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.
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Monday, September 20, 2010
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.
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.
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