The Science Behind the Museum

The Science Behind the Museum

 

A different kind of museum visit, indeed. 

The New York State Museum in Albany NY, hosted a one-day Science teachers' workshop on “Darwin’s Origin in the 21st Century on October 24, 2015.

The workshop participants were able to open drawers and cabinets of thousands of paleontologic and taxonomic artifacts and specimina that are identified, named and accessed by the New York State Museum. The Empire State can boast of its natural treasures of prehistoric times unearthed from beneath its crust, from trilobites to mastodons, birds to insects, brophytes to vascular plants, whales to mammals, tree stumps to petrified trees, and thousands of compression and impression fossils. It is truly an amazing experience to see how meticulously do the curators and research students prepare animal specimen by removing the bones from the skin, exposing the fleshy bones to bug infestation, articulating the bones for reconstruction, preserving the tissues and running polymerase chain reactions for genetics and phylogeny studies. 

As one enters the paleobotany collection, one can not help but be awed by the enormous artifact collection from the Gilboa fossil forest that includes numerous fossil stumps, trunk sections, and a crown of Eospermatopteris. It also includes Devonian materials from across New York state, and specimens from Pennsylvania and other areas of the U.S. The Museum consists of 600,000 fossil specimens from the Paleozoic era, Cambrian-Ordovician conodonts and graptolites and earliest Cambrian small shell faunas.

Tree stumps preserved from the Gilboa forest,
Schoharie County, NY.   

Stored and maintained among hundreds of cabinets are a collection of over 20,000 ornithology specimens that include skeletons, skins, taxidermy mounts, frozen tissues, and egg sets collected throughout New York since the 1840's. The vertebrate paleontology collection consists of nearly 12,000 specimens from across the State and includes fossils predominately from the late Pleistocene epoch. Carefully preserved in well-maintained environments are over 15,000 mammalian specimens in the form of skins, bones, fluid specimens, and frozen tissues of important New York mammals, from mice to moose, from bat to baleen whale. Before leaving the preservation chambers, one can not miss the Cohoes mastodon remains that are utterly imposing by themselves. 

New York State's official fossil, Eurypterus remipes,
crawled along the bottom of the shallow, brackish sea
that covered much of New York during the Silurian Age,
which is over 400 million years ago.  

Although we were not able to visit the geology and ichthyology collections, we realized that the Museum has an equally rich array of New York State minerals, rocks, meteorites and gems, and a vast collection of approximately 62,000 lots of freshwater and marine fish collected from 1843 to the present in all parts of the state.

The Use of Information and Communication Technologies in Science Class

     I began my teaching career during the era of computer-aided instructions. After 25 years of teaching, 15 years in the Philippines and 10 years in New York City, I have come to realize that technologies have come along way in defining the way students learn in class. Computer-aided instruction favors the teachers, as programmed teaching materials provide the ease, comfort and the tools to teach in the classroom. At present, classroom technologies favor the students, as students themselves use the technologies in the classroom, whether they be as tools for learning or tools for sharing knowledge.
     Defining technology is sometimes difficult, as the world would likely to view it primarily as gadgets. That is why, technology in the past had been used in education as an effective teaching tool. Technology, in reality, goes beyond gadgets. Technology can also be a product or a process. In my personal opinion, product technologies in education are results of what students created in the classroom based on what they have learned, be they learning models, experimental set-ups, presentations, reports, among others. Process technology in education, on the other hand, involves the very experiences of students in the use of technology in order to transform what they learned into something that can benefit others. With these three classifications of technology as used in the classroom, I have grown to know the use of information and communication technologies in my Science class.
     What are information and communications technologies (ICTs)? How can they be used in the classroom? How did I use them in my Science class?
     ICTs cover any product that will store, retrieve, manipulate, transmit or receive information electronically in a digital form (Riley, 2012). I operationally define ICTs as hardwares, softwares and applications that allow the users to access, retrieve, process, and exchange information. My best definition yet is that these technologies can be used in the classroom in facilitating student learning.
     One might wonder what hardwares do I used in the classrooms to facilitate student learnings. Well, almost all classrooms in New York city have computers and laptop carts, as well as smartboards and LCD projectors. Almost everyone, both students and teachers have iPads and tablets and smartphones. Most families have a still camera, a video camera, a web camera, sound blasters, among others. These are the hardwares that helped me in facilitating student learning through the use of ICTs.
     We basically use Microsoft Word, Google Docs and Pages, as well as some editing tools, like Paint, as softwares in the classroom. We also employ the internet, multimedia, social media, and numerous iPad applications in learning.
   
Social Media. The use of social media has been very useful to the students in my Science class for the past two school years. Using Edmodo as our class page, students can access classroom learning materials, turn in their homework assignment, post their project outputs, comment on their classmates' projects, communicate with each other, answer online tests, participate in online polls, and carry learning materials anywhere through their virtual backpacks! One big thing about Edmodo is, aside from being allowed in the New York city classrooms, its providing the students the feeling that they are on Facebook while attending school!

Google Docs. The use of Google Docs serves as an effective means for student collaboration. It is a virtual backpack, and saves the students the burden of carrying books, charts, display boards, paper reports, etc. Students learned the use of Google Docs as a word processor that allows them to work on the same writing assignment collaboratively while staying at home at a common time. Embedded in the capability is the ability to research and cite ideas for proper referencing, as well as provide comments for each other's work. Google Docs also provides students the capability to insert links and upload images or videos into their writing outputs. Google spreadsheets allow students not only to present and organize their research or experimental data but comfortably convert these numerical data into graphs and charts. Practically, students can carry their assignments, reports, projects, etc., through their Google Drive as their online backpack.    

Interactive websites. The use of interactive websites has proven to be an effective tool in  flipping my Science class. Students who went on a trip or a track meet, those who were absent, and those who did not have the chance to attend the class can easily access the lesson at home through interactive websites, or teacher created videos or learning materials that are shared on our social media classpage. The most popular websites in my class are Brain Pop, Study Jams, PBS Learning Media, DNAi, BioServers, among others. The teacher created instructional videos and shared these with students through his Show Me and Youtube accounts.

iPad applications. The use of the iPad has become an emerging technology in the classroom. Allowing the students to bring in their iPads and tablets into the classroom has proven to be a rewarding experience for both the students and the teacher. There are numerous iPad applications that we have used in the classroom. Some of their are free, while the others can be purchased for a very minimal price. I used Teacher Kit to organize my student's seating arrangement and record down student observations and behaviors. NeuAnnotate is super helpful in editing documents in pdf. Any powerpoint presentation can be automatically be converted and accommodated in Keynotes. I can easily illustrate my lesson through Absolute Board and remind myself through Sticky Notes. I have realized that students love Pocket Penguins so much when I used it for my lesson on observation and scientific inquiry. Students began to download on their own iPads the iCell, Molecules, Elementals, EarthViewer, Nuclear apps, among others, which they used to enhance their independent learning.

Cyberdatabases. My 6th grade classes do not have the luxury of the use of the school laboratory as they are scheduled for both the middle school and high school Regents classes. I realized that I can still provide my students the opportunity to gather authentic scientific information through the use of cyberdatabases. Students have gathered a month-long water quality data through MYSound, and used the data to write their laboratory report on the water quality of the Long Island Sound. Using the Bioserver, students had the chance to compare mitochondrial DNAs of Anastasia Romanov's family and compare these with the self-proclaimed Anastasia, and use these data to determine relatedness and decide whether Anna Anderson is the real Anastasia as she professed. Google Earth provided my students an authentic location of their study sites, while we are about to use ARKive to gather important information about the world's endangered species. I am in constant search for other databases, and soon, we will use NOAA's databases and EarthKAM.

    One might wonder how these ICTs can be very important tools in the classroom. In my 6th grade Science class, we use these ICTs to achieve two important skills among the students. They develop my students' scientific inquiry skills and enhance their new literacy skills. The National Science Standards defines scientific inquiry as the diverse ways in which scientists study the natural world and propose explanation based on the evidence derived from their work. New literacies, on the other hand, is classified by Coiro, Knobel, Lankshear, and Leu (2008) as internet literacy, digital literacy, new media literacy, multiliteracy, information literacy, ICT literacy, computer literacy, among others. My students practice new literacy and scientific inquiry combined, though these five simple steps incorporated into their writing outputs: (1) identify the problem, (2) locate pertinent information, (3) evaluate these information, (4) synthesize these information in order to answer the problem, and (5) communicate the big ideas to others.
     With these components of the literacy and scientific inquiry synergy, students were able to write laboratory reports that describe either a demonstration lesson or an open-inquiry science fair project, where they incorporate their background and literature research, provide evidences through Google spreadsheet data and charts, incorporate images of the set-up as well as screenshots of the study location, and provide reputable references to their report. Students were able to create project reports on their simple investigations like microecosystems or the city recyling, among others using video camera or still images enhanced by editing tools for labeling, captioning and descriptions. Students were able to create teaching lessons ranging from simple powerpoint presentation to various models to stop-animations. For more student projects, I invite you to visit my class website.    

What is the role of schools in our present society?

     I believe that schools are an avenue for our youngsters to discover themselves and the world where they live in as citizens and stewards. Furthermore, school should be the source of an accurate and functional view of the world, as well as the mirror of what the youngsters shall become in the future.
     Schools for that matter should demonstrate the universal virtues of respect and responsibility, compassion, and accountability, equality and conscience, and integrity and industry in order for us to see the world operate through these universal virtues. Nurturing the mind of the young people in school about who they should be and what they can be, or who their neighbors are and what they can do if they are in their neighbor's shoes, is a preparation for life that is worth investing for the future generations and yonder.
     Specifically, the school should provide a pleasant, healthy and safe working and learning environments for both students and the teachers. These are necessary if we want to prepare the children and young people for responsible citizenship and effective participation in the future society. Children growing up in pleasant, healthy, and safe environments will pursue the same environments for their children and children's children.
     The schools should also meet the needs of the students and the community from a culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds and orientations. This provision is hoped to  ensure the development of a just and harmonious learning environment that shall eventually extend into the community and society where equality and respect of individual differences and ideology are fostered and upheld.   
     At present, schools should be an active instrument in accommodating the demands of the future. Schools nowadays are providing the youngsters with the technological capacity to rule the future in terms of economic predictions, social interactions, and miniaturization. With the foreseen withdrawal of personal touch into the present interactions in our society, i.e., online courses, online purchases, online dating sites, social media, among others, schools should take advantage of the available interactions inside the classroom that would ensure the the young minds would still appreciate the human presence in their future endeavors. The humane touch into every single conversation inside the classroom, and the use of the heart and the mind in every single decision that students are asked to make would definitely provide the youngsters with a solid foundation that schools are called for to establish. 
     Of is not that the heart of education is the education of the heart?        

Can a Science teacher be a Literacy teacher?

     When I started teaching for the New York City Board of Education in 2004, I was practically told that while I am a Science teacher, I am also a Literacy teacher. While I was willing to become one, I was not ready to be one. So I started with the basics. I realized that speaking to my students' former teachers and taking time to study their academic and school records are plus factors, and the everyday encounters in the classroom are even valuable learning experiences for me. I believe that teachers can better raise the level of literacy of their students when they know their students' academic levels. Benchmarking should be the initial step a teacher undertakes in order to seriously and conscientiously teach their students. From there, teachers know where their students are and how they can operate inside the classroom.
     As a Science teacher, I always believe in scaffolding my students' learning experiences. What I usually do is present a simple concept model of the lesson, provide them with the necessary concepts and principles that would concretize their conceptual frame of mind. Then I allow my students to ask some essential questions that describe and validate their own conceptual framework. After a thorough discussion and interaction, I allow the students to extend their learning by making some reports, writing activities, booklogging, or presentation. These extension activities are usually geared towards at least four important styles, and my students have the freedom to choose the extension activities that they want to pursue. I also believe that the best way to increase my students' critical thinking capabilities is through collaborative and cooperative learning. I assign students in a group, give them a task and the necessary materials and teacher support, and allow them to validate and critique each other's outputs.
     When I taught in New York City schools, I was even provided with more opportunities to learn in the literacy and special education courses that I took. The regular professional development sessions also helped me understand my students more, and have provided me more productive strategies and techniques to teach them. How being a literacy teacher worked for me in my Science class is indeed a result of hard working and careful planning. What successes I have gained and insights I have learned in my classroom are now shared with my colleagues as I regularly present them in the yearly New York City Writing Project's Teacher-to-Teacher conferences, the yearly Science Council of New York City's scientific conventions, and most recently in the National Science Teacher's Association's national conference. 
     Students in my Science class incorporates reading and writing as part of their project outputs, and using the available information and communication technologies, they are creating projects through multimodal presentation capabilities.       

Schools: What can they do for the youngsters?

     School is an avenue for our youngsters to discover about themselves and the world where

there live in as citizens and stewards.  Schools should be the source of an accurate and 

functional view of the world, as well as their mirror of what they shall become in the future. 

     School for that matter should demonstrate the universal virtues of respect and responsibility, 

compassion and accountability, equality and conscience, integrity and industry, in order for us 

to see the world to operate through these universal virtues.

     Nurturing the mind of the young people in school about who they should be and what they 

can be, or who their neighbors are and what they can do if they are in their neighbors’ shoes, is 

a preparation for life that is worth investing for the future generations and yonder.     

     Specifically, the school should provide a pleasant, healthy and safe working and learning

environments for both the students and the teachers.  These are necessary if we want to 

prepare the children and young people for responsible citizenship and effective participation in 

the future society.  Children growing up in pleasant, healthy, and safe environments will pursue 

the same environments for their children and children’s children.

    The school should also meet the needs of the students and the community from a culturally 

and linguistically diverse backgrounds and orientations.  This provision will ensure the 

development of a just and harmonious learning environment that shall eventually extend into a 

community and a society where equality and respect of individual differences and ideology are 

fostered and upheld.

My Simple Thoughts on Differentiated Instruction

            A differentiated instruction, I believe, is one that allows the teacher to vary the content, the process, the product, or the environment of the lesson based on the students' capabilities to receive instruction. I always try to distinguish my students into at least two learning ability groups, since in reality, it is very difficult for a teacher to prepare a lesson that encompasses all learning styles.  
            I realized that in order for me to start differentiating my classroom instruction, I need to see where my students at, and gather information about them individually and as a class in general. I have tried looking at students’ previous ELA and Mathematics State test scores and analyze some patterns. To the least, the scores are very helpful. But I also assess on my own,  as I analyze their quiz scores, observe their language facilities, and read their journal reports.
           Based on experience with my students, I have learned to group my students into two: those those who can grasp the concept on their own, and those who cannot.  With this grouping in mind, I develop classroom tasks for those who demonstrate the understanding of a concept to be application lessons and other classroom tasks that would require me to apply direct instruction.
           The mini-lesson is usually presented to the whole class and students who need direct instruction will be given more attention during the workshop time.  Sensing that some of my students can go on their independent pace, I just allow them to go on their own rate of progress , i.e., proceed to do the critical thinking part, which is an independent project or extension activity of the lesson. The struggling students may not realize it, but they are no longer required to do the critical thinking activity, which I usually reserve at the end of the workshop period for the advanced students to do.
           I have also tried varying the learning activities of the students by developing alternative paths to learn, process, and analyze the key concepts of the lesson.  I usually provide opportunities to my students to use different kinds of graphic organizers, encourage them to express their observations in tabular form, or even draw and illustrate concepts and ideas using a model. The graphic organizers may become complex for some students who can process the ideas and concepts faster and in depth.  A simple tally sheet, for example, may require a columnar table to show the number of students who participated in a survey based on gender, grade level, zones, and ethnic groups.  With some students, it would actually complete my day to see that they have at least accomplished a simple Venn diagram to illustrate the comparison among the cold-blooded animals and the warm blooded ones.

Can Flips flip the classrooms?

Hearing about the flipped classroom two summers ago reminded me of the term “flip” in the early 1980s when I was a neophyte in the field of teaching. One of my students referred to one of his teachers as a “flip” or a “flippo”, because he believed this teacher was a crazy and insane individual.  I scrambled the knowledge web bank to search for the real meaning of the term flip, en route to searching for the very essence of the flipped classroom. In the process, I found out another meaning of the term “flip”. Flip actually stands for “f__ little island people”! Heartbreakingly, it is a term used by American soldiers to refer to the Filipinos during World War II. It came into widespread use in the 1980s until the 1990s, although it was first used during the Filipino immigration wave in 1930s, more than 30 years before I was born.  Although not a racist term, as it could be debated as one or not at present, it has become a racial slur and a magnet for the issue of social respect and relationships. Making the acronym more acceptable and enjoyable from the Filipino perspective, simply because Filipinos have the innate sense of concocting fun into rather uncomfortable situations, “flip” has more likely being accepted among the Filipino-American youths as either “funny-looking island people”, “friendly-looking island people”, or the more popularly used acronym for “fine-looking island people”. Well, I was fine with the last description after all! Since I became a self-professing flip since then, I opted to apply flipped classroom practices for almost a year now!

A flipped classroom employs an inverted teaching and learning method.  The opposite of the traditional classroom practice of having teachers take center stage while students absorb the learning menu sitting down, flipped classrooms bring the instructions at home for the students to eventually deliver the learning back to the classroom.  The traditional classroom experience delivers the lessons into the classroom and sends the homework home, while the flipped classroom delivers the lessons at home, and sends the homework back into the classroom. Jeremy Strayer best describes the two learning setups in the Knewton website: The traditional classroom looks at the teacher as a “sage on the stage”, while the flipped classroom looks at the teacher as a “guide on the side”. This flipped classroom model allows the students to learn lesson materials at home and communicate with their teacher and classmates online. After learning the online materials, students bring questions and insights back into the classroom for a facilitated discussion.

            How did this flipped classroom come about? In 2007, Jonathan Bergmann and Aaron Sams of the Woodland Park High School in Colorado rose to the challenge of teaching absent students of the lessons they missed. Bergmann and Sams recorded and annotated their lessons and posted these lessons online for the students to access while away from school. This opportunity did not only benefit the absentees; the students who attended the class were also interested of accessing the same lesson materials when they got home.  

Social Media and the Flipped Classrooms

            The use of a social media networking website, Edmodo, was a blessing to my classroom.  Commonly known as the “Facebook of schools”, Edmodo allowed me to post lesson videos, instructional videos, and provided me with a very successful platform for the students to access lesson materials, post their comments and questions, and interact with their classmates online.  Most of the instructional videos were posted online for the students to access and learn at home were downloaded from YouTube, which I would strongly recommend for teachers to use, since not all of these videos on YouTube are useless. In fact, I maintain a YouTube account as a teacher! Although the Board of Education blocks YouTube videos, I was still able to use them in the classroom and on Edmodo (Thanks to Real Player 10!).  Eventually, when I learned how to use ShowMe and some simple yet useful apps on my iPad, I created my own instructional videos and posted them on Edmodo for my flipped classroom!