When curiosity is sparked...

If you are a high school or college science teacher teaching online right now, or an educator looking for ways to promote critical thinking, spacial reason, and computation thinking in the context of service to those impacted by the COVID-19 Pandemic, and encourage you to check out Foldit.. 

Foldit is a multiplayer game that empowers students to learn how to manipulate, and develop, various protein structures. Players progress through various levels where they learn, subtly, about protein folding, hydrophobic/hydrophilic side chains, and protein receptor interaction.

​Special "puzzles" have been developed that challenge users to develop proteins to be used as biological pharmaceuticals to bind COVID-19 Spike Protein. Top designs are actually synthesized and test for efficacy! Check out the below videos to learn more about Foldit! 

I will be using Foldit in the following ways:

• Chemistry: To help reinforce concepts around polarity and IMFs.
• Biochemistry; To help reinforce concepts around Protein Structure.
• Engineering: To introduce students to current advancements in Chemical Engineering. 

Pennies made after 1982 are ~ 95% zinc with a plated copper exterior. Thus, a penny contains two metals and can, if manipulated properly, be converted into a battery. See video below: 

This video is LEGIT, and upon seeing it, my gut was to provide students with this video, the materials, and let them go at it as an introduction to our unit on energy in Biology class. (Mitochondria metaphor, etc.). 

Then I remembered the research on curiosity! The goal is to intentionally withhold the IDEAL amount of information.

Peak interest, but create suspense. Provide enough information as to not demotivate, but leave enough out as to keep the learner guessing.

​The below "inverted U" graph of Curiosity vs. Knowledge (knowledge confidence), provides a great visual.

Inspect it carefully.

Have all the info. Not curious. Have no info. Not curious. Withhold the ideal amount. Curious. 

So, back to the initial activity. I fear that if I give students the above video, as awesome as it is, the activity will transition from science to "arts and crafts".

I fear that by providing the video, I will provide too much information, push students to the far right of the "inverted U" and minimize curiosity.

DESPITE how engaging the activity is! 

The engagement lies not in the video quality, or the task, but the anticipation of what will happen. 
The frustration in not knowing exactly what will happen, or how to do it. 
The tension that is built when the instructor perfectly provides and withholds.
The cognitive reward the learner receives when that tension is revealed.
We all love solving riddles. 

​This is the true "Call to Adventure". 

So here is what I'm going to do instead. 

Step 1: Tell students that electrons can flow spontaneously through a material when two different metals are connected through a conductive solution. 

Step 2: Tell students that pennies after 1982 are platted with copper. 

Step 3: Provide students with the exact materials shown in the screenshot from the video above. Include the video title "How to Make a Penny Battery from Start to Finish" in the below image as a strategy for pushing students directly under the "inverted U" shown above. 

Step 4: Challenge students to light the LED using only the materials provided in the above image. Remove internet privileges to ensure that information is strategically withheld and students do not look up the above video. 

Step 5: Play the above video. 

Step 6: Treat this as the first  two"Es" (Engage and Explore) in the 5E Learning cycle. Continue on with lesson. Etc., etc. 

*Note: The below lesson is only an outline meant to encourage deeper thinking about the 5E cycle. 

Standard
NGSS: HS-LS2-3: ​Construct and revise an explanation based on evidence for the cycling of matter and flow of energy in aerobic and anaerobic conditions. 

Display the below image and ask the question: What are you curious about?
Desired student questions include, but are not limited to, the below: 

• How does blood relate to cycling?
• Does this apply to other sports?
• Does this have to do with "Blood Doping"? 
• Does this have to do with Lance Armstrong? 
• Are there more red blood cells than normal? 
• Does this have to do with energy and exercise? 

​
*Purpose: To surface content related  questions without explicitly asking students. 

Teach how to leverage Arduino Uno to create their own Pulse Oximeter. Click here for instructions and materials. Once complete challenge students to design and conduct an experiment to determine the impact that various types of exercises and activities (breathing through a straw, etc.) have on pulse and oxygen saturation. Students will then hypothesize the relationship between pulse, oxygen saturation and energy use. Experiment must be conducted using appropriate research design methodology. (Control, independent, dependent variables outlined clearly) 

*Purpose: To challenge students to think deeper about energy during exercise and strain, as well as revisit research methodology and promote crosscutting NGSS integration such as engineering, etc. into the lesson. By not addressing "Blood Doping" directly, students are left wondering the relationship between the "Engage" and "Explore" phase further intensifying their curiosity and desire for more content. 

Conduct a lesson on Cellular Respiration, clearly outlining and diagraming the process of Glycolysis, Krebs cycle, and defining organelles such as the cytosol and the mitochondria. Once complete, ask the driving question: How does the processes outlined relate to "Blood Doping". After students share their responses, play the video below: 

*Purpose: To deliver basic content (diagrams, processes, vocabulary) to help students make a deeper connection between the "Engage" and "Explore" phases. 

Pose the below medical case study to students and challenge them to:

1. Diagnose the patient.
2. Explain diagnosis in the context of new information above (Cellular Respiration, etc.). 
3. Pose a treatment plan

Case
A, 23-year-old, 5’ 9”, 105 lb, caucasian female presented in her physician’s office with a sudden onset of weight loss along, pain when urinating, and chronic extreme hunger. The patient also reported a strange mold-like substance forming in her toilet over the past week.  

*Purpose: To facilitate connection between information obtained during the "Explain" phase and applications of content in the "real world" (note: I hate the term "real world" but application can extend beyond medical diagnostics, etc.). 

• Quiz, test, etc. 

Currently my freshman Biology class is concluding a unit on cell division.

Rather than the typical unit where students memorize the phases of the "Mitosis" (Anaphase, Metaphase...blah, blah), I decided to take a more applicable, perhaps controversial perspective, and teach the unit through a lens of the Cell Cycle checkpoints, and in particular, cancer biology. 

After acquiring parent and administrative permission, as I wanted to be sensitive to student personal experience with Cancer, we embarked a 5E/Hero's Journey, learning cycle. Click here for the entire learning cycle. 

For the "Application" phase of the learning cycle, rather than have students research and present the current state of cancer detection and treatment. I challenge them with the below prompt: 

After reflecting on what we have learned thus far about cancer treatments, and assuming unlimited resources, develop your own comprehensive cancer treatment idea. Click here to share for details on your submission. (groups of 2-3).

With a basic understanding of the Cell Cycle, regulatory proteins, immunology and cellular respiration (The Warburg Effect), students came up with incredible ideas that combined not only information we have learned this year, but also mirrored many of the current cancer treatments without zero prior knowledge of the treatments themselves. 

Today in class (12/10/2018) we will crowdsource individual team ideas, with the goal of developing a comprehensive treatment plan that students can choose to further develop. Our modo: If Jack can do it, so we can we! 

Click here for view only access to today's document that contains  team idea summaries and a space for our collaborative solution (in progress). 

I have written in the past about how much I am enjoying teaching Biology this year. After graduating with a degree in Biochemistry, my first teaching job, and thus the subsequent 17 years, led me to the world of chemistry education. 

Upon switching schools, the opportunity to teach a few courses of Biology surfaced. Two years in, I am humbled by how much I don't know/forgot, both related to content and pedagogy of Biology instruction, and how much exciting opportunity there is in the field. 

Keeping the above in mind, I have been experimenting with a "Medical Case Study" approach to teaching the course, leveraging hypothetical patient intake exam symptoms, and subsequent student diagnosis to spark curiosity, and inspired initial research, around specific themes. Click here to read more. 

After leveraging case studies as points of entry for inquiry for the past two years, students appear, in general, very excited about facets of science I did not expect.

For example, in researching patient symptoms, students are exposed to medical journals and pharmaceutical research to help validate their hypothesis and gain more information on the topic. 

Given exposure to applicable, and important research has appeared to inspire my students to want to conduct their own research in a way that transcends that which can be found in a traditional school curriculum, textbook, or lab manual. 

To quote a few students just today (note: students call me by my first name) 

"Ramsey, can we do a science fair project? I miss those..."
"Ramsey, the Diabetes article I we read was really interesting. I would like to do a similar study"
"Ramsey, have you heard of the Google Science Fair? Let's do that in our class." 

I was drawn to the last quote above, re; the Google Science Fair as I had not heard of it. Turns out, Google sponsors a science fair that is incredibly well organized, and rather than motivated by poster boards or projects that mirror more "arts and crafts" than science, the Google Science Fair designed in such a way that students are inspired to turn their thoughts and ideas into a format that address a gap in the world, and thus, change it! 

Serendipitously, the the deadline to submit for 2018 is December 12th, the day my final project (yet to be designed) is due in my 9th grade Biology class. The stars aligned! 

So, this year (literally beginning today) I'm going to do the below with the hopes that the public audience will motivate better work, but also, more importantly, leverage the increased interest in scientific research that the medical case study curriculum mentioned above has inspired. 

1. Introduce the Google Science Fair (Read rules, show past projects, etc.)
2. Assign each student the task of developing, and prototyping their own idea as the FINAL EXAM. 
3. Use the format, already designed by the Google Science Fair, to guide the research process. 
4. Require projects to investigate, or build upon, a concept we have explored this year from our curriculum. 
5. Cross my fingers.
*Yeah yeah....there will be rubrics and stuff too. I'll share those as they are developed :) 

Per #3, the Google Science Fair website includes past examples that provide great reference points for student work, and built in templates for rubrics and research design. As you can see in the screenshot below taken from a past project, the required format empowers students to truly embrace the scientific method and true research methods when conducting their projects. I am so excited to see where this idea goes. Carpe  Diem!