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Creating stories in chemistry

Our brains lock onto stories. Our experiences are one story after another, each contributing to the long story we call life. As such, our brains are used to comprehending things presented in the format of a story1. Using a story format to present information to our students seems like a natural way of engaging students in what may otherwise be pretty dry content.

I recently re-did a couple presentations that go over some basics of chemical reactions. I decided to try crafting the information into some sort of story format. I won't say this presentation is a great story, but I think it's a definite improvement on simply throwing the information up on the screen and saying, "This is how it is."

I'd like to continue the meme (of sorts) started by Darren2 and continued by Damian of opening up these presentations to public comment and critique. What would you do to improve upon them? What stinks? What works?

Chemical Reaction Basics

Types of Chemical Reactions

  1. I thought I had several articles speaking to the brain's special liking for stories cached away, but when it came to write this, I couldn't find them anywhere. If you know of any please leave a link in the comments. [↩]
  2. and thanks to Dan for bringing it to my attention. I notice this meme has a pretty strong correlation with names that start with the letter "D." [↩]
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Nearly text free (and loving it)

I used the following presentation to go over how and why to balance chemical equations with my 9th graders:

Balancing Chemical Rx

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: chemistry chemical)

The concept itself isn't complex, but instruction often gets bogged down in providing students with a list of specific steps to follow (First, count the number of atoms, second...).  Suddenly it goes from being a simple concept to a complex procedure which almost requires students to actually memorize the specific steps.

I started with a quick review of the Law of Conservation of Mass (matter cannot be created or destroyed, though it can be rearranged), and then jump into the teeter-totter analogy to explain why unbalanced equations violate this law. We then worked through some examples together.

With each repetition I increasingly withdrew my support. By the third example students could go through and balance equations without me around. They didn't need to follow a prescribed set of steps. They knew that you can''t have more oxygen atoms on one side of the reaction than the other and worked through to figure out the balanced equation.

As for technological savvy to create the edited images of the sign: I did all image editing in PowerPoint itself; which is to say it's pretty basic and pretty crude.

Resources

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Final Exam Projects- Day 4

I'll try to keep posting on the progress of the projects as I go. If you haven't already, check out the summary of what was happening on Day 2. Students are now set on what they're doing and how they're going to do it. Now it's just a matter of getting their projects done.

I gave this brief motivational speech at the beginning of each hour:

Here's how much time you have left to complete this final exam project (this is for my 1st hour class- their scheduled exam time is on Monday, so we won't meet on Tuesday or Wednesday)

You know what my expectations are for these projects. My expectations aren't Ridonculous, but they are high. It's okay to have a ridonculous project, but just an average one? I think not.

This is how much your final exam projects contribute to your overall trimester grade. It's not a joke, it's a big part of your trimester. That being said, it's up to you to create a successful project that meets the expectations I've communicated. You know what to do, it's up to you to do it.

If you don't, you'll be:

(Digging your own grave)

However, this project also provides an opportunity for you to:

(Climb the stairway to heaven)

I give this presentation because at this point in the project, they don't really need much of me. I've communicated my expectations for this project, they're familiar with the format (from earlier projects), and it's now just a matter of getting it done. I feel it's important for the students to realize that utilizing their time wisely is an important part of creating a successful project, but at this point I'm not going to go around whacking them upside the head if they choose to not use their time wisely.

Image Credits
Calendar, Expectations, & 20% images: Me. Feel free to use them
Laborer by CarbonNYC
John Foreman - 1696 by Neil101
Stairway to Heaven by Steffe
The Heavens Open by Young Einstein (angels added by author)
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The Update (where I've been & what I've been doing)

smash by Jef Poskanzer
A slight break...

It's been awhile since I've posted. I'd like to say it was a planned hiatus- like I've been in collecting lava samples in Hawai'i or taking a meditative break inside a sensory deprivation tank. The truth is much less exotic. As some of you may already know, I'll be moving to Connecticut to join my wife at the end of this school year. She's been living in Eastern Connecticut since early January and I can't wait to get back to living a "normal" married life. While in the long run I know this situation will be worth the trouble, right now it's a pain. At any rate, let me fill you in on what's been happening lately:

The Update

What I've been busy with recently: (1) House hunting, (2) House buying (it's not yet 100% official, but we're close), (3) Interviewing (hoping for a wonderful new placement), (4) Making first preparations to move, (5) Finishing grad classes, (6) starting new grad classes, (7) teaching high school.

Despite the craziness, I'm trying to maintain sanity, and hoping to post a little more often than I have been recently.

picket fence by sniffette

Student Presentations

In my last post I mentioned that students were about to give presentations on volcanoes in which I had banned them from using over two words per slide and encouraged lots of images. The presentations were much better than any other time I've done them. Even the poor presentations were more enjoyable. Some students even gave impressive Lessig-esque presentations. I found that pretty amazing considering I've never actually shown them any Lessig presentations (they have seen me present in a mild Lessig style, but some were better than my own).

I was amazed appalled while they were designing their presentation at how much difficulty they had parting with their bullet-pointy ways. The most common questions asked: "How're we supposed to give a presentation when there isn't any information on our PowerPoint?" I reminded them that they would be able to speak during the presentations, and recommended they utilized verbal communication to convey their information. 🙂

Overall, I was very happy with the results. The volcano presentations have even had some lasting effect: Recently they had group presentations for my earthquake resistant building project. The majority of groups designed text-light presentations- even without me requiring it. I was excited to see them embracing a style that was totally foreign to them until very recently.

group airtime by *vlad*

Image credits:
smash by jef poskanzer :: via Flickr
picket fence by sniffette :: via Flickr
group airtime by *vlad* :: via Flickr
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Hopeful for great student presentations!

One day, I'd really like to see an erupting volcano. Yes, I'm planning at some point to visit Hawai'i and see Kilauea erupting in classic basaltic shield volcano style, but I'd really like to see a massive, ash cloud, explosive, Plinian eruption. Of course, I'd like the guarantee of being perfectly safe in doing so. 🙂

Kilauea Eruption

We're covering volcanoes in class right now, and as a cumulative project for the volcanic activity topic, I have each student select a different volcano (I provide a list of volcanoes that have either been active fairly recently or have had some spectacular eruptions in the past), and then create a presentation as if they were a travel agent trying to "sell" a trip to their volcano to adventure travelers. They're required to have specific information about the type of volcano it is, how it erupts, etc., but they're highly encouraged to take it to the next level by including trip itineraries, cool things to do near the volcano, and so forth.In the past I've been deluged with presentations from bullet-point hell in which students simply read directly off their slides. It stinks sitting through one 5-minute presentation like that. Imagine sitting through 85-90...yeah, I was going crazy by the end of the presentations- trying as hard as I could to not punish students going later for my self-created forced torture of watching poorly designed presentations for four class periods.

This year, I made a small (but extremely significant) change. I told them they could only have 2 words MAX on each slide- and it'd be fine with me if their presentation contained no text at all (except for citations, of course). I mean it too. Most students created a title slide that looked something like this:

Nope. Can't do that. Volcano name, plus "by: your name" counts as four words (I did concede that the name of their volcano only counts as one word, otherwise whoever covers Mount St. Helens wouldn't even be able to put the name of their volcano on a slide). The classes are in the middle of designing their presentations right now, and it's been a struggle for them:

"How can I give a presentation with no words?"

"You mean I have to memorize everything?"

"What do you mean 'of' is a word? That shouldn't count, it's barely two letters!"

Students can have note cards with information for the presentations with them while they present, so they don't have to memorize, though it's amazing to me that they've been so "well"-trained at designing poor presentations. Students are still in the middle of designing presentations as I type this, and I must say they're looking pretty promising. I'll let you know how they turn out!

Resources:

Image Credit: Kilauea in 1993 from the USGS

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As promised: Presentations Before and After

As promised in yesterday's post, I've posted my before and after presentations that I made to go over basic Earth structure with my Earth & Physical Science classes. I've already used the updated presentation, and the students seemed to enjoy it better than the overly bullet-pointed first version. You may not be able to follow the content without the narrative on the newly designed presentation, but that's somewhat the point, no?

There were several students that expressed regret at the demise of the bullet points. It's easier for them to just copy down exactly what it says (of course it is, they don't have to actually pay attention or comprehend to do that). How well they've been trained by their past experiences!

Before

[slideshare id=265122&doc=old-journey-to-the-center-of-the-earth-1202953941596173-3&w=500]

After

[slideshare id=265038&doc=journey-to-the-center-of-the-earth-12029484236194-4&w=500]

These presentation design upgrades seem to be all the rage. Since my last post I've found two new (to me) posts by edubloggers discussing (and even sharing) good design in presentations. And I thought I was ahead of the curve on this one...

Check them out:

I welcome your feedback on my presentations. I even look forward to constructive criticism!

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Design, presentations, and the power of the network

Dread! It all started with dread.

The last week or so, my classes have been covering material that I made PowerPoint slideshows for several years ago. While at the time, I put in lots of images and even embedded some video, I found myself dreading to give those presentations to my classes. I started pondering whether there wasn't a better way to utilize slideshows than what I was doing. I became discontent with my presentations

As if the heavens could hear me, wisdom rained down upon me.

Wisdom Bit #1: This fall, I happened upon Lawrence Lessig's talk on copyright at the TED conference. While the subject matter was interesting, I was enthralled (& engaged) by his simple use of visuals and high-contrast text. It made me want to go design my own presentation right then and there (it was a pretty busy time for me, so I didn't). As I became discontent with my presentations, my thoughts went back to his presentation.

Wisdom Bit #2: On a tip from Wes Fryer on his blog, I've subscribed to the Practical Principals podcast. In the first installment I was able to catch, Scott Elias discussed a presentation he gave on how to give engaging presentations. In the show notes, a link was provided to his presentation. I checked that out, and liked what I saw. The wheels were turning...

Wisdom Bit #3: Wes Fryer wrote a post discussing digital storytelling and dual-coding theory. Essentially, dual-coding theory states that when a speaker reads information off of a slide, very often the audience can become overwhelmed because there are two images to pay attention to (the speaker and the projected text). I found this very interesting, as I had previously been under the assumption that reading and projecting the text was helpful to students, as it provided both a visual and auditory pathway for the information. It's funny what information we believe that isn't really true.

Wisdom Bit #4: Clay Burell shared a presentation he gave and also wrote a bit on good design in presentations to boot. I especially liked his tip to include a "narrative thread" in presentations. It provides a something for people to grab onto, and combined with slides with relevant images (and very little text), people have to listen to hear the story.

Wisdom Bit #5: At the end of Clay's post, he provided a link to Dan Meyer's blog post on how to present. He pretty much reiterated what I had already heard and read from Scott, Wes, and Clay; but it was an excellently written post with great examples. I think what I took away most from this post was his statement: "If I can look at your slidedeck and determine the full content of your presentation, it's carrying too much information."

Direction! Finally, I had direction.

I think what struck me most about this process went far beyond my integration of a new and improved method. The online network that provided the wisdom is the big story here. Though no one whose wisdom was included in this post put their content online with the specific thought of helping me escape the doldrums of antiquated presentations, the simple task of accessing distant knowledge is pretty amazing in itself. The sources of my wisdom were located in California, Oklahoma, Colorado, Missouri, Korea, and California again. It was totally asynchronous, and exactly what I needed. I don't have a well-developed edtech network yet, but just because I can't tweet a question and get back 50 responses yet doesn't mean I can't take advantage of the network.

Yay, Network! Thanks, network. You're the best!

Stay tuned. I'll post my old presentation compared to the new one.

Photo credits: Medo/Fear by xaimex, BLESSINGS FROM THE SKY by dharmesh, Map and Compass by Inky Bob, and Be Positive by José Miguel Serrano