Observation
Student Observation
Classroom: Ms. Joyce
Grade: 1st grade
Curriculum Area: Science
What I notice
The lesson focused on force and motion.
The teacher asked the students what
they thought force was before she
explained it to them. She got the
following answers:
When you make someone do
something.
When you hold someone without
touching them. (making connections)
She also asked the students had they
heard about what friction before and did
anyone know what a push is. When the
students were asked this question, one
student got up to demonstrate.
The teacher showed a video: Pushing and
Pulling Force, Work, and Energy
The video asked a variety of questions
about force and the kinds of forces
(friction, gravity, work/energy).
At every question during the video, the
teacher would pause to discuss with
students and to make connections to
things they may have done or
experienced that would have involved
forces and the different types of forces.
Some of these things included talking
about astronauts in space vs. people on
earth in relation to gravity, talking about
ice skating in relation to friction, and
talking about and demonstrating the
amount of work and energy required to
move a table vs. a chair.
Push and pull was also talked about and
at the end students were asked to work
in groups to categorize different activities
as displaying either push or pull.
Observer: Mykayla Perry
Date: 9 September 2017
Time: 9:45am
Thoughts, Questions, Connections to Methods
Classes
The turn and talk strategy we see used
often in our methods courses was used a
lot during this lesson.
Building connection based off of their
schema was used a lot during this lesson
which has been brought up in our class.
We talked about in class, as well as read
in the books that building background
knowledge and schema is important
when teaching science and the teacher
did this with her class by making
connections and asking questions to see
what they already knew before she even
started the lesson.
I want to know how much of this the
students are retaining since they do not
get taught science frequently and there is
no real emphasis on the students
knowing the information.
We have talked a lot about
differentiation and there was some in the
form of watching a video and
participating in group work in the end but
I wonder if there are more ways to
differentiate science for a 1st grade
classroom.
Questions to Consider in Your Reflection:

Do you think the teacher you observed established and communicated learning goals, tracked
student progress throughout the lesson, and celebrated success? Explain.
o For a first-grade classroom where they were engaged in possibly one of their first science
lessons ever, I do not think learning goals were communicated at the beginning. At the end
she had students categorize examples of push and pull into their respective categories so
then the students may have gathered that they were supposed to learn the difference
between the two. Student progress also was not really tracked. The whole lesson was
more of a giant group discussion because I think that was the easiest way to convey this
topic to 6 year olds. Success was celebrated at the end when the students were able to
show the categories in which each of the examples of push and pull belonged in.
Do you think the teacher was effective at managing the classroom during science instruction?
Explain.
o I do think the teacher was effective at managing the classroom during the science
instruction. By asking questions and pausing the videos at intervals, she made sure that
students were paying attention and engaged. She made sure students were not becoming
distracted and by making the lesson engaging through participation, she made sure that
everyone was behaving and doing their work when it was time for group work.
Do you think the teacher helped students effectively interact with new science concepts and/or
processes? If so, how? If not, why do you think that?
o I do think the teacher effectively helped students interact with new science concepts. She
asked them questions when it was appropriate to do so and allowed them to share their
thoughts or connections to the concepts while also making sure to clear up any
misconceptions. She had students demonstrate some concepts to allow interaction and by
tasking them with completing a group project of sorts to sort activities into either pull or
push, students got to interact with science as much as they could with this particular lesson
with the amount of time they were given.
Do you think the teacher helped students deepen their understanding of new science concepts
and/or processes? Explain.
o I do think the teacher helped students deepen their understanding by making connections
to things they were familiar with and by providing examples. Providing examples for them
really seemed to help them and would have built upon their schema, thus deepening their
understanding. She was able to clear up misconceptions as well.
Do you think the teacher effectively engaged the students? Explain.
o The teacher engaged students as much as she was able to with this particular lesson with
the amount of time she had to complete it. She allowed students to get up and
demonstrate things such as pushing and pulling as well as getting them engaged by
allowing them to share stories and connections they could make between the science
concepts and things they had experienced. The students also were engaged at the end of
the lesson when they split into groups to complete a categorization activity together. This
activity allowed students to be engaged in problem solving and collaboration that dealt
2
 directly with the science lesson.
Do you think the lesson you observed was an inquiry lesson? Explain.
o The lesson I observed was not an inquiry lesson. It was more so focused on delivering the
material to students. Students were not tasked with asking questions to then find a
solution.
What aspects of the lesson that you observed would you change? Keep? Explain.
o One thing I really liked about the lesson was the use of the video. It provided concise
information with examples the students could understand and it also provided different
points in which the video could be paused to discuss. One thing I would change would be
the amount of time I had to teach the lesson if at all possible. I would give myself more
time to allow the students to be even more engaged and to provide them with more
activities to explore force and motion.