Science Teacher Visit

For my science class visit, I spent a class period with Mr Greg Laubach. He co-teachers the animal science class with Mr Turner, so I already knew him fairly well. I thought it would be interesting to see his AP bio class and see how students were at that high level.

Mr Laubach told me that many times, his role with the class is to introduce them and get out of their way. He said that this group is at a very strong, independent level. He has several students with the potential of getting 5s on the AP exam. (I also thought it was interesting that if students at Central take an ap class it is the expectation that they will take the test, and they will pay to take it.) This class was beginning a genetic engineering unit. They started with a lab on bacteria cultures where students put cultures on antibiotic plates. Through different cultures and different plates they will be able to see which cultures in the mix are resistant to each antibiotic.

The students were interested in what was going on. Each pair of students worked on their own lab packet, giving independence to the experiment. It showed Mr Laubach was facilitating rather than giving away information. His main duty was just to move around answer clarification questions. Students were helping each other before asking the teacher, as was the structure that was in place. The final thing that took place was that one student gave a second half of a report that was started the day before. I know that I may not have classes that look exactly like this one, but it gave me a great example of lab days in action to strive for in the future.