Week 7 Flippin' or Facebook?

     I love the idea of the flipped classroom.  It would be wonderful for my subject area of science.  It would allow for much more hands on lab time and/or development of and carrying out of experiments if the aquisition of base knowledge or preparation for lab was done outside of the classroom.  I also think it would give the students a true sense of ownership of their progress to be responsible for the work outside of the classroom.  However, I realize that their are drawbacks.  Internet access is still not in all regions of the rural area that my students live.   This hurdle could be overcome by the student being allowed to schedule extra computer time in a school climate that allowed this type of flexiblility.  Only students who were mature enough could handle the this type of classroom.  There would need to be alternative placements for those students who were found to be unable to carry deal with this type of freedom. 
     Social media does have its place in the classroom in the communication between team members on group projects and communication about work between teacher and student. 

Week 6 IDK about my DOK

     On a recent assessment that I used for an acid/base unit, most of the questions fell in level one or level two.  These were in the typical multiple choice and fill or matching format.  I did have a selection of short answers questions and some of these move into level 3 as they gave scenarios that the students had to use concepts learned to evaluate the presence or absence of certain molecules in a solution or differentiate between solutions based on acidic or basic properties.  This evalutation could easily be changed to move to level four questioning by making the test more of a practical lab exam.  I could have the students develop ways to test the acidity or basicity of  solutions that are found in the environment and what the outcomes of the testing will have on the environment at large or have them evaluate whether testing situations were done correctly and if not done correctly how they would need to be revised to be considered correct.
     Developing the skill of answering higher level thinking questions lets the student practice solving problems in creative ways.  Using real world scenarios lets the student make that connection between the skill they have learned in the classroom and how they might use it or some part of it in the synthesis of solutions to problems that, as we have already said in class, "don't even exist yet."
     Of course we all know that the greatest problem with going deep in the DOK levels is the "mile wide inch deep" science curriculum we are currently supporting.  Perhaps that is soon to come to an end.  We shall see.

Week 6 BUMP Up The Quadrant

My lesson of late have been settling in quadrant A and B as my students gather info about mixtures and solutions.  Occasionally a lab will let them venture into quadrant C as they evaluate some unknown mixture.  I believe I could bump them up into quadrant D if I had them create their own mixtures and then present them to the class and have the class figure out ways to separate the mixtures.