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Physics is Elementary

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  On Friday, I was so pleased to be able to return to one of my favorite days of the year, High-Interest Day at Brookfield Elementary School. This is a day where I have been able to bring the concepts of physics to k-5 graders. You may be asking yourself, "Elementary students doing physics?" YES! Not just experimenting, but understanding the concepts behind the physics of electricity and sound.  This is a very special day I have had the opportunity to be involved in since 2017. So, how are we able to bring the concepts of electricity and sound traditionally taught to high school 11th and 12th graders to the elementary level? There are a few keys 1) make it a hands-on experience 2) remove the mathematical calculations and make it practical. In the past, I had the luck of bringing a handful of my physics students with me to guide the elementary students through the concepts that they had learned over the course of the year. But in my new role as a Teaching and Learning Speciali
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Virtual Learning Days

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My school district will be out next week to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Over these days students will be assigned virtual learning assignments to be completed at home with the assistance of their Chromebooks. I'm designing a series of daily activities for my students using a number of resources. I just wanted to do a quick share and provide some 1 minute videos just in case you were interested in trying these tools out.

Pear Deck

I will be providing guided content instruction and videos through the use of student paced Pear Decks. These are Google Slide decks with added interactivity via the Pear Deck for Slides add-on. Some slides have videos embedded and others have the ability for students to respond to prompts. In student paced mode, students join the deck via a link and progress at their own pace. The teacher is then able to view their progress and responses to prompts in real time.

To learn more about using Pear Deck for virtual learning, check out this post by Stacey Roshan.

Gimkit

Gimkit is an online quizzing platform that my students love. It lets students answer questions at their own pace and shop for upgrades and powerups. Gimkits are usually run with everyone playing at the same time. But Gimkit has the option for students to join a game and attempt to reach an goal asynchronously. To do this, first a teacher must make a class and have students join it via a link. The teacher then validates those students. Finally, teachers create an assignment with a Kit and push out the link to students.


Flipgrid

I have traditionally used the video response tool Flipgrid for students to record reflection on their learning. But I plan to deploy it differently over the next week. I'm asking students to work as a class to create a key to the problems I will be assigning them. Each student will record a video working out a problem I specifically assign them. The host of new tools available in the Flipgrid camera will be a big help. These include whiteboard background, text, drawing, and importing pictures. I'll create a topic for each problem set.


I plan on using Pear Decks as the primary mode of instruction with links to simulations from PhET to help with the learning and possibly building labs around these simulations. Then students will practice their understanding with possibly a Gimkit or a set of problems in our learning management system Canvas.  Flipgrid will be great for creating those student generated answer keys in AP.  But if we are away longer than a week, it would be a great place for students to create or upload presentations demonstrating their understanding of the concepts they are studying. 

I'm sure I'll be having a little time to blog while we are out so I look forward to updating and maybe sharing some of the specific work we are doing. As alwyas, would love to hear what you are doing.

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