Category Archives: Class Activities
Flipped Class – a student perspective
Below are some thoughts from one of my former middle school students who is now in high school & in a flipped classroom. I’ll let her words speak for themselves, but think her words speak to the state of science … Continue reading
Technology Changes School, but how? (part 3)
The notion that technology uses us can be unsettling. Yet, preservice teachers must be aware that technologies do make some decisions for them. For example, if we expand our view of technology beyond modern electronics, the daily school schedule is … Continue reading
Posted in Class Activities, Nature of technology, Teacher Actions
Tagged computers, education, nature of technology, school, technology
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Technology changes schools, but how? (part 2)
Technology has, and will continue to modify our beliefs and value systems. Such changes will impact our actions. While techno-enthusiasts talk about the possibilities of technology they miss the subtle hints technology gives about how the technology wants to be … Continue reading
How we should use Khan Academy
Khan Academy is not going away. So, how could we make use of Khan Academy? 1) As a textbook. After students have had experiences and discussed ideas in class, I often gave students reading assignments out of textbooks (notice the … Continue reading
Posted in Assessment, Class Activities, Education Reform, Technology in the Classroom
Tagged Assessment, khan, Learning, veratisium
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What should we flip?
My last post had some criticism of the flipped classroom. David Cox, Frank Noschese and I were discussing the nuances on twitter and each had an important insight. David noted that the better flip described in my example lesson is … Continue reading
Posted in Assessment, Class Activities, Curriculum, General Education, Learning, Teacher Actions
Tagged Assessment, edreform, flipped classroom, homework, questioning, teaching
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Imagine a class…
Imagine a class engaged in an authentic problem*. Let’s say they are trying to understand how to wire a ceiling fan (or some other thing, doesn’t matter). One student says, “Hey, I have a room in my house where I … Continue reading
Posted in Class Activities, Education Reform, Learning, Teacher Actions
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The Stillness of Chaos…
Organized chaos. This phrase is how I often envision my classroom. Today, we accomplished a lot. We developed a list of questions to research, introduced the collaborative blog project, discussed classroom management, questioning strategies, motivation, wait time I and wait … Continue reading
Posted in Class Activities, Goals for Students, Learning, Teacher Actions
Tagged chaos, Learning, motivation, organized, questioning, student thinking, teaching, wait time
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Time……is on our side?
Check out my most recent editorial in the Iowa Science Teachers Journal with some suggestions on how we might make time in our classrooms for deeply engaging students in learning. Share time saving tips or thoughts about the editorial in … Continue reading
Posted in Class Activities, Reflection, Teacher Actions
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Questioning Technology – An introduction
I use technology a lot in my class. I have students on twitter, ning, gmail and google apps, and others they choose to use for their projects. While I find technology fascinating and so do the students, we do not … Continue reading
Introducing Concept Maps
Below is my reply to an email a colleague sent me inquiring about how they might introduce their students to concept mapping. I thought I would share my brief thoughts for comment and use: I like to use familiar things … Continue reading
Posted in Assessment, Class Activities, Learning
Tagged Activities, authentic assessment, concept maps, Learning, students
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Teaching as Dynamic 