ImagineIT Phase 2
Professional Context
The context of my ImagineIT project is a 10th grade chemistry class at Walter Payton College Prep HS. This is a selective enrollment public high school which means most students must earn specific grades in middle school and top scores on placement tests in order to be admitted. Because of this, we have some of the top students from every neighborhood in the city of Chicago, creating a very diverse student body and learning environment. Students’ prior knowledge in science is vastly different based on the middle school they came from.
At this time, I plan on implementing this project in all five of my chemistry classes that I am responsible for throughout the entire school year. We meet 2-3 times per week for a 1.5 hour block period in a chemistry lab/classroom. Nearly all of my students have a smartphone and/or access to the internet at home (I always conduct a survey at the beginning of the year to identify students that do not have access). Computer carts are available in our school, but the computers are typically slow and burdensome. We also utilize our class website which is run through Moodle. There are options to upload documents, pictures, and videos from both the teacher and the students. Students are able to post to a forum that is seen by everyone in the class and they can also post to a journal that is only visible to the teacher.
Big Idea
The ultimate goal of my teaching this year will be to make chemistry accessible and engaging to all students by connecting it to their everyday lives. I want to remove the feeding of facts and content to students and instead, have their curiosity piqued enough so that they are the ones uncovering those pieces of knowledge. I plan on utilizing project-based learning, a partial flipped classroom, and models/simulations/augmented reality to assist in reaching this goal.
Content
At this point in my research, I see 2-3 areas of content where this idea can be immediately implemented. I hope to eventually expand this but would like to focus in on a smaller area first. A performance standard within the Next Generation Science Standards states:
How is the periodic table organized and how can we utilize this to predict properties and characteristics of elements and the compounds they can create?
This is where I would like to introduce the first PBL lesson for the year. It we likely be the second or third “unit” that we cover since I plan on beginning with lessons on the nature of scientific inquiry and the history of the study of chemistry and atomic structure. The lesson seems to fall under the description of “somewhat authentic” in that students will be given choice on what they are researching and their final product, and the activity is based in real-world examples. I think that this will be a good transition for both me and for my students. They are not used to working in this type of open environment that allows for multiple “failures” and dead-ends and may simply result in increased skills and knowledge but not necessarily a final product. This idea has a bit more structure than a typical “authentic” PBL lesson which will help the students have a smoother transition to a larger, open-ended project. The general idea of the project is described in the following article (first assignment), and will be adjusted to suit my classroom needs.
Performances of Understanding
In order to meet the NGSS standard above, I will first want to create a pre-assessment that will inform me of what misconceptions that I need to help my students uncover. Students should be given time to share and reflect on these areas of their own knowledge which can be done through the use of the Moodle page. I can post journal assignments that will be graded on completion. Students can type, upload a video, or upload a picture with a caption, depending on what they are most comfortable with.
Throughout the unit, I plan on giving un-graded, informal, formative assessments to track students progress throughout the lesson. For more difficult concepts, I plan on creating some videos that students can use at home to learn at their own pace. These videos will have self-check exercises within them so that they create a more active learning environment. Augmented reality, models, and simulations will be extremely useful tools that will help students visualize molecules that can’t physically be seen.
Ultimately, I plan on giving students a formula of a molecule that they have never seen before for their assessment. They will need to be able to draw out its structure, based on the elements within the molecule and the knowledge they have gained on how those particular elements bond to each other (organization of periodic table). They should be able to identify the molecule’s overall shape, and if it is polar or nonpolar. This will help them to determine a few properties and characteristics about the molecule by comparing it to similar molecules that they worked with throughout the lesson.
A year-long project can also be similar to our World of Wonder activity that was completed over the summer at the MSU Urban STEM meetings. Throughout the year, students will be asked to find at least one thing in their life that they have wondered about, include a picture or video, explain how or why their “wonder” works the way it does, and possibly introduce more questions about it. I would likely allow the connection to be to any science and not just chemistry. The due date for this would be very open so that students do not have to try to force something to work. We could create a Tumblr with a link on the moodle page so that they can edit, update, and share their “wonders” so that they can start seeing the chemistry connection in their everyday lives.
Overview
In order to more effectively engage all students in my chemistry class, I plan to implement a few Project-Based Lessons throughout the year, beginning with the previously described lesson. I also plan on using videos for a partially flipped classroom and augmented reality/simulations to provide multiple pathways for learning and differentiated instruction for students who may need more time or simply a different entry point for learning the content.
Professional Context
The context of my ImagineIT project is a 10th grade chemistry class at Walter Payton College Prep HS. This is a selective enrollment public high school which means most students must earn specific grades in middle school and top scores on placement tests in order to be admitted. Because of this, we have some of the top students from every neighborhood in the city of Chicago, creating a very diverse student body and learning environment. Students’ prior knowledge in science is vastly different based on the middle school they came from.
At this time, I plan on implementing this project in all five of my chemistry classes that I am responsible for throughout the entire school year. We meet 2-3 times per week for a 1.5 hour block period in a chemistry lab/classroom. Nearly all of my students have a smartphone and/or access to the internet at home (I always conduct a survey at the beginning of the year to identify students that do not have access). Computer carts are available in our school, but the computers are typically slow and burdensome. We also utilize our class website which is run through Moodle. There are options to upload documents, pictures, and videos from both the teacher and the students. Students are able to post to a forum that is seen by everyone in the class and they can also post to a journal that is only visible to the teacher.
Big Idea
The ultimate goal of my teaching this year will be to make chemistry accessible and engaging to all students by connecting it to their everyday lives. I want to remove the feeding of facts and content to students and instead, have their curiosity piqued enough so that they are the ones uncovering those pieces of knowledge. I plan on utilizing project-based learning, a partial flipped classroom, and models/simulations/augmented reality to assist in reaching this goal.
Content
At this point in my research, I see 2-3 areas of content where this idea can be immediately implemented. I hope to eventually expand this but would like to focus in on a smaller area first. A performance standard within the Next Generation Science Standards states:
How is the periodic table organized and how can we utilize this to predict properties and characteristics of elements and the compounds they can create?
This is where I would like to introduce the first PBL lesson for the year. It we likely be the second or third “unit” that we cover since I plan on beginning with lessons on the nature of scientific inquiry and the history of the study of chemistry and atomic structure. The lesson seems to fall under the description of “somewhat authentic” in that students will be given choice on what they are researching and their final product, and the activity is based in real-world examples. I think that this will be a good transition for both me and for my students. They are not used to working in this type of open environment that allows for multiple “failures” and dead-ends and may simply result in increased skills and knowledge but not necessarily a final product. This idea has a bit more structure than a typical “authentic” PBL lesson which will help the students have a smoother transition to a larger, open-ended project. The general idea of the project is described in the following article (first assignment), and will be adjusted to suit my classroom needs.
Performances of Understanding
In order to meet the NGSS standard above, I will first want to create a pre-assessment that will inform me of what misconceptions that I need to help my students uncover. Students should be given time to share and reflect on these areas of their own knowledge which can be done through the use of the Moodle page. I can post journal assignments that will be graded on completion. Students can type, upload a video, or upload a picture with a caption, depending on what they are most comfortable with.
Throughout the unit, I plan on giving un-graded, informal, formative assessments to track students progress throughout the lesson. For more difficult concepts, I plan on creating some videos that students can use at home to learn at their own pace. These videos will have self-check exercises within them so that they create a more active learning environment. Augmented reality, models, and simulations will be extremely useful tools that will help students visualize molecules that can’t physically be seen.
Ultimately, I plan on giving students a formula of a molecule that they have never seen before for their assessment. They will need to be able to draw out its structure, based on the elements within the molecule and the knowledge they have gained on how those particular elements bond to each other (organization of periodic table). They should be able to identify the molecule’s overall shape, and if it is polar or nonpolar. This will help them to determine a few properties and characteristics about the molecule by comparing it to similar molecules that they worked with throughout the lesson.
A year-long project can also be similar to our World of Wonder activity that was completed over the summer at the MSU Urban STEM meetings. Throughout the year, students will be asked to find at least one thing in their life that they have wondered about, include a picture or video, explain how or why their “wonder” works the way it does, and possibly introduce more questions about it. I would likely allow the connection to be to any science and not just chemistry. The due date for this would be very open so that students do not have to try to force something to work. We could create a Tumblr with a link on the moodle page so that they can edit, update, and share their “wonders” so that they can start seeing the chemistry connection in their everyday lives.
Overview
In order to more effectively engage all students in my chemistry class, I plan to implement a few Project-Based Lessons throughout the year, beginning with the previously described lesson. I also plan on using videos for a partially flipped classroom and augmented reality/simulations to provide multiple pathways for learning and differentiated instruction for students who may need more time or simply a different entry point for learning the content.