The two main courses that I teach are geometry and physics. The wicked problem that my students struggle with is making connections and finding a deeper understanding of concepts in Physics. These models are especially helpful with concepts that cannot easily be produced in the classroom. Currently, my students can read a story problem and pull out the information to use with the formulas but they lack the skills to answer the conceptual problems. The students tend to do better with the story problems because they are not asked to compare and contrast data, rather just to extract it and input it to a formula.
Another issue that I have to overcome is covering a large amount of material before the Michigan Merit Exam and the ACT which are taken in March. A current shortfall in our building is that there is only one computer lab for 14 teachers. This contributes to my problem because I do not have access to online quizzes where students can check their conceptual understanding. When teaching physics, there are often times where students struggle to make the connection between problem and concept. I believe that I can create an online approach in which students are provided a "hands-on" experience by changing conditions and making predictions based on those changes and then testing their results.
Logistics of a Solution
My plan is to have students use online simulations to help make the connection between concept and application. I believe that students testing and exploring different ideas with the use of simulators will allow for them to create concrete examples and ideas. This would be a natural learning process for the students rather than forcing them to read and memorize or have to accept that this is the way it is because "Newton said so". There are already great resources available but the connection of them to the classroom is sometimes lacking. The University of Colorado has provided a site called PHet, which has a large selection of simulators for most units. PHet allows students the opportunity to individualize the problems by changing variables as they wish. I want to create lessons centered around using the simulator and questions that will cause them to make a hypothesis and test it. The simulator would be a great addition because the students can test their hypothesis first hand and make their conclusions. My goal is to help the students understand, apply, analyze, and evaluate physics concepts. I also want my lessons to grab the attention of the different types of learners in the classroom. With the students creating conclusions on their own, they are set to raise questions and drive the conversation of the class.
Research Which Supports my Strategies
Harvard Business School Professor Shih states, "Students have told me that sims force them to integrate and apply material that they have learned. The opportunity to try things—test a hypothesis and receive immediate feedback". This aspect of allowing students to make decisions on their own and then describe the results makes the learner emotionally involved because they made the decision on their own. David Julian goes on to say,
"Because so many of the things we need to understand these days are either too complex, too vast, too small, too far, or too dangerous to be experienced directly, we can no longer rely, as we did for so long, on hands-on learning. Simulation provides us a solution and is, in fact, the only way to experience, try, and learn many of things we really want to know about (and want our students to learn about.) Because of this factor, simulation is absolutely fundamental to education -- and has always been so."
This idea resembles what we are talking about as an educational community in the MAET program and the Wicked problems that we encounter. We don't need to prepare our students for the multiple-choice test at the end of the road, we need to teach them to explore what's beyond. The use of simulations allows for this freedom that doesn't come naturally in the classroom.
Also, with the use of simulations and conceptual driven questions I will cause my students to work higher on Bloom’s taxonomy pyramid. Current, my students are on the first three levels of thinking in Bloom’s taxonomy. With the integration of more conceptually driven questions my students will begin to use the top three levels more often. These higher order thinking skills should carry my students up the ladder of success due the more rigorous thinking they will undergo.
In a report by Carl Wieman and Katherine Perkins they state, “The science community needs to change science education to make it effective and relevant for a much larger fraction of the student population than in the past”. With this statement they are referencing both the changes environmentally and technologically. They state the disconnect between the educators and the students who view the problems with two different mindsets. They go on to show that using research-based teaching practices with the integration of technology, PHet, has dramatic impact on students understanding of concepts.
A plan based on research for implementation, indicating the portion to be completed during this course and after it is over.
My long-term plan is to incorporate a simulation in every unit for physics. However, my short-term goal for this class would be to have the simulation built into my electricity and electrical charge units. We just finished our first semester in the school year and we are nearing our standardized testing period (ACT, MME, EXPLORE, and PLAN). The simulations would be good for students because they are more focused on the concepts and construction.
Indications of a Successful Project
Students will be able to explain and describe their decision process of changing variables. I will also be able to track students' progress through pre- and post- testing. I'm trying to be proactive about the Smarter Balanced Assessments as they are more focused on students reasoning and creating rather than their knowledge of individual topics. Currently, my students take pre- and post- tests to show improvement and most prior knowledge is limited due to the specific nature of some of the physics ideas. My tests are framed from the idea of standardized tests because student growth is based off of those scores and currently there is not a writing or an explanation portion of the test. In order to best measure growth of my students I will need to include more questions where students are required to explain their reasoning.
Sources
Bloom’s Taxonomy
http://ww2.odu.edu/educ/roverbau/Bloom/blooms_taxonomy.htm
Teaching with Simulations
http://hbsp.harvard.edu/list/simulations-feature
Wieman, Carl, and Perkins Katherine. "Transforming Physics Education." Physics Today.
http://www.jgore.org/Wieman_PhysicsToday.pdf
Simulation Nation The Promise of Virtual Learning Activities
http://www.edutopia.org/computer-simulations-virtual-learning
Video Games in STEM Classroomhttp://www.edutopia.org/blog/video-games-in-STEM-classroom-shawn-cornally
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