18 July / Multiple Intelligences Theory

Difficult task for today's ESL lesson... How to relate one of the labs we've done to every single type of intelligence?

First of all, is to choose a lab to write about... I think the "Mystery Solutions" activity can be a good choice. Let's see how to deal with different learning styles or types of intelligences while doing this activity.

• Linguistic intelligence is developed because children have to communicate with their partners in writing: they have to explain their outcomes and to write accurate questions and answers.
• Logical and mathematical skills are required because children have to design an experimental procedure to mix samples, to collect data, to make tests...
• Visual-spatial intelligence is incorporated by visually examining the samples, by using charts or other graphic resources to organize data...
• Interpersonal abilities are necessary to communicate with your partner and to discuss your results with the rest of the students.
• Intrapersonal intelligence is developed considerably in this activity as most of the work is done individually.
• Naturalistic intelligence is needed to interpret the experimental results and to make connections with the children's knowledeg about nature. 
• Bodily-kinesthetic and musical intelligences are perhaps the most difficult to promote with this activity. The first one, may have something to do with the way you physically manipulate your samples, and the eye-droppers containing them. The latter must definitely be addressed through a different activity.

 Has anybody an idea of how to develop musical intelligence in science labs???

15 July / Rube Goldberg Project

Describe your Rube Goldberg project experience.  (For example, mention your objective, your thinking process, your groups' experiences during this week, how you will or can use this in your teaching, etc). 

You may wonder what  Rube Goldberg means... So did I when I first listened that name. Here it is the definition:

" a comically involved complicated invention, laboriously contrived to perform a simple operation"

All of us were grouped in 6 teams of 5, and were asked to develope a machine to dispense hand sanitizer in a minimum of 6 steps. The other teachers in my team (Ricardo, Luis, Alicia & Patricia) and I were quite lost at first, but finally we have managed to build our machine. I'll try to describe it as accurately as possible, but in case you don't understand, you can see the picture below.

First we fixed a pencil to a mousetrap, which had been previously attached to a casette folder and to the table, just to make it a more solid structure. When we set off the mousetrap, the pencil would hit a canister, and make it fall off the table. On top of the canister, there was a reel tied to a pulley with fishing strain. The other end of that strain had been tied to the handle of a big bucket. The pulley was fixed to the celing. So, when the canister fell, the reel also fell, and pulled the strain so that it lifted the handle of the bucket. We had accoplated a segment of isulation pipe to the bucket to build a slide. When the handle of the bucket lifted, it let a marble go down the slide. The marble hit a row of dominoes, the last of which would set off another mousetrap. We tied a strain to the latter and hanged a hammer at the other end, so when the trap set off, the hammer fell down hitting the hand sanitizer dispenser on the floor.

15 July / How to get lunch at Roosevelt University

To get your lunch at Roosevelt University, please, follow the steps below:

1 - Make sure you have your lunch ticket with you before leaving home in the morning.

2 - Go downstairs to the lobby. You can use the elevator.

3 - Go out of Roosevelt University and walk to your right to the next crossing.

4 - Crosse the road and turn right again at Monroe St.

5 - You'll get to the Under 55 Cafe. Go downstairs.

6 - Pick a tray.

7 - Choose the type of food you want: pasta, burger, mexican food, meat, pizza... and find the correspondent stand.

8 - There, tell the employee exactly what you want to eat: type of pizza, ingredients in your pasta, sides for your meat...

9 - Pick your cuttlery, your drink and fruit (if you don't want fruit, you can take a coffee or a frozen yogurt instead).

10. Hand in your lunch ticket to the cashier and take a seat to eat. Enjoy your meal!

14 July / Goose Island Beer factory

Today we've been to the Goose Island Beer Factory. Attached to the factory there is a bar where you can taste craft beer that has just been produced. There we've been told about all the fermentation process needed to produce the beer. However it hasn't been very profitable for me. The place was narrow, and I couldn't see well enough to appreciate all the equipment used. Besides, our guide spoke too fast for me to get the point and it was too hot in there, so the situation was not comfortable at all.

Yet the best part came afterwards: we all were invited to taste four different types of beer. We were chatting animatedly for a while before going back home. I'm sorry that I can't write more about the factory, but things don't always turn out well!

13 July / Riding the CTA is better than any rollercoaster in the world

Can you imagine a more exciting experience than a rollercoaster ride? If your answer is NO, then you must come to Chicago and try a ride on the CTA transports. You may wonder why I'm telling you this. I hope that the following reasons can persuade you about it, although such an experience should be confirmed in person.

First of all, CTA offers a wide choice among different means of transport. The "L" is a public train network that covers both Chicago and its closest suburbs. Metra is an alternative train system that takes you further and faster but which is more expensive. Finally, you have countless bus lines that travel all around Chicago. either at daytime or at night. Not many amusement parks offer such a big variety of options.

Secondly, if you are a tourist, you can have spectacular views of Chicago while riding the CTA. This is a considerable advantage, especially at night, as you can see all lights shining at the buildings, and the city bathed in the moonlight. And you can get all this for very little money.

Finally, when riding CTA, you never know what's gonna happen next. For example, I was riding the purple line express train last Monday when it started to rain heavily. The wind grew stronger as we went further from Evanston, and it shook trees vigorously. Suddenly, we heard the driver's voice telling us that a tree had fallen on the track so we couldn't go further. We had to get off the train, and getting to Roosevelt University was kind of an thrilling gymkhana. Fortunately CTA provides other options to get downtown, so I took Metra :).

After reading all this... do you still think that a rollercoaster is better than riding CTA????

12 July / Children's Museum

Today is Wednesday, 13th of July. There are only 10 days left in Chicago... Our time here is coming to an end... :( 

To leave these sad issues aside, let's concentrate on our journal task for today. Yesterday we went to the Children's Museum, at the Navy Pier. This Museum offers a wide array of exploring activities aimed at children's integral development. The offer catters for a a high variety of learning styles and levels. The majority of these experiences are science-based.

What we were supposed to do in the Museum was to explore the different activities in there to pick up those which were most appropriate to be incorporated to our lessons. As I have mentioned in class this afternoon I don't think Children's Museum is the most inspiring place for lesson planning in a secondary education context. I think we have many other alternative resources but, of course, we could find a way of adapting the idea to our students' age and level.

One good example would be the Dinosaur Expedition, a  re-creation of the real Saharan expedition where Chicago paleontologist Paul Sereno discovered a new type of dinosaur. It contains a life-size skeleton of the dinosaur, and children must dig for bones to learn what it would be like to be part of Paul's expedition team (http://www.chicagochildrensmuseum.org/index.php/experience/dinosaur-expedition). Bearing in mind that our students are aged 12-18, we should enrich it. I would use different types of fossils, distributed in different soil layers, set one above the other. Students would have to dig for fossils, identify them using a key and relate them to the nature of soil layers and to the way they are arranged, or in other words, to their age. They also would learn about paleontologists' working methodology.

As a second idea I would choose from what I saw at the Museum is "Waterways", where children can feel the power of water as they control the flow with pulleys, wheels, and pipes.I would make my students to build a water power station, so that they can go into renewable energies and specifically into the potential energy of water.                        

I'm looking forward to reading your WONDERFUL ideas...

8 July / Museum of Science and Industry

The Museum of Science and Industry holds an espectacular amount of exhibitions on different science issues. I only walked through some of them:

- Science Storms, which shows how different natural phenomena take place on Earth

- You, which is an exhibition about different aspects of human biology and behaviour

- Genetics, which tells us about the main basis and applications of genetics

As I am an Environmental Scientist, I was very interested in the firs of them. Displays were amazing, but I'd dare to say that they aren't well designed for people to get the point. Panels were very interactive and eye-catching, but at the end you missed the lesson. They should be a bit more pedagogical.

We also did a lab activity in which we had to find out how many pence and marbles were hidden in a film canister. I liked the activity, and this is what I'd take for my lessons, because my students often make questions about how things can be described or studied if it is impossible to look at them. I always try to explain them that visual methods are neither the only ones that can be used, nor the most accurate in some circumstances. So I would use exactly the same lab experience and then I would ask them what other subjects could be studied without using a visual based procedure.

Nice weekend everybody!