With a years worth of STEM projects ahead of them, Wendy Howe and I decided to
start the students out small with an analysis of the tsunami that trapped them.
This project would serve several purposes.
First, it would be a review of 8th grade science from the previous year and give us a picture of how much they had retained. Second, it was a gentle introduction to both PBL and a new way of functioning in the classroom. The last thing was that we hoped it would accomplish was to give us an idea of whether we had done a good job creating the groups.
As a review of the previous year, we discovered that these accelerated students had a pretty good grasp of most of it. Two problem areas showed up however. The first was that they had a shaky grasp of the Law of Force and Acceleration. They could recite and even do the math, but they couldn't flip it around and apply it to a non-standard situation. The second issue was their inability to apply convection to anything besides water. I'll be sure to work on both of these and check for understanding over the course of the year. Both of these concepts will come up later in the year.
As an intro to PBL, the project gave a good snapshot of how comfortable they felt with independent work. Most of them were thrilled with the opportunity but a few were insecure about the lack of direction. I can solve that issue on a group-by-group basis by talking individually with each set of students. If they need more guidance, I can give it to them and thus each will have individualized learning. Those that can run off without me are free to do so.
The most critical aspect was probably the grouping issue. We had given the students the Color Quiz and tried to balance the groups with representatives from each personality type. Most of it worked, but after the end of the tsunami project, we were able to adjust the groups slightly as we saw the need.
It has become clear as we proceed further with this project that we need to have workshops on interpersonal problem solving and conflict resolution. Wendy and Terry Ward, the campus learning liaison, will work with my classes on that before we get much farther in the year.
As a snapshot of the future and an introduction to a whole new learning paradigm, the Tsunami project was a great way to get started.
First, it would be a review of 8th grade science from the previous year and give us a picture of how much they had retained. Second, it was a gentle introduction to both PBL and a new way of functioning in the classroom. The last thing was that we hoped it would accomplish was to give us an idea of whether we had done a good job creating the groups.
As a review of the previous year, we discovered that these accelerated students had a pretty good grasp of most of it. Two problem areas showed up however. The first was that they had a shaky grasp of the Law of Force and Acceleration. They could recite and even do the math, but they couldn't flip it around and apply it to a non-standard situation. The second issue was their inability to apply convection to anything besides water. I'll be sure to work on both of these and check for understanding over the course of the year. Both of these concepts will come up later in the year.
As an intro to PBL, the project gave a good snapshot of how comfortable they felt with independent work. Most of them were thrilled with the opportunity but a few were insecure about the lack of direction. I can solve that issue on a group-by-group basis by talking individually with each set of students. If they need more guidance, I can give it to them and thus each will have individualized learning. Those that can run off without me are free to do so.
The most critical aspect was probably the grouping issue. We had given the students the Color Quiz and tried to balance the groups with representatives from each personality type. Most of it worked, but after the end of the tsunami project, we were able to adjust the groups slightly as we saw the need.
It has become clear as we proceed further with this project that we need to have workshops on interpersonal problem solving and conflict resolution. Wendy and Terry Ward, the campus learning liaison, will work with my classes on that before we get much farther in the year.
As a snapshot of the future and an introduction to a whole new learning paradigm, the Tsunami project was a great way to get started.
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