Embedded Files
The first time I encountered Kahoot was at a New Year's Eve party, where I made some new friends playing Kahoot. For fun. In between all the laughter, I recognized that this form of technology could have educational applications in a classroom setting. Kahoot is a free game-based platform that I plan to use as a means of formative assessment. Through Kahoot, students would answer premade questions through electronic devices (e.g. phones, tablets chromebooks). At my discretion, students could answer the quiz independently or within teams. Regardless, students would receive immediate feedback from both Kahoot and myself. Speed in addition to accuracy is critical to scoring the maximum number of points, so Kahoot can be facilitate healthy competition in the classroom, which can be especially useful when preparing for AP exams.
Similar to Kahoot, I plan to use Google Surveys as a means of formative assessment. However, Google Surveys would be used more formally as a means of administering quizzes that would make up a non-negligible part of a student's overall grade. I find Google Surveys to be user friendly for both myself and my students. Google Surveys is also an attractive tool, because it automatically grades quizzes upon completion and can provide students with immediate feedback.
Google Classroom is tailored for educators to use essentially as a class website. Through Google Classroom, I plan to post assignments and updates that students could view at any time. Students would use Google Classroom to remain up to date, submit assignments, and have relevant online discussions. The ability for students and faculty create and personalize their own Google profiles is appealing and encourages this technology's use. That said, I would be more than pleased to use other means of teacher-student-parent-administrator communication if alternatives (e.g. School Loop, Edmodo) are preferred.
Quizlet is an instructional technology that students can use to study for my class. Through Quizlet, I can create study sets that link terms (e.g. internal energy) with a variable (e.g. U), equation (e.g. ΔU = TΔS - PΔV), unit (e.g. Joules), or definition (e.g. the energy contained within a system). Using my study set, or existing study sets I recommend, students would be able to view and practice through several intuitive ways, including flash cards, match the terms, or fill in the blanks.
Chemical formulas can be lengthy at times and students have difficulty visualizing them as a result. MolView, as seen in Figure 1, is a useful tool that allows students to create and manipulate chemicals online. This tool essentially replicates what a physical chemical model can perform, but is completely free and has additional functions that a physical model is limited by. For example, a physical chemical modal kit has limited colors and limited balls and sticks to represent atoms and bonds. In contrast, MolView has no such limitations, allows students to assign charges, see dipoles, and has much more. I would use MolView to introduce students to commonly seen molecules and elaborate on some of their intricacies. I would also encourage students to use this educational tool at home or their clubs.
One tool I've found to resonate well with my students is Pear Deck. I've dabbled with Nearpod too, but the seamless Google Slide integration that Pear Deck provides is too convenient to ignore. Pear Deck allows me to convert any conventional presentation in an engaging lesson with build in anticipatory sets, formative assessments, and exit tickets. A couple examples of my Pear Decks can be found here and here. Pear Deck became especially useful during the COVID-19 quarantine (never forget) during which my school districts were required to transition to distance and hybrid learning.
Figure 2. The Molecule Shapes simulation on the PhET website is useful in helping students visualize how lone pairs influence what electron and molecule geometries a molecule has.
It can be challenging to implement some labs in a non-science classroom, similar to the one I was based in during my first year teaching at Torrance High School. One powerful tool to compensate for my classroom, and augment laboratory experiences are through online simulations such as PhET. PhET is useful in helping students visualize objects too small or numerous to recognize (e.g. isotopes, moles) and processes that are easier shown than said (e.g. carbon cycle, energy conversions), and then manipulate variables (e.g. pH vs hydronium concentrations) to learn about challenging concepts. PhET is especially useful, because it takes labs that traditionally require substantial amounts of prep time (and be vulnerable to human error), and presents them in relevant, easily grasped contexts that focuses on core concepts.
When I first began teaching, I knew I wanted a way to tell what my student's areas of weaknesses were, and I wanted a way to quantify student improvement over time. Assessments took a long time for me to grade, and the time commitment discouraged me from giving them out too often, until I learned about ZipGrade. Zipgrade allows me to quickly grade multiple choice assessments, and presents the analyzed results in easily exported csv or pdf files. By facilitating the grading process, ZipGrade allows me to administer assessments quickly and frequently (usually weekly) with confidence. As soon as the next day, I can provide my students and I with snapshots of class or individual performance in the form of (1) class averages, (2) standard deviation, (3) frequently missed questions, and (4) mastered concepts.
Edulastic is an intructional tool I plan to use as a form of formative and summative assessment. I can create quizzes and exams, and have students complete them so I can assess how much my students have learned and if/how I should adjust my instructional strategies to meet the needs of my students. Regardless, Edulastic instantly grades assignments and provides feedback for both the student and myself. Unlike Kahoot or Google Forms, however, Edulastic has next generation science standards built into its questions, and can provide meaningful data pertaining to the class, specific to individual students, and inform me on how my students are meeting state standards. The type of data Edulastic can acquire will play a large role in how I optimize my classroom instruction.
I created a class website during my first year teaching to complement my Google Classroom as a resource for students and parents to learn about my courses and how to succeed in them. Student feedback suggests that the website is easy to navigate, useful in determining due dates, and fun (especially the media section). This website became outdated, however, when my school districts began to encourage or require the use of designated platforms (e.g. Google Classroom, Pear Deck).
One day, as a quick check for understanding, I was calling upon students to provide detailed verbal responses explaining a relatively complex phenomenon, and I thought, "it'd be great for me to see how everyone responses to this question at a glance, but it'd be impractical to call on each student in less than 10 minutes to hear out their 2 minute explanations..." Now, on top of calling upon students for checks of understanding, I sometimes require students to spontaneously make Flipgrid videos explaining or synthesizing complex topics we've covered in class. This way I can see how well students understand content and highlight excellent responses for students to review.
Figure 1. An example of MolView being used to convert a line representation of caffiene into a 3D model.
Google Sites
Report abuse