Jean Hutcheson

April 6, 2016
IMB Clinicals Mallard Creek Elementary
Science Reflection
While observing for my IMB Clinical in a first grade classroom at
Mallard Creek Elementary School, I taught a Science lesson on the forces and
motions of magnets. The North Carolina Essential Standard I used for the
lesson was 1.P.1 which states, Understand how forces (pushes or pulls) affect the
motion of an object. The clarifying objective I under that standard was, 1.P.1.2, which states,
Explain how some forces (pushes and pulls) can be used to make things
move without touching them, such as magnets. I began my lesson by
activating students prior knowledge on magnets. First, I demonstrated two
magnets attracting to one another and then I asked my students to explain
to me what they think had just occurred. Next, I asked them to describe what
they think of when they hear the word magnet. The students gave a variety
of answers to both questions. Generally, most of the students understood
that something was pulling the two magnets together and one student was
even able to use vocabulary words such as magnetic field.
Following the group discussion, I showed the students a video from
Youtube titled, Magnetism - The Dr. Bincos Show Learning Series for Kids.
The video outlined all of the information crucial to understanding why
magnets attract (north pole, south pole, etc.). After watching the video, I led
the class in a discussion about what they remembered from the video.

Students were able to explain that a magnet has a north and south pole,
opposite poles attract, similar poles repel, and that each magnet has an
invisible magnetic field. Throughout the conversation, I had the students help
me draw a diagram of two magnets, with their correct poles labeled, on the
board. To conclude, I explained to the students that they were going to have
the opportunity to test the magnetism of various classroom objects. Students
worked in their pre-arranged desk groups to test the magnetism of: a piece
of chalk, scissors, an eraser, a marble, a coin, a paperclip, fasteners, a
stapler, a rubber band, and staples. Each student tested each object and
depending on the results, classified each object as either magnetic or nonmagnetic on a handout provided me. This handout was taken up at the end
of the lesson as a summative assessment.
Overall, I would say that the lesson I taught on magnets was a success.
Over the course of the lesson, students learned about the history of
magnets, why magnets attract, why magnets repel, and which everyday
classroom objects can be classified as magnetic. Before testing the different
objects, students predicted whether or not the objects would be magnetic. I
think students were surprised to find that some of the objects, coins
especially, werent actually magnetic. Students also enjoyed finding items
that were magnetic that werent on the original worksheet, such as their
nametags and chairs. Generally, there werent any problems with the groups
that students were working in. More than anything, it was just a bit chaotic
due to the fact that I was teaching in a first grade classroom. One of the

biggest things that I wanted students to take away from this lesson was that
magnetic objects are part of their everyday lives. In order to accomplish this,
I asked students during the engage portion of the lesson to tell me where
they see magnets on a daily basis. Students typically answered with things
like, on their fridge or on the whiteboard at school.
This entire IMB clinical experience has been one of the best learning
experiences Ive had thus far in my college career. Science was one of the
more challenging lessons I planned mostly due to the hands-on component
of my lesson. Teaching, and especially teaching science, takes an
unbelievable amount of planning. For my lesson I had to pick a topic, find
books and information on the internet, find an activity, plan a lesson, and
gather materials all before I was ready to teach the lesson to my students.
Looking back, I wish that Id been able to find a few more child friendly
videos or books on magnets to have utilized in my lesson. I also think the
lesson might have gone smoother if Id had enough classroom objects for
each group of students. Some groups had to share and as a result children
were out of their seats and bickering over materials.
There are many things I learned from teaching an indirect science
lesson however,
my biggest take away moments were that things arent always going to go
as expected, how to effectively manage a challenging classroom, how much
planning and organization goes into preparing a science lesson, and how to
plan in anticipation of students on different academic levels. In my specific

lesson, I think I did a good job of activating prior knowledge and creating an
interesting, educational, and engaging hands on activity for students to
complete. If I could go back and change one thing, I would have added more
information in the explanation section of the lesson. My time spent at Mallard
Creek has been invaluable, and I can say with complete certainty, that I look
forward to one-day having a classroom and students of my own.