My thoughts

I learn two things from taking this test: 1) I didn't retain nearly as much from my science classes in high school and college and 2) the things that I did remember and the areas I did well in match closely with the concepts that I teach to my 4th graders. Yay!

I felt as though it was a very accurate measure of what I should know with my current position.  Thinking back to the concepts that we cover in 4th grade science, it is a much simpler and more basic layer of the questions asked of me in the NSTA Learning Center. However, I feel that it is also important for me to know more complex parts of the concepts that I teach for my personal understanding, to extend learning to students that need that conversation and to continue to be a concerned member of society.

I think one of the most important things that will continue to help me and my students learn these concepts will be the examples as to how the topics we're learning about relate to us. For example, in our energy unit students experiment with circuits and in the end learn about how energy transfers through different modes. As a class we are going to understand it so much more if we can see it working in a lamp in our classroom or through our cellphone charging rather than talking about it and reading about it from our text books. The real world connection is such an important part for everyone to understand the function and purpose of science reasoning.

You definitely have a strong foundation of content knowledge! I like how you shared how you apply this to both your profession and personal circumstances. I also took a moment to reflect on my own education experience and what classes/teachers helped prepare me for my future career the best. It was most definitely those life skills courses that required us to apply content knowledge to a skill or project. I don't remember a lot of tests I took back in school, but I can remember over a dozen projects I created!

I absolutely agree that the real world connections are vital to help students retain what they have learned.  This definitely supports the idea of sense-making instead of just learning facts.  Facts obviously don't stick with us even if we are the teacher!  Experiences stick with us and help make sense of our world.

I read your comments and reread the last paragraph of your post.  When you are teaching a concept, make sure to relate it to "real" life scenarios.  Allow students to share what they know on a concept so they can bring that to the forefront of their brain and relate it so the students can understand what is being taught.

Your post is very interesting, thank you for sharing.
kadashika