How-to: Prepare for a lab (spreadsheets, FTW)

"They just didn't understand where Excel would be useful for them."

-Overheard a a recent district tech committee meeting by an individual who recently gave an Excel workshop.1

I, for one, have no problem finding value.

Exhibit A: Iodine Clock Reaction

The Iodine Clock Reaction demonstrates incredibly well the effect that temperature, concentration, and catalysts have upon the rate of a chemical reaction. The results are clear and the reaction itself is a fan favorite (watch it). As a result, I've always included it as a lab. However, it requires preparing a lot of solutions. Added on top of this are the calculations I had to do each year to figure out how much solution to make and the mass of all the reactants I needed. The calculations took almost as long as preparing the solutions (and I have to do them each time around since I have different numbers each semester).

I realized last year that although it would take longer to set up initially, if I could create a spreadsheet that automatically calculates all those amounts for me it would save me boat loads of time in the long run. This semester it took me a grand total of 5 seconds to do all my calculations for this lab. I updated it this year with some conditional formatting that makes sure the total volumes of solution it kicks out provide me with a little extra2.

Check it:

This is a copy of my original spreadsheet, so feel free to kick the tires and look under the hood. If you can think of a better way to do it, I'm open to suggestions. View it in Google Docs if you'd like to play around.

Exhibit B: WolframAlpha

I haven't (along with most of the world) been floored by WolframAlpha. It does some neat tricks, but it isn't (a) easy to use, and it (b) doesn't meet 99% of my searching needs. I used it now and then to find how long I've been alive or what time the sun sets, but that changed when I realized it did some nifty calculations for solutions. Want to calculate how many grams of potassium iodate you need to make 900 mL of a 0.2 Molar solution? Done.

900 mL 0.2 M KIO3

Documents:

  • Handout for the iodine clock reaction lab
  1. There are all sorts of issues I have with this thought- probably are deserving of their own post. Seems like any workshop needs to start with why this skill/technique is something worth learning.     []
  2. You know, for those accidents and absent-minded students.     []

Digital video projects with bare-bones equipment

Originally written as a guest post over at Free Technology for Teachers.

Last semester I had students create videos that creatively describe the families of elements despite a lack of much in the way of digital video hardware, software, or technical support. There were some challenges along the way, but overall I found the project to be a positive experience.

Why video?

I don't simply want students to learn a set of facts. I want students to engage with the material and demonstrate the ability to apply their knowledge to situations beyond traditional classroom assessments. I also wanted students to think of how they could simply and clearly communicate scientific information to non-scientific audience. The video format allowed for easy sharing (through TeacherTube or YouTube) and encouraged the concise and creative communication of ideas.

Bare minimums

  • Cameras. I have an older Flip video camera and a digital still camera that takes movies. I encouraged students to use their own cameras if they had them as well (many did). Despite having four times as many groups as cameras, students rarely had to wait to film.
  • Computers. I had a cart of 24 laptops available for my use, though it would have worked just as well if I only had one computer per group.
  • Software. I had students used Windows Movie Maker, which comes pre-installed on pretty much every Windows computer. Some students also used PowerPoint to create and edit still frames in their videos.
  • File converter. The version of MovieMaker on our student computers didn't recognize the AVI video files my cameras use, though I know in general MovieMaker should play nice with AVI files. The first time around I used Zamzar to convert the video files to the WMV format. Zamzar works great, but is pretty slow. Even worse, due to downloading restrictions on student computers, I had to do all the conversions on my computer. This semester I'm using Format Factory on my machine, which has worked just fine so far. If the version of MovieMaker installed on the student computers was up to date, there would've been no need for conversion at all.
  • Microphone. Several groups chose to narrate over their video. I had a cheapo $9.95 mic and a nicer USB headset mic. Students preferred the cheapo mic because the student computers often didn't recognize the USB device.

Challenges

  • Unforeseen conversion mess. The first time through, we had some pretty significant delays due to having to convert all the video files to the WMV format. I'm in the middle of the second time through this project right now, and I'm finding I'm much better prepared. Using Format Factory instead of Zamzar has helped cut down the wait time for file conversion and there seems to be much less frustration this time around.
  • Teaching the tool. I didn't spend time teaching students how to use MovieMaker. This was a purposeful move. I knew MovieMaker isn't overly complicated and the students were quite capable of figuring out a lot of its features on their own. I made a couple of quick screencasts going over the basics and provided links to other helpful screencasts. When a group had trouble with something, I would help that group and then have that group help any other groups experiencing similar problems.
  • My personal fear. I was pretty worried this whole project would crash and burn- especially considering my lack of experience with video and the bare-bones nature of my equipment. In the end, things turned out just fine, though the fear of the unknown is always something that can prevent us from trying out new ideas.

The results

They may not blow your mind, but I'm very happy with the final products:

The day swine flu came to town

Up until a week and a half ago, I had really good attendance in all my classes. Lately there's been about 10-15% of students out sick. While it's certainly not a swine flu epidemic it's a trend that seems to be pretty likely to increase over the next month or so. There are schools somewhat nearby1 who have shut down for a few days because over 40% of the students were out with the swine flu.

The problem

With our 10-15% absence rate, I've been receiving a lot more requests from parents for the work their kids are missing. I've been noticing that I'm spending a decent chunk of my planning time just getting together whatever classwork I can for the absentees. I greatly value my planning time for...well...planning. I don't like sacrificing it for non-planning related activities.

The solution

I have a class wiki where I post a weekly calendar. I also use it as a jump-off point for any online assignments or projects. I did not post every handout for several reasons: (a) it takes extra time, (b) it creates more clutter in an already hard to navigate Wikispaces file manager, (c) the vast majority of students don't use (or perhaps don't need to use) the additional resource.

However, a couple things have changed the last couple of weeks. As mentioned earlier, I've found myself spending a lot of time emailing parents of sick students and putting together handouts for them. Secondly, I've (perhaps a little belatedly) discovered the ease with which Google Docs lets you upload and share PDF documents.

The process

  1. Whenever I print a handout or prepare a slide deck for my classes, I also save it as a PDF.
  2. Upload the PDF to Google Docs

    Uploading a pdf

  3. Share the pdf document so anyone with a link can view it.Sharing Google Doc PDFs
  4. Copy & paste the document's URL & link to it from my class wiki.
  5. Relax as the email requests for class handouts can be answered with a quick, "The handouts you need are all available on the class wiki.2"
  6. Bask in the parents amazement at technology these days.

Here's an example of a handout and a slide deck uploaded to Google Docs as PDFs in case you'd like to see what they look like.

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  1. Holy cow. That article has more than a couple spelling/grammatical errors.     []
  2. Of course I give a little more instruction than that. Also, when parents request to pick up the handouts in person, I also oblige. I realize not everyone has the internets at home.     []

Suggestions for resources: Do you agree?

"We can use Wikipedia? Our [insert subject here] teacher told us Wikipedia isn't accurate, so we couldn't use it."

I get this at the beginning of every semester from my incoming freshmen as we start doing internet research. Wikipedia articles regularly come up as one of the first couple results when students do internet searches, so it's an issue that comes up right away.

I didn't used to spend much time going over how to effectively find and use information from online sources. The last several years I've made it much more of a priority as it's a skill that I find extremely useful for myself. As more and more information is available online, it's pretty important that students know how to navigate and evaluate this wealth of digital knowledge. Below are a few of the basic suggestions I give students. We go into a little more detail than what's found below, but I'm just looking for a little feedback on the suggestions I offer here and anything you feel would be valuable to add.

Wikipedia

No getting around the Wikipedia "issue" today. Kids are hearing lots of different things from lots of "expert" sources (teachers, parents, etc.). Here's what I go over with students:

  • Anyone can edit Wikipedia. This is true.
  • Wikipedia has a large community of people who will quickly fix most errors.
  • In my time using Wikipedia most information I find seems quite accurate. Most errors I see are spelling/grammatical errors as opposed to factual errors.
  • Wikipedia has undergone several reviews comparing it to more traditional encyclopedic sources (primarily Encyclopaedia Brittanica). It generally fares quite well in these comparisons (see this page for some examples).
  • Fun tip: Science articles on Wikipedia tend to be pretty technical. This doesn't make them great for 9th graders who don't have a wealth of technical science background. I suggest they check out the Simple English Wikipedia. It has fewer articles with often less detailed info, but they are all written in Simple English, which is much better for most 14 year old students.
  • My advice to students: Feel free to use Wikipedia. Just realize what it is and how it works. If you see something that looks slightly fishy, check the results with other sites. If you see errors that you can fix: do it1.

Yahoo! Answers and Wiki.Answers

Students have been using these sites more and more the last couple of years. This year is the first time I've specifically addressed these sites. Both sites are very similar in how they work: Anyone can ask a question and anyone can answer. Answers can be voted up or down by the users depending on how accurate or helpful the answers seem. All questions and answers are searchable. What I go over:

  • Anyone can ask and answer questions (similar to Wikipedia)
  • Unlike Wikipedia, the community isn't quite as robust at voting down bad answers and voting up good answers. There's also a fair number of users who purposely give goofy/funny/inappropriate answers. There aren't consequences for doing these things as there is in Wikipedia.
  • In my own experience many answers are good, but there are a few too may that are bogus for me to use it.
  • My advice to students: These sites are good "jumping off points." Some information is easiest to find on these sites. However, because there isn't a robust community patrolling these sites, don't use them as your final source of information. Instead, use the given answers to help you find more reliable sites that give the information.

Google

Students generally feel they're great searchers using Google or other search engines. However, in my experience, they don't know many of the simple tricks and operators to take their searching to a higher level. What I go over:

  • Keywords: Student very often will type in a full question into the search box. This works enough that they're convinced it'll work for everything. I go over why it isn't the best way to search2.
  • Operators:
    • Quotes: to search for exact phrases
    • Minus before words: to eliminate words from search results
    • Domain types: Use the "site:gov," "site:edu," etc. searches to narrow searches to specific domains.
  • Google-y tricks:
    • Recent results: Especially helpful when looking for information on recent discoveries or current event items.
    • Related searches & Wonder wheel: Both do about the same thing (find similar search terms which might give you better results), though the Wonder wheel sure is fun.
    • Google squared: Especially nice for finding lists of items and comparing items.

While this isn't a complete listing of online research skillz and tips that I go over with my classes, these are the tips and issues that students seem to run into the most.

Do you have any suggestions that should be included? Any critique of what I've put down here? Let me hear it in the comments!

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cc licensed flickr photo by burnt out Impurities

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  1. Often this is a moot point since the school's IP address is generally blocked from editing due to vandalism from anonymous students.     []
  2. Namely because it includes all sorts of extra words that can throw off the search results. I don't need my results to include the question words.     []

My Tumblr (and why I need one)

In my travels through the InterTubes, I find many interesting, clever, fun, or intriguing items that just cry out to be shared.

You'd think since I have this fairly well-established blog (i.e. it's been in existence for >1 year) this would be the place to share. However, I like that this blog focuses pretty specifically on education related topics, yet so much of the good stuff I find isn't directly related to education.

Delicious (or Diigo)! Why not just bookmark it on one of these great social bookmarking sites I already use? Well...I would...but I use those tools to stash away items that I might like to revisit sometime in the future. It's cool stuff, but I don't really have any need to find it again.

Twitter! Of course Twitter is a great place to share this fun stuff. Yet Twitter is pretty lacking in the visual display department (i.e. pictures, videos, etc.), and it just doesn't seem to do many of these things justice.

And so I've created my own tumblog: WillyB's Schtuff

On it will be links to many of the fun, interesting, clever, and intriguing items that the 'tubes drop into my lap. Check it out.

As an aside, I've tried to integrate the tumblog's RSS feed into the sidebar or on another page on this blog, but have been unsuccessful so far. If you know how to easily do this I'd be grateful for the help.

Tips and tricks: Workarounds

I realized earlier this week that I've figured out several workarounds for when I'm working on my school computer. With filtration that would have Mao crying foul mixed with a lack of administrative access to install programs or change settings, what works at home doesn't at school.

The setup

  • PC: running Windows XP.
  • Internets: Filtered.
  • Administrative rights: None.
  • Browser: Firefox 3 (for whatever reason, I've found that Firefox will often install even on machines where you don't have administrative access. However, the computer tech at school did put Firefox on my computer when I asked.)

How to get YouTube videos at school when they're blocked

There are many ways of doing this, but the following is simply the method that I have found the most effective.

At home: Find a video you like. Go to Zamzar.com. Click the "Download Videos" tab and paste the URL of the video into the appropriate box. Enter the file format you want the video to be downloaded in. For school I usually use the .mpg format, simply because it meshes well with all the Microsoft stuff. Put in your school email, hit convert. It can take a couple hours for your video to be converted, but it's usually ready within an hour.

At school: When the file has been converted Zamzar sends you an email with a link to a page where you can download your file. My school doesn't block Zamzar (so I doubt yours does), so I just go to the download page and save the video to my school computer to use as I see fit. I like this method because it automatically sends the email to my school address and I don't have to remember much.

TwitterAccessing Twitter from school

This is only a trick if Twitter is blocked by your school's internet filter. You need to be running Firefox for this one. Ask you tech people to install Firefox for you if you can't do it yourself. I'd bet they'd be okay with it.

Install either the TwitBin or TwitKit Firefox add-ons. For some reason they're able to retrieve and post tweets even when Twitter is blocked. I suggest both because at my last district TwitKit didn't work with the filter, but TwitBin did. Currently the opposite is true. I don't know enough about how these programs work to give you insight into why that might be, my best advice is simply to try one- if it doesn't work; try the other.

Print screenSaving and editing screenshots images on my school computer

My school computer's a PC, so the clearly superior Skitch program is right out. Other free screenshot tools that are PC compatible generally require administrator access to install, which in my situation is a deal breaker.

  1. Use your PrintScreen button to copy your screen as an image.
  2. Paste the screen image into PowerPoint.
  3. Crop the image, add text, arrows, emphasis, etc.
  4. Save your edits in one of two ways:
  • One: Use the "Save As..." function to save the entire slide as an image. This only works if the screenshot you want is as large as the entire slide, otherwise you get a lot of unnecessary white space.
  • Two: Select all the shapes and text you've added along with the image (do this by holding Ctrl while clicking on each element). Right click on the image. One of the options should be "Save as Image..." Pick that one and it will give you the options of saving your selection in a variety of formats. I generally use .jpg or .gif.

Hopefully you'll find these useful. What workarounds do you use to get around overly protected digital environments?

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Image sources:

Wikispaces + RSS = No Worries

As I've mentioned earlier, I'm using Wikispaces for my online classroom space this year. I've been slow about getting students involved in using the wiki, mainly because of my limited experience using Wikispaces but also because of the limited time I had before the school year to do any sort of planning.

Locked down

Initially, I locked all the wiki pages that I created- The class home pages, weekly schedules, assignments, etc.  Students did not have the rights to edit these pages. They could create new pages and edit them, but I was worried about the slim risk of a student vandalizing a main page, which might then be seen by a parent or administrator before I (or someone else) deleted the vandalism.

I know this reasoning was fear-based, and I didn't like it. I want students to be able to edit anything and everything. I want to give them the chance to improve and collaborate online. What I needed was a better way to monitor page edits.

RSSRSS saved my life

After minimal searching, I realized that in addition to providing RSS feeds for the edits made to individual pages, Wikispaces also provided a "master" RSS feed for every page edit made on my space.

I quickly subscribed the the "all page edits" RSS feed via Google Reader, and instantly every page edit made on my class space was pushed to my reader. Suddenly I was confident that if anyone chose to vandalize a page I would notice it right away. I check my Reader at home, at school, and often via my phone. Gone on vacation? I can still check page edits no problem.

Currently many of the day-to-day page edits are my own. During class wiki projects, there's a deluge of edits, but it doesn't take much time to flip through them since you really only need to pay attention to any changes that were made.

To date there's been no vandalism on the class wiki. I doubt vandalism will ever be a problem. But now I can unobtrusively monitor editing activity so I don't even have to worry about it.

What it looks like

Wikispaces RSS feed

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RSS Image by photopia / HiMY SYeD

Caught on YouTube

The NEA recently posted an article about teachers who have been unknowingly taped digitally recorded by their students who then posted the videos online. The article mentions some cases where teachers are clearly acting inappropriately. However, it also mentions a few cases in which the video clip was taken out of context or edited in a manner that created the appearance of unprofessional behavior.

The article goes on to describe how one might go about requesting videos be taken off of YouTube, and right near the end it states:

Problem is, kids aren't always responsible. That's why cell phones and other digital media should be banned in classrooms, advises NEA General Counsel Michael Simpson. He also suggests that schools make it a punishable offense to post a video of another student or teacher without that person's permission.

But the safest course of action is to prevent students from capturing humiliating or damning video in the first place.

Questions

  • Why is the first reaction to this "ban 'em all?" Shouldn't we recommend first that teachers not go on mad rampages, call students hateful names, or physically assault students?
  • How do you teach students to use digital cameras responsibly?
  • Is it inherently a bad thing to record a teacher in their classroom without their permission?
  • Is it ever OK to post video of a person online without their permission?

Comments

  • The suggestion to ban cell phones based upon these instances seems lacking to me. There seems to be two classifications of video recording according to this article: (1) students purposely trying to get teachers fired, and (2) students recording honest-to-goodness atrocities committed by teachers. The first group of students aren't going to be affected by a ban. They're clearly looking to create trouble. I doubt a ban on cell phones would prevent their mischief. As for the second group, I have a hard time believing that what they're doing is all that wrong. It's very likely that when students make serious accusations of teacher misconduct their complaints are fully believed. So to prove their point, they get hard evidence.
  • This is a tough issue. Take five 30-second clips of my worst teaching moments throughout a year and play it back to me. I'd be horribly embarrassed, feel like a terrible person, and anyone you'd show it to would believe that as well.
  • I don't think teachers should live in fear of being taped. I think teachers should be comfortable with anyone see them teach at anytime. What's to hide? I realize we all have bad moments, but as a profession we should be striving for transparency and professionalism. Teachers should be managing their classrooms in such a manner that being covertly video taped won't turn up any dirt.

What do you think?

Check out the NEA article. Is my thinking on track? Or am I a certified wacko? Have you ever been caught on tape (for good or ill)? Is banning cell phones the way to handle this issue? Am I wrong to not be very sympathetic towards many of these teachers being taped?

Whiteboards of the future?

Another education design idea I'd put in the "really?" category (along with the multi-touch desks I commented on earlier):

Flexboards! Interactive whiteboards that don't need an LCD projector to work, and include a workspace! While just a design concept, their description page at TheGreenerGrass.org has some silly things on it (IMHO).

While I'd agree that mobile interactive whiteboards that don't require an LCD projector to function are likely to be useful in the future, the way TheGreenerGrass describes them strikes me as a little odd:

By configuring groups of these boards together in multiple ways, many of the learning modalities can be accommodated in addition to lecture...

and then:

Missing from the traditional classroom is collaborative work. By getting out of their seats and working in groups, students experience a visual way of learning that teaches them the creative problem solving techniques they need as professionals.

and still more:

Teachers can use Flexboards to create a small space within their classroom for one-on-one instruction, or a small breakout space with additional media such as special audio-visual aids.

So...a major selling point will be their role as room dividers? I'm sure district budgets will have space for at least five or six of these per room. Srsly.

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Images from "Flexboards Remake the Classroom" at TheGreenerGrass.org via NOTCOT.org

Desks of the future?

A recent education-related post from an unlikely source was pushed my way this week regarding new touchscreen desks designed to be used in educational settings.

"Multi-touch smart desks" could be used to authentically improve instruction. However, is it the best way? The most cost-effective method? The most relevant to our students' future technology usage?

Some researcher needs to create a metric that compares the cost of an instructional tool with it's effectiveness at increasing student engagement and learning. I realize that'd be a tricky thing to measure, but I think you'd find these multi-touch student desks to be pretty cost-ineffective at improving instruction. Perhaps even moreso than the "interactive whiteboard" hailed as a god-send by PR conscious school boards around the nation.  I could rant about the ridiculous amounts of money schools spend on interactive whiteboards without (1) providing training for teachers on how to use them, (2) thinking about anything other than PR, and (3) considering if there are more effective tools to improve teaching and learning.

Why use paper worksheets when you can drill & grill with a $10,000 multi-touch computer built into the students' desks?

On a totally unrelated note: If you know of anyone giving away multi-touch smart desks for the classroom, I'll take 30.

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For info on the multi-touch smart desks: