Report On Teaching Science Using Virtual Experiment Plants And Animals

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Report on Teaching Science Using Virtual Experiment Topic: Plant and Animals Sub topic : Habitat and Food chain

Last Saturday October 24th, I and my colleague Shahriah had conducted a science lesson using virtual presentation. We had chosen Plants and Animals as our topic; habitat and food chain for our subtopics. Actually we had planned to conduct the lesson a week ago due to unavoidable circumstances where the school had problem with internet connections so we had to reschedule the lesson. The virtual presentation was conducted on Year 4 of fourteen students from 4C at Rimba II Primary school. We had only picked 14 students with high and average abilities because the class teacher wanted to prepare the rest of the students for their upcoming Final Examination on the 9th of November, 2009. We started the lesson with reciting the `doa’ with the students. Students’ seating were arranged carefully so that they could view the whiteboard and the IWB (interactive whiteboard) clearly. Our lesson includes the set induction, content, activities and assessment. Firstly, I began the lesson with set induction by asking students to give some examples of Brunei’s local fruits followed by the name of local animals. All contributions by students were noted down on the board. Next, students were also asked to give the similarities and differences between plants and animals. After the discussion, the students were shown some pictures of local fruits and animals using power point presentation. In my observation, all pupils were very active during the discussion. They could answer when they were asked questions I think it was because they had studied the lesson earlier this year. Also, the students were very interested when they were shown pictures using the power point presentation.

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Students reciting the `doa’

Seating arrangement

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Teacher brainstorming ideas with the students

Ideas that were noted down on the whiteboard

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Showing pictures using power point presentation

Picture of a crocodile

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Picture of a goat

My colleague Shahriah continued the next part of the lesson which was the content. As for the content and the assessment we had used

activities

and

assessment

provided

by

the

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ks2bitesize/science/living_things/plant s_animals_environment/play.shtml. In this session, teacher had shown

students

examples

of

habitats

and

they

were

asked

questions during the lesson. Oral assessments were also given to check students’ misconception by using the virtual activities. Students sat and listen while teacher conducted the lesson without doing any manipulations during the visual experiment.

Next,

Shahriah continued with ‘food chain’ and implemented similar strategies to deliver the lesson. In my observation, I found out that all students were very active during the lessons and activities at the same time some students looked restless in the activities.

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Shahriah showing example of habitat

Shahriah teaching the habitat of plants and animals

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Student active in activity on habitat

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Shahriah teaching `food chain’

Virtual activity on food chain

Virtual activity used to check students’ understanding

In the last part of the lesson, students were asked to sit in pairs to do the assessment. Worksheets were given and discussion in pairs were allowed. During the activity, we played our role by facilitating the students ; showing them pictures of some animals using http://www.google.com such as heron, wood louse, desert and meadow.

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Students doing the activity

Students doing the activity

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A picture of a heron

A picture of a woodlouse

As for my conclusion, teaching students using virtual presentation can be very effective to deliver a lesson. The ideas or concepts are presented in a very interesting and colorful ways which helps to motivate students to learn. For examples, by using power point presentation

and

using

relevant

website

such

as

http://www.google.com to show some pictures of local plants and animals can be a powerful tool in the lesson. Students were very excited to see pictures and they looked very eager to see the next picture on the next slide during the presentation (power point

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presentation). Other than that, the website that was used to present the content and the assessment was very helpful for the lesson. In brief, our objectives were achieved in the session based on our observation. However, we were very disappointed that the students could not make used of the computers in the lab to carry out the activities on their own due to some setbacks in the internet connections. I think the lesson could be far better if the students were able to manipulate the computers; which could help in developing their skills in handling the computers.

Assessment given at the end of the lesson Plants and animals Read the questions below and underline the correct answers. Top of Form eJxNUMlOw 0AM7

1. Which of these things are you NOT likely to find in a park or garden?

An earthworm An oak tree A crab

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2. Which of these animals is most likely to live in a pond?

A water spider A caterpillar An ant 3. Which of these is most likely to grow in woodland?

Algae An oak tree A cactus 4. A habitat is

an animal behaviour a shop where animals go to buy things for their homes a place where animals and plants live 5. Which collection of animals might you find in a seashore habitat?

Zebras, lions and elephants Owls, caterpillars, oak trees Barnacles, seagulls, crabs

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6. A frog is adapted to its pond habitat by

being brightly coloured having webbed feet growing into an adult frog 7. Why does a heron have a long sharp beak?

To catch fish To look cool To fly faster 8. Why do African elephants have big ears?

To keep cool To hear better To fly 9. Where would you expect to find a woodlouse?

In a hot, sunny place

In a dark, damp place

In a dark, dry place 10. Which habitat does a rabbit live in?

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Desert

Meadow

River Bottom of Form