Teaching Science 2.0

Children’s books can be used in many ways during instruction.  They can engage students, get kids started asking questions, or be a content resource. However, it can be difficult to find books at just the right reading level for your topic.  Scholastic’s  new “Teacher Books Wizard” widget can help.  Try it out-

This website is a must see — Browse the globe to see the top rated Flickr images for different locations. The Flickr images are updated monthly.

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A good essential question is key to an engaging and effective unit.  An essential question should have the following characteristic-

S - Synergistic: An essential question should allow students to bring together multiple concepts into something new.

M - Meaningful: An essential question should be relevant and interesting to students.

E - Educational: An essential question should encompass your instructional goals.

L - Lasting: An essential question should have an “answer” that is more important than points on a test.

Here is an example-

Possible essential question: What is the water quality of the creek near our school?

A better essential question: How does the land use “upstream” impact the water quality of a creek?

In, Change is Coming. Are you Ready? Jen Jones writes, “…Can you keep an open mind?…Change is coming.”

…pausing for a deep breath…here we go-

“You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.”

– Buckminster Fuller

Education is very resistant to change.

Our existing one-size-fits-all model of education is the current reality. We need new pedagogical models.

• Web 2.0 is the Future of Education

A few months ago, Steve Hargadon posted, “Web 2.0 is the Future of Education.” In his post, Hargadon describes a perfect storm of ten trends that will have a transformative impact on us culturally, socially, intellectually and politically. Is Web 2.0 the future of education, or is it an enabler of a new pedagogy?

• Social Learning Theory

Hargadon points to John Seeley Brown and his ideas on the rise of social learning. I like to bill myself as a socio-cultural constructivist (See Vygotsky). In a nutshell, socio-cultural constructivists view the learning process and knowledge construction as a result of individuals interacting in social environments (interpsychological plane) to create shared knowledge that is appropriated by the individual (intrapsychological plane). Socio-cultural theorists contend that the activity in which knowledge is developed is not separable from the learning that is taking place. As an individual learns how to use a cognitive tool (eg: routine, algorithm, definition), they build a rich understanding of the world in which it is used. “How” students learn is just as important as “what” students learn.

• Mohawks, modalities, and rubber bands.

If you ask 100 educators to describe their teaching philosophy, 99 will state that they are “student-centered.” What does that really mean? Last fall, I had the opportunity to listen to Ron Bonnstetter discuss the human brain, learning and new ways to think about teaching. He opened with a great question, “How many kids in your regular classroom are regular?” Each learner has a unique personality, interest, learning style (modality), needs, and ability.

The Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) is one of the core elements of socio-cultural constructivism. ZPD is the area between what a learner can do by himself and what he is currently not capable of doing. Concepts and skills in this area can be learned with the help of an expert. As a learner grows, her ZPD changes. She can do more by herself, and previously “out of reach” concepts can now be grasped with help.

Each learner has her own unique ZPD. Learning occurs when a student is stretching towards what they don’t know. In order for a teacher to optimize an individual’s learning, he must know that student’s ZPD. Think of the brain as a rubber band. It works best when it is stretched just enough. A rubber band is not serving its purpose if it isn’t stretched. Alternatively, if it is stretched too far, it gives out. You are not student-centered if you expect all students to learn the same thing in the same way.

The Future of Education is Personalization. Can we get there?

Individual learning can not be optimized in a model that treats all learners the same.

Web 2.0 is our enabler, social learning is our theory, personalization is our call to action.

• How do we get there?

Here is a quick and easy web tool for you.  Befunky let’s you turn images into cartoons, create avatars and even cartoonize video.  If you can think of an educational benefit, let me know.  Right now, all I can think of is the possibility of making concept cartoons (by adding text bubbles).  Maybe it can make me look hip too?

BEFORE

AFTER

 CONCEPT CARTOON

ASSESSMENT / WRITING PROMPT

For fun, I decided to make a word cloud out of my teaching philosophy. I pasted the text into Wordle and came up with this:

Last week, I posted  on how you could use a video showing people popping popcorn as an introduction to teaching about electromagnetic radiation.  I wanted to see how easy it was to make a podcast using Gcast, so I decided to create one with an example of  what your students might find if they researched popping popcorn with cell phones.  As Kate describes, it is ridiculously easy to create a podcast using Gcast.  Here is the one I created:

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The video is actually part of a commercial.  Here it is.

 

Here is a video that I created (using www.jingproject.com) to show how I embedded the podcast into my blog.

Last night I wrote a post about a viral video (popping popcorn with cellphones) and how it reminds us that we need to teach kids to be skeptical consumers of information.  I thought I would follow with an example of how this video could be used in the classroom.  The example uses McCain’s 4D problem solving approach (Define, Design, Do, Debrief). I’m sure this example could be used in many places within an instructional sequence.  Personally, I think it would be a great way to introduce the electromagnetic spectrum.  As in introduction, it would provide a hook, a real-world connection, and fit my ABC philosophy (Activity Before Content).

 Setting the Stage

Show the video  and explain that it has been making its way around the web.  In fact, you (the teacher) were talking with some of your friends about the video.  Alicia is pretty sure it is a fake.  However, Sherri thinks it is true.  She claims, “I’ve heard that cellphone waves can cause brain damage.  I think the video is possible.  Imagine, if you can pop popcorn, what it must be doing to your brain!”

What do you (students) think?

Discuss

Many of your students may have seen the video on YouTube and the ensuing debunking videos.  If students bring this up, tell them that Sherri doesn’t believe the debunkers - she thinks it is a conspiracy by cellphone makers to cover up the dangers.

How can we find out?

Define

At this point, ask your students to come up with a plan to determine if cell phones can pop popcorn.  If you (or students) have access to cell phones, you can try to replicate the video.  However, remind students that it is very difficult to exactly replicate what was done - are you sure you have the exact same phones?  Students need to also do some research.

Provide students with the minimal amount of scaffolding that they need to be successful.  You may want to prompt them with questions like -

• How do you normally cook popcorn?
• Is the video more like cooking popcorn in a microwave or an oven?
• Why does popcorn pop?
• How does a microwave oven work?
• How do cellphones work? (what is “cellphone radiation?”)

Design

At this point, students should determine a plan for how they will obtain the infomation they need.  Student teams should define tasks and timelines for individuals.

Do

Student teams should execute their plain.

Debrief

What did they find?  Is it possible to pop popcorn with a cellphone? Students shoud state their knowledge claim and support it with evidence.  For students that are not comfortable using this, the following template may provide some scaffolding:

Write the following as a paragraph-

• Claim: Cellphones (can / can not) be used to pop popcorn.
• Evidence:  How does popcorn pop?, How do microwaves pop popcorn? What frequency range do microwaves use? What is cellphone radiation? What frequency range do cellphones use?

You can provide an opportunity for students to be creative and use technology in their debriefing.  They could simply write their conclusion or they could create a podcast (even using the classroom phone [updated 6/16]), mashup, poster, or video. It may also be interesting to use Voicethread  to have students attach their conclusion to a screenshot from the video.

 Going Further-

If this is an introduction to electromagnetic radiation, have students explain what they learned about microwaves and cellphone radiation.

I was watching CNN tonight and they had a brief story about this viral video.  Apparently, the video made its way around the CNN offices and they were shocked….imagine, if cell phone waves can make popcorn, what can it do to your brain?  Here is the video -

Obviously, the video is a fake.  If you ever used a cell phone, you might have noticed your head getting warm.  Even if that wasn’t enough, you could easily test this.  After all, “extraordinary claims need extraordinary evidence.*”  Many of this reporter’s office mates - reporters trained to be fact seekers- found it so easy to just accept what they saw as “amazingly true” instead of wondering if a Youtube video might be faked.  How many kids were fooled?

Dan Pinkasserts that the “right brain is rising” and we need to prepare students to be creative and innovative thinkers.  However, we need to remember that this can’t be done at the expense of the “left brain.” Students need to be skeptical consumers of information, they need analytical skills, they need the power of reason.  Without these left brains skills, they might be creative, but they won’t be innovative. 

*Thanks Carl Sagan!

Science Books & Films evaluates nearly 1000 books, videos, DVDs and software in all sciences for all age groups annually.  SB&F is published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.  The following books received the 2008 AAAS / Subaru SB&F Award for best book in their category. 

• Children’s Science Picture Book: Where in the Wild? Camouflaged Creatures Concealed and Revealed by David Schwartz and Yael Schy, with illustrations by Dwight Kuhn (Tricycle Press).  
• Middle Grades Science Book: Dinosaur Eggs Discovered: Unscrambling the Clues! by Lowell Dingus, Luis M. Chaippe, and Rodolfo Coria (Twenty-First Century Books) 
• Young Adult Science Book: The Wild Trees: A Story of Passion and Daring by Richard Preston (Random House) 
• Hands On Science Book: Exploratopia by Pat Murphy (Little Brown & Company)

See the Press Release