For week 2 of DECtech, the topic was Physics. The activity was creating boats out of aluminum foil. Since I was the one who planned this activity, I was terrified that they were going to spill water on their parent's laptop or computer, which they used to attend the class over Zoom. To my pleasant surprise, the 3rd and 4th graders were very careful and we had no issues with the water.
Monday
I was again impressed by how smart the students are. I taught them about forces and buoyancy and why some things float and others don't. We also talked about density. They absorb information like a sponge and are so excited and engaged during the lessons. Additionally, some of them already knew a bit about forces and one girl even knew Newton's Laws had to do with forces.
For the activity, after making a boat out of a piece of aluminum foil, they tested it by setting it in water and slowly adding coins to it. Some of the girls fit over 100 coins in their boats before it sank. One of the girls said she made boats all the time, testing them in her bathtub with toys and coins and any other object she could get her hands on. I love how some of them have done science experiments at home and at school. Those projects are what they will remember and hopefully will make some of them interested enough in STEM to want to become scientists and engineers one day.
With how few women there still are in some STEM areas, helping the next generation get excited about it and learn about their opportunities in STEM feels so important. Along with that, I just absolutely love teaching. From the day I started working for DECtech, I always said it was never a job because it's never felt like one. Back when we had in person DECtech sessions and I was just a TA, I would wait with the girls while their parents dropped them off. I loved chatting with them about what they were learning about in school and flooding them with questions about what they liked to do and if they were interested in the DECtech topic of the day. I miss that.
Tuesday
I was again shocked at the difference in teaching methods between me and the other instructor. This other instructor was the first person I TA'ed for when I started working for DECtech 2 years ago in January of 2019. This also means based on the rotation of the topics and activities, that this is the first semester that is repeating. Basically, DECtech is set up so we only repeat topics every 2 years, to ensure that if a girl does DECtech for all 4 semesters in a certain age group, she won't see any repeat lessons. Therefore, not only can I compare this other instructor's methods to my own, but I can also compare them to when she taught the lesson 2 years ago. Therefore, I also have a comparison between online and in person DECtech sessions.
Keeping that in mind, the other instructor again skipped through the lesson part and left more time for the activity. We split into 2 breakout rooms during the activities, so each of us has a group of girls to help out with and answer any questions for. While I believed the girls in my group were happy making and testing more boats with the time allotted, she saw the girls in her group grow bored with the activity. However, when we came together as a whole group, the girls were still working on the activity, which left me confused. Was she the one who grew bored of the activity because of the online format of it and because her group was not chatting while working on the activity?
Some differences I've noticed between online and in person is that the online format makes it more difficult for the girls to chat with each other. While they are still able to get the most out of the activity, they normally would have been working in pairs or discussing whatever it is 3rd and 4th graders discuss while the instructor and TAs walked around helping when needed. I know in my online college classes I miss talking to other students, so I wonder if they miss too this during the DECtech sessions?
From the other instructor, I learned that she stayed after our 1 hour class an extra hour last time because she was answering questions of 2 girls who happened to also be sisters. While I have stayed a bit late answering questions, I've never stayed more than 10 or 15 minutes. I couldn't believe the care she had for those girls by taking the extra time to make sure all of their questions were answered. Kids are curious and when given the opportunity to ask college students who know more about specific topics they are interested in, I love how they don't hesitate to inundate us with questions.