Modeling

          To me the concept of modeling allows a student to understand something that’s too large for them to see at once. The best way to describe it is the use of scale when learning about the solar system. I remember completing this lab when I was in school. Each student was given a planet and we did a whole lot of math to figure out how large each would be at given distances away from each other (obviously scaled down by the teacher). We then drew them on paper and went out to the athletic fields. We are spaced apart according to our math and then held up our planet drawings. The idea that in the right light conditions I (from my spot on Earth) can see Mars and Venus but Pluto (still a planet to me) might as well have been standing in the next town for all I could see.

            So to me the educational value of modeling comes from breaking something down that is too large a topic for all at once and showing it in understandable terms.

            My specific topic is Oceanography and to me the drawback of teaching oceanography is that many kids have never seen the ocean. Many have never swam in anything other than a pool. So to get them to understand the feeling of the ocean a model is required. I believe a model is required to get students into the setting. Oceanography is the type of topic that benefits from experience. 

My graphic representation is of another project I did when I was in 6^th grade. I always remember back to this project because of how ‘cool’ it was and how much I learned from it. It was our final project for 6^th grade science and our teacher had us make Biomes. We were in groups and given HUGE plastic bags – and by huge I mean 10 feet across and 25 feet long. A box fan was attached to one opening and a doorway at the other end and once turned on the huge bag inflated and inside you could create your biome. My group had the desert and had a black bag so you couldn’t see in or out. We created the entire environment of a desert right there in our school’s gym. Each group created their own encased environment. It was magical.

            So for my representation I would take a bag/biome and create the ocean. Create an underwater experience. I would use color and motion (not hard to make those bags sway) and sound to simulate being underwater. I think a model like this is important to put kids inside the topic.

          To the left is a picture I found online of the bag. I would hope I could create the inside to look like this:

It would be ideal to be able to set up small lab experiments inside.

Embodied Thinking

        To me embodied thinking results when a learner is set about a topic from a new, different, odd angle. At first it might not seem like where the teacher starts and where the learner is to get will ever connect but through the process the learner creates the links and results in a perfect “aha!” moment. The knowledge is more deeply understood by the learner as they have made all the connections in their own brain.

            For this project I have stuck with my subject matter of oceanography but have not narrowed down to one topic. The reason is that I have had a hard time with my topic this week. For those who follow the news you may be aware that the Tall Ship Bounty was sunk off the coast of North Carolina last Sunday in Hurricane Sandy. I used to work aboard her and called her my home for almost a year. Many of the crew onboard are my friends and the man lost one of the best men I have ever sailed for. (If you have not heard I suggest her Google it – she was a beautiful ship). This is a photo I took back in 2008.

 For the project I wanted to bring other people – who may have never even seen the ocean - into my feelings for it. To teach them the draw of the waves and the power it has. I went through tons of the pictures I took but none lead even me to beginning of understanding. Movies seemed to fake as well. Then I remembered a poem I had actually memorized at one point and could not shake from my head once it popped in. It works perfectly to give the experience of the draw of the ocean to others.

            So I would like to share John Masefield’s poem Sea Fever first published in his book Salt Water Ballads 1902.

                      

                        I must down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and sky,

                        And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by,

                        And the wheel’s kick and the wind’s dong and the white sail’s shaking,

                        And a grey mist on the sea’s face, and a grey dawn breaking.

                        I must down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide

                        Is a wild call and clear call that may not be denied;

                        And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying,

                        And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying.

           

                        I must down the seas again, to the vagrant gypsy life,

                        To the gull’s way and the whale’s way, where the wind’s like a whetted knife;

                        And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover,

                        And a quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick’s over.

            To me this poem has the ability to lead anyone into a physical and well as mental understanding of the power the ocean holds over men. The mental images created have such a strength in their imagery that they last once the reading is done. I think this links well to the idea of the ocean: once you see it, it never leaves you. In fact I am sure many people once they are done reading this poem actually read it again. Just like those who see the ocean will always be drawn back to it.