I teach in an inquiry, project-based, technology embedded classroom. A mouthful, I know. So what does that mean? It means I lecture less, and my students explore more. It means that I create a classroom where students encounter concepts, via labs and other methods, before they necessarily understand all the specifics of what is happening.
It’s a place where my students spend time piecing together what they have learned, critically evaluating its larger purpose, and reflecting on their own learning.
It also means my students don’t acquire knowledge just for the sake of acquiring it. They need to do something with it — that’s where “project-based” comes
into play. Finally, technology is embedded into the structure of all we do. It’s part of how we research, how we capture information, and how we display our learning. It’s never an accessory tacked on at the end.
So what does this look like?
On lab days, one of the first things my students do is take out their phones. Our school has a cell phone policy that normally bans these devices during class time; however, we have permission to use them in learning situations. I even lend my phone to groups who may not have one.
I used to have students sketch pictures of lab slides. The truth is most of them didn’t look anything like what was on the slide. I doubt our students have spent
much time sketching throughout their schooling career. If they have, they’re not very good at it! In the end, they mostly look like a mass of circles.
Last year, instead of sketching, my students began taking pictures with their phones of what was on the slide. These are then uploaded to our wiki and become part of our digital textbook. The beauty of this is that students who have missed the lab can refer to them. We also do this for dissections. Within minutes, they’ve often uploaded these pictures to Facebook.
Do my students use their phones during this time for non-educational tasks? Probably. But until I see they’re not focused on their work, I’m not prepared to be the texting police. Instead, my students know they are trusted and they need to act accordingly.
The nuts & bolts of embedded technology
My students have multiple options as to the final format of their lab submission. Some students choose to hand in paper labs, but a number have started creating v-labs. These are labs in the form of Voicethreads or videos. Sometimes their paper labs simply include the pictures. I also receive labs that are created in Google Docs.
At strategic points, our classroom is flipped. Meaning: A chunk of content is learned outside of the classroom, and during class time, we use the learned information in labs or projects. Depending on the type of information needed, we use Khan Academy videos, TED talks, and other informational videos. This year, I’ve added something new — Livescribe pencasts. These are pencasts created by myself that address the content my students are learning. Sometimes it will be about formulas that we’ve learned in class, such as balancing equations. I find creating a pencast allows my students to revisit what we’ve learned in class at home. The pencast is interactive, so my students can click on the parts they don’t understand and have that part replay again. And there’s something significant about your own teacher reviewing what you learned, anytime, anywhere.
Other times we’ll learn content in the classroom, but we do it interactively. How? We Google Jockey. The first time I told my students we were going to Google Jockey, they didn’t believe it was an actual term. I told them to Google it. It is.
I facilitate the discussion by asking questions, while my students Google, looking for the information we need. As they come across links and videos that explain what we’re learning about, my students send me links that I add to our wiki. This process allows us to talk about the information, including how to research & find reputable information.
If I had a set of laptops or iPads on which my students could reliably create a Google Doc of our notes as I speak or they Google jockey, I would do it that way instead. There’s something engaging about creating a real-time set of class notes. Unfortunately, the technology available at my school doesn’t allow for it. Our Mac lab is incredibly unreliable, only letting a few students into a Google doc at a time.
This past week in Chemistry, my students have been learning how to name chemical compounds, a process that is laden with rules and often difficult to learn. Yet knowing the process is essential for correct chemical nomenclature. I’ve created a livescribe of the process my students need to use. We’ve also discussed it in class. For three days, my students have been trying to engrave this process into their synapses, through repeated practice. There are a number of activities on our wiki that my students can engage in during class. The can learn polyatomic ions, how to transfer formulas to names, or names to formulas, and they can practice naming acids — to name a few. This format allows students to choose what they work on. And it allows me to talk to every student, every day.
Formative assessments to guide learning
Usually, my motto is Einstein’s — “Never memorize anything you can look up.” However, chemists have a particular language. You need to understand it, including the vocabulary, before you can do something with it. Almost every morning, before we start, my students have a small quiz, a formative assessment. It doesn’t count for marks, instead the assessment is used by my students. Rather than penalizing them for what they haven’t mastered yet, it shows them, and me, what we need to work on. As they become more proficient, they become more confident about their abilities.
Next week, in Biology, my students are learning about DNA. To begin, they will perform a lab where they extract and spool DNA from a cow liver. While they’ll be able to see it, they really have no idea of its structure or composition. For the next few days, my students will research the basics of DNA, and, in pairs, create Glogsters.
I love using a format like this because it easily differentiates instruction for a classroom that is full of different abilities and learning styles. Students can create a Glogster that best suits their learning needs. Additionally, I have students who might read at a grade 3 or 4 level. These students refer to digital resources that I have hand-picked and linked to on our wiki. With help, they are able to create their own Glogsters that are perfect for their learning and reading level. Technology allows students to adapt instruction in way that was never possible with print materials.
Once my students have gleaned the basics, we’ll create models of DNA and engage in a number labs that show my students how DNA is used in crime scene analysis.
My students are also working on an independent genetics project. They can research anything in the realm of genetics that deeply interests them: cloning, crime scene analysis, genetic research, stem cell research, the list goes on. In order to check that their project is not too large, my students have one week to submit their project proposal, which outlines their topic, how they will research their project, and what format the product will look like. They can build a model, create an interactive presentation that includes a lab, or create a digital product using a tool such as Prezi, Flip Snack, Empressr, Wix, My Brain Shark, or create a screencast, to name a few. The only stipulation is that they cannot hand in a research report or a powerpoint. Their digital products will then be published on our wiki.
The powerpoint rule is flexible. This morning one of my students said to me: “I’m going to do my project on Dr. Burznski and his work with anti-neoplastons and their anti-cancer effects. My product will be a PowerPoint presentation, which I will then upload into ‘myBrainShark’ and create a voiceover.” I stood stunned for a moment. Did all of those words really come out of the mouth of a grade 11 student?
Finally, to keep track of housekeeping items, and remind students of upcoming due dates, my favourite tool is Remind 101. And my students love it! Essentially, I set up the class, my students send a text or email to the class site, and every time I enter a message, it is sent to them via text or email. I can even set up reminders in advance.
Teaching then and now
Before the technology/constructivist shift in my classsroom, I would have taught all of this quite traditionally. We’d learn formulas through worksheets. I’d lecture a lot, with supplemental textbook readings here and there. The whole design would have been extremely teacher centered. And at the end of it all, I’d hope they learned something about Chemistry & Biology.
Instead, inquiry and technology are a natural part of our science classes. It’s what my students have come to expect. Instead, of saying, “hand in your assignments,” I say, “publish your assignments and send me the link.” That’s the 21st century difference.
Images: Shelley Wright
Shelley Wright
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You are totally correct. Technology is embedded in every classroom and with social networks such as Facebook and YouTube are here to stay.Educators must use them in the teaching process. Many academics are posting great educational videos and a curation process is needed to present them in an organized manner, sorting the good ones from the rest and present them in an organized manner.
This is a project that YouTube should embrace itself, with curated content from academics and maybe using a different URL so it won’t be blocked by schools.
Dear Mrs. Wright,
I have an 8th grader this year with a teacher that subscribes to your new way of teaching. I have a few questions which I hope you can answer.
1. Do you think this way of teaching is more appropriate for highschool only verses any grade?
2. Should a child have some basic understandings of science before starting this new way of less teacher and more self research??
3. Does a teacher need to be certified to operate and teach in this new way of teaching? ie. Montessori teachers still need to be qualified to facilitate this new way.
Thank you for your time and I hope to hear from you soon.
Christy So
Hi Christy,
I am excited to hear that your child gets to experience a classroom like this. To be honest, I wish my own children did. Do I think inquiry is only for high school students. No. Small children are naturally inquisitive. What usually happens in schools is that we stifle it. I know a wonderful grade 1 teacher, Kathy Cassidy, in my division who uses technology and inquiry with her grade 1 students.
By the time I get students in grade 10, it’s really quite late. It takes a long time to begin to train them to be curious, to ask questions, to take risks, and to dream. I wish my students started learning how to do this much, much younger.
Should a child have a basic understanding of science? Not necessarily. In the past we’ve equated teaching, with learning. We’ve realized that’s not necessarily the case. I’ve found my students learn better when they’re interacting with the concepts. I think the important thing to realize is the shift in learning that has occurred. While my students are doing the majority of the work (learning), I’m right there with them, to answer questions, help talk them through confusion, and re-direct them, if necessary. I think this environment is more conducive to student learning.
There isn’t a specific certificate a teacher needs to use inquiry, but there are a lot of different opportunities and resources a teacher can use to learn how to do this. It takes a lot of work, but it’s well worth it.
Dear Shelley,
I love these ideas and think it’s definitely a way to engage students and bring innovative ways of thinking to them. It’s going to help them create habits of mind, ways of studying and staying organized that will serve them well in what is forecasted as the way in which their generation will go to work.
One of your readers, Christy So, asked a middle school question.
1. Do you think this way of teaching is more appropriate for highschool only verses any grade?
I’m a middle school teacher and this way of learning is very appropriate for my beginning middle schoolers. And I know of many elementary classrooms that are beginning to transition to this kind of learning design. It all starts with a question and the teacher showing students how to take on the responsibility of their own learning. Sure, the younger the student, the more the teacher will have to initially structure and coach students how how to do it…but by the middle of the 1st semester….I’d bet students could do this on their own…or at least a scaled back version of it.
Christy also asked about the basic understandings that needed to be in place.
2. Should a child have some basic understandings of science before starting this new way of less teacher and more self research??
I completely agree with your concern. It was the very question that kept me from adopting this practice until I had it answered. I couldn’t see how my 6th graders would be capable of formulating questions on topics if they didn’t know basic facts.
My big ah-ha moment came when I realized that my role was to help lay a foundation upon which the inquiry lesson is set. For example, this year when we began learning about the scientific method, I taught all the steps involved — all the content I’d normally teach. But instead of doing a ton of worksheets and boring cookie-cutter labs, I create a situation where my students could work alongside paleontologists who were studying about mastodons. They could create a question about the soil samples they were examining, run a lab to answer the question. The mastadon wasn’t really the point — the real focus concerned whether they should me how to use the scientific method to tell what life was like 9000 years ago in Hyde Park NY.
The misunderstanding about project and passion-based learning is that students run amok asking goofy questions about any random thing that crosses their mind. That’s not what I’m after – the structure is there but it’s designed to support student inquiry, not simply ‘stand and deliver’ information in the traditional way. [You can read more about our mastadon study at my teaching blog.]
I think this is what Shelley’s unit of study is designed to do as well: I’ll bet her pencasts and all the pieces she does in the Flipped classroom lay all the foundational factoids and knowledge bits the students need to then turn around and use higher level thinking to create questions that address bigger questions for that study.
Thanks, Shelley, for writing this. The more we write and dialog about these ways of learning, the more good examples will appear on the Web that we could transfer to our classroom. I love Google Jockey….and may steal it/adapt it for my own classroom. ‘Ya gotta love the virtual Personal Learning Network for this kind of professional exchange and learning. Thanks a million.
Hi,
I was wondering if you could post details on how you get the kids to take microscope pictures with their phones.
Thanks!
Sure. It’s really quite easy! It takes a bit of practice, but the camera lens on a phone is small enough that it will fit snugly up to the microscope eye piece. Then you simply snap the picture. It takes a bit to learn to hold still enough, but I find my students are able to get it within 3 or 4 pictures. After that, they’re pros!
I am a grade 11/12 Math/Calculus teacher. I am always intrigued by this type of learning environment. I find it extremely difficult to come up with a strategy that models this inquiry driven classroom with these higher level algebra/trigonometry/calculus topics. Hove you ever come across any articles or colleagues demonstrating how this methoc can be effectively implemented in a skill-based topic like high school Math? Thanks for the great article.
My best suggestion is to take a look at Dan Meyer’s work. He has a blog full of amazing information about his own math classes http://blog.mrmeyer.com/. He’s also given a TED talk entitled, “Math class needs a makeover”. Hope this helps!
You mentioned your friend, Kathy Cassidy, who teaches first grade. Does she have a blog? I’m curious to learn more about how she implements technology in her classroom.
Yes! You can find her at http://www.kathycassidy.com
Kathy Cassidy’s book “Connected from the Start: Global Learning in the Primary Grades” will be published by Powerful Learning Press soon. Find out more here: http://plpnetwork.com/connectedkids/
We hope to publish Shelley’s book later this year!
John Norton
Editorial Director
PL Press
Shelley I’m a 20 yr veteran HS chemistry teacher so I was taught old school but would like to get into IBL or PBL.Would you be interested in mentoring this “old” teacher on these ” new” ways of the world!
Hi Tammie,
Absolutely. You can connect with me through the contact tab at my blog: shelleywright.wordpress.com or send me a tweet @wrightsroom . I’m happy to help anyway I can!