Antonio Marchi

EDS 150 A

Journal

09/16/08

Learning maybe fun but it may also be boring. The activities I do in the “Introduction to Education” class are fun. The students in that class are involved in active learning because they perform tasks that require observation, critical thinking, and imagination. In the past there have been classes in which we just listen to the teacher talk or the teacher instruct us to read some chapters and answer some questions. Sometimes these activities are boring and students tend not to do them or miss class if they have the opportunity of not being hurt much by attendance grade. Sometimes students are so bored that they fall sleep.

The activity in which the students tried to balance the balloon that was on the floor with a balloon that was off the floor requires some observation and critical thinking. First, we observed the options of objects that we could place in the Styrofoam bowl that was attached with strings to the balloon. Among the objects were beans, sea shells, fruit loops, small Styrofoam balls, toothpicks, and a few others. We could experiment with a combination of objects, or we could use one kind of object. I decided I would start with the seashell because I believed it was the heaviest object, which it turned out to be that way because I placed two or three of them on the ball and the bowl touched the ground. I decided that the sea shells were not very useful in making the balloon even out to the same level as the other one. Me and my partner used beans instead, which were lighter than sea shells. After a while we experimented with several mixtures. We could tell which object was lighter than the other. As soon as we took one of the objects out and replaced it with another, we could tell which one was heavier. For example, one would expect that a fruit loop weights the same as a small Styrofoam ball; however, while we were doing this experiment, we realized that one of the objects was heavier than the other because when we used a fruit loop the bowl would drop all the way to the floor , on the contrary, when we used the toothpick the bowl would still be in the air. Other students used different objects and combinations. We all arrived to a very close result. There are many different ways to arrive to the same solution.

Likewise, the activities the instructed us to do on the next day of class involved a lot of observation. We had to look at the object that we each took out of a brown paper bag. I had a piece of cloth. Each student had to describe the texture, shape, uses, and other characteristics related to the object. We also had to compare the object with ourselves. Then, we formed groups and our partner gave us feedback. Then, we had to relate the object starting with the question “As a leaner I am because…” I believe I did this part of the work wrong because what the students that volunteered read was completely different than what I had written. I wrote all the characteristics of the piece of cloth but it did not make any sense on how that was a learner.

For homework I need to write about a popper. The paper is supposed to be 750 words to make an A, which would take about two pages of a typed double spaced paper. I believe it would take me a lot of time because it usually takes me about two hours to write a paper about a subject with which I am already familiar with. It would take me longer to write about a topic for which I do not know much about.

There is something new happening each day. There are days that are more challenging than others. There are days when people have to work and days when people have the opportunity to rest. The moment has arrived for me to do homework. This is the journal part of my homework. I am relieved that part of my homework is already finished.