Should you do this assignment, you will earn 10 extra participation points. It is due in the Big Class no later than April 13. I recognize that it is addressed to future teachers, but people who are not future teachers are certainly eligible to complete it. If you are not an elementary teacher education major, it's probably easiest - if you can do this - to imagine yourself as a parent of a child who was interested in toys that touched the world of ideas, not just the world of action figures.
Go to the Learning Station. This is a store on Main Street, located at 121 E. Main Street, about a 5 minute walk from our classroom in Sharp Lab. For those of you who are teachers or parents, it is a wonderful resource in this community. When you teach or become a parent, you should either remember this store, or seek out similar stores in your community.
For the assignment, I would like a written report - at least one page double spaced - which addresses as many of the following questions which you would like to answer. You can answer one question, two, three, or all four - though I would prefer to see an in-depth answer to one or two questions rather than a few sentences about all four.
1. Examine the different kinds of magnets which this store has available. Which magnets do you think would work best for the activity which we had in discussion section between April 5-10 (the one with magnets)? Are there any other magnetism activities in the store which might be interesting?
Your answer to questions 2 and 3, should you decide to answer them, need not have anything to do with science.
2. Examine the two displays of student work which are in the hallway just before you enter the store, on the wall between the Learning Station store and the bank. What is the most interesting thing you found in these displays?
3. Browse the store. What is the most interesting thing you found in the store that could apply to your future teaching?
4. Reflect on this assignment. Did you find it stimulating or useful? After you did it, did you have a different feeling about the prospects for teaching, or becoming a parent? If you did have a different feeling, how did this assignment make you different? Should this assignment be included in the class in future years?