion and adhesion
Capillary action
Surface tension
Changing states: The water cycle
Evaporation
Condensation
Precipitation
Molecular motion and heat energy
Where is Earth’s water found
Matter Laboratory:
Particulate nature of matter: Atoms: protons, neutrons, and electrons
Molecular motion and heat energy
Changing states: gases fill available space
Evaporation and sublimation
Hands on Lab
Spring 2016
Liquid nitrogen and dry ice
Air takes up space and has mass
Solids and liquids
Density
Mixtures and compounds
Organization of the periodic table of the elements
Electricity laboratory:
Electric charge and static electricity
Likes repel and opposites attract
Conductors and insulators
What completes a circuit
Parallel and series circuits
Light bulb construction
Electromagnets: how magnetism and electricity are related to make a motor
Magnetism laboratory:
Magnetic field and magnetic domain
Poles of a magnetic: likes repel and opposites attract
What elements are attracted to a magnet?
Make a compass and compare to a real compass
Quantify magnetic force using numbers of clips attracted and distance from clip
Electromagnets: how magnetism and electricity are related to make a magnet
Digestion laboratory:
All animals ingest their food and break it down by the process of mechanical and chemical
digestion to make usable energy.
Teeth of herbivores, carnivores, and omnivores
Starch search: Using an indicator to identify the presence of starch
Enzymatic digestion of starch by amylase
Compartmentalization of the digestive system: measurements of length of the
tract and volume of digestive fluids
Comparative anatomy of digestive systems: crayfish, shark, pig, human
Feeding hydra: an incomplete digestive system
Photosynthesis laboratory:
Structure and function relationships in plants
Green leaves contain chlorophyll pigments
Chlorophyll extract absorbs different wavelengths of light: visualize with
spectroscope
Observe structure of a variety of leaf types
Relate structure of leaf model to movement of air through stomata into the
spongy layer of the leaf
Observe stomata under the compound microscope: view open and closed
Carbon dioxide and sugar: how are these compounds related?
Hands on Lab
Spring 2016
WEEKLY JOURNAL:
• Interns are required to keep a weekly journal that includes reflection of the training
labs and the hands-on-labs experience. These may be hand written or submitted to the
instructor electronically.
New Lab Curriculum Project:
• Developing curriculum is an exciting and important part of teaching. As part of the
science intern program a thematic curriculum unit will be introduced and developed in
more detail by the interns. The unit will follow the Hands On Lab format and interns
will work collaboratively on specific activities. The goal will be to present the final
lab station activity to the rest of the class during the last week of debrief meetings.
HOL Content Final:
• Final will consist of multiple choice and short answer questions and will be based on
the science content standards presented in the labs.
IT IS THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE INTERN TO:
1. Attend regularly, be prepared
2. Participate
3. Keep up with journal entries
4. Sign-in for each attendance
5. Be responsible for checking the WebCT site for class readings assignments
6. Attend all training/debriefing meetings.
Date
Week 1-3
4-5
6-7
8-9
10-11
11-12
13-14
Week 15
Topic
Teaching Strategies
for NGSS
Water
Digestion
Matter
Plate Tectonics
Electricity
Rocks and Landforms
Final assessment and
survey
Excused absences must be made up by attending/teaching another lab time. If the intern has no
other time during the week to teach in the lab, then they must make up the absence by making
Hands on Lab
Spring 2016
arrangements with the instructor for an alternative which may include assisting in the training of
fellow interns or by helping to organize laboratory materials.
DRESS CODE:
You will be working with children and their teachers in a public setting. You will be expected to
dress at the same level of professionalism as you would at an elementary school site. i.e. No
hats, modest attire, no super shorts, no underwear showing, no low cut tops. Clothes should also
be appropriate for a lab setting. i.e., closed-toed shoes, long hair tied back, lab coats. (Refer to
Lab Safety Contract.)
Students not dressed appropriately will have to change into other attire before being allowed to
teach.
ELECTRONIC DEVICES:
For safety reasons and class courtesy, personal electronic devices; including but not limited to,
cell phones, MP3s, IPODs, etc will be turned off and put out of site while in the science lab and
classes. They will not be allowed during class or science lab sessions.
Lab Safety
All safety regulations are to be followed at all times. A safety contract signed by each student
will be kept on file.