Mo Physics Mo Problems

  Last week, I presented as a part of Pear Deck’s Pear Fair 2020. My presentation was Pear Deck 101 for Google Slides. During the presentation, there was a live chat. Many people said it went too fast for a 101 Session. Luckily, it was recorded so it can be rewatched.  Also, many said that they wanted to know how to build a Pear Deck first. I structured the presentation to show what Pear Deck was before showing how to make one. Perhaps that wasn’t the best structure. But, I’m going to stick with my philosophy of showing what something is before showing how to make it. The presentation, which can be watched below, was structured in several different sections What is Pear Deck? Providing an overview of the experience from the Teacher and Student perspectives. How do you build a Pear Deck in Google Slides? How do you start a Pear Deck presentation? How do you end a Pear Deck presentation? Here is the Slideshow I shared during the session bit.ly/pearfair101 Time really flew in...

As I reflect on the past school year, I just wanted to share out a couple of the final class portfolios my students made using Google Sites to share out and document the current iteration. Although this semester was altered by the COVID-19 Pandemic, students were still able to complete the portfolio process.  Physics Portfolio The Portfolio created by my physics students has several key pages Home Passions Learner Profile Unit Pages But I think it would be best if we just let Morgan introduce her portfolio. Passion Page On the passion page, students describe themselves in 4 different categories with the help of YouTube videos they embed. Hope & Dreams Favorites in Media Hobbies What I Like to Make Click the Image to Access Morgan's Passions Page Learner Profile The learner page consists of 2 major elements. The Learner Profile developed by Barbara Bray and Kathleen McClaskey in which learners apply a UDL Lens to identify their strengths, challenges and preferences as a learner...

As Megan Peschke and I were closing out our collaboration between here kindergarten and my Physics students, I asked her what one thing she would like us to do. She said that she would love to love to have my students create books for her kids to read about physics. Immediately my mind went to Google Slides for digital book creation. It is something that I've heard advocated from many of my EdTech heroes like Kasey Bell, Matt Miller , and Eric Curts . Since we wouldn't be able to meet to read them in person, we decided to insert audio into Google Slides of the high school students reading the story. This insert audio idea is one that is not original and I for sure have heard Kasey, Matt, and Eric mention as a use of audio in slides. In this post, I'd like to walk through the creation process and share the works my students created. The goal of the project for my students was to create a short children’s book for Kindergartners applying a basic physics concept. Below, you...

I recently posted about the collaboration Megan Peschke and I have created a shared Flipgrid grid between her kindergartners and my high school physics students. We conducted introductions which took on a life of their own. We have moved on from hellos to address to science content. My students are currently in a unit on sound and waves. Flipgrid was a great way to share learning during our energy unit. So, my students are sharing their learning with me and the kindergartners. The one major online interactive hub for exploring sound that is easily accessible across devices and different age levels is Chrome Music Lab . If you are not familiar with it. It is a free set of interactive labs created by Google exploring different aspects of sound.  This exploration and sharing took place over a couple of different activities. In our physics class, these activities were part of a series of applications of concepts students had learned during flipped interactive lectures conducted in P...

I have been lucky to do many collaborations with Elementary School teachers with my physics classes. I’ve had great collaborations with Jessica Ebert , Kate Sommerville & Angela Patterson , and Katie Spadoni . Our transition to Virtual Learning has put a halt to any ability to have a face-to-face collaboration. But, my experience with Flipgrid and a new friend has allowed me to start a new collaboration between High School Physics students and a class of kindergartners. It all started when  I had this Twitter conversation with someone in my district. Now, I’ve only met Megan Peschke face to face twice. (And, I only remember one of them. I’ll leave it to her to tell the story of that one.) Well, the idea was launched in that conversation of using Flipgrid as a place to create a connection between the two classrooms: My 2 sections of Physics and her Kindergartners. I’ve been using Flipgrid with great success with my Physics students all year and it has really taken off during o...