One of my favorite activities in my Organic compounds unit is having students visualize compound structures by building with molecular model sets. The students usually struggle on the first day trying to visualize the 2-dimensional schematic as something they are building in 3-dimensions, but by the third day 99% of the students understand the spatial relationships and they are quick to build. When I reflect on lessons like these, which is less often than the ones that aren't going well, sometimes I hear myself asking, "Why would I need to change something that's already working?"

This is when it is important to have some instructional coaching questions in your tool kit. For instance: "What would make the lesson even better?" Or, "What would make the lesson a 10 instead of an 8.5?" "What could move the lesson closer to a 10?"

I thought carefully and remembered a part that I wished was better. There is one assessment I use at the culmination of model building that isn’t as effective as I would like. It has the potential to be successful though. I like that is has a higher DOK level and a critical thinking component. It's incorporation of chemical compounds students haven't built yet moves their thinking into an application level. However, the one aspect it had been falling short in was students correctly taking what they had learned and applying it to the new situation.

Students were not taking the time to put the rules that they had learned into practice. There was a gap between the model building they were doing, and the content knowledge they had previously learned. They were not automatically making the connection as I assumed they would. I determined that the key to making this assessment better, was in adding another formative assessment activity. I reduced the number of questions and increased the cognitive load.

Prior to handing out the same assessment, I placed ten 3-dimensional models around the room, assigned 2 to each group and chose Flipgrid as my tech tool. With the safety of a partner and the familiarity of the video camera, I had students video the two molecular models at their station and narrate the answer to two very important questions. Is their model organic or inorganic, and how did they know? Having to practice answering that question with a partner and say their reasons out loud, turned out to be very beneficial for student learning. They were very concerned about identifying their compounds correctly and thought carefully about their answers together prior to creating their video.

Not only were the students able to finish that same "complicated" summative assignment in one class period; they did it faster, and with more accuracy. Initially, I thought adding this Flipgrid activity would cause me to have to spend another day in class on the topic, but the results were the exact opposite. Practicing in this way gave students the connections and confidence they needed to reach the lesson's target.