Competitions are assignments that guide students through a preliminary exploration, data collection, analysis, reflection, and revision in a repeating cycle. This process leans on the scientific method and helps students practice character skills such as persistence, curiosity, critical thinking, and self-direction. For my own purposes, I will differentiate team challenges from competitions in that competitions are assessed with quantitative measurements that allow clear winners to emerge in an objective manner. Participants in this workshop will be asked to achieve a…

The purpose of this 1.5-hour workshop is to organize your teaching load into discrete groups that you can access so contact is continuous throughout the time school is closed. I will guide you through the process of creating virtual classrooms using a free program called Google Classroom.* This program allows you to build a classroom for each of your courses so your students can find their assignments, turn in homework, get feedback on their work, and receive their grades. Although…

An exciting way to engage your students in their online class is to use a topic that sparks discussion, research, and the desire to sleuth out additional information. In this workshop teachers will participate in a debate in an asynchronous platform (such as Google Classroom) and in a synchronous video meeting (such as Zoom). We will use a topic that allows teachers of any subject area to join in making claims supported with evidence and reasoning. Have fun interacting with…

Online learning does not have to be devoid of depth, there are plenty of ways to hone your teaching skills and challenge your students within the confines of teaching remotely. During this 1.5-hour workshop, you will be invited as a student into my Google Classroom* where you will take part in several assignments that foster higher-order thinking in an asynchronous learning environment. You will play the role of the student as we try out activities that work well in online…

Struggling to teach a lab-based science course using remote learning? In this workshop we will practice a repeatable structure for introducing a topic that will be studied through scientific exploration using a remote teaching and learning platform. We will help our students conduct a preliminary investigation at home to develop interest in a particular phenomenon, generating data, and making observations. We will then assist our students in recognizing and naming potential variables that may be responsible for impacting this phenomenon.…

Struggling to teach a lab-based science course using remote learning? In this workshop we will pick up where Part 1 of this series left off. We begin with a list of variables our students have identified as potentially impacting a particular phenomenon they have explored. Using a think-pair-share process, we will give students the structure needed to write steps for a scientific investigation using the dependent variable of their choice. Students will work in lab groups to share their ideas…

This workshop will continue to build on the skills taught in Parts 1 and 2 for teaching a science course using remote learning. Teachers will play the role of the students, collecting data in their own homes and pooling their observations and measurements in a spreadsheet shared by their lab partners. We will conduct data analysis within lab groups during the workshop to experience how this process can be performed using remote teaching and learning platforms. Peer critiques will help…

This workshop will focus on the content and demands of the conclusion section of a lab report, with applications to data-based questions and internal assessments for IB students, and free-response questions for AP students. The conclusions drawn from experimental data must be limited to the scope of the experiment, but it is also important for students to be able to understand how their individual work is related to the broader world. This workshop will employ an activity teachers can use…