April 24th - Final ImagineIT Report
In this project, I combined three things I truly love: teaching chemistry, studying culture through linguistics and trying to learn to do something totally new and outside of my comfort zone. It has enhanced my abilities for collaboration and made me see students anew by highlighting my utter lack of control over the details of the coding part of my ImagineIT.
This has made me appreciate just how much I love the balance between planning and improvisation I’ve established in my chemistry classes these past ten years. I took my autonomy for granted until now and this experience has reminded what it’s like not to be an expert. This game will probably never be completely finished, but it is working and it is definitely helping my struggling students master the sometimes-tedious task of memorizing their basic ions. For this I am proud, grateful and frustrated all at the same time. This sounds like a good description of the design process, no?
In reflecting with former students on my new approach to teaching chemistry as a language, the clear majority say they wish they could have seen it firsthand. Many of their fondest memories from class were of discussions we had about how math and science are viewed in different cultures around the world, or of the importance, evolution and history of science and math. My hope is that by tying the content of my class directly to these discussions, my struggling students didn’t struggle as much and that this year’s students will retain more of what they’ve learned for use in their future science investigations.
The language of the week in my class this week is Arapaho. I began with a proverb that perfectly summed up why my daughter and I were out marching with so many other science lovers this past weekend, “If you wonder often, the gift of understanding will come.”
This has made me appreciate just how much I love the balance between planning and improvisation I’ve established in my chemistry classes these past ten years. I took my autonomy for granted until now and this experience has reminded what it’s like not to be an expert. This game will probably never be completely finished, but it is working and it is definitely helping my struggling students master the sometimes-tedious task of memorizing their basic ions. For this I am proud, grateful and frustrated all at the same time. This sounds like a good description of the design process, no?
In reflecting with former students on my new approach to teaching chemistry as a language, the clear majority say they wish they could have seen it firsthand. Many of their fondest memories from class were of discussions we had about how math and science are viewed in different cultures around the world, or of the importance, evolution and history of science and math. My hope is that by tying the content of my class directly to these discussions, my struggling students didn’t struggle as much and that this year’s students will retain more of what they’ve learned for use in their future science investigations.
The language of the week in my class this week is Arapaho. I began with a proverb that perfectly summed up why my daughter and I were out marching with so many other science lovers this past weekend, “If you wonder often, the gift of understanding will come.”
SO... here's the link to the latest installment of the game that lets you practice your ions' names often:
ION BLASTER!
ION BLASTER!
March 4th - Spring ImagineIT Update #2
In the classroom...
Things are clicking and most students are masters of their common ions by this point, allowing them to more fluently speak the language of chemistry. Those who haven't mastered all the symbols, subscripts and superscripts have at least grasped the importance of doing so and are steadily working towards that goal. We've moved beyond the alphabet (elements & ions) and words (compounds) to whole sentences (chemical equations).
Outside the classroom...
Three cheers for interdepartmental collaboration. Recent meetings with David Hayes have led to the final name for my app, "ION BLASTER." A former student of mine in David's web applications class has taken on the challenge of making the final changes to the program and I'm hoping to share a final version soon. The prospects for expanding the game creation cycle look good, and students seem ready to help us teachers create some other games that can help kids master essential topics in a number of other chapters and courses too.
Things are clicking and most students are masters of their common ions by this point, allowing them to more fluently speak the language of chemistry. Those who haven't mastered all the symbols, subscripts and superscripts have at least grasped the importance of doing so and are steadily working towards that goal. We've moved beyond the alphabet (elements & ions) and words (compounds) to whole sentences (chemical equations).
Outside the classroom...
Three cheers for interdepartmental collaboration. Recent meetings with David Hayes have led to the final name for my app, "ION BLASTER." A former student of mine in David's web applications class has taken on the challenge of making the final changes to the program and I'm hoping to share a final version soon. The prospects for expanding the game creation cycle look good, and students seem ready to help us teachers create some other games that can help kids master essential topics in a number of other chapters and courses too.
Jan. 30th - Spring ImagineIT Update #1
After a moderately successful role out, my goals for this spring’s ImagineIT project are three fold. I intend on continuing the partnership with my computer science colleague to produce a more fun and imaginative bug-free version of Baby Chemist Bonanza (soon to be called Ion Cruncher?), market this game to increase its use and availability and drive home the game’s tie in with my class lessons by reinforcing the idea that learning chemistry is learning a new language. In earlier efforts, I wasn’t detail oriented enough regarding the game design, so I’m hoping to fix those lingering mistakes and work more efficiently with my colleague in developing the game to its final form. I’d also like to investigate the possibility of somehow allowing users to input additional ions that aren’t on the list I require my students to learn.
When considering the lofty goals I’d like to set, but am a little hesitant to take on, the idea of sharing and marketing the game is key. I definitely plan on letting the game out to run free in the world, for chemistry students and teachers around the world to use, but I’m pondering taking the sharing of the game in a slightly new direction. A big part of what has been so eye opening for me in this project has been the cross curricular collaboration with my friend David Hayes form the Lane Tech computer science department. We’ve been dreaming up some ways this project could inspire future collaboration of a slightly different nature. Now that we, as teachers, have modeled working together to create this game, would it be feasible to have his students and my students collaborate together to make other chemistry games of their own? How could I work this into the standard or even 20Time curriculum? All great questions to ponder as I move forward!After a moderately successful role out, my goals for this spring’s ImagineIT project are three fold. I intend on continuing the partnership with my computer science colleague to produce a more fun and imaginative bug-free version of Baby Chemist Bonanza (soon to be called Ion Cruncher?), market this game to increase its use and availability and drive home the game’s tie in with my class lessons by reinforcing the idea that learning chemistry is learning a new language. In earlier efforts, I wasn’t detail oriented enough regarding the game design, so I’m hoping to fix those lingering mistakes and work more efficiently with my colleague in developing the game to its final form. I’d also like to investigate the possibility of somehow allowing users to input additional ions that aren’t on the list I require my students to learn.
When considering the lofty goals I’d like to set, but am a little hesitant to take on, the idea of sharing and marketing the game is key. I definitely plan on letting the game out to run free in the world, for chemistry students and teachers around the world to use, but I’m pondering taking the sharing of the game in a slightly new direction. A big part of what has been so eye opening for me in this project has been the cross curricular collaboration with my friend David Hayes form the Lane Tech computer science department. We’ve been dreaming up some ways this project could inspire future collaboration of a slightly different nature. Now that we, as teachers, have modeled working together to create this game, would it be feasible to have his students and my students collaborate together to make other chemistry games of their own? How could I work this into the standard or even 20Time curriculum? All great questions to ponder as I move forward!
When considering the lofty goals I’d like to set, but am a little hesitant to take on, the idea of sharing and marketing the game is key. I definitely plan on letting the game out to run free in the world, for chemistry students and teachers around the world to use, but I’m pondering taking the sharing of the game in a slightly new direction. A big part of what has been so eye opening for me in this project has been the cross curricular collaboration with my friend David Hayes form the Lane Tech computer science department. We’ve been dreaming up some ways this project could inspire future collaboration of a slightly different nature. Now that we, as teachers, have modeled working together to create this game, would it be feasible to have his students and my students collaborate together to make other chemistry games of their own? How could I work this into the standard or even 20Time curriculum? All great questions to ponder as I move forward!After a moderately successful role out, my goals for this spring’s ImagineIT project are three fold. I intend on continuing the partnership with my computer science colleague to produce a more fun and imaginative bug-free version of Baby Chemist Bonanza (soon to be called Ion Cruncher?), market this game to increase its use and availability and drive home the game’s tie in with my class lessons by reinforcing the idea that learning chemistry is learning a new language. In earlier efforts, I wasn’t detail oriented enough regarding the game design, so I’m hoping to fix those lingering mistakes and work more efficiently with my colleague in developing the game to its final form. I’d also like to investigate the possibility of somehow allowing users to input additional ions that aren’t on the list I require my students to learn.
When considering the lofty goals I’d like to set, but am a little hesitant to take on, the idea of sharing and marketing the game is key. I definitely plan on letting the game out to run free in the world, for chemistry students and teachers around the world to use, but I’m pondering taking the sharing of the game in a slightly new direction. A big part of what has been so eye opening for me in this project has been the cross curricular collaboration with my friend David Hayes form the Lane Tech computer science department. We’ve been dreaming up some ways this project could inspire future collaboration of a slightly different nature. Now that we, as teachers, have modeled working together to create this game, would it be feasible to have his students and my students collaborate together to make other chemistry games of their own? How could I work this into the standard or even 20Time curriculum? All great questions to ponder as I move forward!