SOCRATIC - Science and Math Tutorials at Their Finest

SOCRATIC

I am very impressed with a relatively new start up web site called SOCRATIC. 

The site offers access to video tutorials for Biology, Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, Physics and Calculus.  Each subject is organized into a separate page with the topics for each subject organized by into sections, each section provides a series of videos from educators who have been invited to share their material.  

The Socratic site is clean and easy to navigate. All of the videos that I have viewed have been extremely helpful and well made. The lead educator is Tyler DeWitt. Who does an outstanding job of presenting material in a clear and a concise manner. He breaks the material down in such a way that it is   logical and easy to understand.  Some of you may have seen his TED Talk - Hey Science Teachers --- Make It Fun. 

Currently for Chemistry, Socratic provides the opportunity for students to post questions for the Socratic team of educators to provide explanations or solutions. 

I have incorporated videos from the site as support and reinforcement for my owned flipped lessons.

Here are some links to examples of the Socratic site.

http://socratic.org/chemistry/the-behavior-of-gases/ideal-gas-law

http://socratic.org/biology/introduction-to-biology/the-characteristics-of-living-things

http://socratic.org/physics/forces-and-newtons-laws/defining-force/videos

http://socratic.org/calculus/limits/finding-limits-algebraically/videos

Culture Bags

This was a wonderul idea shared by one mof my colleagues. 

We had studentts work together in partners to create Culture Bags for the individuals involved in the discovery of DNA.

We provided students with a lunch bag and the names of the scientists invovled in the "Race for the Double Helix".

Students were told to decorate the exterior of the bag and then fill the bag with items that represented that individual: Who? What? When? Where? Significance? Partners? and How?

Students could find images online, create their own or insert items to represent the individual and their contributions to the Discovery of DNA.

The list of scientists included:

Frederick Griffith

Oswald Avery

Alfred Hershey & Martha Chase

Sir Lawrence Bragg

Erwin Chargaff

Francis Crick

Rosalind Franklin

Linus Pauling

James Watson

Maurice Wilkins.

Students were then asked to present their Culture Bags to the class.  Explaining the significance of their individual scientists and the ways in which they represented that in the bags. 

We provided students with a blank chart for information about the scientists to fill in as these presentations were made.  

It was quite exciting to see how students used their imaginations and creativity to capture the essence of each of these individuals and their contributions. 

The beauty of this type of excercise is the cross curricular aspects that the students were able to see as they realized the historical, political and scientific ramifications of this discovery.  They also became very aware of the collaborative and competitive nature of science.

This type of excercise could be used in any subject and in a wide variety of topics.

Predation and Survival of the Fittest

Whether you teach Biology and Darwinian Evolution, or Environmental Science and you need to explain Predation, or even an Economics course where you need to explain Survival of the Fittest, you need to utilize "The Battle of Kruger" video available on You Tube.

This real life battle of survival between Water Buffalo and Lions is a tremendous piece of real life Biology.
And, don't be surprised when the Crocodile gets in to the act.  I'll let the video, speak for itself.

Rubrics Can Kill Creativity

Teaching to the Multiple Intelligences is difficult enough.
Today's educational system is so guided by rubrics for every assignment that we are taking away the opportunitiy for students to explore their talents, use their imaginations and utilize their strengths. Students are no longer asked to think, they are simply told to follow the directions, complete what is in the rubric and you will get your 'A'.

One of my favorite projects for Biology is a cells processes project where students are asked to create anything that proves their knowledge of cells, cells structure and function or cell processes.  I provide as little guidance as possible except for the outlawing of a term paper as the product. I want students use their talents and think outside the box.

Of course I deal with the questions of How much? How long? How many? What do I want? What is the answer? What do I need to do for an A? etc...etc...

This type of assignment tends to make students nervous due to the lack of guidelines and parameters, but once they allow themselves to process the possibilities, some amazing things happen. 

I have recieved songs about the organelles of cells, beautiful painting of cell mitosis, games about protein synthesis, I have heard poems about meiosis and puppet shows about osmosis, diffusion and filtration.

Overcoming the fear of meeting expectations and possibly being wrong, allows students to let their talents really shine.

I provide the students with the following basic description of the assignment and allow them to figure it out.

Cell Processes Project

Use your talents to demonstrate your understanding of one of the following topics:

    1.  Cell Structures and Functions

   2.   Comparison of Plant and Animal Cells

   3.    Photosynthesis

   4.    DNA and RNA

   4.    Protein Synthesis

   5.    Mitosis

   6.     Cellular Respiration

           

You may create anything that clearly demonstrates your knowledge of the subject matter.  You may accomplish this by:

creating a work of art,

composing a song,

writing a skit or play,

creating a model,

making visual aid posters,

developing a game,

or anything that you can do to creatively demonstrate your comprehension of the topic material, vocabulary and processes. 

You must have clear instructions, as you will not be presenting these projects.  You may work independently or you may work with a partner.  This partner must be from the same period biology class. 

Be creative.

Do not just copy work from your text or notes.  Repeating the information given or making some applications (e.g. cell models, reports) usually ensures an average grade. 

One of my favorite outcomes of this project  was
The Mitosis Blues, written and performed by a pair of students more than 10 years ago. In their honor, I still use my best Elvis Presley when I sing it to my Biology classes. 

 Mitosis Blues

Interphase, o oh yeah

Prophase, o oh yeah

Metaphase, Anaphase, Telophase and all of those daughter cells, o oh yeah

That’s the way mitosis reproduces all our new cells, o oh yeah

In interphase the cell grows and organelles duplicate.

The cell continues functioning, holding metabolic rate.

The chromosomes replicate and centrioles migrate, o oh yeah.

In prophase the nuclear membrane disappears.

The centrioles reach the poles of the biosphere.

The spindle fibers shoot out and grab those centromeres, o oh yeah.

Interphase, o oh yeah

Prophase, o oh yeah

Metaphase, Anaphase, Telophase and all of those daughter cells, o oh yeah

That’s the way mitosis reproduces all our new cells, o oh yeah

[Spoken]

You see the cells of the human body have forty-six chromosomes.

Made up of coils of Dan called chromatin and held together by centromeres.

Mitosis guarantees that when the cells divide that each new cell

will have the exact same genetic information as the parent cells.

Interphase, o oh yeah

Prophase, o oh yeah

Metaphase, Anaphase, Telophase and all of those daughter cells, o oh yeah

That’s the way mitosis reproduces all our new cells, o oh yeah

I metaphase the fibers push and pull those chromosomes.

Trying to create an equator of autosomes.

Cause, when the centromeres snap we’ll get double chromosomes, o oh yeah.

In  anaphase the membrane begins to make two spheres.

The centrioles duplicate and start to reappear.

The chromosomes are pulled in to separate hemispheres, o oh yeah.

Interphase, o oh yeah

Prophase, o oh yeah

Metaphase, Anaphase, Telophase and all of those daughter cells, o oh yeah

That’s the way mitosis reproduces all our new cells, o oh yeah

[Spoken]

Daughter cells are the outcome of these steps of mitosis.

These daughter cells must return to interphase to regain the size and organelle number that will guarantee the continuance of those specific cells.

These specialized somatic cells will continue to reproduce within your body.

Interphase, o oh yeah

Prophase, o oh yeah

Metaphase, Anaphase, Telophase and all of those daughter cells, o oh yeah

That’s the way mitosis reproduces all our new cells, o oh yeah

Sing this a couple of times to a class and you'd be surprised how many of them remember the phases of the cell cycle, without a hitch.

The point is to utilize rubrics that are clear enough to provide direction, without eliminating the opportunity for students explore the learning process by utilizing their imaginations and creativity.  Anyone can follow a recipie, but the food seems to always taste better when love is one of the ingredients. Don't allow rubrics to take the passio out of the learning process.

Goldfish Tails and Circulation

To witness blood flow in arterioles, venules and capillaries, my students view the transparent tails of living goldfish under the microscope.

We use medium size feeder fish for this lab.  Students create a bed of wet gause on half of a petri dish.  Situating the goldfish with the tail off of the gause, students weigh down the goldfish with a wet blanket of gause. The goldfish tail is then flattened using a half piece of a microscope slide. The students will then view the tail of the goldfish under the microscope to view the blood flow through the circulatory system of the goldfish.

Students can distinguish between blood flow in arteries and veins.  With a little patience and effective microscopy skills they can determine the heart rate of the fish by counting the pauses in the blood flow through the venules.  Most importantly students can witness cell movement through the capillaries as single cells line up and flow through the capillaries for diffusion between the tissues.

 Students took this video utilizing a Flip cam through the ocular of the microscope.

Scientific Method in the Movies

Every Science course I can remember as a student as and as a teacher has begun with a discussion of the scientific method, the steps and the organization. 

State the Problem

Research the Problem

Form an Hypothesis

Test the Hypothesis through Experimentation

Gather Data

Analyze the Data

Form a Conclusion 

Students sometimes think that scientific discovery takes place in a nice orderly manner and that at the end of these steps an answer will clearly unfold. Unfortunately, in real life, our labs and true science this is not always the case.  Yes, science is a process and there are definite steps but, these steps seldom follow a linear path and more often than not end in further questions rather than simple answers.

To allow students to explore this process outside of the classroom I have students analyze the scientific method throuhg film.  There are a great number of movies that students can view to accomplish this task, however I have narrowed it down to a handful that provide discussion points in my classroom and allow me to maintain a sense of sanity in grading this assignment.

Students must watch one of the following five films:

Medicine Man
And the Band Played On
Lorenzo's Oil
Never Cry Wolf
Outbreak

Each can be rented from iTunes, Amazon, video store or library.  While the overriding themes of each of these movies are based upon scientific topics, students must focus on how each movie depicts the use of the Scientific Method or Inquiry based approach to solving scientific problems.

Students then write an essay to explain explain their understanding of how the scientific method was demonstarated within the scenes of the film.

In an essay:

1.      Find 5 scenes from the movie that demonstrate a step in the scientific method. (The steps include:  observing a problem, stating a hypothesis, testing the hypothesis with variables and controls, recording and analyzing data, forming a conclusion, and replicating the work.)

2.      Summarize each scene.  (Do not summarize the movie.)

3.      Describe how the scene is an example of that step of the Scientific Method.

4.      Explain how this step aids in the solution of the problem.

It is key to explain to the students not to summarize the movie or become movie critics.  Remind them to focus on the aspects of the scientific method and how it played a role in the outcomes of the story.

I find that students begin to see the scientific method as being a life skill and not just something to be used in the science classroom.  Students also start to see the ongoing process involved in this method and how the steps are almost never linear and quite often backtracking and pushing forward is part of that process.