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Report on Teaching Science Using Virtual Experiment

Topic: Plant and Animals

Sub topic : Habitat and Food chain

Last Saturday October 24th, I and my colleague Shahriah had conducted a

science lesson using virtual presentation. We had chosen Plants and Animals
as our topic; habitat and food chain for our subtopics. Actually we had
planned to conduct the lesson a week ago due to unavoidable circumstances
where the school had problem with internet connections so we had to
reschedule the lesson.

The virtual presentation was conducted on Year 4 of fourteen students from

4C at Rimba II Primary school. We had only picked 14 students with high and
average abilities because the class teacher wanted to prepare the rest of the
students for their upcoming Final Examination on the 9th of November, 2009.

We started the lesson with reciting the `doa’ with the students. Students’
seating were arranged carefully so that they could view the whiteboard and
the IWB (interactive whiteboard) clearly.

Our lesson includes the set induction, content, activities and assessment.
Firstly, I began the lesson with set induction by asking students to give some
examples of Brunei’s local fruits followed by the name of local animals. All
contributions by students were noted down on the board. Next, students
were also asked to give the similarities and differences between plants and
animals. After the discussion, the students were shown some pictures of
local fruits and animals using power point presentation. In my observation,
all pupils were very active during the discussion. They could answer when
they were asked questions I think it was because they had studied the lesson
earlier this year. Also, the students were very interested when they were
shown pictures using the power point presentation.
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Students reciting the `doa’

Seating arrangement
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Teacher brainstorming ideas with the students

Ideas that were noted down on the whiteboard

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Showing pictures using power point presentation

Picture of a crocodile
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Picture of a goat

My colleague Shahriah continued the next part of the lesson which

was the content. As for the content and the assessment we had
used activities and assessment provided by the
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ks2bitesize/science/living_things/plant
s_animals_environment/play.shtml. In this session, teacher had
shown students examples of habitats and they were asked
questions during the lesson. Oral assessments were also given to
check students’ misconception by using the virtual activities.
Students sat and listen while teacher conducted the lesson without
doing any manipulations during the visual experiment. Next,
Shahriah continued with ‘food chain’ and implemented similar
strategies to deliver the lesson. In my observation, I found out that
all students were very active during the lessons and activities at the
same time some students looked restless in the activities.
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Shahriah showing example of habitat

Shahriah teaching the habitat of plants and animals

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Student active in activity on habitat

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Shahriah teaching `food chain’

Virtual activity on food chain

Virtual activity used to check students’ understanding

In the last part of the lesson, students were asked to sit in pairs to
do the assessment. Worksheets were given and discussion in pairs
were allowed. During the activity, we played our role by facilitating
the students ; showing them pictures of some animals using
http://www.google.com such as heron, wood louse, desert and
meadow.
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Students doing the activity

Students doing the activity

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A picture of a heron

A picture of a woodlouse

As for my conclusion, teaching students using virtual presentation

can be very effective to deliver a lesson. The ideas or concepts are
presented in a very interesting and colorful ways which helps to
motivate students to learn. For examples, by using power point
presentation and using relevant website such as
http://www.google.com to show some pictures of local plants and
animals can be a powerful tool in the lesson. Students were very
excited to see pictures and they looked very eager to see the next
picture on the next slide during the presentation (power point
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presentation). Other than that, the website that was used to

present the content and the assessment was very helpful for the
lesson. In brief, our objectives were achieved in the session based
on our observation. However, we were very disappointed that the
students could not make used of the computers in the lab to carry
out the activities on their own due to some setbacks in the internet
connections. I think the lesson could be far better if the students
were able to manipulate the computers; which could help in
developing their skills in handling the computers.

Assessment given at the end of the lesson

Plants and animals

Read the questions below and underline the correct answers.

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1. Which of these things are you NOT likely to find in a

park or garden?

An earthworm

An oak tree

A crab
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2. Which of these animals is most likely to live in a pond?

A water spider

A caterpillar

An ant
3. Which of these is most likely to grow in woodland?

Algae

An oak tree

A cactus

4. A habitat is

an animal behaviour

a shop where animals go to buy things for their homes

a place where animals and plants live

5. Which collection of animals might you find in a seashore habitat?

Zebras, lions and elephants

Owls, caterpillars, oak trees

Barnacles, seagulls, crabs

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6. A frog is adapted to its pond habitat by

being brightly coloured

having webbed feet

growing into an adult frog

7. Why does a heron have a long sharp beak?

To catch fish

To look cool

To fly faster
8. Why do African elephants have big ears?

To keep cool

To hear better

To fly
9. Where would you expect to find a woodlouse?

In a hot, sunny place

In a dark, damp place

In a dark, dry place

10. Which habitat does a rabbit live in?
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Desert

Meadow

River
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