During this time of e-Learning, teachers across the globe have shared ideas through various social medal platforms regarding topics such as student feedback, online lesson creation, instructional pedagogy, synchronous versus asynchronous teaching environments, students engagement support strategies, grading policies, online assessment, and best apps and extensions to make this all possible to name a few. It’s easy to become overwhelmed and spend hours focusing on any one aspect of virtual instruction that many teachers have abandoned their NGSS philosophy to “get through'' the school year. Some teachers are extremely limited with time, teaching their own children remotely and with increasing online demand can not put the mental energy needed into transforming their traditional NGSS into a capacity that makes sense online. With the end of school upon us and the possibility of remote instruction in the fall, here are some techniques to address four NGSS science and engineering practices(SEP). In my next blog post I will share more strategies for the remaining SEPs.
Planning and Carrying Out Investigations
This SEP can be challenging considering the traditional school setting offers teachers access to a variety of chemicals and equity for all students to engage in the hands-on activities whereby they can plan and carry out an investigation. Remotely, there are a variety of websites and resources. The following are the ones I find most useful. Flinn At Home Science provides online labs and activities for middle and high school students. Many topics of a traditional chemistry course have been recorded by instructors and can be uploaded to your learning management system from YouTube. I prefer to screencast over the lab being done, often adding my own commentary to the video. This can also be uploaded to edpuzzle to ensure students are actually watching the lab experiment. Flinn also provides teachers with support materials including a PowerPoint, teacher and student guides. Another lab book with support lab videos and support materials is Jove, which is offering free access at this time. Finally, YouTube is a great resource containing many labs or demonstrations that can be uploaded to edpuzzle and voiced over to meet the needs of your students.
Moreover if you are looking for the students to have more hands-on experience, Flinn has at home labs that utilize simple chemicals via household materials. I like the idea but want to emphasize teachers must be careful with inequity of access to materials this sometimes creates. If you choose this route, I recommend providing the students with a variety of options. Another option is Science Take-Out, a site that provides hands-on science activity kits for individuals or small groups of students. Teachers can access files and photos virtually, including photos of experiment results and provide those to students who can not access the kits.
Asking Questions and Defining Problems
Teachers can still begin units of instruction by showing students phenomena on the topic to arouse curiosity by having students ask questions that arise from observing phenomena, require students to think about results of an experiment that may be unexpected and think about what information they want to seek next. One of the best websites, free currently, is Inner Orbit, providing phenomena by standard. For a particular unit, a teacher can copy the video of a particular phenomena into a Google Slide or a powerpoint presentation and require students to ask questions about the phenomena. Students can also engage in Question Formulation Technique (QFT) via a synchronous zoom room when first shown the phenomena. In the beginning stages of unit development students can ask questions to determine what questions that arose are actually testable and relevant. Deeper questioning can examine within the scope of online learning, what resources are available to support a hypothesis provided. Later in the unit, students can create models to explain the phenomena and engage in model sharing whereby students can ask questions live or asynchronously via comments, to other students, to find out additional information or clarify information presented. In many learning management systems there is also the option to present a question in the stream or dashboard for students to ask questions and respond to each other.
Developing and Using Models
In the traditional classroom setting, I utilized this SEP by having students design and test a model through experimentation. In a virtual setting students can still be shown a phenomena as you would typically share in the classroom and have students develop and revise a model to illustrate a concept or show a relationship between the components of a system. To do so teachers can create a collective Google slide or Powerpoint presentation to create a collective showcasing of student models in an asynchronous setting and ask students to ask questions and comment on the merits and limitations of whatever you deem an appropriate number of different students models either on the live presentation or in a separate document. In a synchronous model teachers can use zoom, placing students into multiple break out rooms to share results or communicate findings of a chemistry laboratory or phenomena. Students can also create models to explain their thinking and show the other students in these break out rooms to create a consensus model which they then share when they return to the larger main room. One resource I’ve found helpful for having students create and develop models is PIVOT interactives with their short interactive videos.
Analyzing and Interpreting Data
There has been a tremendous amount of data released during this pandemic for students to analyze and interpret. There are plenty of authentic data sets available including tables, graphs, images, diagrams for students to use. Teachers can provide students with links to the data sets or ask students to locate their own and have students share their interpretation of the data by comparing data sets and looking for patterns and consistency in the measurements. Another method would be to have students watch a lab via Youtube, record data during the lab and ask them to graph or interpret the data. Furthermore, a teacher can slowly add new data sets and have students evaluate the impact of the new data to the students’ working explanations. For more advanced students, an analysis of data can be done by examining concepts of probability and statistics, that is appropriate for the grade level such as determining the function that would best fit the data, finding the slope, y-intercept or correlation coefficient. Another means of analyzing and interpreting data is to have students perform a simulation whereby students obtain data, create data tables, and graph results. For simulations in particular it is valuable for students to consider the limitations of the data analysis considering measurement and sample selection to name a few. Providing students with online computational or mathematical models and simulations provide students with the opportunity to make reliable claims or determine the best solution to a design challenge. I’ve found the following simulation sources helpful thus far: PhET, AACT featured chemistry simulations, Merlot, ChemCollective, CK-12 Chemistry Simulations, Titration Screen Experiment, Labster, and the University of Oregon chemistry simulations and demos.
NGSS
Analyzing data in 9–12 builds on K–8 and progresses to introducing more detailed statistical analysis, the comparison of data sets for consistency, and the use of models to generate and analyze data.
Analyzing data in 9–12 builds on K–8 and progresses to introducing more detailed statistical analysis, the comparison of data sets for consistency, and the use of models to generate and analyze data. Analyze data using tools, technologies, and/or models (e.g., computational, mathematical) in order to make valid and reliable scientific claims or determine an optimal design solution.
Asking questions and defining problems in grades 9–12 builds from grades K–8 experiences and progresses to formulating, refining, and evaluating empirically testable questions and design problems using models and simulations.
Asking questions and defining problems in grades 9–12 builds from grades K–8 experiences and progresses to formulating, refining, and evaluating empirically testable questions and design problems using models and simulations.
questions that challenge the premise(s) of an argument, the interpretation of a data set, or the suitability of a design.
Scientific questions arise in a variety of ways. They can be driven by curiosity about the world (e.g., Why is the sky blue?). They can be inspired by a model’s or theory’s predictions or by attempts to extend or refine a model or theory (e.g., How does the particle model of matter explain the incompressibility of liquids?). Or they can result from the need to provide better solutions to a problem. For example, the question of why it is impossible to siphon water above a height of 32 feet led Evangelista Torricelli (17th-century inventor of the barometer) to his discoveries about the atmosphere and the identification of a vacuum.
Questions are also important in engineering. Engineers must be able to ask probing questions in order to define an engineering problem. For example, they may ask: What is the need or desire that underlies the problem? What are the criteria (specifications) for a successful solution? What are the constraints? Other questions arise when generating possible solutions: Will this solution meet the design criteria? Can two or more ideas be combined to produce a better solution?
Modeling in 9–12 builds on K–8 and progresses to using, synthesizing, and developing models to predict and show relationships among variables between systems and their components in the natural and designed worlds.
Modeling in 9–12 builds on K–8 and progresses to using, synthesizing, and developing models to predict and show relationships among variables between systems and their components in the natural and designed worlds. Use a model to predict the relationships between systems or between components of a system.
Planning and carrying out investigations in 9-12 builds on K-8 experiences and progresses to include investigations that provide evidence for and test conceptual, mathematical, physical, and empirical models.
Planning and carrying out investigations in 9-12 builds on K-8 experiences and progresses to include investigations that provide evidence for and test conceptual, mathematical, physical, and empirical models. Plan and conduct an investigation individually and collaboratively to produce data to serve as the basis for evidence, and in the design: decide on types, how much, and accuracy of data needed to produce reliable measurements and consider limitations on the precision of the data (e.g., number of trials, cost, risk, time), and refine the design accordingly.