My Spring Break "Project" - QR Code Dice

Leading up to spring break, I was so looking forward to some time off.  I had so many things I needed to work on - conference presentations, applications, cleaning, errands, etc.  I kept telling myself I'd get it done over break.  Soon, my list was a mile long and now that I'm back at work, I only got about half way through it.  Well, maybe only a third of the way through it....  Spring break is always too short!

Work in Progress - Just need the sixth side "Mod Podged" on.

On the last day of school before spring break, I saw a tweet for a blog post called "Roll the Dice on QR Codes" by Krissy Venosdale.  Krissy made QR code dice which linked to six different Google presentation slides.  So with one die, you can change and edit the Google presentation at any time to change up the dice.  The uses for this are endless!  Check out her blog for more information and great ideas.

The examples Krissy listed seemed to be best suited for elementary school students.  But I can imagine using this in my high school science classroom in so many different ways.  I can use it as a unit review and have six different questions or topics for students to review.  The dice can be used to give out articles for students to read and then practice writing arguments with claims and evidence.  My students could use the dice to roll for assignment or project topics, and then get into a group with other students who rolled the same topic.  And the best part, once making the dice, you can use them for all these different activities.  After seeing this blog post, I knew I had another project that I had to get done over spring break!

First, I created six different Google Presentations.  But I didn't want students to see the entire presentation page when they scanned the QR code, I just wanted them to go straight to the presentation in "play" mode.  So I chose to publish the slideshow.

Then I needed to make the QR codes.  I used goo.gl to do this.

I was then able to paste the QR codes into a table on a Word doc.  I printed them out on cardstock, and then used Matte Mod Podge with a foam brush to adhere them to 1.5" wooden blocks.  The Mod Podge works really well to adhere and protect the paper so they can be used for years in the future.

Here's a video I found with instructions on how to use Mod Podge to adhere paper to wood.

I am so excited to use these with my students!  Thanks Krissy for sharing such a great idea!  I am sure there are a ton of creative uses for these QR blocks that I haven't even thought of.  If you have any cool ideas on how to use these with students, please share in the comments.

KQED Do Now and Common Core

This past school year I have been having my students participate in the monthly KQED Do Now Science twitter chats.   Do Now is a weekly online activity where students learn about current events through various media, such as videos, articles, and more.  A question is posed, and students then get a chance to discuss the topic using social media (twitter or responding to the KQED blog).  

This program is a great way for teachers to teach students Common Core skills with relevant and current issues.

The Do Now topics are not just science topics....  in addition to the monthly Science topics,  there are weekly Civics, Government & Politics topics, and Arts/Popular Culture topics twice a month.  

Do Now gives students a chance to engage and respond to current issues, learn science (or art, civics, politics, etc) content, and digital citizenship skills while they explore ways to connect topics in their classes to the present day. 

I have found that having students participate in this program is a great way to:

1. Have students learn about current events
• Each week, KQED picks topics that are in the news.  Students have already heard about many of the topics, but don't know what is going on.
2. Make what we are learning in class relevant to student lives
• Many of the science current events link to things we have or will be studying in class.  So this is a great way for students to see how what we are learning really is important, and they must understand it because they will see it again outside of school.
3. Learn digital citizenship
• Students put some crazy things out on social media.  Their future employers and colleges will see this.  Through this program, I am able to teach my students how to use social media for learning, and help them develop a positive digital footprint.  KQED even has some instructions for teachers and students.
4. Communicate with others
• Students are interacting with their classmates and other students participating in the Do Now conversation on twitter and/or the KQED blog.  They must "listen" to what the others are "saying" (posting), create thoughtful responses, and engage in conversation.  
5. Practice writing arguments (claims, evidence, and justification)
   
• When I have students read and watch the Do Now media, I have them take notes on the topic. They then answer the question by making a claim, supporting it with evidence, and writing out their justification.  They write this out on a argumentation graphic organizer.  (My students have practiced this many times with other science problems. Read my previous blog post for more information and examples.)  Then, they must consolidate their answer into a concise 140 character tweet.  
6. Create and publish content, and share it with a world wide audience
• Many times students can't share their entire argument in 140 characters.  I encourage them to share their entire claim as a image in their tweet.  They also may make memes, short videos, or other content that they share in the Do Now online conversation.  KQED has some great resources to show students how to do this on their webpage.

Past Do Nows have included some of these great topics:

• Malaysian Airlines flight 370
• Minimum Wage
• Selfies
• Nature vs. Nurture
• Genetic Engineering
• Ukrainians Ousting  Democratically Elected Leader

Common Core State Standards
Another great thing about having students participate in KQED's Do Now program is that it addresses a huge amount of the Common Core State Standards.  I looked through the History/Social Studies, Science & Technical Subjects Literacy and Writing standards and found that most of the standards can be addressed by participating. Here are the ones that can be met by the Do Now program:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.9-10.1

Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of science and technical texts, attending to the precise details of explanations or descriptions.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.9-10.2

Determine the central ideas or conclusions of a text; trace the text's explanation or depiction of a complex process, phenomenon, or concept; provide an accurate summary of the text.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.9-10.5
Analyze the structure of the relationships among concepts in a text, including relationships among key terms (e.g., force, friction, reaction force, energy).

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.9-10.6
Analyze the author's purpose in providing an explanation, describing a procedure, or discussing an experiment in a text, defining the question the author seeks to address.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.9-10.7
Translate quantitative or technical information expressed in words in a text into visual form (e.g., a table or chart) and translate information expressed visually or mathematically (e.g., in an equation) into words.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.9-10.8
Assess the extent to which the reasoning and evidence in a text support the author's claim or a recommendation for solving a scientific or technical problem.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.9-10.9

Compare and contrast findings presented in a text to those from other sources (including their own experiments), noting when the findings support or contradict previous explanations or accounts.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.WHST.9-10.1.A
Introduce precise claim(s), distinguish the claim(s) from alternate or opposing claims, and create an organization that establishes clear relationships among the claim(s), counterclaims, reasons, and evidence.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.WHST.9-10.1.B
Develop claim(s) and counterclaims fairly, supplying data and evidence for each while pointing out the strengths and limitations of both claim(s) and counterclaims in a discipline-appropriate form and in a manner that anticipates the audience's knowledge level and concerns.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.WHST.9-10.1.E
Provide a concluding statement or section that follows from or supports the argument presented.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.WHST.9-10.2.A
Introduce a topic and organize ideas, concepts, and information to make important connections and distinctions; include formatting (e.g., headings), graphics (e.g., figures, tables), and multimedia when useful to aiding comprehension.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.WHST.9-10.2.D
Use precise language and domain-specific vocabulary to manage the complexity of the topic and convey a style appropriate to the discipline and context as well as to the expertise of likely readers.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.WHST.9-10.4
Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.WHST.9-10.6
Use technology, including the Internet, to produce, publish, and update individual or shared writing products, taking advantage of technology's capacity to link to other information and to display information flexibly and dynamically.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.WHST.9-10.7
Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects to answer a question (including a self-generated question) or solve a problem; narrow or broaden the inquiry when appropriate; synthesize multiple sources on the subject, demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.WHST.9-10.8
Gather relevant information from multiple authoritative print and digital sources, using advanced searches effectively; assess the usefulness of each source in answering the research question; integrate information into the text selectively to maintain the flow of ideas, avoiding plagiarism and following a standard format for citation.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.WHST.9-10.9
Draw evidence from informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.

How to Use in Your Classroom (Tips)

• Have students sign up for Twitter at home.  When multiple students all sign up at the same time from one campus, Twitter thinks your are not a real person.  Here are my instructions I gave my students to sign up on their own.
• The first time I gave students a Do Now assignment, I gave them an entire 50 minute period to go through the materials on the webpage, take notes, and write out their argument.  The next day, I gave them time to write out their 140 character post(s).  I also had to show them how to tweet and what must go in the tweet (hashtag, @kqededspace, etc.)  Then they spent the rest of the period posting their tweets, responding to tweets, and retweeting.  (The next time around, I was able to spend just one period on the assignment.)
• Students loved seeing all the tweets come in.  On iPads, it is a little harder to keep up with the tweets while following the hashtag.  It doesn't seem to update as often as on a webpage.  So I opened up and ran Visible Tweets which I projected for the class.  They loved having their tweets pop up on the board.
• After doing Do Now a few times, students did not converse with each other as often as I liked.  So I started doing a twitter chat where I posted questions which they had to respond to throughout the period.  That helped them start to communicate and collaborate with each other.  I posted questions as "Q1:  with the question following", and they had to answer "A1:  with their answer".
• My next goal is to pair up with other classes so they can communicate in a chat at the same time (rather than seeing tweets from other students later in the day or the next day).
• Have fun!  The topics may not fit into your curriculum perfectly.  Many times I have not yet covered a the current topic in my content, but I still think it fosters valuable critical thinking, argumentation, and digital literacy skills.

Scientific Argumentation - Incorporating CCSS into my Biology Class

One of the CCSS standards for Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, & Technical Subjects stresses argumentation as a key idea.  "Central to the process of engaging in scientific thought or engineering practices is the notion that what will emerge is backed up by rigorous argument. Writing Standard 1 places argumentation at the heart of the CCSS for science and technology subjects, stressing the importance of logical reasoning, relevant evidence, and credible sources."  -NGSS Appendix M 

I have always wanted my students to be able to better analyze graphs, data, and the outcomes of their labs.  Many times students look at a chart or graph, they have no idea what it means.  They don't really look at all of the provided information or connect it to what we are learning in class.  Students are so used to be spoon fed the information that they need to know, that they don't do have the critical thinking skills that they need to really process information.

With the implementation of CCSS, I now feel that I can justify spending the time to really work on practicing these skills with my students.  

This summer, I purchased the NSTA book Scientific Argumentation in Biology.  This book is written using the NGSS Frameworks and CCSS.  It contains 30 activities to practice writing arguments.  It teaches students how to write claims, back them up with evidence, and provide justification that relates to the data and topics in science.  Some of the activities are based on articles, pictures, graphs, and data tables, and others have students conducting labs and analyzing the results.  It also goes over counterclaims, and using evidence from multiple sources.  Students work in groups and make a chart containing the parts of their argument on a whiteboard.  Students then present their arguments to other groups to get feedback and develop a stronger argument.  I plan on using many of the activities from this book in my class this year.

I led a professional development for teachers in my district in August and shared an activity from this book.  One of the teachers from my school later shared that he used this whiteboarding argumentation process with students to analyze the data that they collected from their labs.  I hadn't thought of using this argumentation strategy with lab conclusions and I was just about to finish my first inquiry lab with my students, so I decided to try it out. 

First, I taught my students how to write an argument which included a claim, backed up with evidence, and then provide justification.  Next, students practiced by creating a whiteboard with their argument  using the "Mystery Footprints" activity.  The next day, they completed the same activity on their whiteboards using their lab data.  They wrote out their arguments and then visited other group's whiteboards to provide feedback and ask questions about other groups arguments.   Students really were able to analyze the data they collected from their lab and came up with much better lab conclusions than in the past. 

Argumentation Whiteboarding Chart Layout

There are many more uses for scientific argumentation than analyzing data and labs.  My class is participating in the KQED Do Now STEM twitter program.  Each month there is a new Science topic, where a question about a current science issue is posed.  There are resources such as readings and videos for students to learn some background information, then they participate in an online conversation through twitter with students across the country.  As students read the provided background information and watched the video clips, I had students write their own arguments.  They used the same format as we used when writing their arguments from their lab data.  Then, when they were ready, they tweeted their arguments.  But they had to be concise, as they only had 140 characters to tweet with.  This helped the students really refine their arguments.

I am very excited about using this strategy in my class for the rest of the year.  It allows students to collaborate, critically  think, and clearly communicate their ideas.  It is making my students better observers and they are starting to make many more connections between what we are learning and real life examples of the content.  I highly recommend the Scientific Argumentation book.  I have even used this process with my AVID students as they analyzed a reading from a history text.  I think this whiteboarding strategy would work for any subject area.

CCSS Writing Standard 1 for Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, & Technical Subjects 

• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.WHST.9-10.1 Write arguments focused on discipline-specific content.
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.WHST.9-10.1a Introduce precise claim(s), distinguish the claim(s) from alternate or opposing claims, and create an organization that establishes clear relationships among the claim(s), counterclaims, reasons, and evidence.
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.WHST.9-10.1b Develop claim(s) and counterclaims fairly, supplying data and evidence for each while pointing out the strengths and limitations of both claim(s) and counterclaims in a discipline-appropriate form and in a manner that anticipates the audience’s knowledge level and concerns.
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.WHST.9-10.1c Use words, phrases, and clauses to link the major sections of the text, create cohesion, and clarify the relationships between claim(s) and reasons, between reasons and evidence, and between claim(s) and counterclaims.
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.WHST.9-10.1d Establish and maintain a formal style and objective tone while attending to the norms and conventions of the discipline in which they are writing.
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.WHST.9-10.1e Provide a concluding statement or section that follows from or supports the argument presented.

Sources for Science Articles

I have compiled a list of websites that can be used to find science current events which can be used when addressing the Common Core State Standards Literacy in Science and Technical Subjects and the Next Generation Science Standards Practice 8:  Obtaining, Evaluating, and Communicating Information.
Science News Websites:

• Science News for Kids
• Scientific American
• Science Daily
• Popular Science
• Biology News Net
• e Science News
• New York Times Science News
• SF Gate Science
• AAAS EurekAlert Science News
• Yahoo Science News

If you are having a hard time finding articles that meet the reading level of your students, you can complete an Advanced Google Search to sort by reading level.  Here are instructions on how to do that.

You can also search Google Books and Google Scholar.  Check out this blog post for information on those two resources.

I compiled all of the sites above into a Google Custom Search Engine.  You can type in the topic you are looking for, and it will only search the above news sources.

Click here for the Public URL for the custom search page.

Or, type your search in here:


Here is a sample of a search for "cell organelles".  1800+ results were found from those news sites.

You can create your own Google Custom Search for projects in your class as well.  Click here for Google Custom Search.  If you would like the code to embed my Science News Article Search into your own webpage for your students, here is the code:  

<script>
  (function() {
    var cx = '014690327803651444005:dh0sprq_3gu';
    var gcse = document.createElement('script');
    gcse.type = 'text/javascript';
    gcse.async = true;
    gcse.src = (document.location.protocol == 'https:' ? 'https:' : 'http:') +
        '//www.google.com/cse/cse.js?cx=' + cx;
    var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0];
    s.parentNode.insertBefore(gcse, s);
  })();
</script>
<gcse:search></gcse:search>

Common Core Tip Using Google Advanced Search: Reading Level

As my school is switching over to Common Core (and NGSS), I am trying to find more resources to integrate more texts and articles into my biology course.  I want students to learn the skills of analyzing science writing (CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RST.9-10.1), finding the central ideas of a text, (CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RST.9-10.2) , and analyzing the author's purpose (CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RST.9-10.6).  

When searching online, there are lots of sources of scientific writing.  However, many are too advanced for high school students to read.  I want to find challenging articles, but at a level that my students could work with.

Using an Advanced Google Search tip can help teachers find writings and articles. Google allows you to sort through your searches by reading level.  Here's how.

How To

1.  Go to the the google search page.  (Rosalind Franklin is the Google Doodle today!)

2.  Type in what you are searching for.

3.  Click on the Settings Tab on the right of your screen.  Choose "Advanced Search". 

4.  Scroll to almost the bottom of the page, to "Reading Level".

5.  Choose annotate results with reading levels.  This will give you a list of all results, with each one labeled with the reading level.  

6.  You can also sort by reading level by clicking on the reading level near the top of the search.