Mini Posters as Lab Reports

WHAT AM I DOING TO HELP KIDS ACHIEVE?

HOW DO I KNOW WHEN THEY ARE THERE?

WHAT IS THE EVIDENCE?

     I gave the mini posters a try as a lab report.  I learned a couple of things.....

     First, if we are going to lab practicals for exit exams in classes, this is the way to go.  I learned quickly what parts kids struggled with..they got the hypothesis down but had a hard time with procedures and data table.  Also, some kids do more work than others.  I followed up with a lab quiz based on simple data.  Sure enough, the kids who worked hard did well on the quiz.  I presented them with a rubric.  Either they did not understand it, did not take it seriously or it was too general.  I do think this is certainly a worthwhile endeavor.  It is also how scientists tend to communicate.  Here are some samples below.

  I am going to save some for future examples and plan on doing this again.  I am also going to have some groups do a 5 minute "Presentation".  Tomorrow, I plan to have the students who did well on the quiz be the "teacher" and work with those who did not do well....the test is coming up this Friday... we shall see...

Maybe this actually worked....

WHAT AM I DOING TO HELP KIDS ACHIEVE?

HOW DO I KNOW WHEN THEY ARE THERE?

WHAT IS THE EVIDENCE?

     O.K....how do we get evidence that kids are actually learning?  This week we were doing the Periodic Table.  First I used an activity that Margaret developed.  Students were provided properties of elements.  They had to state a claim about a pattern or trend, provide evidence and then their reasoning.  We then did a flipped assignment and a review sheet in class on the periodic table.  I then did a 10 question "clicker" quiz.  They would get a question, electronically submit their answer, we could see all of the answers and discuss the correct answer.  It allowed me to see the topics they struggled with and spend a bit more time clarifying the issue.  It was a nice version of a type of formative and summative assessment.

    We are doing our "mini posters" for the stoichiometry lab in academic.  I will post these next week.  Kids were asking GREAT questions about what to put in the data table and what makes a good hypothesis.  They were trying to determine the amount of sodium bicarb in alka seltzer by looking at the carbon dioxide that left the system.  Some students forgot to get the mass of the tablet by itself and realized this at the end.  They discovered how important it is to think through the procedure and how that translates into a data table.  I think this method will really help prepare students and I hope to incorporate more of these if we go to lab practicals for exit exams.  I will make sure to post one or two for my next blog.

Long Week.....

WHAT AM I DOING TO HELP KIDS ACHIEVE?

HOW DO I KNOW WHEN THEY ARE THERE?

WHAT IS THE EVIDENCE?

     Came down with a cold...wife left for a week to help her sick mother....played Mr. Mom and tried to teach stoichiometry....long week.
     Here is what I know about stoichiometry....most of my students hate math.  So here is the deal...every day we did either mole to mole, mass to mole  or mass to mass problems.  Each student was assigned a different problem and they HAD to show work with labeled numbers.  It was like pulling teeth but they finally started doing it.  Then we did this activity in which at each table I had a salmon colored card with a balanced equation of two reactants and two products.  Yellow cards had the molar mass relationships of each substance and the blue cards had the molar ratio of each substances.  One red card gave the amount students were starting with and a white card provided what unit and the substance of what they needed to solve.  They had to find the correct cards and put them in the correct order and then write down the problems.  I felt like they were "getting it" because as they went from table to table they needed less time to decide which cards they needed and in what order.  I like the fact that I provided them too many cards on purpose and they had to decide what was important, what was not and in what order.

    In Accelerated Chem we did a great project developed by Margaret Stone.  Students were provided with an alphabetical listing of some elements along with three properties.  They had to make a CLAIM about a pattern or trend, provide EVIDENCE and then state their REASONING.  It was perfect...the internet was down.  They got the claim and evidence...but the reasoning or "WHY" part was the challenge...and ironically perhaps the most important part.  

     Well, my wife just got home (YEAAAAAA) and their papers are due Wednesday.....I will keep you posted.

Sometimes you have to punt...

WHAT AM I DOING TO HELP KIDS ACHIEVE?

HOW DO I KNOW WHEN THEY ARE THERE?

WHAT IS THE EVIDENCE?

     O.k...some of the kids did great on a quiz and some bombed it.  Do I keep going and say "To bad, so sad" or give them chance number 2 when they are juniors and should have gotten it on chance number 1?  My advice to anyone reading this...it depends on you and the kids.  I don't do this very often but I started half the class on a moles POGIL and the other half tried to fix the quizes they bombed.  It went well.  Not sure how to quantitatively describe it but kids in both groups started saying..."I think I am starting to get it".  They got some points back but not all missed points.  Most of the kids handled the situation well and were pretty grateful and worked hard.  It was one of those days that was not exactly in the lesson plan, but you do what you gotta do....

Cooking and Chemistry.....

WHAT AM I DOING TO HELP KIDS ACHIEVE?

HOW DO I KNOW WHEN THEY ARE THERE?

WHAT IS THE EVIDENCE?

Just finished empirical molecular and percent comp in academic.  There were two flavors of learning evidence.  Either they aced the quiz or they had NO clue.  I feel as if it went a little better than last year thanks to the little "book" idea from Kim.  (See above).

     Just started stoichiometry.  I told the students if they could tell me the EXACT amounts we needed for everyone in class to have a smore, I would buy them at the store and we could make them the next day.  The "smore" equation was like the balanced equation.  We even had conversion factors (number of gram crackers per box).  I introduced "mole to mole" conversions with balanced equations at the same time.  When they finished eating their smores I gave away the extra chocolate and marsh mallows based on balanced equations and mole to mole ratio answers.  Tomorrow we will pick up with a POGIL activity on mole ratios.  It will be neat to see how it goes.

  The people who did not do well on the test will work on that instead of the pogil which will then be a take home activity.

Maybe they are learning after all.....

WHAT AM I DOING TO HELP KIDS ACHIEVE?

HOW DO I KNOW WHEN THEY ARE THERE?

WHAT IS THE EVIDENCE?

     Lately, it has been a bit crazy....first...remember the gold leaf demonstration?  I also did a quick "clicker quiz".  Students were asked review questions about nuclear chemistry, they would respond electronically and once all answered I could immediately post and discuss the answer as well as see how the class was doing as a whole.  Most did well and they did well on the test.  The "clickers" were a weird type of formative and summative assessment.  Not sure what to call it in education lingo...but I felt as if it worked well and the test scores seem to be half way decent.

     Got a great idea from Jim Smanik.  He does "Mini Posters" in his A.P. Bio class as lab reports.  Students make mini posters  with two file folders.  They first do a Intro, Abstract, Methodology.  This counts as the pre lab.  They do the lab and get data and finish with data and analysis.  The cool part is the rubric.  Students grade students with a rubric.  They could then accept the rubric, take the lab home and fix it before they turned it in.  I am going to give it a try in Academic chemistry.  It will be an inquiry lab on the amount of sodium bicarb in alka seltzer based on the loss of carbon dioxide.  The mini poster fits well into the "CER" method.  I will keep you posted.  Tomorrow the kids are having a percent comp, empirical molecular quiz.  It will be neat to see if the little books worked.