Hint for reading: start reading at the bottom (the topmost post is the last post).
Past half way and... |
1) The test for unit one was not at the 70% level overall, so it didn't do
what I thought it would. However, mark-wise for the term, many students have
brought their mark up overall, especially those who have struggled in the past
in courses. Yes, some are incomplete, but they are incomplete in other classes
as well, so I think there are other issues there. Those who do well in other
classes have still done well here, but doing more project based assessment seems
to have brought up the ones who hover at around the 50% mark up a bit, thus
closing the gap a bit.
2) I do find that the vocabulary for this course (as portrayed in the book and on tests) is difficult, however. In fact, many of the questions from the textbook question bank are vocab based and not knowledge based. If I take those types of questions out of tests, the students seem to do better (and they still know the concepts!).
3) I am doing a bit of a mix of UDB and other stuff now - so I have a project at the end of each unit that is a summative evaluation, along with a paper or verbal test of some kind. I wonder if this is true UDB? I think it is, and I admit the students have enjoyed the projects and I think have learned a lot from doing them. I wonder, however, if UDB is really just project-based learning when it actually is implemented into the classroom?
Anyway, if I do teach this course again, I will definitely continue using this concept - it is working for this class and for me as a teacher.
2) I do find that the vocabulary for this course (as portrayed in the book and on tests) is difficult, however. In fact, many of the questions from the textbook question bank are vocab based and not knowledge based. If I take those types of questions out of tests, the students seem to do better (and they still know the concepts!).
3) I am doing a bit of a mix of UDB and other stuff now - so I have a project at the end of each unit that is a summative evaluation, along with a paper or verbal test of some kind. I wonder if this is true UDB? I think it is, and I admit the students have enjoyed the projects and I think have learned a lot from doing them. I wonder, however, if UDB is really just project-based learning when it actually is implemented into the classroom?
Anyway, if I do teach this course again, I will definitely continue using this concept - it is working for this class and for me as a teacher.
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February 20
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All is good! I am planning to do a bit of a summative evaluation in the next
few weeks outside of the animal building project; however, I will do it without
giving the students a chance to study (WHAT!!!!); yup, a pop test Unit Exam! I
am curious to know how much they have learned simply from doing the projects and
assignments themselves. I will feel very good if the average mark is at around
70% - this will constitute a success in this.
Benefits of UDB: Well, to be honest, it has been a lot of fun and it has been very easy to come up with daily activities for the most part so far. I love that I look at the objectives only and create around them more than follow the textbook. This has given me freedom to do cool things that I think the students enjoy. The students have also been involved and I have not had a lot of classroom issues with the 8's - surprising, but true! Problems: If anything, the biggest issue has been myself knowing the stuff and filling in the class time correctly. Also, since all lessons are new (never done them before), there have been two that I know of that could have worked better (planning was off a bit). For example, one day to come up with a skit and portray them was way too quick - should have planned skits on one day and done them the next. Also, I am not doing a lot of summative tests yet (early), but my plan is to not do too many anyway (not short quizzes etc.). However, I think I need more than one. So far, it has been a lot of fun and I have felt very energized - I am scared and actually excited about teaching the class all at the same time! The stretch has been great for me and I think this makes a difference to the quality of the teaching. |
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February 06
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I
think this are going excellently! The best part of this whole thing has been
telling the students the second day of class what their final project for the
unit will be (how backwards!). This has done something for us as a class,
however: it has focused everything we do on learning the stuff needed to
complete the task (which is to create an animal). The funniest part to this
whole thing is that everything they need to know is actually everything in the
first unit of the textbook - but the students brainstormed the topics
themselves. This has given them ownership of the course. I think this helps
the students a lot.
Personally,
I feel quite happy about the whole thing right now; though I am tired after a
class. My teaching style seems to fit nicely with this approach - lots of
discussion time and brainstorming, hands on work, coming at things differently,
looking up the answers, etc. Yes, it is a little messier than it could be (it's
not like we do page 10, and then questions on the next page, and then...), but
the learning has been fun, inviting, and students seem to be into the course
material.
Of
course, the biggest problem is my own knowledge of the material: I am not a
science teacher by trade so there are things I do not know. My strategy for
this, however, fits with the UBD concept: I am not to be the wealth of
information, but a supporter, a coach, standing beside them as they
learn.
Here's
a great example of this that happened today: the students were given a hands-on
observational project where they had to observe what happened inside of two cups
of warm sugary water: one had yeast in it and the other had sand. They had to
write down what happened every 20 seconds. The observation worked great and the
students understood the concept. However, I personally did not know enough
about yeast to conclusively say if it was alive or not - my thought was that it
didn't really reproduce. However, some quick Google search showed me that I was
in fact wrong. So how do I turn such a thing around? Well, I tasked a student
to look it up and give a quick blurb about it tomorrow in class, as well as
getting a Biology 11 student to come in and explain it to us.
So,
I was wrong. I know that we as teachers like to think that this is OK, because
it shows us as not being perfect, but I would go beyond this: in today's day and
age, we should not be perfect because we know everything - thus when we don't
get something right it just proves we are not perfect. Instead, we should be
co-workers with the student, guiding and leading them onto their own knowledge.
This is the stance I will take with them tomorrow: we can all learn and we
should all be lifelong learners. Also, there is always so much to learn! If I
can get students to think this way, it will make this class even better - the
students will begin to ask what they want to know and go find out; I will guide
and direct them and (what a concept) learn as well!
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January 25
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So, I have tried experiments, tested a few larger projects, and I have been
studying and reading the textbook. I feel like I am ready enough with the big
things to begin teaching. In the past years, this would be all the planning I
do and I would then go at it with the textbook under my arm ready to tackle the
day to day assignments, which would consist of:
1) reading of chapter, 2) note taking, 3) textbook questions, 4) quizzes, 5) larger tests, 6) some bigger group assignments, 7) larger reports of some kind. However, as I look at the UBD concept further, I realize that I might not be doing the course any service at all, and that doing my assessment based on this classic model of marking students is quite narrow. For example, five out of the seven things I do are based around reading would have done revolve around the textbook itself (1,2,3,4,5), while 7 is simply a report of some kind (so research) that I would have them write. 6 would probably be a textbook assignment done in a group. The UBD concept says this about assessment and tasks: assessment should varied, using authentic tasks and projects, academic exam questions, prompts, and problems, quizzes and tests, informal checks for understanding, and student self-assessment. However, the tasks need to be effective and engaging. I love the quote "The art of holding interest lies in raising questions and delaying answers". OK, so I will take a look at my first two units and see if I have planned So, I started off well, but I want the students to create their own experiments right off the bat. this will teach them that procedures are important to science. This will put off the second unit a bit, but I think getting the students to build experiments right off the bat is important and will be done throughout the course, so I plan to start there. I think I should have some starters for them, however: perhaps some questions that they can start off with. I have downloaded a booklet called "SmarteScience" (www.smarterscience.org) and it deals specifically with this concept of having students do their own eexperiments. I like the idea a lot and perhaps I will start the year off with it (why not - another new thing: go big or go home eh?). I printed off a few things to look at. I love how they begin to get students to look at inferrences and observations and the difference between them. this might get students started on creating experiments. |
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January 22
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I like this assignment, and I have seen it done so many times. Its on page
35 of the textbook and they can build it in a box. Looks good and definitely
teaches them the parts of the cell. It is not necessarily UBD, but it will work
as another hands-on approach.
I realized as well that I have to also teach them how to work in groups, or collaboratively, so I have incorporated that into one of the early lessons. this will be something I have to review often in class. OK, I am working through assignments for the first few weeks now. I think I am ready. Oh, yeah, the exploding person thing is harder than it looks! It won't work with Alka-Seltzer and chip containers: the top is not sealed enough. I am going to try it with pill bottle (or film canister) and water and Alka-Seltzer this week and see if that blows nicely. Another option that Steve gave me (he is so helpful in this) is a balloon overtop of a water bottle filled with Vinegar and Baking soda. The gas will blow up the balloon and no water is thrown around the room. I like that too - cleaner - but is it as much fun :)? |
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January 21
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So, I have been trying to work on the "converting waves into energy" lab and
it is not easy to do, mostly because the fish tank I have is too small: the waves
bounce back and the propeller I created in the water will not move. So the
classic spinning turbines will not work. Looking online, designs like Salter's
Ducks are used in real life, but these are hard to create on a small scale.
If I did it from a running water source, it would be very easy (like a river dam concept), but that would not show any knowledge at all. OK, so this looks like it will be some kind of report. On pages 468 and 469 of the textbook are two things, either a research investigation or a project. I think that this, along with the WIKI unit, should be good as the ending result for the water unit. I see many little experiments in the book, so supplementing these large projects with smaller experiments should work out well. OK, time to clean up the classroom! |
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January 18
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I hope I am alright with this, but I did the clay boat thing (did a little
research on the best way to float a clay boat) and I did it -minus the straws,
but oh well! So, the best layout is a flat bottomed boat and
you have to make sure that the sides are straight up and not cracked at all so
water does not go through it into the boat).
One thing I found out was that clay becomes very messy when it's wet, so I will have to make sure that I have lots of paper towel and rags to clean off with. Other than that, it works great! So, all I need for this is washers and straws and away I go! Next one: let's stay on the water topic and see about getting energy from waves! First, I will need to figure out how to change movement into energy. to do that, I need magnets and copper wire (which I have a lot of). Let's try that first - i think Blake had some stuff to do that with, so I will check there... (5 min. later...) Yes, he had something that will work perfectly! It has two magnets on the end of a spinning axis. Using my multimeter, I can very quickly measure the electrical output form the spinning of the magnets. OK, now onto creating a turbine of some sort. the other thing to think about is whether or not I should use a step-up transformer to up the electrical output? For now, I won't but I will think about it. OK, next step is to see how I will create waves in the aquarium (is it too small to make waves in?, how will I set up a turbine in it so that it doesn't move?) I need some plastic on a stick! |
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January 09
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the fog light assignment is actually just an experiment (in the book page
234). It looks real easy to do so I am putting the call out for cellophane to
do it. It will work great with the experiment forms I already have.
thus, the only assignment for the Visible light unit is the eyeball. Also, I love the idea of cutting a cow eye, but it sounds like that was already done in grade 7 by PJ (though I will ask him about that). If he hasn't, then that would be perfect! At this stage, I am going to move on to Float Your Boat project. Here's the write-up for that one:
Boat
Creation
Goal: Students will design a boat given a
set amount of material that maximizes buoyancy and safety.
Role: The students will assume the role
of a boat/ship designer.
Audience: The audience is a rich teacher
who has commissioned a safe and strong yacht to show off all the money he is
earning.
Situation: The teacher has sent a package
of information to a wide variety of boat/ship builders with the intent of
creating a safe and strong yacht. Given the same amount of materials, (100 g of
clay and three straws) the boat builders are to create a boat that at a minimum
will float on water. Better designs will be capable of holding more materials,
in the form of washers. The more washers the boat can hold while still floating,
the better the design.
Product/Performance: The end product will
be a boat design that will be tested against the other designs. The winning
design will float and hold the most weight. In addition, each boat building team
will submit a written report of the process of creating the boat and the
considerations undertaken to create the boat. Both the boat’s ability to float
and hold weight and the written report will be
evaluated.
I am going to get clay and straws right now to play with this! Love it! |
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January 09
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Well that was not a problem at all! I created a tube version of an eyeball in
around 1 hour total time. I decided to record it with my laptop video camera
and I will upload it on to my YouTube site so students can see it anytime they
want to (I will just post a link on the Moodle site for them to see).
Materials I used were very minimal (the lens that I will give them, saran wrap, paper, masking tape, some construction paper, scissors, glue, and a paper tube (like the one that Christmas paper comes in). the only thing I want to do with it to finish it off is put it into a round ball of some kind so that it looks like an eyeball. Other than that, it works great! I can move the lens a little off so that you can see how the change in the shape or length of the eyeball will affect vision. Today, I was thinking of tackling the fog lights or one of the water ones. I will go see what supplies I have to tackle each one and go from there. as well, I will try to get a table up in room N101 and something that can have water in it (like a big fish tank). I will need that for the water unit. |
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January 08
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So
now that I have the core ideas, I think I should begin my part in the learning
process and do the following:
1)
Try out the experiments myself! : One of the worst things is to give a student
an assignment that you yourself have not tried. I believe this: heck, I have
lived this! So, that is my job for this week. I have already tried the
building of the eye thing (or at least 50% of it) and I am confident that I
could do that one without an issue. I will try to do them all in the next while
and make sure that they are doable.
2)
Set up the classroom. I have begun to put up posters that deal with what we
will be covering in class, as well as putting up forms that students will use to
do their own experiments. This comes from a website called "Smarter Science"
and it was recommended to me by Dr. Carol Rees at TRU. She taught Science for
many years at the High School level and said that this is a great resource (www.smarterscience.org). I have decided to implement
their ideas a bit - it fits in with my vision for Science. In essence, it gets
students to think through creating, trying, and recording experiments that they
themselves design. I am not sure exactly how I am going to implement it yet
(students have to do 1-2 in the year perhaps? Will I have a bank of some
ideas? Will they have to present?), but I know I love the idea.
Fear:
I
am a bit fearful of how students will find the materials needed for the
experiments. I think that I would love to have some of the materials at the
school, but encourage students to use whatever they want from home.
The
ones that worry me the most are the eye, fog lights (so the visible science
part), the elevator (for Physical Science part) and the water one (I will need
water, waves, and the students will need materials to make their models).
I
guess I will tackle one at a time and see what happens. Today, the eyeball! As
well, I should read and be familiar with the information in the textbook and the
teacher manual about the knowledge I will need (yes, stay ahead of the
students).
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