Sharing student work...try not to judge...

Boys Vs. Girls

I wanted to share with you some work samples from the variables/constant lesson:  Here you see one of my students drawing of the reaction with the mountain dew and the root beer with mentos. You may notice that he draws a slightly smaller "eruption" than we got with the diet coke...no where near as tall as Mr. Curtin, my colleague. The second journal shows about the same in the drawing, yet

you can also see a writing sample recording what was the same and what was different. Both of these samples are from some of my boys.  I wanted to share them today because they may lack color and may not be as pretty as my girls drawings - but they still include the important information and details.   As a mother of two young boys, I have often observed that most boys simply do not have the same fine motor as our girls.  And sometimes...teachers judge them on this.  Make sure that when you are assessing a student notebook entry you are assessing the content, the process and the scientific thinking - and not the ART WORK.

Don't get me wrong...I believe that visual representations are a HUGE tool in our classrooms.  In fact, I often think boys retain more when they draw what they are thinking..but again, keep in mind...what is the purpose?  What are we learning?  Not how neat it is or how "good" the drawing is.