It is like playing pick up basketball....

WHAT AM I DOING TO HELP KIDS ACHIEVE?

HOW DO I KNOW WHEN THEY ARE THERE?

WHAT IS THE EVIDENCE?

     Formative assessment is good and difficult.  Yes, I get the idea of what kids know and do not know.  However, given the new technology and circumstances, when you find out what they do not know, you kind of have to "reinvent" the wheel".  That is where we earn our money as teachers.

     In Academic we did  a lab, an activity and notes on percent error.  Som kids got it, but some did not.  Enough that we will have do to a little more work.  In Accelerated we are leading up to Archimedes.  So how am I trying to help kids????

    I am still trying the composition books in Academic.  It is researched based that kids who take notes do better than those who do not.  In Accelerated I am attempting to introduce the particulate and put in pieces of inquiry any where I can (like this next lab on sinkers and floaters).  They will have to find the mass of an item without using a balance or scale....I will report back next week....

Dipping my toe into the Particulate World....

WHAT AM I DOING TO HELP KIDS ACHIEVE?

HOW DO I KNOW WHEN THEY ARE THERE?

WHAT IS THE EVIDENCE?

     So I decided to try the TIMU project that teacher's helped me develop this summer.  It involved just introducing the particulate level with the macroscopic and symbolic.  As a quick "assessment", I had students story board something as simple as ice melting and then the water evaporating.  For the most part, they kind of got the idea (see above).  However...if you look at the water phase on the particulate level drawing you will notice it looks more like a gas than a liquid with one free surface.  Almost every student did this.  I gave them credit for demonstrating some type of change but I also know it is not correct.  We have not gone into phase changes that much on the particulate level so I felt this was a fair misconception on the students part.  The following day, we started off class with a couple of particulate drawings of water and we addressed this misconception.  I might follow up with a test question as well to see if they were paying attention.

     This week we are back to the symbolic and macroscopic world of measuring.  In one class they will be measuring aluminum by taking several measurements of beads and cylinders and trying to determine which method is the best with the least amount of error.  In another class I am going to (got this from Mike Geyer and Kim Stites) take an exact amount of water measured from a buret and have students measure it in graduated cylinders and large beakers and then ask, which devices provide the most accurate and precise measurements?  I will let you know how it goes.....

We live in a Particulate World..

WHAT AM I DOING TO HELP KIDS ACHIEVE?

HOW DO I KNOW WHEN THEY ARE THERE?

WHAT IS THE EVIDENCE?

     This week I introduced the students to the particulate, the macroscopic and the symbolic with a new activity from the TIMU project (Here is the LINK).  The data is still out but the feeling is that it is promising.  It also provided me as a teacher a way to characterize everything as one of the three lenses we will use...macroscopic, particulate and symbolic...The goal is to provide a framework for the kids for the rest of the year.

     This week in science...finish up the "Tool Chest" activity and jump into measuring.  Students will have to do it on paper and with instruments.  In another class we are going to start with chemical changes.  The lab we will be doing will be in the "story telling" format of a tri fold.  I have many kids doing science fair so this should help them.  The biggest change from last year is that the question should NOT be in a "yes" or "no" format.  So instead of saying, "Did a chemical change occur?", we are going to ask  "What would happen if we compare and contrast physical and chemical changes and can we provide support through experiments and observations?"  Also, I want the hypothesis to be a reasonable testable prediction, not an educated guess.

     Finally, just want to give a shout out to the newly formed American Association of Chemistry Teachers.  (LINK)  I here there is a wonderful article in the online periodical "Solutions" by yours truly....(sorry for the shameless plug).

Hope to have some cool drawings for you from the work the kids did next week on particulate models....