(Tu June 2, 2-3:30 pm EDT) 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…

(W June 3, 12-1:30 pm EDT) This workshop 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 and coalesce on an experimental design…

(W June 3, 4-5:30 pm EDT) 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…

(Th June 4, 2-3:30 pm EDT) 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…

(Mon June 8, 2-3:30 pm EDT) 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…

(M June 8, 6-7:30 pm EDT) 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 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,…

(Tu June 9, 2-3:30pm EDT) Information is available from an unlimited number of sources and accessible to anyone. And, anyone who desires can make information available to the masses regardless of its factual or fictitious nature. How are we able to determine what information is reliable and what is suspect? In this workshop, we will use a series of activities to create a list checklist of attributes that we are using when we decide what is substantiated and what is…

(Tu June 9, 4-5:30 pm EDT) Students aren’t the only ones who struggle to determine the best way to display data in graphic form. Because there are usually many representations that can be used, and each may encourage the reader to make slightly different conclusions, deciding on the most appropriate graph can be tricky. In this workshop, participants will create a decision-making diagram that can be recreated or shared with their students as a guide to help them through this…