On the Spectrum?

A few weeks ago, I attended a workshop sponsored by Pearson Education.  The focus of the day was on 1:1 adoptions; Pearson brought in some experts from their company as well as administrators from districts around the country who had been successful with their 1:1 programs.

There were many great discussions on that day, but the image that sticks in my head is the one I have re-created here.  The horizontal axis represents how comfortable a teacher is with using instructional technology as well as how much it is incorporated into the classroom.  This range is what most people think about when picturing professional development around technology.  This is certainly important, but not nearly as important as the vertical axis.  True 21-st century learning is going to require a move to student-centered classrooms, as the students do the work of investigating, evaluating, creating, and presenting.  Technology can assist this shift, but it is not a necessary result.  If a teacher simply uses technology to continue doing what they have always done, they might be moving to the right on the diagram, but they're not moving toward the top.

Evaluating myself in my science classrooms the last few years, I think I was partway to the right on the "tech" axis; I had students using probeware to collect and analyze data, we used online simulations, and student completed webquests.  On the vertical axis, though, I think I was probably smack in the middle for my Physics class, and well toward the bottom for my Earth Science class.  When I go back to classroom teaching, with what I have learned in the last six months since taking this job, I will work my hardest to make sure I'm in the upper-right quadrant of this diagram.

Where are you on the diagram?  Where do you want to be?

"Flipped" 7th grade science at CVMS

In June 2012, Chris Faist and I first heard about “The Flipped Classroom".  We had begun a paperless science notebook option in our 7^th grade science classes at CVMS that spring and had promising results.  We thought the flip might be a nice compliment given the "tech savviness" of our students and we were ripe for a change.  If you are not familiar with the premise of the flipped classroom, the basic idea is that which is traditionally done in the class is done at home, and that which is traditionally done as homework is now completed in class.

Chris and I worked over the summer on conceptualizing the changes we would have to make and launched our pilot this 2012 school year.  We have been attempting to collect some data along the way; besides Unit Test and ELO Assessment data, we have surveyed our parents once and just finished collecting student qualitative data. We are getting better at navigating the paradigm shift of assigning homework ahead of time to prepare students before they come to class. We have been utilizing video creation apps like Educreations and Explain Everything and websites like Goanimate and Powtoon for our lectures, Google surveys and scripts like Flubaroo to assess, and websites like our own You Tube channel, Brainpop, Edcanvas and TED for accessing and posting content.  We have also had students create their own instructional videos and have seen some amazing student projects.  We plan to continue with the flip throughout the school year and are interested in collaborating with other teachers. If you have "flipped" your classroom, or maybe a few lessons here or there, or are interested in learning more and would like to chat, please contact us.

Am I there yet???

I just finally got around to logging in to the Blog for SDUHSD.  But did I do it right?  Is my excuse
lack of time, opportunity, motivation, fear of..  all of those cited and more. 
I did tell Kevin I would try to post thoughts or experiences every couple weeks...sorry, I'm late and already behind. Thanks for meeting with us here at DNO. My posts/blogs are likely to be more random thoughts or rants on or about various technology experiences- which are honestly pretty limited right now.  I've got accounts for many different "things". Just have to now figure out how to effectively and efficiently use them without the excuse of lack of time, opportunity, motivation, fear of.. all of those cited and more. 

Gamification for Free

This website has a some games/quizzes that students can take.
www.purposegames.com

I am going to use one on the microscope that was already made as a review.
http://www.purposegames.com/game/05c7b310
If students log in they can compete for the high score in the game.

I have found ones for states, part of a sentences and math problems.

You can even make your own games for your discipline.

Hope it helps
Chris

Documents that Teach

If you are searching for an engaging way to teach about primary source documents and history, look at this website: docsteach.org/

The site uses primary source documents to create interactive analysis activities for students around historical events. I'm using one about the start of World War II on my website this week to supplement our discussion of The Diary of Anne Frank.
Link: docsteach.org/activities/13151/detail

The program uses documents from The National Archives to create engaging learning activities for students.

Tips for Tech-Cautious Teachers

Some people get excited by finding new websites, new tools, new strategies for students: the more, the better.  Other people get easily overwhelmed with too much new information: how can you select the valuable from the worthless?  Brianna Crowley has some suggestions for you if you fall in the "overwhelmed" or "cautious" camp.  In her October 24 article in Education Week, she gives some tips for managing information overload and evaluating new tools for their usefulness in your classroom.  Read her article here.

Instructional Video Tools for Students and Teachers

Chris Faist at Carmel Valley has been having his students create instructional videos as part of their Life Science class.  As they've done that, Chris has learned about some of the best online tools for producing these videos, either through a computer or a tablet like an iPad.  He's put together an EdCanvas page with links to eight of the best programs, along with some quick notes about each one.  If you're looking to have your students create videos, click here to see the EdCanvas page.

(If you're just looking to produce screencasts yourself, you can install Blueberry Flashback from the install software portal on your computer desktop.)

Fostering Higher Order Thinking in Science

I started research in chemistry as a sophomore in undergrad school.  I worked for a semester a few hours a week in order to learn the ropes, then was offered a project.  The PI put a structure of the starting material and the product and asked me how I would make the molecule.  The reactions were all covered in sophomore organic so I was able to answer correctly.  I was being evaluated to see how much effort the PI should spend on cultivating me as a chemist.  Since I passed I got a lot of attention.  The same thing happened when I interviewed for jobs in industry, and I was able to get a job quickly despite a recession at the time.

How do we cultivate thinking skills in science?  Much emergent educational technology reduces higher order thinking by offering up easy answers quickly.  One method that has been used to get students to think is case studies.  I started using a technique similar to case studies two years ago.  http://sciencecases.lib.buffalo.edu/cs/

Students read an article, then answer questions.  The article is on an area of science related to a unit of study in my class.  For example, the students read an article on allotropes for bonding and rocket fuels for electrochemistry.  The key to the assignment is the questions, which range from low level to difficult application, analysis, and synthesis.  I let students collaborate on the answers in groups of up to 3, and I even provide the answers, relying upon student desire to learn.  This works in many cases.  In other cases I see my answers rephrased poorly, or wrong answers with no reference to the correct ones I put up.  The students usually use google docs to put their answers together.

This year I've implemented actual case studies.  The students read the article at home, then I do some direct teaching on the difficult ideas, followed by the students working on questions in groups.  Student feedback is positive.  it seems that higher order thinking is improved when there is more context to a problem than just the generic back of the chapter chem or physics problem.

I am looking for collaborators on chem and physics case studies.  Anyone can see what makes a case effective here:  http://sciencecases.lib.buffalo.edu/cs/pdfs/FavoriteCases.pdf

Free Customizable Textbooks at Boundless

www.boundless.com

Boundless offers free customizable textbooks.  They have a variety of subject areas.  In addition to the full text is the information in the form of smart notes.  There are flash cards and chapter quizzes.  Unfortunately, there is no chemistry or physics at this time.  I looked at the biology text, which is Campbell, a very high quality bio text. 

After signing up I received an email from one of the company's founders.  I complained about the lack of chem and physics and was told that these would be available in the spring.

The textbook is usable on a computer or a mobile.  I recommend visiting the site and signing up.  I plan to make a chem and physics text available for my students ASAP.  This will enable them to access a traditional text 24/7 from a mobile.

21st Century Skills In Extracurricular Activities

Five Years Ago I started the Falconium Science Journal at TPHS.  We renamed it JOURNYS http://journys.org to be inclusive of schools with other mascots.  In this club, students write articles, illustrate them, edit them, and send them out to a practicing STEM worker for feedback.  The work is published online and on paper several times a year.  In order to perform this task the students build communication and collaboration skills. 

The skills built here aren't tested but they are more applicable to 21st century jobs than the skills that are tested.  The students have employed google docs and dropbox to help them process the large number of articles. 

If one looks at what kids today can do, it's pretty amazing.  However, it seems that they do their best work when working on a task they care about with as few rules as possible.  I think that extracurricular activities offer tremendous opportunity for true project based learning.  Evidently, these people agree:  www.usfirst.org

Upside Down Academy

Upside Down Academy http://upsidedownacademy.org/ is a crowd sourced Khan Academy.  It is a good idea but the execution is poor.  The lessons are virtually all math, leaving out other subjects.  Different links end up taking one to the same place on the site as well.

I have a question about these amateur sites.  How do people choose which video to watch if there is more than one on a topic?  I assume some sort of rating system will help learners choose.  What happens when learners choose videos with questionable pedagogy but that help them get the answers on a test?  For example, one of the Khan Academy videos says something to the effect of "Alkali metals like to lose electrons."  This can generate misconceptions.  Seeing as how reform science educators are intent on stamping out misconceptions I predict a collision between amateur video sites and reform science educators.

Claco.com

Has anyone in the district tried Claco.com (formerly Class Connect)?