Tracie Belt’s Blog

This new year, show your DEN spirit and lets help each other with new and innovative ways to use technology in the science classroom. You know as well as I do that DEN members always are on the cutting edge, so let’s help each other make this the year of science tech. Write a quick comment to the Science in Action Blog about a new idea you would like to know more about, or a new idea you have tried. Discovery Science is a great asset to all of us, but it would be great to discuss some ways that teachers or students are using the virtual labs, Mythbuster series, Science Sleuth to enhance your science program.

One new idea that I am going to try this new year is an idea I saw in December’s issue of Technology and Leadership. Two high school science teachers have decided to stop lecturing and begin using vodcasts to deliver their science content. According to the article, students could download the vodcasts and listen to them at home. The teachers are then freed up to use more of their classroom time on hands on labs, helping small groups, and more application activities. Students can enhance their understanding of concepts by replaying sections they don’t understand the first time. Use the vodcast for review, not miss lectures when they are ill, and of course there would be many other benefits. This idea sounds great to me. I can’t wait to try it.

This idea could also be used with assignment builder and you could almost design your class to run like an online class. It also would be a great thing to leave with a sub if you were going to be out several days. Wouldn’t it be nice to come back to a class where the content was taught the way you wanted it to be taught.

Now it is your turn. What great ideas do you have? Leave a comment, share an idea, and lets all resolve to try one new technology idea this year.

The scientific method is a topic that many science teachers review at the beginning of the year. However, it can be hard to find new and exciting ways to teach it to students year after year. Personally, I find that students come to me still unsure of many steps even though they have conducted experiments using the scientific method for at least two years by the time I get them in seventh grade.This year, my plan of attack is going to be different. I am going to try a new approach. I am going to begin the year by having my students design their own experiment before I review the steps of the scientific method. Doing the experiment first gives me real life examples to pull from. When I try to get students to understand what a variable is or what a control is in an experiment I will be able to use examples from their own experiments.While they are doing the experiment, the students will use flip cameras to film themselves ,or use their cell phones to take pictures of their team designing and executing their experiments. When they finish the experiment, they will have to write a caption for each scene they filmed or photographed. The movie will show and tell where they struggled with the design or data analysis. This should make the ultimate teaching tools. The students will have lived the method first and then be asked to identify which step is which from watching the videos they produced.Consequently, when I ask questions about controlling variables, or is the experiment a fair test, it should make the concepts real and easier to understand. The film and the discussion should make the students see the connection between the scientific method and themselves. It should act as a guided practice for how they will independently design an experiment for the science fair.My test this year on scientific method will also have a twist. Instead of the normal, name the steps of the scientific method ,and identify the variables in the experiment typed on the paper, I am going to use an alternative assessment. My plan is to use assignment builder and assign my students to watch MythBusters and while they watch the video have them record which part of the show is the experimental design. Ask them to explain what happens when the guys on MythBusters have problems with their design. What did the MythBusters team do to prove they had busted or proven the myth.My goal is that my teacher experiment of teaching the scientific method with a slight twist will result in my students having a stronger sense of why we use the scientific method and that this method will help them independently know how design better experiments . I will let you know how it goes. Keep your fingers crossed.

Do you or your students have a case of the winter blahs?If so, try spicing up your approach to the science curriculum, by having your students teach the chapter instead of you. One of the cardinal rules of teaching is: “He or she who does the work learns the most.” Take advantage of this old adage and turn the classroom blahs into a classroom that is exciting and engaging.

First, pick a section of a chapter you have introduced to the students. Then entice them by saying that they will not have to read the whole next section. They will have to only read one part. The catch is that after they are done reading their part they will have to find a creative way to teach that part to the class.

The students love to perform and I have found that they pay better attention to the chapter if they have to present it. At the same time they are learning important concepts such as: research skills, public speaking skills, and learning how to organize a long term project.

Here are the steps to try this with your class:

First, choose one section of a chapter for students to teach. Preferably a middle section of a chapter you have already introduced. Example: Clues to Evolution which is the second section of a chapter on how organisms change over time.

Divide students into groups of four and assign each group one part of the chapter to read, research and teach to the class.

Ensure individual accountability by having each student responsible for one part of the teaching. When I did this with my class the rules were as follows:

1. Everyone in the group must read the section they are assigned for homework and be prepared to discuss it the next day in class with their group.

2. Everyone must participate in planning the group’s presentation. Assign each group member a number. That number tells them what individual contribution they must make. Assign a facilitator for each group whose job it is to make sure each group member is participating and contributing.

3. Person 1 must find or make a visual aid for the group’s presentation.

4. Person 2 must find a magazine, web or newspaper article about one part of their section. This article must be used in the presentation. Hint: To save time and make sure the articles are grade level appropriate use the articles you can find in Discovery Science Connection. I chose the articles from the reading passages section of science connection, for example: When Whales walked and Growing up Mammal. By limiting the choices you direct the inquiry, which helps students not get off track and waste time searching the Internet.

5. Person 3 must research 3 interesting facts about the topic that can not be found by reading your science text book

6. Person 4 must write a summary and three review questions to read and ask to the class at the end of the group presentation.

All presentations must have a skit, props, or something else creative to try to make their presentations memorable. Some of my students used a film clip on evolution they found in the science connection film clips.

All students know that this assignment is graded. They know they will receive a group grade and an individual grade on how well they did their assigned part. The time period for this assignment is brief, so they must go right to work.

I give them two days to prepare their presentations and then on the third day they each have seven minutes to present their section to the class. We call it our science symposium. The students dress up if they wish. Some choose to dress up as scientists and wear lab coats. At the end of each presentation. The group summarizes what the class should have learned and ask 3 review questions. I then have them copy in their notebooks what I deem to be the three essential points they should have learned from their student teachers. This way I ensure they have the notes they will need to study for a possible quiz or test on the unit.

Trust me this is a great way to beat the winter blahs in the classroom and ensure that your students will learn the concepts.img_4103.JPG

Do you or your students have a case of the winter blahs? If so, try spicing up your approach to the science curriculum, by having your students teach the chapter instead of you. One of the cardinal rules of teaching is: “He or she who does the work learns the most.” Take advantage of this old adage and turn the classroom blahs into a classroom that is exciting and engaging.

First, pick a section of a chapter you have introduced to the students. Then entice them by saying that they will not have to read the whole next section. They will have to only read one part. The catch is that after they are done reading their part they will have to find a creative way to teach that part to the class.

The students love to perform and I have found that they pay better attention to the chapter if they have to present it. At the same time they are learning important concepts such as: research skills, public speaking skills, and learning how to organize a long term project.

Here are the steps to try this with your class:

First, choose one section of a chapter for students to teach. Preferably a middle section of a chapter you have already introduced. Example: Clues to Evolution which is the second section of a chapter on how organisms change over time.

Divide students into groups of four and assign each group one part of the chapter to read, research and teach to the class.

Ensure individual accountability by having each student responsible for one part of the teaching. When I did this with my class the rules were as follows:

1. Everyone in the group must read the section they are assigned for homework and be prepared to discuss it the next day in class with their group.

2. Everyone must participate in planning the group’s presentation. Assign each group member a number. That number tells them what individual contribution they must make. Assign a facilitator for each group whose job it is to make sure each group member is participating and contributing.

3. Person 1 must find or make a visual aid for the group’s presentation.

4. Person 2 must find a magazine, web or newspaper article about one part of their section. This article must be used in the presentation. Hint: To save time and make sure the articles are grade level appropriate use the articles you can find in Discovery Science Connection.
I chose the articles from the reading passages section of science connection, for example: When Whales walked and Growing up Mammal. By limiting the choices you direct the inquiry, which helps students not get off track and waste time searching the Internet.

5. Person 3 must research 3 interesting facts about the topic that can not be found by reading your science text book

6. Person 4 must write a summary and three review questions to read and ask to the class at the end of the group presentation.

All presentations must have a skit, props, or something else creative to try to make their presentations memorable. Some of my students used a film clip on evolution they found in the science connection film clips.

All students know that this assignment is graded. They know they will receive a group grade and an individual grade on how well they did their assigned part. The time period for this assignment is brief, so they must go right to work.

I give them two days to prepare their presentations and then on the third day they each have seven minutes to present their section to the class. We call it our science symposium. The students dress up if they wish. Some choose to dress up as scientists and wear lab coats. At the end of each presentation. The group summarizes what the class should have learned and ask 3 review questions. I then have them copy in their notebooks what I deem to be the three essential points they should have learned from their student teachers. This way I ensure they have the notes they will need to study for a possible quiz or test on the unit.

Trust me this is a great way to beat the winter blahs in the classroom and ensure that your students will learn the concepts.img_4103.JPG

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