Daily Activities & Observations

Underground Animal Investigation (9:00- 10:15 AM): Made worm farms and ant observation stations

Root Exploration (10:30-11:30 AM): Carefully pulled the plants apart to inspect the roots then replaced them back in see through containers

Underground Mapping (1:45-2:45 PM): Drew cross-section pictures of what may be under our playground

Story Creation (3:00-3:30 PM): kids dictated underground adventures stories

Professional Practice Elements Engaged 

Professional Teaching Standards - Standard 1 (Know Students and How They Learn): how children learn is essential to the process of effective teaching (AITSL, 2018):  

1.2 - Understand How Students Learn:  

  • Admitted the need of recollected children to have immediate, concrete experiences of understanding abstractions   
  • Gave opportunities to experience the same thing (with hands, watching, moving. 
  •  Connected new learning to children's prior experiences and knowledge 

1.5 - Differentiated Teaching: Differentiated instruction comprehensively provides an opportunity to reach every child and their level (Tomlinson, 2017):  

  • Kylo (advanced): Asked to make labelled scientific drawings Level of detail child asked to draw: Locked up in controversy  
  • Jovana (EAL): Visual vocabulary cards offered, peer buddy support was provided 
  • Emma (Kinesthetic learner): Since activities involving movement, such as the root dance, are presented, it can transfer to movement activities.   
  • Nathan (anxious): Would be allowed to view first then would join in practical exercises

Holistic Child Development, Dispositions, and Learning 

Holistic development acknowledges the fact that development takes place in all aspects of children:  

  • Physiological: Fine motor: The handling with small animals carefully and with fine plant roots  
  • Gross motor: Moving rocks, putting on a water carrier, moving in between investigation site locations  
  • Body awareness: familiarity with individual space around delicate experiments  
  • Cognitive Development: Scientific mode of thinking: Observation, prediction, comparison, classification  
  • Math skills: Measuring the lengths of roots, counting segments in space, relationships in the plane Language: New vocabulary (roots, segments, habitat, observation, hypothesis) 

Social-Emotional Development: 

  • Empathy: Easy treatment of living beings, worry about the welfare of plants  
  • Cooperation: Exchanging equipment and findings, aiding peers to make observations  
  • Emotional regulation: keeping control when coming across interesting specimens  
  • Confidence: pride of achievement of scientific discovery and knowledge sharing 

 

Learning Dispositions Observed: Learning dispositions play an essential role in the achievement of lifelong learning (Carr, 2019):  

  • Curiosity: Constant enquiry about mysteries of underground activities  
  • Insistence: Emma used 20 minutes to separate tangled roots painlessly  
  • Creativity: Fictiontionalised history of underground cities and friendships with creatures  
  • Reflections: Contrast today of findings against yesterday's findings 

Dignity, Equity, Diversity, Cultural Competence, and Inclusion  

Multicultural Perspectives: All children learn better through incorporating the thoughts and ideas of different cultures (Banks, 2019):   

  • Anirudh (Indian background): Common knowledge on effect of monsoons on the roots of the plants  
  • Jovana (Italian background): Linked root vegetables with the tradition of cooking in the family:  
  • Paul (Aboriginal descent): Rested on classical botany in plant knowledge and bush tucker  

Universal designs: All children will be able to participate practically in the framework of universal design (Kemp, 2018):  

  • Visual aids: Black and white pictures of the types of roots and animals of the earth  
  • Sensory accommodations: Alternative textures of children allergic to the soil  
  • Peer translation, non-verbal sign language such as gesture: Support of language 
  • Physical: Wheel-chair accessible Raised Garden beds  

Equity: Equitable practice guarantees equitable access to the learning opportunities of all children (Souto-Manning & Martell, 2019):  

  • Solved the situation whereby all the children were provided with an equal amount of time with popular equipment (magnifying glasses)   
  • Prized alternate forms found (artistic, scientific, stories)  
  • Feted different manners of articulating learning and a know-how 

Observing, Documenting, Assessing, and Planning 

The approach to assessment: Learning Stories based on scientific dispositions Quality assessment activities Exemplify learning and assist in the subsequent planning (Alasuutari et al., 2018): Documenting practices:  

  • Photo sequences: The steps of investigations by children 
  • Voice recordings: Recording of children theories and explanations  
  • Work samples: Scientific maps and drawings that have been gathered   
  • Anecdotal notes: Short observations of important moments of learning   

Written Learning Story: Emma discovered that carrot roots were not grass roots because she spotted this out. She took both under her magnifying glass for 15 minutes and made drawings illustrating the difference. Asked about what she observed she had replied, "Carrots had one fat root which stored food and grass had many skinny roots to drink water everywhere." This was an indication of scientific powers of observation and development of theories in relation to structure and function. 

EYLF Assessment: 

  • Outcome 4: Demonstrated interest, perseverance and the ability to ask questions (Department of Education and Training, 2022)   
  • Outcome 5: Applied drawing and speaking to express scientific thinking  
  • Outcome 2: Demonstrated care and respect to living things and environments