• Tara Poyner – tpoyner@knights.ucf.edu•Loren Schenendorf – loryvonne75@knights.ucf.edu•Gena Seminera – genaseminera@knights.ucf.edu•Monika Walker – monika.walker@knights.ucf.edu•Nancy Fairbrother – nfairbrother@knights.ucf.edu

April 23,2010

EEX 4070

The Wonders of Science

Early Perceptions

We were anxious and excited to get started working with the students.

Only one of us had experience working with ESE students, so the rest of us weren’t sure what to expect.

Had a lot of fun planning the science experiments for the students.

Introduction to the Setting

Inverness Primary School; Inverness, FL

Mural on wall in the main hallway at

Inverness Primary School

Demographics

Personal Demographics

Tara Poyner•I am currently working on a BA

degree in Elementary Education.•I have 2 daughters.

•I am in the PTA at my oldest daughter’s school.

•I love working with children.

Personal Demographics

I am going to persue a degree in ESE. My hobbies are running and cooking. I currently am a Substitute teacher in

Citrus County. I have a dog named Bailey who loves

to swim.

Loren Schenendorf

Personal Demographics

Gena Seminera•I am currently pursuing my

Elementary Education degree.•I have 3 children: 2 girls and 1 boy.•While in school for AA degree, I

logged many hours in multiple VPK classrooms.

•I would like to teach VPK or Kindergarten.

Personal Demographics

Monika Walker•I am 22 years old.

•I am an Elementary Education major.

•When I am not in class, I work full time.

•I enjoy running, hiking, and biking.

Personal Demographics

Nancy Fairbrother I will be getting married in 2011

I love playing the flute, piano, and trumpet

I love spending time with family and friends

Engagement Activities

Engagement ActivitiesTypes of Science

Activities/Experiments•Oobleck- a fun gooey lesson on liquid

and solid•Density- students observed the density

of 3 different objects in 3 different liquids

•Magnetic Attraction- the different types of objects that magnets will attract to•Penny Boat- students made boats from aluminum foil to see who’s boat would

hold the most pennies

Engagement Activities

How we got started:We all share the same science class, which gave us the inspiration for our

project.Loren knew the ESE teacher that

enabled us to get into that classroom to do these science

activities/experiments at Inverness Primary School.

Participant Demographics

13 total students: 8 girls and 5 boys Age 10-11 years old 2 African Americans, 1 Hispanic, and

10 Caucasian students Learning Disabilities: 11 language

impaired and 2 emotionally handicapped

Reflection of Experience

Tara PoynerThis experience was a very rewarding one. I have

never really worked with children that have disabilities. I found that even though they have

disabilities, they are still capable of doing a lot of things. The looks on their faces while doing the

activities was priceless.I felt that our team did a great job of planning and executing the lessons. It took a lot of time to get

everything together, but it was well worth it in the end! I was very fortunate to be a part of this group.

The life experiences that I now get to walk away with, I will cherish forever. I went in to teach the students some fun science activities, but I believe that I am

the one that walked out learning more than they did.

Reflection of Experience

Loren SchenendorfMy Teachers in Action project was such an awesome

experience and had a great time spending time with these students.  I was also very fortunate to have worked with a

great group of future teachers…everyone did a remarkable job!!

 The students truly enjoyed the hands on science activities

that we incorporated in our classroom visit.  They did such a great job with all the science experiments and were just thrilled they predicted the right outcome!! 

 Through this project, I have realized that just because

these students have disabilities, it does not effect their love of learning and how authentic lessons can be fun and

exciting!!  We all had a great time and one of the little boy’s said…”this has been the best day.”

Reflection of ExperienceGena Seminera

Through this experience I learned that students, no matter the ability level, can learn and have fun doing so. Seeing the student’s reaction to the experiments was

a great feeling. It was amazing to watch them as they tried the different experiments. I think that they really enjoyed the experiment with the water, honey, and oil. The students had the opportunity to discuss what they

thought would happen with each other and then after the experiment, the students were amazed by what actually

happened. I have always believed that hands-on activities

benefit not only ESOL/ELL students or students with a disability, but every student. I think it’s very important for a teacher to be aware of every student’s needs and how to meet those needs. On the day that we did the

experiments, one of them did not turn out the way it was intended to turn out, but the student didn’t care because

he was having a great time doing something different from his every day routine and learning at the same time.

Reflection of ExperienceMonika Walker

Over the course of this semester, I have learned a lot about planning and implementing a service project. I have to admit that I was very intimidated in the beginning, but the process actually

flowed very smoothly. When we actually went in and taught the science lessons, it was so rewarding to see the benefits of our labor. I actually heard

one student say “This is the best day of school I have ever had!” I am not sure who had more fun, us or the students.

Reflection of ExperienceNancy Fairbrother

Overall I felt this was an amazing experience.  During the volunteer time

what impacted me the most was to see the excitement in the students when learning

how to make something new.  This experience has showed me first hand what it is like to work with persons with special

needs.  This was the first time I ever worked with a person with special needs

and I got to see how important one on one time is with any student. In the future

when I am a teacher I will definitely plan lessons to accommodate all learners in the

classroom.