Using+Zoom+to+Construct+and+Understanding+of+Science

Kristy Lathrop 8th grade science teacher Mesa Middle School Douglas County School District lathrop.kristy(at)gmail.com
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A couple years ago, I attended an IB conference with [|Jason Malone] . Jason is an IB Middle Years and Diploma Program teacher at Poudre High School. One of my takeaways from the conference was an outstanding activity to introduce collaborative and scientific thought. Here's how I use it to kick off the school year:

 //Set up: Purchase// [|//Zoom//]  //or// [|//Re-Zoom//] //, children's books and cut out the pages. Laminate the set and shuffle them so they are not in order. Remove one page from the sequence and set aside. (I usually withhold the picture of the postman holding the envelope and it's stamp)//

 I give small groups of students a few pages from the book. They are instructed to make detailed observations and keep the pictures secret from the other groups. I warn them that I am going to take the pictures from them, so they have a limited amount of time to complete this phase of the assignment.

 After a given time, collect the pictures and share observations with the whole group. As the group listens to the descriptions, they begin to notice similarities. We discuss and record possible relationships.

 Give each student a picture from the book and challenge the class to figure out a possible order. As the students arrange their pictures, they might notice that there is a missing page. (If not, bring that up in the debrief.) After the students are satisfied with their arrangement, challenge them to predict what the missing page should look like by collaboratively drawing a sketch.

 This brief video shows the level of engagement as the students work together to arrange the pictures. media type="file" key="Zoom.mov" width="300" height="300"

Finally, I ask the students to reflect on their experience in a Google Form:

Here are some of their responses:

One of the guiding questions for the unit is, "What does it mean to think like a scientist?" Their responses revealed to me what previous conceptions my students have about science. I am also able to use this activity to choose what experiences I need to create for my students so they may be successful problem solvers and critical thinkers.