Service Learning Reflection #1

            This service learning project is a challenge, but is also very exciting. I am very excited to have the opportunity to share a lesson with middle-schoolers about genetics. I think that this need to be done more in the community. Community involvement is so important to strengthen the bonds within a community. This project is also very beneficial to me because it has already begun to deepen my understanding of Mendelian genetics, which is our topic. 

            My portion of this project will be to teach this group of students how to use a Punnett square and why they are useful. This task may be slightly challenging, but the lesson planning is coming along very well. I will just be using a simple two by two Punnett square and showing how the crossing works. I will briefly touch on dominant and recessive traits and give some examples of those things. The other students in my group will cover, who Mendel was, what he was known for, key terms, and the laws of heredity.

            My group has not had any issues with communication or distributing the work evenly. We have been using GroupMe, mostly everyone has been replying to about times and dates for different parts of the project. We have also all met up in the library to work on the flier together, which everyone was very willing to do. The due dates have been approaching very quickly, but my group has been communicating very well and staying on schedule.

Service Learning Reflection #2

            This past week my group participated in the dress rehearsal for the service learning project. I greatly appreciated having a dress rehearsal so that we could work out some of the kinks and get some feedback before the presentation to the middle-schoolers. The most challenging part of the dress rehearsal was finding a date and time since all of our group members’ schedules are so different. My group had a couple of meetings on zoom before the dress rehearsal to talk about the content of the presentation and which member would be assigned to which tasks. I believe the work was distributed fairly evenly. We planned on having eleven group members since that is what was assigned; however, two members never participated. This made distributing the tasks slightly challenging when we were planning on more people than we had, but the group came together and covered the gaps. 

            I believe that our presentation will effectively reach our target audience which is middle schoolers. This presentation gives the students and introduction to material that they will cover extensively in high school. We have also included a Kahoot review game for the students which is always a favorite among the middle school age group. The Kahoot will help the students remember the presented content in a way that does not seem laborious to them. After some minor adjustments from critiques received during the dress rehearsal, I believe that our presentation will be effective in giving these middle school students a solid introduction to Mendel and genetics.

Service Learning Reflection #3

            Unfortunately, my group was unable to present our service learning project due to the fact that none of the students registered for our lesson. I believe if we had the opportunity to present our project, it would have had a great impact on them. The information presented to them would have given them a great foundation for what they will be learning in high school biology. I also think they would have been very engaged and have a high retention rate because we included a Kahoot. The Kahoot would have helped the students remember the presented information due to the reinforcement. 

            My section of the presentation was Punnett Squares. This project deepened my understanding of the use of Punnett Squares. I learned that this tool was used after Mendel’s finding by other scientists. This project also gave me a deeper understanding of Gregor Mendel’s background and what led to his discoveries. Teaching the material to other students and creating a lesson plan deepened my understanding of the material because I had to learn the information for myself and turn it into my own words. 

            This project helped me better understand service learning. I believe that it is beneficial to both the students receiving the lesson and the students giving the lesson. The students receiving the lesson may be more open to listening to students closer to their age than a teacher. It is also beneficial to change the teaching style for the students so they can see the information from a different view. Service learning is also beneficial for students teaching the lessons because it reinforces the information. The students are required to fully understand the material that they will be teaching and also put that material into their own words. I also think it is extremely important to give back to your community and this is one small way to do so. 

Powerpoint:

Service-leraning-ppt