CYCLES OF LEARNING
  • BLOG
  • TED
  • BOOK
  • CONSULTING
  • CONTACT

When curiosity is sparked...

deep cycles of learning can occur.

3 Things I'm Proud of This Week: Explosive Disposal. A Few Good Men

11/18/2019

 
Explosive Disposal
Next semester I am very excited to teach a new elective class called "Engineering for Social Good". The overarching goal for the course is to position isolated skills in coding, design, fabrication, electronics, CAD, etc., students have acquired in previous courses into a service context. I will be developing the course here. 

While I have a loose idea of the curriculum, I am this week in my Introduction to Robotics course to a test a few activities. An area of interest I currently have is the use of robots to carry important tasks that, in the past, resulted in human injury. One such area is  explosive disposal.  

I am interested in how challenging students to simulate the explosive disposal process (we use the VEX V5 system) helps to build empathy for the risks various service providers face when working to protect our society. Using the VEX Vision Sensor and the VEX V5 Starter Kit I designed this challenge, this "Public Product" requirement, and put the students to work. View an example of student work here. 
A Few Good Men
I have written in the past about how I love to use medical case studies to spark inquiry in biology class. This week, to conclude a 5E Inquiry Cycle on Cellular Respiration, students were challenged to solve this case taken directly from the movie A Few Good Men (upon surveying, NONE of my students have seen the movie. Shocking but better for the lesson!).

Rather tell my students the correct diagnosis upon completion of their diagnosis presentations, I showed this video clip taken from the movie that reveals the diagnosis (Lactic Acidosis) for the students. Much more impactful and fun! Then, once the diagnosis has been revealed through the movie, I move into a responsive lecture about how the condition relates to current content in the class. 
Flash Cards 
Unlike the above reflections, this teaching example is super simple. Students spent today preparing for a quiz the on  intermolecular forces in chemistry. Answering the questions on the quiz require students drawing a diagram to represent molecular interactions. Each group of students created a question, then solved their own problem directly on a personal whiteboard. 

I then created a blank Google Slides preso, altered the settings, shorted the URL, and shared it with my students. Students then inserted their question into one slide and used their web cams to insert an image of the whiteboard from the previous question into the next slide. Within 20 minutes our class had made a deck of practice problems, that, when placed in presentation mode, behave like a set of flash cards. I then shared the slides with my students for strategic review. Click here for the final product. 

Comments are closed.
    Picture
    Ramsey Musallam is a full-time science teacher in Santa Rosa California.
    Starter Pack

    RSS Feed

    Categories

    All
    3-Bullet Thursdays
    5E
    5E/Hero's Journey
    AI
    Apple Tv
    Arduino
    Assessment
    Assistive Technology
    Biochemistry
    Biology
    CAD
    ChatGPT
    Chemistry
    Clips
    Coding
    Cognition
    Commencement
    Commentary
    Computer Science
    Consulting
    Courses
    COVID 19
    COVID-19
    Curiosity
    Curriculum
    Design
    Distance Learning
    Engineering
    Feynman
    Flipped Learning
    Friday 5
    Game Design
    Games
    Google
    Hack Series
    Hands On
    Hands-On
    Hero's Journey
    Homework
    Inquiry
    Invention
    Itm
    Lecture
    Maker
    Masterclass
    Megacognition
    Misc.
    Models
    Movies
    Neuroscience
    Online Teaching
    Opioid Crisis
    PBL
    Pd
    Pedagogy
    Physics
    Podcast
    Presentation
    Presentations
    Products
    Programming
    Public
    Reflection
    Research
    Robotics
    Rubrics
    Science Camp
    Simulations
    Slides
    Social Good
    STEM
    Store
    Technology
    Tutorials
    Videos
    What If
    Workshop Materials
    Zoom

    Archives

    March 2025
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    July 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    March 2022
    January 2022
    August 2021
    June 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    December 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    October 2016
    September 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    October 2015
    September 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    October 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    January 2014
    November 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    July 2011
    November 2010

  • BLOG
  • TED
  • BOOK
  • CONSULTING
  • CONTACT