All of us have full-time jobs in addition to pursuing our Master’s Degree.  We all do quite different jobs, but are finding ways to incorporate what we learn into our jobs as well as what we do in our jobs into our project.

The majority of our “meetings” have been conducted through email messages.  It has been a challenge, but it has also been manageable.  In addition, to “email meetings” we have been able to touch base both during this class’ time as well as before or after our Monday night class.

We have divided up tasks and let Aaron build the site with his amazing, expertise for doing so.

One problem that meeting through the web can cause is slight miscommunication . . . for example:  On Nov 10, 2009, I got an email from Rich saying that he had received my message about the meeting and would meet at another time.  I was confused, but dismissed my confusion thinking that this was a reply to someone else.

Off to the museum.  Aaron was there, and we waited for a while for both Rich and Justin.  We went ahead and began our meeting, assuming the others would arrive shortly.  A couple hours later, we finished our meeting. . . lots of good insight was shared (and is included in another post).  Yet, no Rich and no Aaron.  The next word we received from them was one of confusion.  What was going on?

Well, we’re not sure how. . . but somehow Rich got a message from Brenda saying that our meeting was changed.  Rich happened to talk with Justin and passed the info on to him.  The next day Brenda got a call from Rich wondering why I had sent the message about the change.  We got an email from Justin wondering what in the world was going on. 

We think that this voicemail may have been from an earlier meeting.  Honest mistake, and one that brings reality and the stresses, pressures of life back into focus.

Today we met with Madlyn again.  The purpose of this meeting was to find out if we were on the right track with our task analysis.  We had trouble earlier in the week creating our task analysis because we were unsure of the objectives.  We did not know if the objective was to teach the scientific method and ignore rocks altogether or to teach about rocks.  I noticed that in an email she had sent to us, she  listed some of her objectives.  These included two sets of objectives. The first were general objectives of the Museum’s school programs.  They were:

A. Effectively use the Scientific Method and thinking skills.
B. Manifest scientific attitudes and interests.
C. Understand Utah State Office of Education’s defined science concepts and principles.
D. Communicate effectively using science vocabulary.

However looking at these goals I could not understand why we had a focus on rocks.  The second goal she listed pertained more to rocks.  They were, 1) Rocks and minerals have observable characteristics, 2) Rocks can be grouped by observable characteristics, 3) There are many resources that help us understand rocks and minerals, and 4) Making observations lead to new understandings.

After looking at these goals it seemed that they were a subset of the first set of goals.  So that in accomplishing them you would be accomplishing the bigger goals.  The subject of rocks was a specific of the greater concept. After talking to Madlyn today she confirmed that these were the goals.  She was more focused on goal number 3 and 4.  She wanted to ensure that the learning module got the students to think rather than be told.  She wanted them to ask themselves questions and the deduct answers.  Not so much concerned with having the right answer but being able to formulate a reason for giving that answer. After reading the anchored learning article tonight, I think it would be very beneficial to use anchored learning in our instruction.  Like we were talking about with Madlyn of having the students be presented with a scenario to help the scientists determine the attributes of the rocks.  This would be a very good opportunity for anchored instruction.

Hi Madlyn,

Could we meet with you again to see if we are heading in the right direction?  We have crazy schedules and are wondering if there is a day next week (preferably Monday) after 4:00 pm that would work?

Thanks,
Brenda and Team

We met with Madlyn to go over the learner analysis.  After talking with her we have learned that we need to develop a web based program which will help students get the most out of their museum experience.  Madlyn said that the questions the students ask are a good indicator of their learning level.  Students will arrive at the museum with different learning backgrounds.  The museum wants a module that would help the students have a better learning experience where they would ask deeper questions.  Madlyn emphasized that the learning needed to be inquiry based. 

We determined that our learners will be 4th graders and that our subject would be rocks. 

 We decided to schedule a visit where we would observe 4th graders learning about rocks at the museum.

*Madlyn is the subject matter expert at the Utah Museum of Natural History.