Bill Robertson, Ph.D. - Classes
Teacher Education Department

MSED 4311 - Teaching Science in Intermediate and Middle Grades - Mid-Term Assignment

Task

You are tasked with developing, implementing and discussing an appropriate grade level science activity in class that focuses on a specific concept found in physical science. This activity and its presentation will be your Mid-term assignment. The purpose is to have you demonstrate an inquiry based scientific concept that would be appropriate for you to use in your current classroom. You should plan to model pedagogical techniques including Socratic questioning, cooperative grouping, constructivism and other methods as your present your activity to the group. Each student will have at least 15 minutes to present their demonstration and to field questions from classmates.

Product – Science Activity

The activity that you present must focus on specific concepts in 4-8 science. You should include a title for your activity, identify the specific TEKS that you are addressing in the activity, provide a brief introduction (or hook) to engage the learner, provide step by step instructions for doing the activity, and provide extension explorations and questions that engage the learner in making connections to real world situations. You should follow the science activity template in the development of your activity. You can also look at a sample activity in the appropriate format.

Additionally, you need to provide a 300 word reflection on how best to use this activity in the classroom and the appropriate methods you would use in order to present this as the instructor.

Presentation

Each student will have approximately 10 - 15 minutes to present their demonstration and to field questions from classmates. Be sure to bring the appropriate materials you will need in order to facilitate your classroom presentation.

Evaluation

The evaluation for your Mid-term grade will be a combination of the product (the activity) that you develop and your presentation of this product in the classroom. There will be a rubric that will be used for the evaluation of the product (specific demonstration that you do for the class – please remember to present a write up for the instructor), as well as a rubric that will be used for evaluation of the presentation. The final score that you receive will be out of a total of 90 possible points.
UTEP College of Education