Little Chico Creek Elementary School Effervescent Rockets Monte Hill Little Chico Creek Elementary...

Little Chico Creek Elementary School

Effervescent Rockets

Monte Hill


Chico, California



My name is Monte Hill and I am a 3rd grade teacher at Little Chico Creek Elementary School in Chico, CA.

My web site is http://ctap295.ctaponline.org

My e-mail is [email protected]

This is a third grade science lesson on rocketry. The students will explore the physics of rocketry by launching simple effervescent rockets.

Introduction



Overview

This is a third grade science lesson on rocketry. During this five-day lesson, the students will explore the physics of rocketry by launching simple effervescent rockets made from 35mm film containers and Alka Seltzer tablets.

This lesson addresses Physical Science standard 1 (e,b,g).



Instructional Objectives

•States of matter•Stored energy and conversion of energy to motion•Real-life applications of stored energy

In general, students will encounter these topics:



My Expectations• Improve websight building skills• Create a lesson for my class• Work with colleagues• Learn PowerPoint• Make money


Effervescent RocketsOutcomes

I learned the following:

•FTP with Leech

•Web page creation in Netscape Composer

•Power point

•Downloading and uploading techniques


Effervescent RocketsPersonal Successes

•Gained ability to use website technology in class

•Forced (happily) to take a closer look at standards

•A chance to further research the topic of rocketry

•Personal satisfaction

•Opportunity to share with colleagues



Student Successes•Learned according to standards

•Came to view Internet as legitimate research tool

•Inspired to extend their learning independently.

•Highly motivated



Shortcomings•Students resist reading on-screen directions

•Presentation technology can overwhelm lesson

•Lack of student knowledge of website navigation

•Website creation occasionally hindered by technical glitches involving server and school computers



Student DataPrior to the lesson, no students could answer more than two questions correctly, 30% answered one, and 70% answered none correctly.

On the post-test, 80% answered all three correctly, 10% two, and 10% only one.



Revisions

My lesson was perfect. No revisions were necessary…..



SummaryWhile I possessed some web building skills prior to this project, I found there was still a great deal to learn. It was a challenge to bring lesson planning skills and technology skills together without emphasizing one over the other. I enjoyed using the Internet for presentation rather than just for research, but it is clear that this sort of teaching is still in its infancy.



WarningIf websight technology is to be used and accepted extensively as a teaching tool, the frustration level must be reduced. It is my hope that the process of creating a websight can become technically smooth and easy. Otherwise, we might easily waste a golden opportunity to fully utilize the tools we have invented. As long as the process is still frustrating, scary and intimidating to newcomers, it will continue to be used only by a select few.

Little Chico Creek Elementary School Effervescent Rockets Monte Hill Little Chico Creek Elementary...

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