Below
is a mind map I have created around the big idea of life cycles. In this mind
map, I’ve included three curriculum-learning areas such as science and
technology, mathematics, and the arts. Within the learning areas, I had developed
an idea of what children might learn or explore during an investigation of life
cycles when it comes to pumpkins. Along with the learning areas, I have
provided a few learning outcomes the children might achieve during the exploration
and investigating the children participate in. This mind map shows educators
the big idea of life cycles and how it can be taken into a variety of
curriculum learning areas while making it an exciting and fun experience for
the children.
Exploring Science: Life Cycle
Friday, February 21, 2014
Communicating about Life Cycles
Communication is an
important aspect in a child’s development. It is with communication that
children are able to express how they feel and what they are thinking about.
When talking about life cycles, the children can share their thoughts on what
they think, what they know and what they have learned through exploring and
investigating. There are a few ways in which children can display and express
their thoughts. One way would be through using art as a way of communicating.
The children may draw or paint pictures to represent what they have learned
throughout the process of the investigation. Within the art curriculum learning
area, the children may have the opportunity to communicate their understanding
of something by representing their ideas and feelings through visual art, for
example drawing or painting the life cycle of a pumpkin (Ministry of Ontario,
2010, p. 156). The children may show that they understand the life cycle the
pumpkin undergoes throughout its growing process. They may also draw out and
label the parts of the pumpkin for example, the skin, the seeds and the stem.
The children may also explore the characteristics of the
pumpkin, such as the colour, texture and shape. When looking at a pumpkin, the
children may have the chance to feel and notice the texture that the pumpkin has.
Within the art curriculum learning area, the children may further explore the
different elements of design in visual arts for example, the line, colour,
shape and texture of the pumpkin (Ministry of Ontario, 2010, p. 153). The
children may draw out a pumpkin and use close to the same colours when
colouring in the pumpkin. They may also use either a pumpkin or an object to
create a texture to their picture they drew of the pumpkin.
They
can use the picture of the pumpkins they drew in order to display what they
have learned compared to what they had already known. The children can use the
experiences they have had either at home or in school and make connections
between what they know already and what they want to know more about. The
children may reflect on what they have learned and focus on what they want to
know more about. This is where as an educator, it is essential to take in this
information as it could potentially lead to another investigation or project,
either about pumpkins or about the life cycle of other living things in nature.
Investigating Life Cycles
Children
have curious minds and need to further explore all the questions that come to
their minds. It is important to provide the children with a chance to
investigate the questions that pop into their minds. When it comes to the big
idea of a life cycle, the children might pose questions such as what stages a pumpkin goes through or how a pumpkin becomes a pumpkin?
The
children can plant their own pumpkins starting with a seed. With this, the
children can physically see how a pumpkin goes from the tiny seed into a big
vegetable. The children may have the opportunity to communicate and record
results and finds after constructing things either individually or in groups
within the science and technology curriculum learning area (Ministry of
Ontario, 2010, p. 119). The children can see what is occurring during the life cycle
process as their seed grows into a flower and then to a pumpkin. They can
document each step and communicate their findings with each other or on their
own.
Children
might also pose questions such as how tall is a pumpkin or does the size of a
pumpkin determine the amount of seeds that come inside. This is where
mathematics would come in to place. In the mathematics curriculum learning
area, the children may sort, classify, and compare objects and describe the
attributes used when grouping the size of the seeds (Ministry of Ontario, 2010,
p. 110). The children can have the experience of taking out the seeds from the pumpkin
and sorting them by size while also counting how many were inside.
With
mathematics the children can also measure the width and height of different
sized pumpkins. They can compare the results found and communicate their
thoughts on what they discovered. Within the mathematics curriculum learning
area, they children may compare and order two or more objects according to an
appropriate measure such as height and weight of the pumpkins (Ministry of
Ontario, 2010, p. 102). The children may come up with predictions and questions
on why some pumpkins grew larger than others and why some pumpkins were tiny.
It is with these questions that can lead the investigation further into the
life cycle process. They can plant their own pumpkin seeds and use different techniques
such as fertilizer or more sunlight.
Exploring the Life Cycle
Starting
the exploration for an investigation around the big idea of a life cycle, it is
important to keep in mind that the interests of the child need to be
followed. It is essential to a
constructivist classroom, that the curriculum is focused and guided by the
children and their interests rather than the teacher. With the life cycle, the
children can explore the characteristics a pumpkin has and the stages they go
through as they grow from a seed to a flower to an orange pumpkin. In the
Science and technology curriculum learning area, the children will have the
chance to investigate the seeds that are found in the pumpkins. They will have
the opportunity to make predictions and observations before and after this
investigation (Ministry of Ontario, 2010, p. 119). In the blog written by Darla
Myers mentioned in a previous post, her children had come up with questions
based on how many seeds a pumpkin will have and if the size of the pumpkin
means it will have more seeds inside.
The
children might develop more questions while further exploring the pumpkins. The
life cycle of the pumpkin might come into context in the sense that the children
might want to know how the pumpkin became a pumpkin. In the Science and
technology curriculum learning area, the children might have the opportunity to
ask questions about and describe some natural occurrences using their own
observations and representations about the stages a pumpkin goes through
(Ministry of Ontario, 2010, p. 115). The children may ask questions based on how a pumpkin becomes a pumpkin or how do we grow a pumpkin. As an educator, it is important to use
those questions the children ask as a base line when it comes to planning
investigations for the children to explore.
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