Frequently Asked Questions
Question:
How do I control the "clean up" process?
Answer:
It is VERY important that the students do not wash their hands or the materials in your classroom or school building sinks, first. Stopping up the sink with a combination of dirt and clay will not win you points with the custodial staff.
First, talk to your custodial staff before starting the unit. Find out what they want you to do with the water in the rinse buckets. They may have a sink or drain that can handle it. OR there may be a spot on the property to dump the dirty rinse water. Find out who's going to take care of this "little chore."
If you have a sink in your room, things will be easier. Make sure you have at least 2 rinse buckets and assign each group to a specific rinse bucket. (See Teacher’s edition page 33 & page 36) Having a student pass out paper towels so students can dry their hands has saved my floor from needing to be mopped as often. Have students rinse their hands in the rinse bucket, get some paper towel to partially dry their hands, and then proceed to the sink and finally wash their hands.
When materials need to be cleaned, such as graduated cylinders, I have the students clean them in their rinse bucket. Unless there is clay in the graduated cylinder, that is usually enough cleaning. However, when there is lots of clay in the graduated cylinder, you may have to soak the cylinders to get all the soil out of the cylinder.
Try to have one group of students model cleaning up, so the other groups can see how it should look. You will save yourself some headaches if you specifically teach cleaning up to the class for this unit.
Question:
What works best for student management?
Answer:
During this unit there are many different tasks that need to be done in each of the lessons. Also, some of the activities, for example bulldozing the dirt, seem more fun then other tasks. In order to save my sanity, I have very specific job assignments before, during and after the lesson. The students even write their jobs in their journals. Some teachers even print out the job assignments and have the students glue the assignments into their journals. If you organize the student jobs before the lesson, your science lesson will go much more smoothly.
Question:
How do I help the students understand the concept of erosion?
Answer:
Fortunately, most students have had some experience with erosion. But on the other hand, most students haven’t spent much time thinking about what is going on. Focus on a few points: 1. The force of gravity pulls the water down hill. 2. The energy of motion from the water as it flows down the hill can increase for many different reasons; steeper slope, smoother surface, straighter surface, etc. 3. The energy of motion from the water can be reduced by; slowing down the water, having some of the water get soaked into the ground, bumping into an object. 4. The amount of energy of motion influences how much erosion or how fast the erosion happens. More energy = more erosion. However, the different earth materials also affect erosion, softer materials erode faster. Small particles erode faster.
Whenever the students work with stream tables have the students focus on the flow of the water, have them look for greater or less energy. Then have them focus on the earth material and see how the particle size effects erosion. By the end of all of these activities, students should really be able to make great predictions if you focus on these key concepts.
Question:
How do I get kids to engage?
Answer:
I've never met a student that didn't want to play in the water and sand. However, try to get the students to take the next step and apply their knowledge to what they see on their playground, neighborhood and community. Using photos of the area is a great way to have class discussions about where erosion happens in their neighborhood.
Question:
How can I make using the investigation process "do-able?"
Answer:
I rarely have students copy the whole investigation. As a class, we will write out all the steps, but I usually have the students record into their science notebooks just a few parts. I almost always have them write their own or their group's prediction. I usually have each student record their own data; however, if the students are doing a group aerial view, I usually don't make each student copy that into their notebooks. The other parts of the investigation process, I focus on one part for awhile (such as material list) and then when the students can generate one without my help, I switch to another step.
If you have the students copy the whole investigation process each time, the students will end up disliking science because of the writing load.
Question:
How do I make time for the reflection part of the lessons?
Answer:
Students need to think about what happened and try to make sense of it. Frequently, my class barely has time to finish cleaning up before the kids go home. So, the next day (or sometimes as homework) I have the students write about what happened or use one of the final activities as seatwork or a center the following day. If students don’t have time to reflect on the science, these lessons become fun-and-games and not a science lesson.