Artifact #5 - "Blood Soup" - Broad knowledge of subject areas
Educators have a broad knowledge base and understand the subject areas they teach.
When
I was teaching Science during my short practicum I was asked to teach the unit
about the human body. During one of my first classes with my students I used a
demonstration about blood called “blood soup” to help them make a connection to
the circulatory system. The
demonstration showed the four unique parts of blood so that students had an
understanding what the job of each of the four parts was. I started the demonstration by pouring
apple juice into a bag, which was representative of plasma. The students noted that the plasma was
yellow, not read and I told them that plasma was the only part of the blood
that was liquid. After this I put
in red chili flakes to represent red blood cells, the students noted that they
could not count all of the flakes and they were very small; we also noticed how
the red chili flakes gave the blood it’s colour and now all of the plasma was
red. We then added marshmallows
for white blood cells and sprinkles for platelets, always discussing their uses
and unique characteristics while doing this.
Following
this demonstration and activity the students had many questions about things
like blood transfusions, how much blood was taken from your body, blood
donations, blood types. Having a
large knowledge base on the subject, combined with pre-study on this topic allowed
me to answer the questions that came up throughout this process. Knowing that my students are generally curious,
I was able to answer all of their questions confidently but one because I was
prepared to do so. There was only one
question I did not know the answer to but this became a great lesson for the
class because we were able to look up together and explore how we can research
questions that we have when we learn about something new. The entire process was exciting for me
because I knew that by choosing to do a demonstration I had sparked an interest
with my students but even more so, by being able to answer some of their
questions right away I had carried the conversation to a new level and taken
their learning to a higher place.
I love how you truly connect and apply your teaching philosophy of being "a fun and engaging teacher" into your classroom. This 'blood soup' is something that I am sure the students will remember forever….must better than reading it from a textbook!
ReplyDeleteWhat a great idea and excellent way to connect students to the subject matter! I can just envision the excitement and interest on the students faces. Also well done on being so prepared with a solid background knowledge base to answer all the questions that the students could come up with and finding a solution when there was one you couldn't.
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