Extended Scientific Investigation
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Science is all about asking and answering verifiable questions. Going outdoors and making ecological observations usually leads one to ask questions. Those questions then lead one to try and find the answers to those questions. This is what my group and I worked on in our Ecology (SCI 336) class all semester. We went outdoors and noticed that some leaves were starting to change colors. We were curious why and how this happens. We wondered if there was a difference in the color change between the north side of trees and if temperature and light intensity had anything to do with the changing colors of leaves.We noticed that Grand Valley State University's campus has a natural beech-maple forest community structure so we decided to focus our investigation on three different maple trees (red maple, black maple, and sugar maple). After making our observations, we did a lot of research to see what we could find on this topic. Then we set up how and when we were going to collect data to try and answer our questions. We then calculated our results and made our conclusions.
Overall, this extended scientific investigation was a great experience to have. It made me realize that anyone can be a scientist just by making everyday observations and conclusions. This made me appreciate the work of scientists because it takes a lot of time and effort to carry out a scientific investigation. This experience taught me how to think like a scientist and how to write a scientific report. This will be very beneficial for when I am teaching because I will be able to take a similar approach to having my students do an extended scientific investigation and writing a report. I will take my students outside and have them observe their surroundings. They will get the option of what they want to research and experiment with. I feel that giving students the freedom to investigate what they choose will get them more excited about their learning. Being outside and observing things that happen in nature will give them a real-life perspective on a topic compared to just learning it inside the classroom by their teacher filling them with the information. Students will get the feel for writing a report, although it may not be as extensive as the ones that we wrote. It will be in their own words and meaningful to them as opposed to just what a publisher would be looking for. I would have a classroom book "published" or even go through the process of actually getting it published so that they feel that their hard work has paid off.
Overall, this extended scientific investigation was a great experience to have. It made me realize that anyone can be a scientist just by making everyday observations and conclusions. This made me appreciate the work of scientists because it takes a lot of time and effort to carry out a scientific investigation. This experience taught me how to think like a scientist and how to write a scientific report. This will be very beneficial for when I am teaching because I will be able to take a similar approach to having my students do an extended scientific investigation and writing a report. I will take my students outside and have them observe their surroundings. They will get the option of what they want to research and experiment with. I feel that giving students the freedom to investigate what they choose will get them more excited about their learning. Being outside and observing things that happen in nature will give them a real-life perspective on a topic compared to just learning it inside the classroom by their teacher filling them with the information. Students will get the feel for writing a report, although it may not be as extensive as the ones that we wrote. It will be in their own words and meaningful to them as opposed to just what a publisher would be looking for. I would have a classroom book "published" or even go through the process of actually getting it published so that they feel that their hard work has paid off.
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Extended Investigation Final Report | |
File Size: | 617 kb |
File Type: | doc |