Purpose
The concept of matter and its properties
poses an opportunity for participants from different backgrounds to
share a meaningful part of themselves with others. This project
illustrated that everything in our world is made of matter. It also
exercised scientific reasoning skills. This project
hopefully made learning about matter a meaningful
experience and provided an opportunity for participants to learn about
one another as well!
Description
Participants were asked to pick an
object
that represents him/her in some way (it tells something about
themselves,
their family, their culture, etc.). The object was required to have
some sort of
meaning
to the participant or story behind its origin. This object was also
preferably
small
enough that it could be brought to school or the participant could
bring a
picture of
the object. Participants were to keep their object a secret by only
answering
questions about the object and not revealing its name. These questions
related to the properties of matter. For example, what is the
object's
state of matter, what color is the object, how big is the
object, and so on. For the conclusion, participants were
asked
to write a
short paragraph about the special meaning of the object to him/her. All
of these questions were posed and answered through the online questionnaire.
Participants were then able to read
about others' secret objects and submit guesses as to
what the
objects may be in our classroom
moodle. Participants used what they knew about the properties
of matter to make educated guesses. Then, students revealed their
objects through posting a picture of the object online and
telling more
about its properties and uniqueness.
Process
Participants
This project is designed for elementary students ages 6 - 10 years old.
The summer participants included four classroom teachers (including
myself), one general participant and one student participant. I was
hoping to get more students to participate, but because of the length
of time for piloting the project, I was unable to do so. I advertised
my project idea on the Global School Network and Teachers.net. I had
one response from GSN from a teacher in Seattle wishing to join my
project in the fall. I also had a teacher from Florida and a teacher
from Kentucky respond from
Teachers.net stating interest in my project. I plan to follow
through with the project in the fall with these teachers. I also
advertised with an email to teachers and family members who I thought
would enjoy participating.
Process
1. Participants were asked to choose a meaningful object and then
complete the online
survey answering questions about the object's properties.
2. Next, participants were to email me a picture of their object.
3. The survey results were then automatically emailed to me and I
posted these results under the participant's name in our classroom
moodle.
4. Participants were then directed to join the classroom moodle and
pose guesses to others' objects.
5. After guesses were made, participants were to view their project
forum to see if anyone made a good guess!
6. Finally, students were to view each participant's picture of their
object on July 31 to see if they guessed correctly according to the
properties of matter.
Findings
The participants discovered that many things including a dog, bird,
plate, ball, etc. are made of matter. Some of these objects are living,
yet they are still made of matter. Participants used measuring tools
(scales, rulers, etc.) to describe their objects in more detail.
Students also had to use these tools to get an approximate size of
others' objects to make educated guesses.
Students also learned why the chosen objects were meaningful ones. For
example, the participant who chose the bird explained that "My object makes me feel happy when I see
it fly in the sky and hear it's cheerful song. I've seen them flying by
during many important events in my life. I enjoy watching them at a
feeder outside my window." The participant's object was a yellow
finch.
Please view our classroom
moodle to learn about others' objects. You may log in as a guest.
Conclusion
Overall, I think the trial run was a success. The participants reported
that they enjoyed the process and those that were teachers would like
to participate in the fall. I also felt that describing an object's
properties and making a guess at others' objects really made the
concept of matter come to life. Participants really had to think to
make an intelligent guess at another's object. It was interesting
to try to bring
together a physical science unit and an opportunity to learn about
another
person in some way, whether culturally or in a different manner. It was
fun for participants to be able to guess another’s object just by
exploring the
properties!
Pros
* Students are actively involved in the entire process
* Students have to utilize skills for describing and measuring objects
* Students are required to make educated guesses
* The project is interesting and fun!
* Students have a wonderful opportunity to learn about others!
Cons
* The project requires certain computer skills that some may not be
well versed in (emailing pictures, participating in moodle)
* The project also asks for each student to have an email address to
create a user name and password. This can be time consuming for a
teacher to create an email account for each student and set up his/her
moodle account.
* The project also requires students to have access to computers in a
lab or classroom. This may be difficult to complete the project in a
timely fashion for teachers with limited computer use.
What to do differently?
In the fall, I would definitely need to have more participants. Our
findings were limited because of only having a few participants for the
summer trial. I think that my directions also need to be more clear.
Some
participants forgot to email me their pictures and did not go back into
the moodle classroom to guess at objects after their initial visit.
Also, I need to require a participant response at the end of the
project. This response could either give more detail about the
importance of the object or the participant could respond to the
guesses other students posed in his/her object forum. I would also like
to require, with each guess, that the student explain why he/she is
making that guess with at least one or two reasons. For example, "I
think your object is a bird because you said that it can fly and it is
living" instead of "Is your object a bird?" The summer trial was very
helpful for this project. I know that I will encounter more
challenges as I coordinate this project in the fall but overall, I
think it will be easier and will work better. I am happy that I had
three
teachers from different states want to join. I am hoping to recruit
more participants during the school year!