Students in first grade are young children who are still developing especially brain wise. They need their teachers to be patient and understanding because different children have different rate of grasping information (Greenfield, 67). An educator dealing with a first grade student will use different techniques to teach them unlike high school or college students who are mature enough. This essay will discuss the thinking skills that students use in lessons.
Objective of studying the unit
The unit in this discussion is germs a topic in science. There are five objectives in this lesson. They include
- Students will manage to learn more about germs,
- Students will get to know how germs develop,
- Students will learn how to avoid germs,
- Students learn how to clean off germs,
- Students will be able to educate others about germs.
The students know about dirt, but they do not know more about germs. This lesson would help them achieve the above objectives in order to keep them safe but most of all healthy. The first rule of cleanliness is to wash hands after visiting the toilet, before meals and after coming into contact with any dirty substance (Santoro, 396).
This ensures that a person is clean and healthy all the time. In order to enable students to understand, the teacher would ask some questions to the students about the places they thought they would get germs. This participation would help children to understand the areas they should avoid or the areas they should be careful in if they want to remain healthy.
The teacherâs main objective was to demonstrate to the children how they got germs. She took them for a field trip around the school. They made several stops at the washrooms, the garbage, and the playing ground. These are the main areas where the children get germs from most of the time (Santoro, 397). The teacher would show them how they get germs from the three areas then show them how to wash their hands using soaps in order to keep them germ free.
After the discussion, the teacher took them to the science laboratory to enable them to see the clean studentâs hands and the dirty ones. Two students, one with clean hands, and the other dirty hands would look through a microscope to check on the germs. Students found it rather disturbing as to how many germs they handle in a day.
Application of thinking skills
The teacher would pose a question to the whole class in order to make sure that they would think and answer the questions wisely. Of course, not all students would know the answers, but through discussion and participation, they would learn from the answers that their classmates are giving to the class. This enables the teacher to understand the knowledge that the studentsâ have on germs and what they do not know (Greenfield, 69).
The teacher will emphasize on the areas that students need to understand most in the topic. The slow students can always lag behind in order to get clarification from the teacher. However, this does not mean that the teacher should focus only on the bright students, she should move at a pace in which all students will grasp information as fast as possible.
After giving answers, the teacher would clarify by giving more details on the answers and explain how and where to the class in order for the rest of the class to understand. This would enable students to comprehend more about the topic and to add more knowledge to the information they had on the topic. This is significant for the successful impact of the lesson on students.
In terms of the application of knowledge about the topic, the teacher took the students to the field in order to apply the knowledge and get firsthand experience (Santoro, 399).
This enhances the studentsâ ability to understand because it is something they do every day. This enables the information to stick. This is because young children are growing and they have a lot in their mind. They easily forget, and that is why teachers should look for a way to enable students to keep any knowledge for long so, they do not forget.
In terms of analysis, synthesis, and evaluation of the lesson, the teacher took the students to the laboratory in order to analyze the experience they have and the reality of it. This enables students to ask questions they have after comparing the information they have versus their experience in the laboratory.
Through doing so, they evaluate the importance of knowledge and how it applies in real life situation (Greenfield, 70). This helps them realize that they do not just come to school to play with toys but to get the knowledge that will help them in their life. This draws their attention into more schoolwork than games while they are in school.
Analysis of the lesson in terms of the thinking skills
The lesson conduction was good bearing in mind that they are first grader students. The tour in the school compound and the visit to the lab is a demonstration of a teacher trying to help young children learn from experience, and, as they say, experience is the best teacher. At the end of the lesson, the teacher will meet her objectives, and the students will go home with new knowledge.
This lesson was developmental in that at the end of the lesson the students know how to keep of germs if they are able to avoid them. They will learn how to clean themselves well in order to keep off germs. This is in a way developing their hygiene knowledge and so is their behavior.
They become more students that are responsible because they get to know the effects of germs in their health and course, they do not want that for themselves (Santoro, 401). The demonstration of this is that students now wash their hands every time they come from the washrooms, the playing grounds and from throwing the garbage. This shows how effective the lesson was.
In conclusion, the thinking skills application in class is highly useful especially to young students. They need to make their minds active by participating in class discussions, which are extremely healthy but most of all enhances the thinking capacity of the young students. They say, an empty mind is the devilâs workshop. Therefore, it is the duty of the educator to ensure that the students are active by ensuring that they use their thinking skills all the time during lessons.
Works cited
Greenfield, Patricia M. “Technology and informal education: What is taught, what is learned.” Science 323.5910 (2009): 69-71.Print.
Santoro, Lana Edwards, et al. “Making the Very Most of Classroom ReadâAlouds to Promote Comprehension and Vocabulary.” The Reading Teacher 61.5 (2008): 396-408. Print.