BB & W

Kirsten has a battery and a small bulb. She wonders how many strips of wire she will need to connect the battery and the bulb so that the bulb will light. What is the smallest number of wire strips Kirsten needs to make the bulb light up?

Two strips of wire would be the smallest number of strips Kirsten
could use because one strip could be connected to each side of the battery.

Pink Lab
Strengths:
Student-centered: Students are able to explore and investigate how to get the light bulb to light up without specific teacher instruction
Posed questions: questions direct students in the right way
questions encourage students to think of alternative ways
Variety: If students are stuck or struggling with one questions, they may move onto the next
Reflection is included: Students are instructed to record diagrams in notebook

Weaknesses:
No diagrams or illustrations to guide lab
Hints are not provided
Too many steps/questions (may be overwhelming)

Yellow Lab
Strengths:
Diagrams/representations: Provide students with a resource to use
Detailed: Students have a step by step guide to follow. Students will always know what to be doing without confusion
Variety: Yellow sheet provides three different ways, increasing in difficulty, for students to experiment with

Weaknesses:
Teacher-centered: Does not provide much creativity or engagement from students. All they have to do is follow the sheet, step by step.
Does not include assessment or reflection: Students are not instructed to record any information


Standard/Benchmark:
Standard B: Light, Heat, Electricity, and Magnetism
Benchmark:Electricity in circuits can produce light, heat, sound, and magnetic effects. Electrical circuits require a complete loop through which an electrical current can pass.

Learning Goals:
Students should know that a complete circuit produces light

Learning Performances:
Students will use multiple wires, a light bulb, and battery to show how a complete circuit produces light


My experience with BB & W in the classroom is closely related to the "Science Story" article.
In class we were given two labs; one lab with specific directions, another directed by open-ended questions. Similary in the article, the same goes for the teachers who proposed two difference lessons. One teacher had students follow her step by step as she explained, in detail, the process of creating light with light bulbs, a battery, and wires. She also assumed students needed to know specific information right away, so they would understand the process. The next teacher lead her lesson as an investigation. Questions, ideas, predictions, demonstrations, justification were all used in her lesson.

Personally, if I had to choose a lesson to be apat of I would choose the second teacher's strategy. Her lesson includes all 5 elements of Inqury. I would feel engaged, and actually interested in the activity presented to me. I am expected to justify or prove my answer through demonstration or reflection. I am evaluated through classroom discussion and assesment and lastly I am constantly communicating my thoughts throughout the entire process.

In class, the activity which directed our experiement through questions is quite similar to the "investigation" lesson above. However, it lacked certain elements such as evaluation. We were not required to relfect or demonstrate our concluion to the teacher or other classmates.

MY IDEAL BB & W LESSON (based on Jeff Goodman's sample lesson plan)

Engagement. As I pass out the materials to each pair of students, I will tell the students that they have been spelunking -- wearing a light on their helmet -- when they run into an overhanging rock and smash their light. In the complete and utter darkness, they feel around and locate a battery, a bulb, and two pieces of wire. In order to find their way out of the cave, they need to make the bulb light with only these supplies.

More teacher-directed because of the opening story-line teacher proposes.

Exploration/Evidence. During this phase, students will "play" with their materials trying to find a way to make the bulb light. If a group gets the bulb to light, I will get them to try it with only one wire. ("Oops, you dropped one of your wires! See if you can still get the bulb to light.")

Student-directed because students are conducting the investigation themselves.

Explanation. During this phase, I will help the students make sense of what they have experienced. Groups will be invited to come to the board to draw designs that worked and ones that didn't. What did the designs that worked have in common? Initially, I will work towards the concept of the circuit, introducing the terms:

conductor: a material through which electricity can flow easily insulator: a material through which electricity doesn't flow easily
circuit: a continuous path of conductor so that electricity can flow from one end of the battery, through the device (light bulb) and to the other end of the battery
short circuit: a circuit that by-passes the device (light bulb), that is one where the electricity can flow from one end of the battery to the other without going through the device.

Student-directed because students are working in groups and as a whole to justify their answers, not the teacher.

Evaluation I will use a few of the attached diagrams (p. 3-96- 3.98 in the text)as a formative assessment at this point. Misunderstandings can be cleared up here before going on. It is important to test our ideas against the drawings of successful and unsuccessful designs on the board. Next, I will have the students look closely at the light bulb itself. How might it be "hooked up" inside? Their responses will provide me with some more insight about what they understand, and I can clarify concepts here as well. Then I will draw a large diagram of a bulb and battery system on the board and have them work out the internal wiring, discussing what parts might be insulators and what parts might be conductors. Also,  a careful analysis of their writing as they describe their open and closed circuits will allow me to determine any remaining weaknesses in their conceptual models of circuits. 

Student-directed because students are responsible for the puting the pieces together.

 Communication: Throughout the entire lesson students are engaged with one another as well as with the instructor. Constant ideas, questions and predictions are circulating the room.

Student-directed because students are expected to be resources for one another in the classroom.