The problem solving approach-
As a student in high school and college, I
LOVED when a professor started out the day with "So I got this email and I thought you guys could answer it.....". I don't know how it gets me so excited. And I don't mean like "yay, we don't have class today"; I mean like a dog drooling and waiting patiently to get the treat that is sitting on his nose. Its just something about getting the opportunity to let your light shine and finally using the knowledge that you have been just stuffing away that makes me so excited.
So when I heard that we were going to get the chance to use this approach, I started drooling. I had ideas bouncing from ear to ear about all the things I could try to use. Seeing that I
LOVE soils and crop sciences, I started aiming in that direction. After looking through my unit plans for the perfect example, I found one. I decided to do the problem solving approach had to be on my favorite subject, soil nutrient management. Oh goody, this was gonna be perfect!! I had the knowledge to back me up and everything (I was really drooling at this point).
While I was preparing for my problem solving approach, I couldn't really decide which technique I wanted to use. I was stuck between situation to be improved and effect/cause. I really enjoy effect cause because you just can't be wrong as a student. There was just one problem, the lesson that I wanted to incorporate this into was right before the exam, as a result the approach would have to go before the lesson and carry throughout. Not a huge deal at all for my high school students, they would have time to digest and practice before being thrown into the spot light. However, for my "peer" students, it was going to ask
A LOT out of them. Some how they would have to dig back to the old ages of SOILS 101 to even come close to answering the question. Oh boy, what to do? I decided to make my plan so that it would work for the AP Horticulture class (with college credits). That way, if it was a "bummer" in lab, it would be in there and not in the actual classroom.
I feel that it sure was a bummer....
When I started fast forwarding through the slides to just cover the problem solving approach and not the material, I lost the class out in left field. Correct that, I lost them in the parking lot!! They had no idea where this "drooling dog" was headed with all his happiness and pictures.
The main point, if you are trying to do well in lab,
DO NOT make the problem solving approach be the center of the lesson plan and teach around it. I started out with a picture of a nitrogen deficient corn field and asked the students what is happening with Farmer Joe's field. Right off the bat I got the answer I wanted (nutrient leaching). Whoop! Whoop!!
Next I asked the class what should we tell Farmer Joe to do? (Crickets came out and starting singing at this point). So I hinted for a soil test (which would have been the lesson the day before). While "Farmer Joe" was getting his soil tested, we went over fertilizer calculations (N-P-K) and awaited "Farmer Joe's" reply. Once we got his test results a couple slides later, the students were then asked to calculate how much ammonium nitrate Farmer Joe should order if he had a 50lb nitrogen recommendation per acre on a 5 acre field. Using the ammonium nitrate (34-0-0), how much fertilizer should he order?
I think this lab went okay overall, it was not my best or my worst, but I think that if it were in my classroom it would have gone better because the content knowledge would have been right there in their minds. And you
KNOW I have the approximate date written down when this dog will be drooling again to use this lesson ( ~February 6th).
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