I’m really worried about the life science classes I’m teaching this year. These are students who have or cannot pass algebra and it seems in most cases they have failed previous science classes. Many of them are very unmotivated, and most of my students are failing so far despite my best attempts.

I am shadowing another life science teacher since I have not taught science before and have no curriculum of my own. In fact, I believe I’m expected to use the same assignments at the same pace so that all the life science classes are virtually interchangeable. This approach is not working out too well. I think I’m teaching it the exact same way as the other teacher, yet her classes have far fewer failing students. I cannot help be feel something’s wrong with what I’m doing. However, the teacher whom I’m shadowing is less than approachable.

My BTSA Support Teacher – I’ll call her Mandy – had two suggestions that together gave me a brainstorm. One, she suggested that I might ease my problem with students repeated talking during exams by randomly giving a candy to those who are behaving correctly. I love this idea. Two, she suggested I can justify changing up the curriculum a bit because “the current path is not working for these students.”

So I bought a bunch of bags of small candies at Wal-Mart. You can get like 200 pieces for seven bucks. Then I got plain and colored tongue depressors at Michaels. They even had some glow-stick bracelets at a good price, and I grabbed those too. Today, I located a few large beakers in the science hallway. I pulled out the markers.

Near the end of each science class today, I introduced “Five Questions”. I had each student write his/her name on a stick of his/her choice, decorate the stick and return it to me. I put all the sticks into a large beaker. Then I asked five questions, one at a time. The questions were right out of today’s notes and should be right there in front of the student. After each question, I pulled a stick out of the beaker and called on that student. If the student knew the answer, his/her stick went into a smaller beaker. A wrong answer landed the student’s stick onto my desk. When we were done, the students who answered corrected came up and picked their favorite goody from the goody jar. They were so excited! Many students were disappointed that they were not called. I told them they might be next.

Of course, many students still did not know the answers because these students did not bother to write the notes today. I am hoping that Five Questions is incentive enough to start writing notes. Subsequently I hope test scores will go up too, and perhaps even the general level of work completion and turn-in.

I’ll report back in a few weeks or months.

UPDATE 10/2/08

This has turned out to be very popular with my life science students. They are better at getting their materials put away and back into their assigned seats quickly so that we can do “5 questions” at the end of class. So far, the winners have mainly been those students who were already doing okay. I’m interested whether the less engaged students will start answering correctly, which means having paid closer attention in class that day. It may be slow going, but I’m hoping that this will have a positive effect. At the very least, it is a nice closure activity.

Having graded tests today for my graphic design class, I’m think I need to try “5 questions” there too. They do not appear to be taking the reading seriously and are just jumping ahead to do all the tutorials. This is detrimental to their understanding of the software and design concepts in general.

UPDATE 10/13/08

After viewing recent quiz scores in my design classes, I decided to try this game there as well. The kids in the design classes love it as much as the science students.

There’s a life science test coming up on Friday, and various design quizzes tomorrow and Friday. I’ll be calculating the average scores for these and see if there’s been any improvement in lesson retention so far.

UPDATE 10/17/08

My life science classes have shown some improvement. In 6th period, for example, last month’s Unit 3 test generated a 60% average grade. Today’s Unit 4 test generated a 66% average. These numbers include only students who took the test. This difference may have to do with the nature of the individual test questions and not my methods, but this result encourages me to keep trying 5 Questions.

Here are some stats:

PERIOD 5	Unit 3 Test	Unit 4 Test
Class average	50	62½
	% students	% students
As	4	0
Bs	11	10
Cs	11	38
Total As, Bs and Cs	26	48
Ds	15	19
Fs	59	33
Total Ds and Fs	74	52

PERIOD 6	Unit 3 Test	Unit 4 Test
Class average	60	66
	% students	% students
As	13	0
Bs	4	24
Cs	22	28
Total As, Bs and Cs	39	52
Ds	13	8
Fs	48	40
Total Ds and Fs	61	48

UPDATE 11/18/08

5th Period did much better this unit test, while 6th period dipped but still did better in terms of % of As, Bs & Cs compared to Unit 3.

PERIOD 5	Unit 3 Test	Unit 4 Test	Unit 5 Test
Class average	50	62½	69
	% students	% students	% students
As	4	0	18
Bs	11	10	18
Cs	11	38	18
Total As, Bs and Cs	26	48	54
Ds	15	19	23
Fs	59	33	23
Total Ds and Fs	74	52	46

PERIOD 6	Unit 3 Test	Unit 4 Test	Unit 5 Test
Class average	60	66	60
	% students	% students	% students
As	13	0	5
Bs	4	24	10
Cs	22	28	33
Total As, Bs and Cs	39	52	48
Ds	13	8	19
Fs	48	40	33
Total Ds and Fs	61	48	52

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In May, I wrote a research paper for the entomology class I was taking. I chose the subject of dung beetles. Here’s why:

The dung beetles are of singular interest for many reasons. They keep our planet clean of animal wastes, disperse plant seeds, improve soil quality, control pests, and serve as food for a variety of animals. They are also fun to watch. I wish to introduce many characteristics of the dung beetles, and to describe the religious significance of one species of in particular.

My professor had some nice feedback:

Your paper on Dung Beetles is the best I’ve ever received! I not only enjoyed reading it but also learned much myself – that’s the type of paper I like to read. Thank you.

So I thought I’d share it with you too.

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I’m taking an entomology class this spring. I recently went to the Eastern Sierras with my boyfriend, and we took hundreds of photos. Many of these photos are of insects and spiders. I’d love help identifying these. I’ve asked my entomology teacher to help too. I numbered each photo:

1 & 2 are probably Tent Caterpillars.
3 & 4 is some kind of metallic blue-green bug or beetle.
5 is probably a Small Milkweed Bug.
6 is some kind of long-bodied green fly with orange-red eyes.
7 is a black beetle with a slender body and ribbed forewings (elytra).
8 & 9 are some kind of honey bee.
10 is the abandoned nest of some kind of wasp or hornet.
11-14 are several of the dozens of gray spiders we found on river rocks right near the water.

Click to see gallery page.

UPDATE 6/21/07

My etonmology teacher helped me narrow a few of these down to family names.

3 & 4 are stink bugs (Hemiptera order,) in the family Pentatomidae
7 is a Tenebrionid beetle (Coleoptera order,) in the family Tenebrionidae – possibly genus Eleodes
11-14 are wolf spiders (arachnid order Araneae,) in the family Lycosidae

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