... It's Finally Friday!

Some weeks seem impossibly long -- this was one of them! This is the first 5-day week we have had since Christmas break. That one extra day really makes a difference! I am very glad for a weekend!

Since it's Friday, I thought I'd do a little bit of recap and reflection on how I feel my week went teaching wise.

Biology
This was a hard week in Biology. We are in the genetics unit and were working on the more complicated types of inheritance -- incomplete dominance, codominance, sex-linked, genetic disorders. Some of my students really enjoyed it, especially when we were doing "who dun' it" sort of genetic problems. It made for some dramatic realizations.

"She is NOT the mother of that baby! She stole the baby from the hospital!"
"That son was adopted!?"
"These two could be the father, but not these two!"

They really seemed to enjoy and relate to those types of problems (likely due to the type of television they watch).

I feel like I should have done more of the problems together as a class. I was finding myself answering the same questions over and over. Reminder to myself: practice together, in groups, and independently. All three serve a different function.

Chemistry
My chemistry classes had their first test of the semester this week. Grades were not great -- a lot of A's, a lot of F's, and not many in the middle. The unfortunate part is that all of the next few units build on each other, so I'm concerned that the students with F's are setting themselves up for another challenging unit (we are going from moles to stoichiometry).

Because the moles unit is so vital to understanding the rest of the semester, I am giving them a retake opportunity. They have to see me outside of class (before school, during advisement/homeroom, or after school) to look over their test and discuss the retake. In order to retake the test they have to complete two study activities -- online resource (with proof of working through problems or taking notes), practice problems, homework corrections, book reading/questions, or tutoring session (Science National Honors Society provides free tutoring at our high school). Once they complete two, they can schedule a day to retake the test. Hopefully they put some effort into understanding the material the second time and they are able to improve some of their grades.

Since the test, we have started the mole ratios and mole-mole stoichiometry problems. They are not pleased so far, but I have faith that they will get the hang of it. This was the first that they have seen dimensional analysis, and I feel as though I should have introduced it sooner. Some love it and understand it, some do not. I had a conversation about neat and organized work that I should have definitely had at the beginning of the moles unit instead -- could have prevented several headaches.

That was my week in a nutshell. I'm ready for a few days to relax, do some baking, and watch some football!

How was your week? Here's to hoping it was a great one!

... We are About to Start Stoichiometry!

All year in Chemistry I use the term stoichiometry to warn my students of things to come, so much so that it has almost become a joke between my students and I.

"I bet all these hard chemical equations make you really excited for stoichiometry!"

"If you think this is a lot of math, wait til stoichiometry!" 

Well, that day has come. We are beginning stoichiometry on Friday. To those who are not familiar with chemistry terminology, stoichiometry refers to the math involved with determining the quantities of compounds or elements in a reaction that are needed for the reaction to actually take place. It sounds more complicated than it is... sort of... It's one of those things that takes some practice but eventually student's get the hang of it. 

Today, we reviewed how to balance chemical equations, since that is what all of this math business is focused on. Tomorrow, it's on to mole-to-mole ratios. 

Before we jump into mole-to-mole ratios, I am going to take some time to discuss how to organize the work for their math problems. Many high school students -- especially those that are not great at math -- have their work written out so that it is messy, hard to follow, and not labeled correctly. They often complain about having to show their work -- "Why do I have to show my work if I just plug it in my calculator?" -- but my policy is No Work, No Credit, No Kidding!  I need to see not only that they got the write answer, but that they know how they got the right answer. 

I feel like this is important time to discuss with students a neater, easier to read way to show their work. Stoichiometry problems can be long and complicated, and this is the only way that I can decipher where they are making mistakes. Each teacher may have their own method of showing work. Some like the fraction version, other's it's boxes... for me I like creating a sort of table to organize my numerators and denominators and provide easy unit cancellation. An example problem is located below, to give you an idea of how I show my students to organize their work. 

When starting a unit that has been built up to be difficult and worrisome (let's face it, the name alone is terrifying), I think its important to give students some structure and go back to review the basics. It's a routine that they need to get used to quickly. My plan is to use this method of showing their work to do some review problems -- mole conversions -- so they see how it works and get into the routine. Hopefully by the time we begin the more difficult problems, they have already seen the merit in showing their work this way and can stay organized! It's so much nicer to have a cohesive method to be able to more effectively spot mistakes and provide help. 

I will let you all know how well my plan works! 

A copy of a mole ratio stoichiometry lab is posted on my Teachers Pay Teachers site. Check it out! Hopefully a post will be up soon about the lab specifically! 

... Inquiry Is Not Easy

Inquiry is a method in science teaching that has been at the forefront for several years now. It revolves around the idea that students need to explore a topic and problem solve first before being given the information. Less regurgitation of information, more utilization and application. There is a point of struggle and resolution in inquiry that I think really is key.

This is a great idea, in theory, but in reality it can be really hard to do inquiry in some classes. One of my largest classes is also a team-taught class with many special education students in it. The class, in general, requires a lot of support and encouragement when covering a new topic -- and this is AFTER they have the information already, not an inquiry situation. How do you support students in the ways they require while still allowing them enough struggle to make the inquiry worthwhile. 

Scaffold

Yes I said it, every teacher's favorite buzz word. Scaffold. For some classes, they need support to be able to "do" inquiry. They are not comfortable floating in the abyss of possibility and need a little direction. I am here to tell you that that is okay. 

One inquiry lab that I love to do with my students is a very simple enzyme lab that involves two types of liver -- one raw and one that has been soaked in acid. After making initial observations, they add some hydrogen peroxide and watch the reaction. This is an activity I use at the very beginning of enzymes to give them a picture of what we are discussing. Enzymes are tiny, but seeing a piece of liver react or not react based on if it was in acid is something they saw and observed. 

To scaffold this lab, I ask lots of probing questions -- Why isn't that liver bubbling the same? Why do you think the pieces of liver are different? Do you think the liver will do different things? I also make the lab quick. They do the experiment and are back in their seats within 15 minutes. I give them only a few questions to ponder and not a huge problem to solve. I supply them with key parts of inquiry -- investigation without information, questions to promote thinking, and an experience that highlights a key topic -- but I also give them key pieces of information they need to be successful -- the liver and hydrogen peroxide are constant, there is not a huge challenge needing to be solved. 

Inquiry is do-able with all student groups. If you know your students and understand where they are at, it is possible. This simple liver lab can be expanded for very advanced groups and can be scaffolded like crazy for groups that struggle. Just because they struggle, doesn't mean they cannot participate in inquiry. 

Inquiry for all! 

A copy of my liver inquiry lab is available online in my Teachers Pay Teachers store. Check it out!

... Let's talk about DBQ's

In Georgia, students are required to pass a writing test in social studies and science in order to pass high school. The prompt is referred to as a DBQ -- a document based question. It is a prompt that is accompanied by multiple documents. The documents can be graphs of data, diagrams, pictures, chemical equations... Any visual representation of information really.

In order to prepare my students for the test (which they take as sophomores) we do short DBQs after each test that are linked to the unit we had just covered. By that point, they should have all the information they need to answer the question and helps to avoid the "skip part 2, we will cover that next week..." issue.

The short DBQ's have a short prompt -- usually only one or two things they are asked to explain or answer using the one document that is provided. For the DBQs I also give my students a template to help them construct their answer and get used to this style of informative writing. The sections are labeled Main Idea, Support 1 (Document), Support 2 (Prior Knowledge), and Support 3 (Connection). Here is a rough idea of what I look for in each section:

Main Idea: I look for an answer to the question. I describe it as a thesis statement to my student. What is the answer you came up with? What are you explaining? This is not a topic sentence (that is what they want to write first...) but rather a direction for the rest of their writing. A Main Idea. A Thesis. If the prompt and document were dealing with a food web, it may be something like "A food web is a diagram that shows the transfer of energy through different organisms in an ecosystem."

Support 1 (Document): This a description of what was in the document that helped them come up with their answer. It can be as simple as "Document 1 shows a food web in which a bear is eating a fish."

Support 2 (Prior Knowledge): This is the information they know in their brain about the topic -- information not given to them and not shown in the document. For our food web example, it may be "10% of the energy is given to the next organism when it is eaten. Heterotrophs get their energy from eating other organisms. Carnivores eat other animals." This is where students can really "beef" up their answer by adding vocabulary, descriptions, and explanations to what they are thinking.

Support 3 (Connection): The final support is a connection between what the document shows and what they know. Back to our food web example -- "The bear is a carnivore because he is eating another animal, the fish. The bear is also a heterotroph because he is eating his food instead of making it from the sun. The bear will only get 10% of the energy the fish has."

It really is a very simple breakdown of how to construct a scientific argument and back it up with data. For the actual gateway test, they are writing a full essay, not just a short paragraph like in the DBQs, but the DBQs give them a place to start thinking about how to construct and support an argument in science content.

When I gave them their first DBQ they were completely lost. They had no idea what all those fancy words meant. Some of them understood main idea, but many of them confused it with a topic sentence and ended up just rewriting the prompt. It took a lot of scaffolding for students to be able to use the template, but now that they are familiar with it they at least know what they need to write (actually being able to write it is a whole 'nother story...).

I have a free DBQ available on my Teachers Pay Teachers store, as well as a pack of DBQs covering a variety of units available for purchase. I hope that even those educators outside of Georgia can find a way to incorporate writing into your biology curriculum!