New Grade 8 project

So, the grade 9 project ended quite well and I got very good feedback from the students. Most of the presentations were good, contained a lot of information and were quite creative. They wrote a test on Friday and I was happy to see that much of the information was retained by many of the students.

Now I have moved away from projects for the 9s for a little while until I start my biodiversity projects and am giving my grade 8 students some projects on body systems and disease.

In the past I have taught most of the material about the body systems and then had the students do a choose your own adventure murder mystery project, but I though that I would use the google docs and try something new this year.

Phase I - Become a Specialist (4 classes)
Before we started I told all the students that they were doctors and I congratulated them on this accomplishment! Now the goal was to make all of them into specialists. I created mixed ability groups and gave each group a system of the body (Circulatory, Respiratory, Digestive, Nervous and Urinary). The goal of each group was to answer the following questions:
1) What is the function of the system?
2) What are the main organs, tissues and cells of the system?
3) In general, how does the system work?

The groups were to make one google doc for their system and then everyone in the group had to know the information well enough for each person to pass a quiz on their system in order for them to move on to the next step of the project. I have never tried this before and I was a little concerned about how well it would work. The students had to work together and test each other, and then when they felt they were ready, all 6 had to come to me and tell me that they were prepared to write the quiz. I use an online course shell and so the quiz was a 10 questions multiple choice test that was marked automatically by the computer system.

As the students were working along in the document I gave feedback about the information and then got the students to remove the questions and try to make a document that was clear, concise and flowed logically. If I felt that their document was ready and they had decided they were all ready to write the quiz I opened the quiz and they all took the test. Overall, this worked really well. I had 2 of my students who tend to struggle fail the test. I allowed them to come and see me, I asked them some questions orally and if I was happy that they had the basic information, I gave them a 5/10 and the whole group was able to more on to the next step. I had two groups with multiple student fail and so I made these groups go back into their document, fix it up, study together and try again. All the students passed on the second attempt and I took the average of their marks.

Phase II - Investigate a disease (1 class)
I broke each of the groups of 6 into groups of 3 and allowed them to pick any disease that related to their body system and add information about the following:
1) What is the disease?
2) What is going on in your body if you have this disease?

This second question was strategic because students were not able to find this information easily on the internet. I wanted them to think about how the system worked and apply that to what would be happening if this disease was present. This portion of the project was not marked, but it has built their understanding for the next phase of the project and they enjoyed looking into a disease of their choice.

Phase III - Teach (one class prep, 2 classes for teaching)
I struggled with the best way for students to share the information about their systems to each other and I decided that I would get the students to teach the class. I emphasized that this was not the same as giving a presentation because they had to ensure that the other students learned the most critical aspects of their system. While students were presenting they used the white board, SmartBoard, diagrams, videos and demonstrations. I did step in if the information was incomplete or incorrect, but mostly my job was to slow down the presenters and to get the students to write out or simplify their information.

Phase IV - Diagnosing symptoms
Tomorrow we will be starting on the next phase of the project. Here students will work in groups of 2 or 3 but group members must be specialists in different body sytems. The group will be given a scenario of a person coming to their clinic, or of someone they meet in their life who is experiencing some sort of symptom. In each scenario, students must write out:

1) What they think is actually going on inside the body system(s) now that the person is experiencing this problem?
2) What will happen in this body system, and ultimately this patient, if the symptoms continue?

Each group will be given a scenarios from each body system one at a time. They will be able to come and ask me for more information if they feel they need to run extra tests. When they feel they have completed the task for the given scenario, I will get one of the other students in the class who is an expert in that system to look over their explanation and give feedback to the team. At this point, the team can fix up their explanation before handing it in to me to mark. I will give the students a small oral quiz on the scenario and then give them a mark on their explanation and understanding of the system.

The students are looking forward to this phase of the project, as am I. I think it will be a fun, highly educational and collaborative process.

The following is the list of scenarios:

Circulatory

1) A patient, named Jordan, comes in with a cut that will not stop bleeding.
2) You arrive on the scene of an accident and find a woman lying on the ground. You take her pulse and find that she has an irregular heart beat.
3) You arrive on the scene of an accident and find a man, Frank, lying on the ground. You can not see any wounds, but when you take his pulse, you cannot find a heart beat.
4) Sydney comes into your office and says that she is feeling tired and unwell. You take a blood sample and find an elevated number of white blood cells.
5) You have been out skiing in the mountains all day when one of your friends complains that he is feeling pain and numbness in the toes on his right foot.

Respiratory

1) A patient, named Sandra, comes in making wheezing noises when she breathes.
2) Nicholas comes into your office with chest pain. You do an x-ray and discover that he has excess mucus in his lungs.
3) You are attending a hockey game and a player gets hit in the stomach area with the butt end of a stick. You go to the ice to find that she is unable to breathe at all.
4) You are climbing a high mountain and one of your team members is feeling dizzy and lightheaded.
5) You are driving home and find that your neighbour's house is on fire. Miguel has just run out of the house surrounded by a cloud of smoke. He is coughing and cannot seem to catch his breath.

Nervous

1) A patient, named Kate, comes in with numbness in her left foot. She says she has been this way for over a week.
2) You arrive on the scene of an accident and find Jimmy lying on the ground. When you ask him to move his right foot, he is unable to do so.
3) You come upon an accident and go to help some of the injured. You shine a light into the eye of one of the patients and the iris does not contract or expand.
4) Rachel comes in to your office complaining about persistent pain in her knee.
5) You are going home on the bus and see another rider, Luc, fall down and start shaking uncontrollably.

Urinary

1) A patient, named Marcus, comes in feeling quite tired and unwell. You take a urine sample and find that he has excess sugar in his urine.
2) Caitlyn comes in quite worried about seeing blood in her urine.
3) Carmen says that she has been feeling tired and sick for a week or so. You take a urine sample and find that she has excess waste products in her urine.
4) Marnie has brought in her son Blake, a 5-year-old boy, who still often wets the bed at night.
5) You are hiking in the Grand Canyon in the summer. It is very hot and dry. You come upon a man, Randy, who is sitting on a rock and who is looking ready to pass out. You ask him if he has any water and he says ‘no, I didn’t think I would need any’.

Digestive

1) A patient, Sam says that he has had diarrhea for the past 48 hours.
2) Michelle comes into your office and complains of being constantly hungry. She says she is eating a lot, but that she is hungry, tired and sometimes dizzy.
3) You are out having dinner with your friend Pablo. He decides to have a chicken salad. Six hours later he is throwing up repeatedly.
4) Mitchell comes into the office complaining of a burning sensation in his throat and an acid taste in his mouth.
5) Alexis comes into your office. She is very thin and has indications of burning on the inside of her mouth and throat.

Space project is over!!

So, all the grade 9s in the school presented their videos, animations, skits, PowerPoint presentations and various other media projects to the classes today. We mixed all the groups from various classes so students could see the work from students they don't see in their day-to-day classes. The presentations were definitely strong on the integration of the curricular content and many showed a huge amount of effort on the editing and production of their presentations. We gave a feedback sheet to the students today and certainly an overwhelming majority liked the project and felt that they learned a lot of material. They also felt that presenting the projects to each other was a good way of hearing the information many times over and they felt that this helped them remember the material. When I tabulate all the feedback, I will put up the statistics on this blog. I am also giving a test next week and I am interested to see how much of this information is retained and what they are able to recall and apply now that the project is over.

Project almost complete

In the past week, all the students designed a plan for their project. One student in each group opened a new google doc for their group, added the members of the group and also added me. I put up a google doc with a list of all the important curriculum connections from each of the job descriptions. Their plan needed to include a general description of what would happen in each scene and also a list, or description of which curriculum points would be discussed in that scene. I told all the groups that they would not have class time to actually work on their project until the plan was complete and was approved by me. As groups were building their plan, I regularly checked their document and gave some feedback. The biggest stumbling block here seemed to be that the students would write all the curriculum points in one scene rather than trying to make it flow with all the information mixed together. I explained that it would probably be quite boring if for a whole scene the doctor talked only about all the health challenges. All the groups got the hang of it eventually and designed a plan in about 3 classes.

As students finished their plan, I talked to each group about the importance of getting the science into their project and then making an entertaining and educational presentations. Most of the groups in my class are either making movies using iMovie or animation using goanimate.com. Since then, students have been filming and designing the animation and they seem to be having lots of fun and are generally working well together.

So far, I would say that the two best features of this project are that students are really working collaboratively and that there are lots of opportunities for formative assessment both in class and in the google docs. The students only have one more class to work on their projects, but I have given them an extra week before the project is due.

Because all 8 grade 9 classes are doing this project we have decided to have presentations with students from different classes. We couldn't have them all presenting to each other because it would have taken too long. Instead, we decided to have 6 classrooms with about 8 groups in each class. This will take about 2 class periods and so the staff at the school has allowed all the grade 9s to be in our science classes for those 2 periods. I am really looking forward to seeing the presentations, it will be the culmination of a lot of work on the part of these students. Students and teachers who are observing the presentations are going to evaluate each presentation and we will tally the results and the top 6 presentations will be shown to the whole school at our lunchbox theater.

Moving on to the planning phase

Students have completed their work on the google doc that related to their jobs and are now back in their mission groups working on a plan for their entertaining and educational presentations.

I had the drama teacher come in and talk to the students about the importance of having a good tight plan and also how to go about making this plan. She also talked about some of the aspects that make a movie, skit, animation, etc entertaining. It was excellent to have her advice and feedback for students on this portion of the project.

Over the weekend I looked at all the 'job' google docs and highlighted the portions that need to be in their presentations. In general, the documents were excellent; they were well researched, logically flowing concise documents that covered most if not all of the information that was required. There was only 1 group that did not seem to get the idea of working collaboratively and as such their document had fragmented parts representing each person's work. Even after extensive feedback throughout, they did not seem willing to work together. Since it is important for all students to have a good document, I copied the doc from the other class into their google doc so that everyone would have good information to work from. I have spoken with the group members and have emphasized the need to step it up for the next phase of the project.

So, the intention of the planning phase is for groups to break their project into 5-10 chunks. In each chunk they will give an overview of what is happening during this section of the story and also explain which of the curricular connections will be addressed in that chunk of the presentation. Students are struggling a bit right now, but I have a few groups who really get what is needed and so tomorrow I will show their work to other groups so that they don't waste too much time before getting back on track. They are excited to get developing their presentation, but they will not be allowed to do this until I have approved their plan.

The students still seem very excited about the project, but I think they are happy to be back working with their originally chosen groups.

After the first week

Students have been working with their 'job' groups for the past 5 days. All the groups decided to break the job into sections and work on their own sections for a few days. They are now working to compile the information into a coherent document to take back to their groups. For this section I have 3 students working together at 1 computer and working through all the research to make a document with an introduction and subsections. This will likely go on for one or two more periods, but I feel it is a very important step so that all members are very familiar with the information and also so there will be a concise coherent document for others to use. So far we are on track for time, but this part might take one extra day.
Right now, I am reviewing all the documents and giving feedback on areas they have missed, referencing that is not done properly. When their document is compiled I will have the individuals from another group read their work and give feedback on what they found hard to understand and how easy and logical the document was to read.

The engagement has been incredible this week. For example, one girl was home from school due to an injury and she found out when we had science class and was on the google doc during class time so she could work with her group. I also did have one boy who thought he was done his part so decided to play a game without telling me, so as with most things, it goes both ways. To his credit, his work was done, but he was avoiding any editing that was expected from the group.

Part 1: Creating a coherent google doc in response to the job description by all individuals who selected that job. (Almost complete)

Part 2: Creating a plan/script for their entertaining and educational presentation.
Students will go back to their 'mission' group this week and start planning how they are going to present their material in an entertaining and educational manner. They will need some time to share information about all their jobs, and then come up with their plan. Each group will start their own google doc and they will invite me to this doc so that I can see their progress.
I thought that they would need some help with their script/plan (more than what I can give) so this week, I am bringing in the drama/film teacher to talk the students about how to prepare their script/plan.

Part 3: Taking their script/plan and making the presentation. This cannot happen until the plan is approved.

Space project week 1

So, the space project is coming along. The students have broken into groups and they have selected jobs from the list that I will attach below and each group has chosen their own mission. We have some groups going to the moon, some to ISS and one as far away at Titan. Now all of the people who have the same job are working together to complete a googledoc with the appropriate information. Most groups have broken the job down into smaller pieces and are now working away. I will check on them after Monday's class, to see how the information is coming together and will then get the groups to try to compile the information so that each student is comfortable before returning to their original groups as the expert.

Having the kids on googledocs has been really great. They like working together and I think it is interesting for them to be able to see what other students are doing in the same space where they are working. Initially I let them play for a little while just to get used to the idea of working on a collaborative document, but it didn't take long for them to settle in and work together. Some students have been on the documents this weekend, even though I explained that they would be given lots of class time this week. They were very happy when they asked me how to save the file and I told them that it was already saved!

I talked to the 2 other science teachers at my school who teach grade 9 and they are keen to do the project as well, so now all 210 students are doing this project. We decided to have a presentation day so that all students can share their projects (some will be making movies, songs, skits etc). I think the final products be more impressive because there is nothing like the motivation of having to show your work to a large audience of your peers to make students want to put something good together.

Job Descriptions
Researcher – Your job is to determine the scope and strategy for your mission. In order to do this, you need some background information on your destination, previous missions to your destination, and a comparison of your destination to the Earth (eg. Size, composition, temperature, distance from the Earth, etc). After this, you must design an experiment or plan of investigation that will be the purpose for your mission.

Safety – Your job is to understand all the risks inherent with undertaking a space mission. The most dangerous parts of any mission are taking off and landing. Be sure to research some previous tragedies so you are aware of potential problems and find out some of the modifications that will prevent similar dangers in the future. During the flight you must be aware of dangers surrounding radiation, space junk and malfunctions that may occur during a space walk or landing mission.

Doctor – Your role is to ensure the health of all the astronauts during and after the mission. As preventative measures, you must be aware of all the life support processes onboard, such as water, air and food supply as well as waste disposal. You also must have a plan to combat the effects of microgravity. Additionally, you must research means of monitoring the health of the astronauts and research some common space related illnesses and understand the basic treatment for these conditions.

Flight – Your job is to fly the mission. The first job is to decide what kind of vessel will best suit your mission. In order to do this you need to know how multistage rockets and space shuttle take off and land, as well as the kinds of missions each has been used for in the past. Then assess the advantages and disadvantages of both vessels and decide which vessel will best suit your needs. You need to understand how your vessel will move once it is in space (fuel and gravitational assist). Finally, design a flight plan for your mission that includes your plan to get where you’re going, how long it will take and how far it is from the Earth and how you will successfully get back to Earth.

Communication – Your job is to make all communication connection with ground control as well as with people doing space walks or landing missions. You must also know your location and be able to use remote sensing to better understand your destination. Therefore, you must understand how different communication satellites work, including knowing their orbit, how signals are relayed, potential lag times for your messages and whether there will be situations when you will lose communication with Earth. You are also in charge of knowing the precise location of your spacecraft by learning about GPS satellites and methods of triangulating your coordinates. Additionally, you need to learn about remote sensing satellites so that you can decide whether you will deploy any satellites during your mission to study your destination after your return to Earth.

Web 2.0 and grade 9 space unit

So, I have been trying to think of some ways to bring more online collaborative learning into my class and finally today I started to formulate some ideas that might work. I'm going to throw my ideas down here and then hopefully start to mold them into something that will work. I do want input from my students as well, so I would like this to be the framework and let the specifics be more malleable.

My plan is to have groups of about 5 students who's job is to either:
a) create some sort of ad that will persuade people to work for NASA (thanks to Zoe Branigan-Pipe for the idea http://gl.am/x0jrYe)
b) create a 'rant' similar to those by Rick Mercer about space travel.
c) make a story, comic or animation about experiences in space

(or others my students will come up with)

While going over the curriculum with the students we will decide on 5 jobs that one member of each group will take on. Then we will do a jigsaw using google docs, so that 1 member of each group will take on job #1. All the students doing job #1 will work together to produce a google doc that will give the information that will satisfy the curricular objectives for their job. This will ensure that a document exists for the groups to work with when making their final project. This document will have to be properly referenced.

Then the original groups will reconvene and have all 5 jobs represented by their expert and a google doc of information. They will then go about putting this information into their final product.

I will be starting this project this week. If anyone has any suggestions of how to make this project either more interactive, or run more smoothly, please comment.

Blogging to be a better teacher

I am starting this blog to not only reflect on my own practice, share some teaching ideas, but also to hopefully hear from some other science teachers who have innovative ideas on science teaching. I am passionate about giving kids the opportunity to be scientists rather than just know about science. Being a scientist involves curiosity, wonder, problem solving, research, collaboration, writing, testing, thinking about the implications of your ideas, reflecting, respecting the opinions of others, challenging yourself and so much more.

I believe it is important to allow students to construct their own understanding of science principles. So, last week, I gave groups of 2 or 3 students a mirror and gave them about 30 minutes to figure out the law of reflection. Prior to this, we had discussed the scientific meaning of the word 'law', but that was all the instruction I gave to the students. I gave hints by holding the mirror at different angles and asking what they could see. I then said 'why', and sent them away. In all classes, the groups were able to figure out the law on their own.

I have added a journaling component to all my science classes this year, and in fact, all 5 science teachers in my school have gotten on board with journaling and reflection. I think this is going to be an interesting addition to the class because it will help students reflect on their growth in my class for the year and allow them to make connections between the subjects in school and to the real world. On this day, I asked them to explain how they felt while trying to figure out the law of reflection. They shared with the class that it was frustrating at first, that is was confusing and hard, but they also said that they felt proud to have figured out the law on their own, and that they felt that they would remember the law better for a longer period of time because they had to struggle and do it on their own.

It was a very successful combination of activities. Today I taught about concave and convex mirrors and had them each predict where rays would go based on their understanding of the law of reflection and the students were incredibly successful at understanding how light bounces off these mirrors.

It is clear that having kids construct knowledge takes more time, but the teaching of concepts that stem from the original concept goes much more quickly, with greater depth of understanding. So, whenever I can, I will be encouraging students to work through problems on their own, with guidance, of course, but with less direct teaching.