a picture is worth a thousand words

Many National Qualifications require students to answer multiple choice questions, carry out simple recall eg colours, names, formula, write short three line explanations etc.  Other country's National Qualifications such as NCEA (National Certificate of Educational Achievement), New Zealand's National Achievement Qualification requires a deeper level of thinking, it isn't better or worse than other National Qualifications, just different!

Students aren't required to write "big words" but have clear "big images" in their mind so that they can state, describe and explain scientific concepts in "big detail". 

So, to help your students capture visual images of "big ideas", here's a few truly innovative, creative and collaborative suggestions...

Piclit creative writing by matching beautiful images with carefully selected key words

Tag Galaxy explores images in Flickr 

simply enter a tag and explore an option that interests you via a virtual Galaxy of words

  

until you are transported to a globe where you view the relevant image(s) related to your original tag

Tagxedo turns words into a tag cloud

there are many, many ways to use this in a classroom, see 101 ways to use Tagxedo for some inspiration

wordle another means of generating word clouds

see the presentation here on using wordle in the classroom 

Shape Collage

download this free program to create your own picture collages

Make a timeline using TimeRime

Glogster EDU for making interactive posters

How can students put these "big images" into "big detail"? The literacy suggestions outlined below work, and they work well.  Students apply the technique of providing clear, detailed information on a scientific concept using a familar everyday activity of cleaning teeth.  

Set the task: Provide all students with the State, Describe and Explain in detail guidelines.  Ask students to write/type individually their ideas on...

How to clean teeth 

State in one sentence eg. Put some toothpaste onto a toothpaste and use it to scrub your teeth.

Describe in three or four sentences eg. Place a pea sized amount of a toothpaste onto a manual or electric toothbrush.  Rub the toothbrush sideways and up and down on all teeth.  Rinse mouth out with tap water.  Then, wrap a piece of dental floss around your index fingers and move the dental floss sideways between all teeth to remove any plaque.  Rinse mouth out with tapwater.

Explain in detail by comparing and contrasting, relating to everyday life, link to scientific ideas.  Students should write a detailed paragraph in which they compare and contrast eg a manual with an electric toothbrush, discuss the neutralising effect of toothpaste on acid in the mouth (pH < 7) after eating which should help prevent tooth decay, suggest using mouthwash etc...

 

Another topic that works quite well for introducing this literacy task is My favourite holiday destination.

For younger students I usually ask them to write a SEXY paragraph on a certain topic

The Task: Write a SEXY paragraph on Global Warming

S - statement Global Warming means an increase in the temperature of the Earth's atmosphere.

E - explanation Carbon dioxide gas traps heat energy which results in an increase in the temperature of the Earth's atmosphere.  Ultra violet rays from the sun are highly penetrating and are able to pass through clouds of carbon dioxide, however, once they hit the surface of Earth they lose energy and become low energy infra red (or heat) and are unable to escape through the thick clouds of carbon dioxide.

X - example burning of fossil fuels contributes to an increase of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere

Y - consequence As a consequence of global warming the ice caps could melt at an increasing rate and result in the flooding of low lying areas and the sinking of some Polynesian islands.

"A picture is worth a thousand words", in everyday life - yes, in examinations, unfortunately no!

me, myself and eye

In an era of Bebo, Myspace and Facebook the world of our students has changed, they are becoming more self absorbed and egocentric.  Not the most desirable traits of human nature.  However, let's embrace their self obsession and build on their creative talents by setting our students the task of producing something that tells us, as teachers a little more about them.  We can then tailor our science topics around their interests so that we are putting together individualised programs for them (apparently the phrase "differentiated programs" is passe.)

Students can tell us more about themselves through multimedia such as filming their own video, singing and recording a song, making an animated caricature of themselves, the list goes on.  A quick, simple and easy option is to produce a concept star using MWord or sketch one out on paper.

or a personalised apeaking avatar using a free website such as Voki.com.

Spend some time asking your students about their travel experiences or travel the world using Google Earth so as to link what students are learning about in the classroom to the outside world eg take an interactive tour around the Galapagos Islands while studying evolution, adaptation, habitats, endangered species etc...

On 30th August 2010, an interactive video known as "The Wilderness Downtown"was launched following a collaboration between Google, the artist Chris Milk and the band Arcade Fire Viewers start the experience by typing their childhood address (or any address) and are taken on a tour of their hometown thanks to Google Maps and Google Street View.

That's me... myself... now eye.

Eye dissections are so much fun and a good challenge for your students.  If they can't carry out the dissections for cultural, religious or personal reasons then they can carry out one of the many interactive eye dissections, just click on the screenshots below to link to the interactives.

See the table below for links to a series of eye experiments that I put together from a range of sources.  This activity is best set up as a circus of activities around the lab, usually takes about 30 mins with another 10 - 15 mins for a discussion of their results.

		teacher list of eye test experiments

Finally, are you an optimist or a pessimist? old or young?  I'll leave you with one of my favourite optical illusions is young girl/old woman which was first seen on a German postcard in 1888, but then adapted by British cartoonist W.E.Hill.

See the powerpoint here for a collection of other optical illusions that I put together, there are many, many more on the net.

"The story of life is quicker than the blink of an eye, the story of love is hello, goodbye"

Jimi Hendrix

The Great Escape

33 men.
69 long, dark nights.
An agonising wait for 33 wives....plus 1 mistress!

Through determination, creativity, hard work, perseverance of the rescue team and a small miracle all 33 Chilean miners are all alive and at this time perched on the surface of the Earth as opposed to 700m below.  The Daily Telegraph has put together a good timeline of the events leading to their rescue.

Now here's a cave that I wouldn't mind being stuck in...the subterranean spectacle that is Naica's Cave, also known as Mexico Cave of Crystals.  Although bearing in mind that Naica's Cave has a humidity of 100% on top of a temperature of about 50'C one wouldn't want to be in there for more than a few minutes without wearing any protective gear. This famous cave contains some of the largest crystals ever discovered. 

Students of all ages are fascinated by crystals.  Here's a few suggestions for making crystals in the classroom, they have been put together by Salters Chemistry Club, UK.

	crystal growing	teachers notes
	crystal gardens	teachers notes
	silver fractals	teachers notes
	zinc Christmas tree	teacher demo

Students can investigate the effect of the rate of cooling on crystal size by carrying out this experiment with salol as described by the Royal Society of Chemistry

salol fast cooling this represents crystals in eg. basalt

salol slow cooling this represents crystals in eg. granite

If rocks rock your world, the following interactives to identify rocks and minerals are worth a look...

source: Exploring Earth

source: Brooke Weston

source: The Potteries Museum

The RSC have put together a collaborative learning experience called "False diamonds" with teacher notes
It links well with their podcast on Zirconium, click on Zr (element number 40) within this Interactive Periodic table

Linking these rocks back to chemistry, all crystals are made up of ionic bonds.  To reinforce students understanding of ions, see the activities below, sources are all written on them, to download click here. The ionic jigsaw powerpoint is from Pete Hollanby, who has produced a significant number of useful resources for secondary school students.

There are numerous interactives online representing movement of electrons for form an ionic bond, here are some of the ones that I use, sources are on all animations, to download click here. If your students are kinaesthetic learners, why not try roleplay with your students acting as atoms as they transfer sweets/cards etc as the electrons.

...and here's an interactive and couple of quizzes (ionic bonding and stability and reactivity) from the Royal Society of Chemistry on ionic bonding as a part of their chemical misconceptions series.  These are superb and great for reinforcing students understanding of ionic bonding.  See my previous blogpost on back to basics for an animation which really helps students to visualise an ionic compound dissolving in water.

APECS (Able Pupils Experiencing Challenging Science) was set up by The Universities of Cambridge, Reading and Roehampton and as a result of the project Dr Keith Haber put together a superb resource "Enriching School Science for the Gifted Learner.  One of the lessons "judging models in Science" encourages students to "evaluate the usefulness of competing/complementary models in two different contexts by examing whether the models can explain data."

The following logic and collaborative learning puzzles are also worth a look, they are original and innovative, the first is from JChemEd, Ionic Compound logic puzzle, the other two are produced by Flinnsci and follow the pattern of a tournament with certain ions or compounds progressing on to the final.  I posted a few other science related logic puzzles on my previous blogpost, lateral thinking and logic puzzles.

If the intricate detail of crystals fascinates you, then you will be bowled over by the relatively new BBC series "Invisible Worlds" where Top Gear presenter Richard Hammond "goes beyond the limits of the naked eye and explores the hidden secrets of the invisible world around us."

This weekend, wherever you are in the world raise a toast to The Great Escape.  Cheers to the 33 Chilean miners, their families and of course, the rescue team.  I hope they are all enjoying a few cold beers as they look up at a deep blue sky and smile at that shimmering golden orb. The lyrics in "A Beautiful day" by U2 say it all....