The Kitchen Sink....

WHAT AM I DOING TO HELP KIDS ACHIEVE?

HOW DO I KNOW WHEN THEY ARE THERE?

WHAT IS THE EVIDENCE?

We just finished up stoichiometry in academic chem.  Basically...I threw the kitchen sink at em....We did a "smore" lab and showed how chocolate is a limiting reagent.  We did a computer simulation on stoichiometry on the Colorado PHET site.  We did an actual lab with finding the amount of carbon dioxide in an alka seltzer tablet.  We did a bunch of problems, peer teaching and puzzles.  And the test results show...they did O.K.  Bottom line...throw a bunch of different activities that all follow the same path to the same goal.  And whatever happens...don't give up.

     The one activity that I tried differently this time that I had not done in the past was peer editing and review.  Most of the time when I give a quiz or a test I find it is hard to go over the test with students because someone is sick and I don't want them to get the answers.  This time I had a few versions of small quizes and I had the kids who "got it" work with the kids who did not "get it".  The atmosphere was great.  Many kids enjoyed the chance to be a teacher and others talked to their classmates in a way that they would not have talked to me.  Definitely worth trying again.