Project 3

For my software, I used Virtual ChemLab (VCL). See my previous blog post for a description of this software. The assignment I wrote is geared to entry level chemistry students, so it's pretty basic. I'd make it a bit more difficult for AP students. View my blank assignment here. View my completed assignment here (my answers are in red).

I used an example assignment from BYU's Chem 106 class to base my assignment on. I wanted something that would teach the students, give them an outline to work off of, but not tell them all the answers right off. What I wasn't sure and would appreciate feedback about is the process at the end for identifying all the cations: would it be better (would the students learn better) if they just figured out their own scheme for identifying the cations? I basically give them the process in the previous part of the assignment, so is it just overkill to put it all in again? Keep in mind this assignment is for beginning chemistry students.

This project was a good learning experience for me. I really needed to think about writing an assignment that would help students learn chemistry and to use the technology but not be too complicated or too simple.

Software to use for Project 3 and Internet Safety

I didn't do much research, because when I first heard about what we were doing for Project 3 I knew what software I wanted to use. Dr Brian Woodfield in the BYU Chemistry Dept has developed an excellent program used to educate any level chemistry student without having them use expensive equipment or dangerous chemicals. To check it out more, you can go to the BYU chem department website. This has been made available to high schools and is going to be online soon. It's a really awesome program, hopefully my Project 3 will show that.

Being safe on the internet is really important. Never give out personal information to public places or anywhere that could use it to spam you. Also important for teachers that I'd never thought about before until class last week is to keep records of all your communication with your students and parents. So don't use chat tools that don't store everything. This can keep you safe if someone tries to accuse you or whatever.

Movie

For my movie, I'm going to demonstrate how to do a specific lab the students would be performing. The lab is "Law of Conservation of Mass" (fulfills core requirement Standard 4, objective 2). Technology is useful for this project because it is difficult to demonstrate a lab for the whole class without having everyone crowd around a lab bench. If a video of the lab can be projected, it is much more useful. Then I can post the video on my website and students who missed or didn't understand the lab can go view it whenever they want.

I've done my storyboard and started gathering materials. The storyboard took about 30 mins. I might have to add another part to the movie (there are 2 parts to the lab, I've only storyboarded the first part) depending on how long the movie is. So yeah...that's how far I am so far.

My class website!

So for project 1 in IP&T class we had to create a class website. Mine's pretty great! It's all about how chemistry is cool. On the lessons and the syllabus I didn't make them completely finalized...hope that's ok. I think the project was just to learn about embedding documents and making a website in general. Well...I think it's pretty cool anyway....so check it out:

http://sites.google.com/site/highschoolchemistryiscool

Websites in the Classroom

Classroom websites can be pretty dang useful I decided. There have been multiple times in high school when I wished I could see the assignments or the syllabus. I probably am going to have a website for my classroom. I am going to post assignments and a class calendar so there is no ambiguity among students about when things are due. I am also going to put my lecture notes online, so that absent students can catch up. One of the chemistry teachers at Springville High School, Steven Haderlie, has a class website and it's fantastic.

Technology is a wonderful thing, makes everything easier.

RSS feeds and blogging

Although it's extremely popular as a method of communication for people of my generation, I've never really been much into the blogging scene. I'm kind of a computer person, but not really, and creating, managing, editing a blog seemed like too much. So when we got this assignment, at first I rolled my eyes. Ehh, dang it. Blogging. But I surprised myself and volunteered in class to create a blog in front of everyone. And I spent hours searching for widgets, customizing colors, and planning on what to write. So who knows, maybe I'm a blogger now!

I've been thinking a lot about applying blogging in the classroom. I'm planning on being a chemistry teacher (if you didn't see that from my blog title then....I guess you're blind...), so at first I couldn't really see much application in using blogs in my classes. I always thought of them as a way to present your thoughts, and have other people read and comment on them. In chemistry, there's a lot to learn but not much to analyze, so how could I ask my students to use a blog like that? But in class on Tuesday, someone suggested the teacher having a blog, and using it to put up all their assignments and things they did in class so that students who were absent could know exactly what went on. And that is definitely useful in a chemistry classroom. I could post my worksheets and labs, and talk about what was discussed in class.

Another use I thought about for blogging in chemistry is for students and I to share interesting or awesome or new things they've learned about science or the world in general. I've subscribed to three feeds that are just general science stuff: news about discoveries and how things work. The websites are Science News for Kids, ScienceNews, and New York Science Teacher. These are useful sites that science teachers of all types might want to look at. I've been reading the cool discoveries just for my own benefit, and there's tons of stuff that students and teachers alike would love to learn about.

After all, school isn't just about learning your subject matter, is it?