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Snapshot

Name and Title: Dr. Julie Jackson
Class that will be showcased: C&I 4355 Science in Elementary Education
Is this an undergraduate or graduate class? Undergraduate
What is the size of the class? 25 students

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My Class

Students enrolled in C&I 4355 are usually juniors or seniors seeking original teacher certification. I have transformed what was a face-to-face course into a blended asynchronous/synchronous ZOOM course.

The first weeks of every semester are devoted to transformative learning experiences that confront tenacious negative stereotypes about scientists and provide authentic science experiences. We explore: What is science?  Who participates in science? How is scientific knowledge obtained, developed, and confirmed? What is scientific inquiry? Is scientific literacy important? How do scientists evaluate and communicate information? Am I a scientist? Can children be scientists?

Once we establish that everyone is a scientist and that science is a way of looking at the world and asking questions, we explore how science instruction can be modified to honor diverse cultures, enhance the unique strengths of children, and celebrate science as a human endeavor.

Lesson learned and tips

• I have learned that being vulnerable while teaching is OK. My Spring 2020 and Summer I 2020 students were generous and kind as I experimented with various delivery methods and revised assignments to meet challenges associated with remote instruction. They helped me when I had tech problems and they were as excited as I was when something actually worked.
• It is really helpful to have the ZOOM log in information written down just in case there are log in problems.
• A student suggested that I post the ZOOM log in information in “Announcements” for easy access. I still use TRACS.

Many of the students enrolled in C&I 4355 will student teach during Covid-19 restrictions/challenges.  I wanted to model what remote science instruction in an elementary classroom might look like.

I decided to create my own document cam by purchasing a Gooseneck iPad/iPhone holder on Amazon. I use my iPad document camera as a mini white board during class. I place an 8 X 11 piece of white under the iPad document camera and use a #2 pencil to write on the paper.

When the paper is full of notes or I’m ready to begin a new topic, I use Rocketbook beacons ($15), the FREE Rocketbook App, and my iPad document camera to move the information to my LMS folders quickly during class. I LOVE the beacons and will continue to use them when I return to face-to-face instruction.

I also use a Rocketbook notebook ($34) to record lecture notes. Rocketbook notebooks are erasable and are designed to quickly move data to cloud storage. Each notebook page includes icons that can be associated with specific cloud folders and a QR code that works with the free Rocketbook app.

The “Basic” ZOOM screen sharing options include iPhone/iPad via Airplay and iPhone/iPad via Cable. I have used both settings. However, using a cable ensures that my iPad stays charged.

My students also use Flipgrid to upload and explain selected assignments and they all used Flipgrid to prepare “All about me” videos to introduce themselves at the beginning of the semester.

Planning Decision Tree

I developed the following decision tree to help me plan and organize remote instruction as well as to teach my students how to do it themselves. Digital content that I already used in face-to-face instruction easily converted to online activities for remote teaching.

However, not all of material that I wanted/needed to use was available digitally. When this happened, I needed to create or locate digital content.

First, I inventoried available resources. I considered the technology and bandwidth I had access to and what my students could access.

Next, I searched for multimedia and/or web content that matched my lesson objectives and available resources.

Then I asked whether selected activities could be completed successfully asynchronously or whether my students would need my assistance during synchronous ZOOM instruction.

Finally, I considered how I could monitor the work and provide feedback. If I could monitor the activity and provide feedback, I moved it online.

If available resources were limited and I could not monitor students or provide feedback, I revisited the desired learning objective to determine if it could be revised or if it were truly vital to mastery of the course content.

The digital content I have created for my course falls into three categories.

• Find an interactive website and create content that supplements the website
• Create a collaborative document. (Google Slide Activity)
• Rework/Revise a worksheet to support digital learning (collaborative document)

Find an interactive website and create content that supplements the website.

Lesson objective: Classify matter based on testable and observable physical properties including magnetism

• Locate a free interactive website that addresses the lesson objective and create content that supplements the website. Interactive website visualizations should allow students to change parameters, select views, contrast conditions, and analyze alternatives.

Click here to visit a free interactive website.

I created the following worksheet to help the students document their predictions and results as they worked asynchronously so that when we gathered together via ZOOM (synchronous instruction) they had the data needed to participate in the whole class discussion and direct/guide the construction of the interactive word wall.

 

• Creation of the interactive word wall –

1. 1. Take a screen shot of the section of the interactive website that the students manipulate
   2. Then cut out the objects that the students interact with
   3. Use these cut outs and the iPad document camera to
      • Make sense of the activity
      • Teach content and academic vocabulary
      • Build a virtual interactive word wall

• Interactive word walls can be integrated and used in a variety of contexts. Interactive word walls do not take time away from anything else you are doing; they actually enhance what you are trying to do in the classroom.

Interactive Word Walls

• • Resemble graphic organizers
  • Strategically target academic vocabulary
  • Are student generated/directed (i.e. students share their results/data/understanding).
    • During face-to-face instruction they are created by students
    • In remote instruction, they are created by the instructor using the iPad document camera
    • Student comments guide the process, and the instructor manipulates the artifacts
  • Show connections between concepts and artifacts used during instruction
  • Help students connect subject specific concepts and academic vocabulary

In the following example, the hyperlinks direct students to selected free online interactive websites.

Create a Collaborative Document (Google Slide Activity)

Lesson Objective: Differentiate between living and nonliving things based upon whether they have basic needs and produce offspring

• Create a Google slide.
  • Set the share function so that anyone with the link is an editor. Make several copies of the slide and label the slides “Group 1” “Group 2” etc. You will need to also create a “Master Slide” that the students will not use.

• Use the ZOOM breakout room feature to divide students into small groups.
  • Before you open the ZOOM breakout rooms, copy and paste the GOOGLE drive link into the ZOOM chat. Make sure the chat is set to “everyone.”
  • Inform the students that students assigned to ZOOM breakout room #1 will work on Google slide #1, students in ZOOM breakout room #2 will work on Google slide #2 etc.
  • Set a time limit for the students to return to the main ZOOM meeting room.
• Open the ZOOM breakout rooms.
  • You can monitor the groups as they work on the Google slides and even provide comments using the comment feature located in the upper right corner of each slide.
  • I use the comment feature to prompt and encourage the students and pace the groups.

• Creation of the interactive word wall

Click here for an example in Google Docs.

Rework/Revise a worksheet to support digital learning. (collaborative document)

Lesson Objective: Observe the way organisms live and survive in their ecosystem by interacting with the living and nonliving components.

• Locate a favorite worksheet that you plan to rework or revise for remote instruction

• Create a Google slide. MAKE SURE THAT THE WORKSHEET is set in the BACKGROUND or as the MASTER SLIDE so that when student drag and drop objects the entire slide does not move.
• Set the share function so that anyone with the link is an editor. Make several copies of the slide and label the slides “Group 1” “Group 2” etc. You will need to also create a “Master Slide” that the students will not use.

• Use the ZOOM breakout room feature to divide students into small groups.
  • Before you open the ZOOM breakout rooms, copy and paste the GOOGLE drive link into the ZOOM chat. Make sure the chat is set to “everyone.” Inform the students that students assigned to ZOOM breakout room #1 will work on Google slide #1, students in ZOOM breakout room #2 will work on Google slide #2 etc. Set a time limit for the students to return to the main ZOOM meeting room.
• Open the ZOOM breakout rooms.
• You can monitor the groups as they work on the Google slides and even provide comments using the comment feature located in the upper right corner of each slide.
  • I use the comment feature to prompt and encourage the students and pace the groups.
• Print the Google slide and then use your iPad document camera to create a virtual interactive word wall.
  • We play a “Battleship” coordinate grid game with this worksheet and I use colored pencils or pens to mark the coordinates the student share with the class.

Click here for an example in Google Docs.