 |
| courtesy of Pixabay CC0 Public Domain |
Our science lesson today began with a review of the answers to
yesterday’s test. There was some discussion among the students about why the
right answers were the right answers. We finally hashed out why the answers
that had been marked off were incorrect and were ready to move on.
What we moved on to was a Magic School Bus video about the
digestive system. In the video, Miss Frizzle’s class, sans Arnold, climb aboard
the Magic School Bus, which then shrinks to the size of a Cheezie Weezie, the
puffed cheese snack Arnold is about to eat.
The bus gets tossed into Arnold’s mouth along with a handful of
Cheezie Weezies and the students get a firsthand look at the digestive system.
As the Magic Bus traveled the length of Arnold’s digestive system I often
paused the video to emphasize certain aspects of the biology and anatomy of the
portion of the system through which the bus was passing.
We were nearly to the end of the trip, so to speak, when we had
to stop the video to watch our in class news program, Channel One. The Magic
School bus had just entered Arnold’s large intestine and the students on the
bus noticed how aromatic, not in a good way, the location was. It took a moment
for my students to clue to exactly where the bus was, what was happening there,
and why it smelled bad. Just as they did, we had to pause for the news.
My class is ready to hold their collective noses and watch the
end of the video. I’m just glad our in class technology doesn’t include
smell-o-vision.
As it turned out, the Magic School Bus did not follow Arnold’s
digestive track all the way to the end. Instead they turned about and made
their way back to the stomach and caught a ride out on a large belch. My
students thought that was hilarious.
The video did have the desired effect of helping them remember
many things about the digestive system. When we went into the text book for
vocabulary and notes there was no hesitation or confusion when I’d call on a
student to answer a question or define a word. What more could a science
teacher ask for from a lesson?
As always, I remain,
The Exhausted Educator
No comments:
Post a Comment