COMPILATION:
flipped classroom, note-taking, Post Game Analysis (PGA) in Modeling
Instruction
Date: Monday,
September 26, 2011
From: Kay
Fincher
We're getting
some pressure to do some "flipping" in our physics classes. We're not keen on it but feel we must
compromise and do at least a few videos to make our school board happy.
Any ideas on
how to do this without sacrificing Modeling?
--------------------------------
Date: Mon, 26 Sep 2011
From: "Park, Nicholas"
It can even
strengthen modeling...
Students
complete a paradigm lab and establish tentative model in their own words.
Then they have
an assignment: watch a video or read an animated text describing the same
model. Compare and contrast what you see/read to what we developed in class. Can
you justify the claims of the text based on our analyzed data? Does the text
add helpful terminology or representations to help us better express our model?
Then the next
day you discuss.
------------------------------
[EditorÕs note:
this earlier post by Nicholas expands on it. Jj]
Date: Mon, 12 Sep 2011
From: "Park, Nicholas"
I would explore
the real advantages of the "flipped classroom": it is true that there
are some things that are best done in class and other things that can be done
individually. "Flipped classroom" theorists are correct that
lecturing is a waste of classroom time -- so they move the lecturing out of the
classroom and use class time for labs, discussions, problem solving, etc.
Great first
step, just not far enough. The next step is to realize that those out-of-class
lectures actually hinder the learning process, because the students
mis-interpret what they are reading (or viewing). And so another shift is
needed, to something closer to modeling instruction. The videos, readings from
Hewitt, etc., can still be used, but only after the model is constructed, as
part of a "compare and contrast" or "evaluate what the author is
saying on the basis of evidence we've collected" assignment.
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 26 Sep 2011
From: Jane Jackson
<jane.jackson@ASU.EDU>
What are some
examples of videos and animated texts that you would assign? Let's make a list,
for specific models -- and post it on the modeling website or on a modeler's
blog.
[Note in 2013: I
posted links that modelers suggested, at WEBLINKS FOR MODELERS:
http://modeling.asu.edu/modeling/weblinks.html]
-----------------------------------
Date: Mon, 26 Sep 2011
From: Chris Horton
Two video clips
I used to use and would again: the PSSC clip of an object being dropped
from the mast of a moving ship, shown from different angles and both frames of
reference; and the Skylab video from the 70's showing an astronaut throwing a
ball slowly the considerable length of the space station, where it can be
observed traveling in what appears to be a straight line.
Others I was
looking for but never found: a time lapse video of a Cavendish experiment, a
Coulomb's law experiment and a Millikan oil drop experiment, with careful
documentation of the setup and results that can be read or measured from the
screen, so students can do their own calculations.
-------------------------------
Date: Tue, 27
Sep 2011
From: Kay
Fincher
> Just what
are you being pressured to do?
Some parents
(or perhaps just one?) are concerned that students don't have a resource for
when they are confused.
The example
told to me was in the context of our standing waves lab--the student didn't
know to analyze the linear wavelength vs 1/frequency graph and instead put a
slope on the inverse curve and tried to explain that in her lab report. The
student's grade suffered and the parent was a bit peeved. The student is not in
my class but I'm fairly certain the correct process was emphasized during and
after whiteboarding.
Administration,
I think, wants the students to have a place, apparently other than their notes,
where they can look up information to confirm what they learned so that success
(meaning "good grades") can be had.
I don't think
we're being asked to actually flip the learning but rather provide instruction
that students can access "after hours". The old teacher in me says,
"why can't they look at their notes?" but I understand videos are all
the rage and appear to be so easy to understand.
I wonder if
posting videos, podcasts, or pencasts after paradigm labs and whiteboarding in
class would help students who struggle with it in class?
I envision more
a recap of what went on in class rather than a lecture.
Any more ideas?
I think more of us may have to address this in the future.
-------------------------------------
Date: Tue, 27
Sep 2011
From: Paul
Bianchi [in New York, where the Regents exam must be used – which is said
to be about 80% factoids, as of 2013]
Hi Kay,
I started using
a "flipped" classroom last year (never having heard the term)
specifically because I WANTED to do Modeling. I ran into frustration over two
things: a lack of contact time with my kids, and several students with disabilities
who were required to be given printed copies of notes.
In order to
retain lab time when other teachers were reducing it, I decided to reduce rote
note-taking time in class. I typed up a set of student notes in one-page chunks
with a few questions at the end of each -- about three sets of notes per
Modeling topic -- and posted them on the school Blackboard site.
It's much
shorter and more targeted than having them read a bit of the textbook, focusing
only on the main model. I still open the unit with the lab, no notes until it's
all done and discussed. But after that, once or twice a week they get a reading
assignment with a few questions to
"encourage"
them to actually read it.
The first set
of notes summarize the main ideas from the lab, so the students have seen those
ideas already. It just saves me about 10 or 15 minutes in class for having to
get them to write it all down in their regular (non-lab) notebook again the day
after lab's all done.
I go over the
notes and associated problems briefly (I check that the problems are done), do
some example problems on the board with them and take some questions, then have
them do the modeling worksheets, some of which we do in class and some of which
are homework.
It's not Earth
shattering, but it probably gives me back half an hour a week from time saved
note-taking, and that adds up to let me take more than one day on a few labs
each quarter to allow for proper discussion. The kids love being able to get
the notes easily when they are out (senior college visits are a royal pain),
special education parents love it because it takes away some of the sting of a
common disability.
I don't often
use videos (though the kids quite like me putting up some solved problems with
the Echo pen for review, so I wouldn't discount video, I'm just not there at
the moment). Occasionally I link out to applets or a current events article
online.
It's working
for me. I've got more time back to do more important things in class than have
kids copy stuff off the board.
[Ed. note: a
link to Paul BianchiÕs notes is at http://modeling.asu.edu/modeling/weblinks.html
]
-----------------------------
Date: Tue, 27
Sep 2011
From: Matt
Greenwolfe
Kay wrote,
"Some parents (or perhaps just one?) are concerned that students don't
have a resource for when they are confused. ... "why can't they look at their notes?" "
Another
approach is to make those notes more effective. One thing I've noticed this year with my experiment in Post
Game Analysis (PGA) (see
earlier post for details) is that many students don't recognize a fundamental
principle even if it hits them over the head. By writing the PGA board, our whole class discussions are
modeling how to extract those fundamental ideas from the specific experience
we've just gone through. Sure
seems like having students discover the new principle in their group work, and
state it and discuss it in class discussion should be sufficient, and then all
the students would write it down.
But some students write down everything so that the important stuff gets
buried. Others write down
everything **but** the important stuff.
I let the students make the decision about what is important enough to
go on the PGA board, but when they identify something as PGA worthy, it gets
written down and then continues to be posted prominently during class.
Too early to
say with certainty, but I think it is improving students' individual notes as
they have a better idea of what is important to write down or at least to
feature as more important.
Extracting the important principles is just a skill they haven't
practiced or maybe even thought about.
The PGA is also a good model for them of what to do when they are
solving homework problems. It's
not over when they have the right answer.
There's still PGA.
So what other
tips do people have for improving the notes that students take during modeling
classes?
This also gets
at the problem with providing textbooks or videos, etc. If those resources focus on the
important fundamental principles, but the students are still responsible for
applying them, then fine. But if
they focus on the details and reduce the subject to memorized procedures to
follow rotely, then they can actually be detrimental. There's too much of the latter both in textbooks and the
available online videos.
--------------------------------------
From: Jane
Jackson <jane.jackson@asu.edu>
Subject: post
game analysis for better whiteboard discussions (Matt Greenwolfe)
[An excerpt
from Matt Greenwolfe's post on Sept. 9, 2011, to refresh your memory. -- Jane
J]
I've been
trying to better communicate to my students what I want out of the board
meetings. ... This year, I'm trying to make the meetings primarily about the deeper
analysis, with some presentation of whiteboards happening incidentally along
the way.
To do this, I'm
telling the students about post game analysis (PGA). ...
So each section
keeps a PGA board (one or two whiteboards), where we record things like common
mistakes and how to avoid them, or anything judged important enough that it
should get recorded in a prominent place and not left in the details of the
solution to a particular problem.
When a student makes a really perceptive comment, they get the PGA board
and are asked to write down their observations.
I'm just in the
third week of actual classes. The
first couple board meetings I did ask someone to start it off by presenting
what they did, then at the end asked for PGA. But yesterday, I looked around. Everyone had pretty much the same stuff. So I just said, "Let's start with
PGA." I immediately got some
good insights about unit 1 - "It helps to know the meaning of the equation
and not just randomly select it."
"Don't confuse units with variables." "Graphs have different shapes and
aren't always linear."
"About five major divisions is good on an axis. Too many is confusing." Also some stuff about mistakes
made and how to avoid them.
After that, I
did ask a couple groups to show and explain how they figured out the units of
the constant in the equation, as that was the latest thing that was
introduced. Some students did tune
out at that point, hopefully because they already understood how to do it. But it was a nice contrast from
students tuning out during presentations of whiteboards that had become too
routine, and then facing a struggle to tune back in when we got to the more
important stuff. We got to the
most important things first, this way.
I also think the discussion was more productive, but took less time than
it would have the other way.
[Ed. note:
related to PGA is Matt GreenwolfeÕs large collection of worksheets called ÒMore
Models in ModelingÓ. An updated version is available to AMTA members who log in
to the AMTA website: http://modelinginstruction.org
Download an introduction at ÒResources for the Modeling ClassroomÓ: http://modeling.asu.edu/Projects-Resources.html
in the section on discourse.]
--------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 28
Sep 2011
From: Robin
Marcus, Program Director for STEM Education. North Carolina New Schools Project
My interest,
consistent with Modeling I think, is a different kind of flipping - putting
problem solving and application first, the generalization and abstraction
after. My husband on the other hand is a national leader in virtual and blended
learning. So conversation at home becomes a little heated when Khan and
"flipping" classrooms comes up... What if students and parents (or
tutors or whomever) could access video of the Post Game Analysis (PGA) that
Matt Greenwolfe described? Rather than the teacher creating review videos or
notes, what if the class summary was captured and archived, for students who
were absent or just need to see/hear the discussion again? If anyone tries something along these
lines, I would love to see the videos and read/hear student and teacher
reflections on their value...
--------------------------------------
Date: Tue, 27
Sep 2011
From:
"Steinert, Jeff"
Here are two
flipping possibilities:
First, "A
Million to One", video of a flea accelerating more than 1,000,000 times
its own mass across a frictionless surface. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bd4uHUMvvbc
Second,
"Frames of Reference", the classic PSSC video that still has the best
sequences on fictitious forces. http://www.archive.org/details/frames_of_reference
--------------------------------------
From: Rob Lang
and Chris Aderhold, Glenbard East High School
Sent: Tuesday,
September 27, 2011
We are both
Modelers; and we created a few videos this summer. We made sure that the videos
were strictly "how-to" videos. One was on the use of the LabPro.
Another was how to use the motion detector. A smaller series was how to use
LoggerPro. We didn't create any videos that would distract from the class
discussions. We created the videos for students who were absent on the day of
instruction or needed to see how to use the equipment again during a future
lab. Our Administration loves them!
Links to our
videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfaBC8JxDlE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEnl-s9LiWM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QVUZxz1hzg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcY6-P55Eiw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0POd1t9q0FA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3KdxIupxw4
Feel free to
use them in your classes or as examples when you create your own!
---------------------------
Date: Wed, 28
Sep 2011
From: Jacob
Roark, Lenoir City High School
Most of the
arguments against the "flipping" come from fundamental ideas of how
students
learn - which
of course are very important and valid concerns. However, for me there
are some more
practical issues that would apply in my classes.
Perhaps it's
just because I'm used to teaching mostly Freshmen, but I balk at the idea
that the students would actually watch
the videos outside of class. I
can't get my students to take 30s to check the class website when they're
absent to see what they've missed much less watch a video every night to
prepare for class (I cry inside every time a student says "I've been out
for four days, did I miss anything?")
We have this
notion that since students are online all of the time (and they definitely are)
that if we make learning available online they will be more willing to do
it. While this may be true in
isolated cases, overall teenagers are still teenagers and laziness is still
laziness.
It's nice that
the students can rewind or review the video but I wonder how many of them
would.
A typical
student in my class would say "I watched it once, what more do you
want?" I struggle
all semester
long (with limited success). to change their view that understanding comes from
intelligence instead of critical thinking, reflection and effort
I use
self-produced videos when I need to leave things for a sub (they can't mess up
playing a video) and as a supplement on my class website. I think they do have their place. I really can't see them replacing what
I do in class though.
---------------------------
Date: Wed, 28
Sep 2011
From:
"Gell, James"
I came across
this TED talk today and thought it tied in to the ongoing discussion on
flipping. It's only about six
minutes long and it is about Studio Schools in Britain. They are dealing with a less-than-ideal
group of learners and find that students learn best by doing, working in
groups, and doing things for real.
Gosh, that sounds familiar!!
I really like
the way the speaker says in his intro that it is "one solution", not
THE solution.
http://www.ted.com/talks/geoff_mulgan_a_short_intro_to_the_studio_school.html
--------------------------
Date: Wed, 28 Sep 2011
From: David Meyer, Missouri
Kay and
everyone else,
I've started
using a wiki as a resource for students. Students can edit it and contribute to
--the collective learning. I also take pictures of the whiteboards after we
discuss worksheets and post them so that students can check them when they are
gone or re-look at them. I have, in the past, posted videos of discussions as
well. It's very easy to set up and
can be set up as private or public. They are free and come with 2 GB of storage
space. Feel free to check my physics class out at
http://mhsscience-physics.pbworks.com
-------------------------------
Date: Wed, 28 Sep 2011
From: Helene Dauerty, Indiana
Subject:
Lecture-Video-Issues
I spoke to the
frustration I felt in physics as a major in college this past summer on the
listserv. I get a bit defensive at
the suggestion that either I was not smart, or I lacked motivation. I appeared to be doing the same things
as the peers I was working so hard with 20+ hours/week. Hard work does not save you if you do
the wrong kind of hard work.
"Practice makes permanent", NOT "perfect."
There are a
host of social/psychological/pedagogical issues involved in this issue. Not ONE of the barriers I have overcome
to have a reasonable grasp on the subject would have been addressed by being
able to watch and rewind the videos on physics that I see online, irrespective
of motive or intelligence.
For many of us, it takes a skilled
practitioner to uncover thinking and prescribe experiences that will lead to
real changes in how we understand the world to work. Ego also is an issue.
Just today I looked through student self-evaluations on a test. My students' ran the gamut from "I
really know what I'm doing I just didn't do it on the test" to "I
know I got a 95% but I really know I know nothing." Neither extreme is helpful.
Peer discussion
helps protect more gentle souls to some extent, while allowing divergent
thinking to be aired. An expert
asking questions of the group consensus can serve to prevent more elaborate
naive mental models from taking full root. Video without expert feedback in most cases (sans
those who "get" lecture anyway) leads to a perception of
understanding and a growth in confidence that, more often than not, is
illusory. We need DIALOG!!! INTELLIGENTLY GUIDED!!!
Videos, like
textbooks, are great when you already know the physics.
-----------------------------------
-----------------------------------
Date: Thu, 5 Jan 2012
From: Evan Halstead
Subject: The
Many Different Flipped Classrooms
I ran across
this link this morning about Flipped Classrooms, written by one of the people
who developed the idea in the first place. Basically, his point is that 'flipped' is an umbrella term
that refers to a variety of methods.
In the article, he challenges criticizers to be aware of the many
different
'flipping' methods that there are.
Unfortunately, he does not elaborate on these methods or their
differences here.
Given how much
critiquing of this method we do on this listserv, I thought this may be a good way
to elevate the discourse.
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 5 Jan 2012
From: Frank Noschese
I've been in
close communication with Aaron Sams, the author of the article, over the last
few months. He is seeking to take back the word "flip" from its association
with Khan Academy (as seen in the recent media stories about KA).
The traditional
flip (ala KA) is simply the time-shift of lectures by having kids watch a video
or read the text in order to make class time more interactive. Sams wants
flip to mean ANY shift that makes class time more interactive.
So I think
Modeling Instruction would be included in Aaron's new definition of flip.
Modeling classrooms are typically more interactive than a traditional class. If
you want to use the flip metaphor: instead of a teacher-centered classroom
with knowledge for students to consume, Modeling flips that and is a
student-centered classroom with knowledge created by students. Instead of labs
done as verification, Modeling flips that and uses lab for exploration. Instead
of the teacher talking to students, modeling flips that and students are
talking to each other.
Etc., etc.
I don't have
any research to back this up (but let me know if you do!), but....
I would argue
that what happens IN class is more important than what happens outside. In
other words, any form of interactivity in class will trump traditional
instruction. Some people
see putting videos online as a way to make class more interactive. I see
modeling instruction as a way to increase interactivity without making any
videos at all.
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 5 Jan 2012
From: Andrew Smith
I followed one
of the links in the blog mentioned by Evan. This guy is using a cycle he calls
"Explore-Flip-Apply," which is his attempt to combine inquiry
learning with the flipped classroom.
Here is a link to his cycle.
I think it sounds promising.
http://flipteaching.com/files/0e82357541a89a8888c1a7c498c1c201-4.php