My lab started with the question, "Which has more energy, corn or soybeans?"
I got mixed answers, one student insisted soybeans do. I followed her insistance with why? and how do you know? At that point she wasn't sure.
Then I passed out 5 different articles to my students, which were.
-How does a calorimeter work?
-How do they measure calories?
-How do food manufacturers calculate the calorie count of packaged foods?
-The energy content of horse feeds.
-Armsby Calorimeter
I asked the students to read their article, underline 2 themes, and circle 3 words.
When all pencils were down I had the students come to the board and capture their choices.
We then proceeded to make connections in the vocabulary words, and then drew conclusions about the themes.
I had the students each create a question and then work together to pick one question to answer. After they picked their question, I had them for a hypothesis. The final step was to have them create a procedure, this is where the frustration occurred. The students had all the necessary supplies on the desk at the front of the room. They also had all the information they needed in their articles.. IF THEY COLLABORATED! The students were struggling with the procedure, finally one student said well who else read this article... That was the point she realized they all had different articles... She exclaimed "it tells how to test energy!" the ah ha moment!!
This is about where my lab ended, the students were very frustrated. However, I think the cloud was starting to clear because they were beginning to talk more about their articles. This activity required the students to read and retain their articles. They each had important pieces that they had to capture. I received feedback about this being frustrating especially with high school students. Although, I think frustration is somewhat normal with IBI??
I felt like the lab went pretty well overall however, I wonder if I should let them struggle or start giving them more information?
I had a couple people asking how this lab would be performed, so here are 2 links.
www.learner.org/workshops/chemistry/support/act6_d1.pdf
courses.chem.psu.edu/chem111/pdf/Experiments/Calorimetry%20Lab.pdf
Sounds like it was an experience! A little bit of frustration is okay, but it is just important that they leave the classroom with it taken care of. It is always good to end on a good note. IBI will take some getting use to, but I am sure that after some more attempts and becoming more comfortable with the chart, things will get better.
ReplyDeleteHey Mindy, I like the collaboration idea in your literacy strategy - I don't know if I would have let them struggle THAT long though...? Did it last all 30 minutes that they couldn't develop a procedure because they didn't realize they had different articles? Also, I see that you referenced CHEM 111 as a lab reference - just be sure you aren't digging too much into the content of that university level course!! But keep up the encouragement for collaboration and critical thinking!
ReplyDeleteHey! Considering how well you started this lab out, I'm surprised that they were so stuck with writing the procedure. Frustration is not really a good thing, but they are allowed to be puzzled and given the opportunity to think through it. Also, since you were there, you gave them hints as well to help them. Finally, I want to note that in 'real life' our students would have been taught the proper base knowledge for this lab the previous class periods. Therefore it's hard to catch all the students up on the information before performing the IBI. Otherwise keep up the good work and I really like your lesson idea! Could you email your lesson plan to me? Thanks!
ReplyDeleteMindy, frustration is not what one wants from an IBI lab. You want to push the students to a point where they take learning into their own heads but not to the point where it becomes frustrating and downgrading. Just remember that and you should be good. Keep it up
ReplyDelete