As a secondary science teacher, I have contact with my students everyday. Making relationships and learning about all of my students is key to letting them know that I am invested in their success.
Do you require your students to learn all the element names and symbols? Do your students struggle with chemical nomenclature, chemical equations, or stoichiometry? You may want to consider getting them back to the basics.
The focus of this article will be on how to incorporate the first science and engineering practice, asking questions, into your chemistry instruction. The most common professional development technique I have encountered regarding this practice is Question Formulation Technique (QFT).
I am sad to relay that Alex Johnstone died just before Christmas at age 89. I have written a short tribute to him because although I never knew him, he helped me make sense of why most of the time we fail, and that when we succeed... it is a triumphal moment!
I am sharing a list of YouTube videos that I have used with my students. I am interested in finding more. Please share any that you use in the comment section below.
Stephanie O'Brien took a tip from the elementary school teachers and created literacy stations to help increase the amount of reading and writing in her classroom. Literacy centers support students by arming them with the tools to utilize when examining text documents, charts, graphs, pictures etc. to take the content and make it comprehensible. She provides examples of literacy centers she uses in her classroom.
Does flipping the classroom actually enhance students’ learning, above and beyond just incorporating collaborative activities into classroom instruction? John Moore, one of the chemistry professors at my university, the University of Wisconsin - Madison approached me with this question. We ended up conducting a research study on one of his chemistry courses.
With the start of the school year quickly approaching or having already started for others I wanted to take this chance to update a few resources regarding some periodic table websites and apps for you and your students.
During my first year of teaching (in Indianapolis, IN), I was inspired by some research I had read as well as some other teachers in the Indy area who were flipping their classes. I was at a small parochial school where parental and administrative support for technology inclusion was present. My principal outfitted me with the tools I needed to “flip” my classes and record tutorial videos. Things went pretty well. It was a learning curve for many but I also had good feedback from students and parents.
This post was submitted for the 2017 ChemEd X Call for Contributions: Creating a Classroom Culture.
Though we may recognize its presence, teachers, scientists, and policymakers still disagree on the most practical and effective methods for developing scientific literacy in our students. Herein lies our challenge as science educators—what can we do in the classroom to create experiences for our students that involve the understanding and appreciation of the most valuable traits associated with being scientifically literate? This article includes resources and a sample assignment that will hopefully get all of us off on a good start.
