When curiosity is sparked...

I recently discovered this amazing YouTube channel that proposes, WELL PRODUCED, video scenarios about perplexing "What if..." scenarios and then animates/describes what would occur? For example: "What if the oxygen disappeared from the world for 5 seconds?" or "What if the moon exploded?", etc. 

Keeping "What if" in mind, I have been struggling with hands-on labs during distance learning, and have recently been experimenting with leveraging the scenarios described in on the channel to empower "Thought Experiments" rather than forcing distance learning labs while student are not in class. I did two "What if" thought experiments this week, one in my Chemistry class, and one in my Biology class. Students  LOVED THEM! 

The went like this: 

1. Place students in Zoom Breakout rooms.
2. Broadcast the "What if" scenario to their room. For example, "What if oxygen in the earth's atmosphere was doubled?". 
3. Given student 10 minutes, in groups, to develop a many answers to the hypothetical scenario as possible without looking online for a solution.
4. Bring students back and elect one member to type their answers into the public chat. 
5. Allow all students time to read the responses and reflect on their favorite. 
6. Play the "What if" solution video! THIS IS THE BEST PART. For example, the below video answers the above "What if" scenario. 

Use "What if" thought experiments to spark curiosity about an upcoming unit (as I did above prior to a unit on Cellular Respiration), or challenge student's ability to apply learned content to a new, hypothetical situation. Either way, "What if" thought experiments have transformed engagement in my online classes this week.

This is a short post/journal entry about something that has been on my mind, and nagging at me since the beginning of distance learning.

I have noticed a shift in my teaching that occurs when I minimize student cameras while teaching in Zoom. That is, they can see me, and the screen I am sharing, but I cannot see them.

Paradoxically, I have noticed that my instruction, and ability to connect with them increases. I feel more comfortable, free, and open to share knowledge in clear and structured ways.

This realization has been strange, in that I depend heavily on my relationships with students during face-to-face instruction, however in the Zoom setting, seeing their faces while teaching particularly complex information seems to decrease my ability to connect via the content.

My working hypothesis is that, while face-to-face instructions offers a true, human connection, a Zoom window places emphasis on facial expression. Perhaps my empathetic side is overly drawn to student facial expressions, inhibiting me from pushing through complex concepts, while I am pulled into looks of frustration, confusion, etc? 

When I do not see them (gallery minimized) I can push through this moment better, allowing time for students to negotiate the complexity before I jump in and "rescue" them from their perplexity, something I do naturally.

In the face-to-face setting, this perplexity exists in the context of a myriad of other variables that make the relationship more simple, meaningful, and real. With only a confused face I almost feel paralyzed at times.

Thus, I have been exposing the entire class during discussion/Q&A and minimizing their visibility during direct instruction. I'm not sure what I'm saying here, but I felt a need to put it into writing. I am very much looking forward to being with my students in the classroom once again. 

Side note, this came back to bite me once when, in the middle of a lecture where I was sharing my screen and had their cameras minimized, the students surprised me with the below. I was not responding and kind student said "Um...Ramsey, can you see us?". Ha! awkwardly caught red-handed! 

I just finished the audiobook for the autobiography of the legendary Physics Professor Richard Feynman. A fabulous listen, I have always been inspired by Feynman's contagious curiosity and desire to learn all things with a seemingly vicious intensity. I find myself also drawn towards a similar, addictive need, to ask questions and search for answers to things that others might find meaningless or not directly relate to vocation. Or perhaps, I'm trying to justify my late night YouTube deep dives. Either way...Feynman's spirit speaks to me and listening to his life story added an unexpected sense direction to my own midlife contemplations. 

Through a lens of  science instruction, I was endlessly inspired by the way Feynman's own personal sense of curiosity naturally mingled into his instructional pedagogy. That is, it was clear that he deeply values the question asking process and made it clear throughout the book that questions must precede any form of direct instruction or delivery of equations. My own passion for translating individual curiosity about the world into formal lesson plans was my motivation for this TED talk I delivered in 2013. This passion for "Delayed Direct Instruction" is intrinsic to the inquiry learning cycle and its efficacy in helping students develop conceptual models for understanding is outlined in the literature. Click here  for example of the plethora of research articles that underscore the importance of questions BEFORE lecture.  

The first 30 seconds of this clip from The Challenger Disaster, a film about Feynman's role in uncovering the the true cause of the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster, clearly demonstrates Feynman's inability to separate conceptual understanding and curiosity from instructional pedagogy. I could watch this clip all day long! 

Perhaps the below quote sums up the purpose of this post and its relationship to Feynman best. I read the quote as Feynman challenging educators of today to find a way, despite the myriad forms of resistance,  to figure out ways to spark student curiosity in search of authentic, conceptual understanding. 

There is so much complaining and frustration around the use/overuse of Zoom during distance learning. Trust me,I get it...students are burnt out, I am burnt out. Zoom Fatigue is a real thing. 

Keeping the above in mind, I find myself equally fascinated with the idea of going back to face-to-face teaching 100% next fall with a classroom of students who are EXPERTS in using a video conferencing platform. Kinda amazing!?!

The reality of this new skill set might just open up a bunch of new opportunities for leveraging Zoom while all students are on campus. I am excited to see what this new skill set can offer. Below are a some initial ideas I have: 
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• Host online office hours/study groups the night before a test or exam.
• Use as a simple substitute to screencasting application to record their presentations and office hours. 
• Quickly get questions answered from teachers when students are on a different part of campus. 
• Encourage students to rehearse and record presentations via Zoom prior to class for analysis. 
• Collaborate during lab experiments/activities with students at another school simultaneously.

The above list is small (hopefully growing) but again, I am still SO FASCINATED with the fact that students K-12, all are walking around the world with the ability to video conference in their back pocket. Crazy! 

This is third of a three-part blog post series on the use of Padlet during distance learning. This post DEFINITELY represents something I am very excited about and I sense is working very well: capturing student work during an engineering design cycle in the distance learning format. 

Using the "Shelf" option in Padlet, I set up various columns for students to post evidence of progress as they iterate on projects in my engineering class. For example, two weeks ago students worked on a cycle called "Olga" where they imagined and the designed (via CAD) solutions for a character, Olga, from a Little House on the Prairie episode who was born with one leg longer than the other. Click here for the edited video clip I provided students which served as the prompt for the project. 

Before students began the project I set up "Shelfs", one for each phase of the cycle. For this cycle, the four phases were as follows:

• Step 1: Rapid Drawing
• Step 2: Revised Drawing
• Step 3: CAD 

By setting this format up via Padlet, students not only see their process emerge as they transition from imagining their idea  to a CAD prototype, but they also see one another's ideas emerge and develop. Keeping this in mind, the visible nature of their progress creates an intrinsic sense of motivation to perform as their work is public and can be critiqued. I have noticed huge improvements in student work when the iterative process is no longer behind a google doc firewall, but visible for all to see. Click here for the complete Padlet engineering design cycle for the "Olga" project. A screenshot of one student's submission during the process is included below. 

Following the above project, students transitioned to a similar workflow using the "Shelf" feature in Padlet to outline the design of a carrying case for my father's cochlear implant. Given the 100% distance learning format, often a CAD final product is the project deliverable. Click here for the complete Padlet engineering design cycle for this project. A screenshot of the process is included below as well. 

Currently students are in the middle of an engineering design cycle where they are, from a distance, leveraging the MakeyMakey circuit (ordered and delivered to their homes) to build out assistive technology controllers for individuals suffering from severe physical disabilities. We are in the middle of this project, and given the hands-on nature (not simply CAD) of this work, the cycle is more involved and the thus, more "Shelfs" are added in Padlet to capture work. Click here for student progress thus far and see a screenshot of one student's progress below as well.