Cooperative Learning and Constructivism

In this week’s module, we read and discussed a lot of the strategies that many teachers are relying on in the classroom today. We are emphasizing cooperative learning because we know that practice will help the students learn how to work with others. The career field is looking for future employees that can work with others well, so we want our students to be able to do this. Group projects are a huge part of cooperative learning and I personally like to use them in class often. I think they are a great way for students to set their own goals and objectives and figure out a way to meet them. This helps the students become more independent and able to work on projects without the always present oversight of the teacher.

Constructivism is a very modern approach to education. Many older teachers that I know have a big problem with this method because they feel that it takes too long, and would limit the amount of material that we can cover in a year even more than it already is. They also feel that there is too much of a chance that the students could understand the concepts incorrectly, misinterpret how they can be used, or use them incorrectly out of context. Constructivism is a new concept, and very different from direct instruction. I think it is a powerful tool that we can use, because students are building their own knowledge in their own words. Each student will own the knowledge themselves, rather than feel like they are absorbing the knowledge of others.

Curriculum development and implementation

In this module, we read about how curriculum is planned, and discussed how we plan our own curriculum at our respective schools, or districts. Each district has its own ideas about curriculum development. Issaquah, for example, develops curriculum at the district level for each science discipline. After a group of teachers agree on a curriculum and what subjects will be included, basing their decision off the state standards, then the curriculum is implemented, and teachers can use their discretion on how in depth they want to go into each subject. Sometimes, they are even forced to omit a subject or two if time is too short at the end of the year (which it often is). Deciding which subject to omit can be at the teacher’s discretion as well.

Next, we discussed principles and examples that are important to curriculum implementation. We each talked about ideas, such as supportive classroom environment, and cooperative learning that help the students succeed in learning the material. I noticed that many of my colleagues thought that both of these ideas were important in their classrooms, and that shows how important these ideas are valued at all levels in our society. Teachers know how important it is to be able to work with others in the work environment, and in a social environment. We discussed in what ways we use technology in the classroom every day. Everyone had a pretty long list, which is good in today’s world, being as immersed in technology as we are. I wonder if even ten years ago the lists of what teachers use would have been even half as long.

It was interesting to see all the ideas my colleagues had about how we can implement curriculum. Their responses give me idea that I can work on in my classroom, or even new perspectives on an idea I have already heard of.

Attaining Concepts

We have to help students do this every day, yet we need to determine the best way to help students do this. In the reading this week, we were given many examples of how we show the students facts and help them explore and discover the concepts we desire them to learn. The discussions my classmates and I had this week helped give all of us more examples of how facts can be strung together to form concepts.

Facts can be combined to form the concepts we are trying to teach, but it is also possible for the students to piece them together incorrectly, so that they form misconceptions that can stay with them for a long time, as the video of the Harvard students showed. This is one of the struggles we must face when helping students learn new material, or revisit material they have previously learned. We must elicit what misconceptions they already have (most students have some misconceptions- never assume students are blank slates!)  and keep them from forming new misconceptions. As we teach, we must be conscious of those misconceptions in order to help the students explore the concepts and reach the correct end point.

As one of my classmates said, once the students have reached the correct concept, they can then elicit more facts from that concept, and delve deeper into the material they understand. This continued study can deepen their knowledge, and help them make it more meaningful.

Career Goals

One application asked me to write about my career goals, and I thought it would be a good thing to post on my blog:

My goal in teaching is to become an outstanding teacher who cares deeply about student success. I want to become the best teacher I can be, a teacher that students love to learn from. I would like to learn more about teaching over the next few years so that I can successfully complete the national board certification program. As a student teacher, I have been teaching general classes and observing a couple different IB classes. In my future teaching, I would like to gain enough insight and understanding so that I can teach IB and AP classes, in addition to the general classes. I would like to incorporate forensic science and biotechnology into my teaching skill set, joining an existing program, or starting a new program so that students see how scientists use their knowledge to improve our medicine, crime prevention and other areas of our society. These are just a few of the things I would like to do in my career as a teacher, and I am sure I will come up with more as I fulfill these initial goals.

Meta-Reflection on Standard S: Knowledge of Subject Matter and Curriculum Goals

I feel that I have come a long way to fulfill this standard this year. I try to make all of my lessons content driven. When in class, students must solve problems in order to succeed in science and understand given curriculum standards, which may range from understanding concepts by explaining them in a different way to applying their knowledge to answer a question.

Students in my classes use different methods to learn the given material. They listen to lectures and take notes, they complete practice problems, and they ask questions when they do not understand, which happens in most classrooms, such as in my mentors’ classrooms. I have added some components to help students show their understanding in different ways. Three particular assignments have stuck out this quarter in my classes. In chemistry, I came up with a poster activity, with the help of my mentor and a few other faculty members, to help the students with orbital notation and the periodic table. Students were assigned an element, and need to figure out how to represent the valence electrons in an illustration, and how to complete the orbital notation for their element, with only one explanation of how it worked the previous day. This activity is aligned with the physical science content standard 9-11 PS2A and helps students meet the standard. I think this poster helped them practice orbital notation without doing the usual lecture and worksheet. I think these kinds of activities help the students want to learn the material rather than having it forced down their throats.

Another way to help the students want to learn the material is to introduce the material with a short video. This helps the students see the material in context, outside of simply learning the material to pass a test. I like to show my students some sort of cartoon every Friday, to help them see chemistry outside of the classroom. I make sure that each one is aligned with the current material because they are the most applicable to the students at that time. From one cartoon, the students were able to demonstrate that they understood the concept of negative ions being attracted to positive ions by explaining it.

In our stoichiometry unit, the students needed to understand how to perform dimensional analysis. We taught the students at the beginning of the year, but they struggled with the concept. I had the students practice a lot in class, and put the problems in context as quickly as I could. Once I introduced the mole and how it can be used in context with the other units of measurement the students already knew (liters, grams, molecules, formulas units, atoms, ions), then I talked about how to convert from amounts of reactants to amounts of products in a demonstrated chemical reaction, combustion of methane. I gave the students a map that would give them a picture of a two neighborhood map to follow a path to get from a given value to the value that they want. The picture depicted different paths to trace, so they can see how to use conversion factors to get from one unit to another. The next day, I organized a jigsaw in which a group of 3-4 students worked on two problems, then scrambled the groups so there was one “master” of each set of problems in a group, so students were teaching other students. We also discussed the importance of two of the problem sets, as they applied to two important chemical reactions, photosynthesis and respiration. By the end of the jigsaw, the students had eight solved stoichiometry problems. The next day, I gave a quiz, a problem almost identical to the problems the students had worked out for themselves the day before. Most students showed that they did indeed understand the concept of dimensional analysis and how to convert from an amount of reactant to an amount of product (1, 2, 3). On the final day, I gave them practice problems that they had to complete correctly for stamps, which translated into points when they turned in a packet that contained all the work listed in this paragraph.

At the end of the stoichiometry unit, I wanted to put together an activity that allowed the students to use all of the knowledge they have gained to complete tasks that synthesize their learning. We had been looking at which reactant in a chemical reaction would limit the amount of product made, and then calculating percent yield, which is product made in an experiment compared to the amount a reaction is supposed produce, according to the math. I used different resources to come up with a three part stations lab, in which the students would be looking at two different chemical reactions and comparing different amounts of reactant to discover which the limiting reactant in each was. The third station was a computer simulation in which students had to put reactants into a system, and look at what was produced. They could determine which reactant was limiting, and how much of each product was produced. I think the lab really helped them synthesize their knowledge. They understood how to calculate the amount of product from given reactants, and how to calculate the percent yield of a reaction in front of them compared to the theoretical amount of product they calculated themselves (1, 2, 3). This lesson was aligned with the physical science standard 9-11 PS2G.

 In biology, I came up with an activity where students composed a poem, song or story about what happens when salt is poured on a slug, using specific vocabulary words we learned in class. Students showed their understanding of osmosis by composing a creative piece (1, 2, 3), which is different than normal assignments. This helped them internalize what osmosis is and how it works by asking them to relate it to their lives. This activity is aligned with the life science content standard 9-11 LS1D and helps them meet it. The writing in this assignment helped the students improve their writing, as well as allowing them to incorporate their interests into the stories (see the students work included in the above link).The students were also able to show their creativity in what kind of story they told. The final assignment was an established lab within the biology curriculum, Investigating Cell Variety, where the students needed to figure out what distinguishes a plant cell from an animal cell by looking at different cells and identifying similarities and differences between them. I think this activity helped the students tremendously in understanding plant and animal cell structure, much more so than any lecture might. By the end of the lab, the students’ understood that plant cells are structured and rectangular while animal cells do not have a defined shape, shown by the drawings they completed. By answering different questions, the students showed their understanding that plant cells must go through photosynthesis to get their energy. Therefore, these plants must contain specialized organelles (chloroplasts) to complete this process. Finally, students understood that even though plant and animal cells have differences, there are still common organelles because both must contain the basic structures that make a cell a cell. This activity is aligned with the life science content standard 9-11 LS1C and helps the students meet this standard. This lab required students to use their reading and writing skills to understand the lab manual directions, and answer those questions presented in their lab manuals.

            These are all things I have done in the classroom. Through my educational technology class, I found a few other ways to meet this standard. One of the ideas I have gotten through my studies is incorporation of computer games that help students improve their critical thinking and problem solving skills into the curriculum. Another idea is to create a lab that asks students to collaborate with another classroom across the globe. The students would each complete a similar comparative investigative lab that applies to each country’s environment. The students would post their findings in an organized fashion on a collaborative site, such as a blog, and then compare with those findings of the other classroom. They could learn the content they are supposed to, incorporate reading, writing and technology, and introduce students to a new culture.

            I have learned a lot this past year about this standard and how to fulfill it in the classroom. It does not only encompass the concepts you must teach the students. This standard encompasses how you teach students these concepts, including relating the concepts to the students’ lives, and the other subjects they are learning. It also includes how you relate the content to their future lives and the skills they need to succeed once they graduate from high school. I feel that I am learning how to effectively accomplish all of these things in my classroom by watching how my mentors do it, and trying out different techniques and activities that I came up with.  These are only the most prominent ways that I have fulfilled this standard in my classroom, and I hope to continue to learn more as I go through my teaching career.

ActivVotes

I have started using ActivVotes in both my chemistry and biology classes and I absolutely love them! They are a great tool to get students to participate in class practice problems. They can be made anonymous or linked to a specific person, so students do not have to be afraid of being singled out with the incorrect answer. You can save the results of the quiz directly into your flipchart (ActivStudio or ActivInspire technology, which is linked with a SmartBoard) or power point so that you can keep the results, as a bar graph, for yourself or as a motivator for your students. I think the students really like to use them, even though they are completing the same types of problems that they would be if I had them complete the practice problems on paper. In addition, you can export the flipchart with the saved results to a jpg or pdf or a word doc. They show up as pictures, so it is necessary to adjust you formatting if you want to see the original question beneath your saved results graph. Below I linked some examples of questions I asked (and the students’ responses):

Biology: 5, 6, 7, 8

Why I teach…

Today was one of those days that I live to teach for (5th period anyway). I came in a little upset because of previous classes and a couple of my students noticed. I was smiling within 5 mintues of just chatting with my students. Right now we are in the middle of cell reproduction. We have just finished mitosis, and are working on learning about karyotypes as an introduction to meiosis.

Yesterday, we started off with a short multiple choice question review on chromosome structure using the active voters (small remotes that have multiple choice answers so students can answer questions from their desks and feedback can be immediate). It was the first time we had used them, and the students were very excited. I was able to see immediately the the class remembered everything about chromosome structure. We then discussed the different types of chromosomes (autosomes and sex chromosomes) and the different types of cells (somatic cells (all cells in your body except sex cells) and sex cells (eggs and sperm)). The students were asking lots of great questions and we did not get through very much material because they were asking such great questions. At the end of the period, I had them write a “clear/ unclear” statement, which was also a first for this class. I have had them write summaries before, and answer specific questions, but I have never asked them to write about what confused them. This was extremely beneficial because I could see exactly what I needed to re-address, or what I needed to go over. I also had some students ask great questions in addition to explaining what they didn’t understand, most of which will be answered once we start meiosis on monday . Examples of students responses will be posted soon.

Today, I used the warm up to start a conversation about the concepts covered the day before. I included a visualization activity in which the students were asked to close their eyes and think about the chromosomes in different parts of their body, so they would get an idea about how many chromosomes they have in their entire bodies. It was great because I got a lot of students saying “ooh!” because they get what they did not understand the day before. Then, we talked about karyotypes, both what they are, how they are put together, and what they are supposed to look like. Again, the students asked great questions and starting great discussions. Finally, we talked about chromosomal disorders, issues with the number of chromosomes people can have, using karyotypes of specific disorders. The students were so interested in the different disorders that as soon as I put up a picture of a new karyotype, they immediately wanted to know the symptoms, and would barely let me describe the chromosomes before berating me with questions about the symptoms, even though I was about to list them. The questions the students were asking were so great. As we were talking about disorders, I breifly introduced meiosis, just to get the students thinking about how you inherit each chromosome. One student had a great “aha!” moment. She asked “so is that why pregnancy takes 9 months? Because the baby starts out as one cell, then divides exponentially? Like it starts out as one cell, then becomes two, then becomes four, then becomes eight and so on?” I said yep, and she exclaimed, “ooh! that is so cool!” Then the girl behind her says, “This stuff is so interesting! No offense, but I wasn’t so interested in previous units, but this unit is so cool. Well last unit (mitosis and DNA) was cool too, but this is really interesting!” The last thing we did was use the active voters to see of the students understood how the karyotypes showed disorders. From the few slides we got through, it was very obvious that the students really grasped the concepts. Today was one of those days that I live for. My students all were super interested in the material, and they made me feel like I was really doing a great job teaching them to love biology.

Standard V Project

I completed a project for EDU 6613 that required an assessment, teaching to help students master the material, then another assessment on the same material. I learned a lot from this experience, and I am looking forward to using this strategy in my future teaching, especially because I can have students share their strategies for solving prolems with other students, because I find that studentss with a system tend to perform better on exams. My completed project can be accessed through the link below.

Standard V Project

Different ways of teaching

As I plan my chemistry units using my mentor’s old note blanks, I am realizing more and more how different our teaching styles are. My note blanks usually have less text, because I can see students falling asleep when they are just listening and not writing. I also tend to skip writing a bunch of background info if they aren’t going to write about it because they won’t read it anyway. It would be much easier if I had my own website to post my stuff on, so I could use different note blanks and still not have to  print everything for my students, which I will when I have my own class .

Oral quizzes

In my biology classes, we have been studying the history of DNA, its structure and how it replicates. In order to help the students learn the material, we had them build models out of pasta and pipe cleaners. In pairs, they followed the instructions to make a model of one DNA molecule, and answered written questions about what they did. After they finished, I asked each pair questions about their molecule, asking them to show mastery of their knowledge of the structure of DNA. The students had to answer every question correctly in order to be checked off. If they did not, they were sent back to study, and they had to sign up again. The quiz was out of 5 points, and the students lost one point for every time they were sent back to their desks. We did a similar activity for DNA replication, having them model it, and then answer a second set of oral questions, with them same rules. As much as the students complained when they were not checked off the first time, I had several students tell me that the activity really helped them learn the material. We took the bigger written quiz (which included DNA history, as well as structure and replication) on thursday/friday (depending on the period) and some students have done much better on this written test than they have done on other tests.