Newark Academy Science Department Course Reflection 2013-2014

1. Select from the following:

Teacher

Mr. Bitler

Ms. Celente

Mr. Erlandson

Dr. Hobson

Ms. Hone

Select

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Course

Interactive Investigation

Interactive Discovery

Interactive Systems

Biology

Chemistry

Chemistry Honors

Physics

Physics Honors

Select

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100.0% (12)

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Slot

Select

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2. Please rate how strongly you agree or disagree with each of the following statements below based on your personal experiences in this course thus far.
Rating Count

Strongly Agree

Agree

Disagree

Strongly Disagree

Not Applicable

I have found that my teacher explains course material and expectations clearly. I have received helpful feedback from my teacher on my work and performance. I have received timely feedback. I have been given opportunities to demonstrate my learning on a variety of assessments. I have been given opportunities to engage in independent thinking. I have found the learning environment appropriate and positive. The teacher has been sensitive to my needs. 58.3% (7) 33.3% (4) 8.3% (1) 0.0% (0) 0.0% (0) 12 66.7% (8) 33.3% (4) 0.0% (0) 0.0% (0) 0.0% (0) 12 25.0% (3) 58.3% (7) 16.7% (2) 0.0% (0) 0.0% (0) 12 58.3% (7) 33.3% (4) 8.3% (1) 0.0% (0) 0.0% (0) 12 66.7% (8) 33.3% (4) 0.0% (0) 0.0% (0) 0.0% (0) 12

50.0% (6)

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58.3% (7)

33.3% (4)

8.3% (1)

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12

answered question skipped question

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3. Describe your experience in this course.

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4. How effectively do the assignments, in-class activities and labs help you understand the material and develop your skills? Please be specific.
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5. What has been most effective for you about this instructor's teaching? What has been least effective for you about this instructor's teaching?
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6. Which labs were most helpful? least helpful?

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7. Was the average workload for this course reasonable?

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Page 2, Q3. Describe your experience in this course.

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This class is amazing. It's extremely hands-on, no class is all lecturing and everything is clear. Ms. Mason is the best science teacher I've ever had, and Interactive Systems is the best science class I've ever taken. This course has taught me about the different systems of the body. I was able to learn a lot with her teaching skills. She taught us different ways to help us understand. I have struggled with science this year as it is one of my more challenging courses. Miss Mason made science easier with clear instructions and activities. She offered many great opportunities to seek extra help and her positve humor and kindness made science less challenging and a welcoming place to be! It was fun trying many experiments that helped our understanding of the material we learned. I think I didn't study correctly based on your test style and need to improve it. () () (=^.^=) ( u u ) Ms. Mason welcomed all of us into her 8th grade class in the most positive way, and has maintained that attitude throughout the year. By myself, I am not a very good tester, but Ms. Mason has met with me and offered me other tips to help me study, which were much apriciated. The homework is never busy work and aids in class activities and other assessments. It has been beneficial for both I and the rest of my peers. This course has been fun, but also very challenging. The first unit, I did well because we were learning dimensional analysis and I am very good at math but after that, I never tended to do well in this class. I have never been given help after doing bad on a test, nor on a take home assignment. On the other hand, this class can be very fun at times and that makes up for the bad experiences in this class. Good This class is very enjoyable. Ms. Mason explains things very well and she is almost always there for extra help. This is one of my favorite courses. I enjoy this course and Ms mason has been a great teacher so far. She is always fun and entertaining in class and I look forward to class almost every day. She is always free to help people although it would help if there were more flexible and longer hours to meet if needed after school. The critical thinking questions on the tests are very challenging but they help you relate to real life a lot which helps you in the future. My experience in this course has been good, its my favorite class.

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Page 2, Q4. How effectively do the assignments, in-class activities and labs help you understand the material and develop your skills? Please be specific.

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The assignments all go over what we did in class earlier in the day/week, the in-class activities all encourage safety and independent thinking, as well as predictions/hypotheses, and the labs are all interesting (or disgusting [which I like])! The assignments, in-class activities and labs have helped me understand the material by doing it myself. For the circulation unit, we had to fill out a notes packet by learning ourselves and we got graded. This helped us learn it in our own way. The assignments and other materials helped me understand material effectively. The cow eye dissection helped me understand the inner parts of the eye and helped me very much understanding the eye functions. The chicken dissection lab allowed me to touch and see how the chicken body parts fit in with each other. We also saw muscle fat ligaments and bone which helped me visualize and understand ligament and tendons and where each connect. Sometimes I feel that some of the informal labs don't really help me with tests like the calorie and chicken lab. But assignments like the heart packet helped me a lot, even if I didn't do well on it. They are very effective because they test our knowledge and we work in groups, so peers are always there to help you. It helps to pinpoint certain skills to work on in each assessment, examples include essay writing, research, and study skills. The in-class activities and assignments helped me develop my skills a lot. The assignments are what I use to study for tests and quizzes. The only other time I can develop my skills in this class is if the teacher teaches me how to use these in-class assignments. The labs are very useful. The in class activities were fun and I liked how we didn't have to write any formal labs. The tests assessed our u nderstanding very well. Taking notes wasn't the most enjoyable but that's usually the case. All the activities we have done so far have been entertaining, interesting, and educational. I enjoyed them and they really help me understand the topic. Everything is very helpful and especially the in class worksheets that we complete in class that goes over all of the material. They are actually really effective.

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Page 2, Q5. What has been most effective for you about this instructor's teaching? What has been least effective for you about this instructor's teaching?

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Everything has been effective, nothing has been ineffective. I think that the most effective part is her teaching style. She uses power points from other people to teach us how other people would and she also explains the topic at hand in greater detail to help us understand. I think that the least effective part is that she sometimes cannot answer some questions. Miss masons clarity and humor made her lessons purposeful and interesting. Her dimensional analysis method was very helpful as wereher acronyms. I like it when teachers write on the board besides showing power points. Sometimes you did that, sometimes you didn't. I like how you gave out handouts. She is very lively and engaging which helps because it is easy for my short attention span to get the best of me. Nothing is negative about this teaching. She is good at teaching. The most effective part about my instructor's teaching is that she explains every topic as best as she can. She always gets her students to memorize each topic. The least effective part about my instructor's teaching is that she can give us a lot of information to remember which means its harder to remember everything. The labs:good. To much vocab to learn:bad The most effective method of teaching was ms. Masons energy and presence in the classroom. The least effective method was just putting the notes up on the smart board and having us copy it. The most effective method is how interactive she is. The least effective method is when we have lectures. I understand that we need to have lectures although sometimes they can be boring. She always challenges you and she is very clear with what we have to know. The thing that has been least effective is how there are so many vocab words on the test that you have to know, many people become very pressured and they don't do that we'll. The homework has been the most effective, the least was the pace, the pace was too fast for me at least.

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Page 2, Q6. Which labs were most helpful? least helpful?

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The most helpful lab was the cow eye dissection, and the least helpful (but most fun) was the energy in nuts lab. I found that the chicken dissection was most helpful because it taught us what tendons, ligaments, muscles, bones and fat actually looked like. It was a little disgusting but it was a great experience. I found that the energy of a peanut lab was fun but the least helpful because we didn't learn much about digestion and we never finished it. The chicken dissection, muscle fatigue cow eye calorie. The least helpful was the ..., Most helpful: Measurement labs, muscle fatigue lab Least helpful: calorie lab, chicken lab, syphgmomenometer lab, lung balloon lab All the labs were fun, but I didn't really apply any of the information I learned in the least helpful labs section. The muscle fatigue lab was very helpful, the leg dissection was also helpful as well as the cow dissection lab. The burning lab was fun though I did not know what was happening. Most: Muscle Fatigue Least: Calories The cow eye dissection lab was the most helpful to me. In this lab I learned a lot about the eye which helped me for my exam. The least helpful was the burning of the peanut. It wasn't helpful because my group failed to do the lab correctly which meant I couldn't learn what the lab meant. Burning food to see calories very engaging Th calorie lab with burning the food was the most helpful. The chicken dissection was the least helpful. I guess it was helpful but I just didn't like it. All the activities so far have been helpful. The Swedish fish lab was most helpful because everyone was excited to eat the Swedish fish so everyone was engaged the entire time. They were all helpful.

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Page 2, Q7. Was the average workload for this course reasonable?

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Yes. The average workload for this course is reasonable because we usually get some pages in the workbook or a project or notes packet. Sometimes it can be a little overwhelming when she gives us big projects in a short amount of time. Yes the workload was reasonable Yes, most of the time Yes, though at times, combined with other classes it can be a lot. There should be less. The workload for this course was not that reasonable. For almost every test, I had to memorize almost 50 words which was a lot to learn. One reason I haven't done well in this class is because there is too much stuff to remember. The homework isn't too much though. To much vocab Yes Yes the workload was reasonable and an appropriate amount. The workload was very reseanoble There was a lot, a lot of information we need to know.

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