Episode 8: Up Your Explanatory Quotient

10/21/20 • 37 min

This week we talk about how to think about the laboratory experience in online, remote, and mixed mode environments. What is the difference between things that can't normally be done in a classroom that you might use even in face to face environments, and things that are replacements for thing that you would have done face to face where you are using video to show the procedure of a lab and then giving students access to date. The key is to provide experiences that open up opportunities for kids to reason about phenomena, not just follow a procedure.

Here are some key resources for supporting investigations in online science teaching:

Concord Consortium
PhET Simulations
MERLOT
Hippocampus

We are working on a website with an annotated clearinghouse of resources that we have vetted. Hope to have it up soon.

Things that bring us joy this week:
Qwirkle
Ticket to Ride
Bananagrams
Chronology

Intro/Outro Music: Notice of Eviction by Legally Blind
Production assistance by Enzo Dreon

Here are some key resources for supporting investigations in online science teaching:

Concord Consortium
PhET Simulations
MERLOT
Hippocampus

We are working on a website with an annotated clearinghouse of resources that we have vetted. Hope to have it up soon.

Things that bring us joy this week:
Qwirkle
Ticket to Ride
Bananagrams
Chronology

Intro/Outro Music: Notice of Eviction by Legally Blind
Production assistance by Enzo Dreon

Previous Episode

Episode 7: Death March with Fun Sauce

Prompted by an activity that Ollie did with one of his classes, Ollie and Scott discuss their "origin stories" and detail how they became teachers. As Scott explains early in the episode, we deconstruct these stories to examine the bigger question "What do we teach?" Students? Or content? Both?

Things that bring us joy this week:
East of West
Documentary Now; In particular, Season 1 episode named "A Town, A Gangster, A Festival".

Intro/Outro Music: Notice of Eviction by Legally Blind
Production assistance by Enzo Dreon

Next Episode

Episode 9: Phenomena (Do do do do do)

This week, the dynamic duo (Scott and Ollie) discuss how critical phenomena are to ambitious and equitable science education and how it helps us go beyond "moving the chairs around." In our discussion, Scott critiques the use of Zombie Ants as a "fun" phenomenon to engage students in science. We use this discussion as a springboard into a larger conversation about how we select phenomena around which to build units in our face-to-face and online classrooms.

Things that bring us joy this week:
Ted Lasso on Apple TV+
Grey Man Series

Intro/Outro Music: Notice of Eviction by Legally Blind
Production assistance by Enzo Dreon