Day 2 of our pre-internship was very chaotic from before the bell even rang and that was because the grade 8’s had a health conference out of school and the grade 7’s had a leadership conference at the school. My partner and I were in charge of a morning activity that was provided for us which challenged the students to work together to solve clues that would lead them to candy. I really liked this game mostly because I knew the answers but also because I got to see first hand how the students made it through each problem. I also enjoyed it because this activity can be used for pretty much every subject and for what ever grade. The only problem with this activity was that my partner and I just had to supervise and not really get involved.
In the afternoon, we had to present the students with a challenge that was STEM based and was grade appropriate. We decided to give them materials and ask them to build a boat that would float and be able to hold marbles. The students loved this activity because it was creative, they worked in teams, and it was different than just sitting in desks all day. We started this activity by asking students what they knew about buoyancy. The students all agreed that it was something that floats and connected it with buoys that are at their lakes (Instantly was jealous because I don’t have a cabin at a lake). The next step was discussing boats and the different designs. After this discussion, the students were free to make boats however they thought would work the best. There were many different designs that were successful in their own ways. We also had students that went above and beyond with ideas that I had not even thought of. This includes deciding to make a base that was full of air so it would sit on top of the water, and making a base that is square shaped so it is even on each side. The most successful boat managed to hold 123 marbles with room for more. We just ran out of marbles and time. Overall, I think this activity went successfully and the students really enjoyed it. If I could change anything I would give students more time to create their designs and more time to have a discussion at the end. I would have even given different groups different kinds of materials to see what would happen.
At the end of the day, the grade 7’s went to the gym to play some games so my partner and I went to watch. The P.E teacher asked if we wanted to try and teach and activity which of course we would love to try. We decided to choose an activity that was showed to us by another group of students in our EPE class. This activity was completely hectic and the students would do what we told them but would not follow all the rules. I think this was crazy because the students had a fun day with lots of candy. I also think its because we were completely put on to the spot so I had not yet figured out what and how I was saying things.
Emma Knight 