Hawar Khalandi
Article Topic: TPS
Submitted: 10/31/2006 12:20:48 PM
Greene, J. S. & Greene, B.D.2005. Using Amphibians and Reptiles to Learn the Process od Science, Science Activities, 41, 18-21.
Summary: In this article, the authors use amphibians and reptiles to teach science process skills. The authors explain why amphibians and reptiles are excellent choices for the students to observe. They point out that these animals play important roles in our ecosystem and that they are easy to maintain in a classroom. They believe that having these animals in classrooms may reduce student’s fear of these animals and it also improves students’ attitudes toward science. They have provided many activities teachers can do in their classrooms to enhance the students’ attitude towards science. The activities she has provided will help students learn to form hypotheses, develop observation skills, design and conduct experiments, and collect, graph, and evaluate data. These activities will also help the students understand and learn the different characteristics amphibians and reptiles have. One of the activities she has provided in this article and I will discuss is called, “staying warm: when and why?” In this experiment she puts the students in groups of 3-4 and gives them the procedure to the experiment. The directions are as follows: 1. Place a thermometer on the unheated, then heated substrates. Record both temperatures and the air temperature. Place a lizard in the container. 2. Hypothesize where the reptile will spend most of its time, and why. Also hypothesize when the reptile will spend more time on the warm area (i.e., when hungry, after eating, in the morning, afternoon, or evening). 3. Periodically record air temperature, time, whether the reptile is hungry or has just eaten, and where the reptile is located in the container. 4. Graph temperatures and locations of reptile. This activity has covered the basic science process skills. Students get to observe the lizard and what the lizard does and eats. It encourages students to communicate within their group and make hypothesis about their observations. It also has the students keep a record of the events happening and graphing the results and based on their graph and results make a prediction. The experiment is followed by some discussion questions as follows: 1. Does the reptile spend more time basking in the warm area before or after eating? Why? 2. When does the reptile move away from the warm area? Does classroom temperature influence this? 3. Why must a reptile keep its body temperature within a specific temperature range? 4. What are the advantages of being cold-blooded? Warm-blooded? Theses questions will require them to think critically and communicate with their team members by exchanging ideas and information to answer the questions.
Reaction: I really enjoyed reading this article. I liked the different activities mentioned in this article. I thought all the activities were interesting and could be done in any biology classroom. These activities make learning fun and interesting for the students and enhance their attitude towards science. I personally would try these activities in my classroom and also recommend other teacher to do the same. Students are curious creatures and want to learn on their own; these activities will provide the opportunity for the students to think critically, communicate with one another and draw conclusions based on their findings.