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Below is a video that a colleague of mine, Deb Wycoff, produced as part of her action research study on Flip Teaching. During the course of our interviews I answered various questions, but more importantly, tried to clearly outline how video instruction can be one small part of a larger “Explore-Explain-Apply/Explore-Flip-Apply” learning cycle.

Instead of driving to STEM camp this morning, I decided to walk, and use the Display Recorder app to screencast the little ball on the map directions. I uploaded the video to YouTube, and when I got to camp, asked the campers one question: How fast was I walking in mph? Watching them pull up maps of San Francisco, timing my walk, covering feet to miles and seconds to minutes was so rewarding. Check out the video below, made and uploaded on my phone, while walking down Valencia in less than 3 minutes. I’m loving Display Recorder thus far:

Honestly I can’t BELIEVE this is finally here! SCREENCASTING ON YOUR IOS DEVICE!!! My mind is racing with the possibilities:

There is no pedagogy, technology or technique that is a silver bullet or the independent variable for good teaching. Good teaching can only happen, in my opinion, when the teacher accepts that he or she must work harder than they have ever worked before, be willing to not reach all students in search of ways to empower all students. I hope one day, even if it is the last day before I retire, I can look myself in the mirror and say that I have tried to do this. No technology can make the honor of being a teacher an easier thing. Techniques, pedagogies, etc., can make what we do more efficient, but only if we first, through hours and hours of sweat, empathy and failure, work towards a system that transcends technology. This might make no sense, but I had to write it down. Ok, back to nerdy technology posts :).

Although I am truly bummed that I am missing an opportunity to collaborate with so many great educators at this year’s FlipCon 2012 in Chicago this week, I am having an AMAZING time hosting the first annual STEM camp at Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory (SHCP), the high school where I teach Chemistry. While the focus of the week will be learning to use and design activities for, Lego Mindstorm NXT robots, we spent today working through the process of inquiry, and chronicling that process via group blogs. Click here to follow each group’s blog as they process through the week.

Check out an awesome roller coaster one group made out of pipe insulator, masking tape, and a marble:

I am honored to have been asked to facilitate a workshop this week for 16 different colleagues in San Francisco who teach within the Schools of the Sacred Heart network. I will be tweeting with the hashtag #ssh12 and all resource materials can be found by clicking here or by going to the “workshop” tab.

In my opinion, the most rewarding aspect of delaying direct instruction (in the case of flipteaching, delaying the delivery of the video) is observing students construct, and in many instances, even master content, before I take an active instructional role. This week I introduced a unit on Electrochemistry, often the final unit in an AP Chemistry class. The outcome(s) was straight forward: students will be able to draw a diagram of an electrochemical cell given two different metals and calculate the voltage at standard and non-standard conditions. Before the week began, I planned out our standard Explore-Flip-Apply learning cycle, that began with a lab activity where students, with minimal guidance, worked in teams to construct an electrochemical cell with the highest voltage (Explore). I planned on following this up with an instructional screencast for homework that provided names for the various parts of the cell (e.g., “salt bridge”), provided equations (e.g., the “Nernst equation”), and solved one example problem (Flip). Basically, the video was meant to, and is always meant to, provide procedural information that students were not able to construct on their own during the course of the explore day(s). As an AP instructor, I enjoy striking a balance between respecting the need for inquiry and discovery, while simultaneously establishing a situation that appropriately prepares them for the exam in May. The cycle was to be concluded with a class period spent working past AP released electrochemistry problems, followed by an application problem where groups worked together to to determine the specifics of a 9V battery (Apply).

During the “Explore” phase, I noticed something interesting and also very encouraging. Because every single outcome (unpacked standard) was essentially “locked” into an inquiry learning cycle this year, unlike at the beginning of the year, my students appeared to be attacking the problem with an incredible sense of confidence and strength. A year of inquiry had, I hope, rubbed off on them, and observing them test and re-test the different metals, monitor their produced voltage, and explore a myriad of other intricacies I had not even hypothesized they would was extremely rewarding. Within a half-an-hour, students had not only figured out the direction of electron flow, respective charge of the anode and cathode, and how to determine cell voltage (at standard conditions), but more importantly, had fully construct the knowledge I had planned on delivering during the “Flip” phase. Instead of holding out, and requiring that they view the instructional screencast, I decided to test their constructed knowledge via a game of “Battery Relay.” I had each lab group report to the chalk board and with a chart of standard reduction potentials in hand, yelled out two different metals, and challenged each group to draw a battery. Randomly I would yell “switch” or “rotate” which would signal another group member to continue from where the other left off in the diagram.

Moral of the story, inquiry pays off, and although I had an elaborate plan of “filling in the gaps” via and instructional video, with a little time, space and guidance, students just might construct that knowledge on their own. Check out a video clip of our relay race below:

At Macworld this year, I was lucky enough to see friend and colleague Robert Pronovost share how he uses Idea Paint to create Whiteboard Desks in his classroom. I felt Robert’s technique could be very useful during the “Apply” phase of the “Explore-Explain (Flip)-Apply” learning cycle. During this phase, students are quickly working through various problems and sharing strategies with one another, while I constantly circulate assisting and challenging students. Students who have demonstrated “mastery” are also circulating assisting their peers.

Having a large surface on their desk to perform and create problems seemed like a perfect way to check for understanding and empower students to demonstrate critical thinking. Moreover, using their camera phone/video camera, groups could easily “hover” above the desk and record quick tutorials, bypassing the need for screencasting and tablet technology, iPads, etc. Despite the obvious benefits, my administration did not approve the painting of our classroom desk tops.

In search of a cheaper and less-permanent substitute, I stumbled across Self Adhesive Dry Erase Material. It is working like a charm! I purchased a few rolls, and measured out sheets that stick to the top of our classroom desks. The sheets can be removed at the end of the school-year, and for now, appear to work as well, or better than, a traditional whiteboard. See below for a video of a student in my AP Chemistry class working through a problem “on her desk” at the conclusion of a learning cycle on atomic structure:

I has honored to participate in a recent The State of Tech Podcast. See screencast below for recording:

To appropriately merge video instruction (student or teacher produced) within the context of an inquiry cycle, you must first ask yourself the question: what is the purpose of a video? Personally, I feel video is best used as a supplementary tool, on the BACK END of a learning cycle to deliver additional tools to students. I enjoy using videos for this purpose, as those tools and skills that are best delivered via video, in my opinion, tend to be lower-level, and thus easily forgotten. The “ah ha!” moment that makes inquiry so beautiful is something that a video struggles to capture but a student will never forget. The tools needed (equations, examples, etc) to apply that “ah ha!” moment in a different context, especially in an advanced class, such as AP Chemistry, are often forgotten, and should be cataloged. Hence, video…

So why is this post titled “Sub Videos”? When I first began merging tablet and screencasting technologies to create instructional video, one of my favorite applications was for sub assignments. I would simply record myself modeling a few problems for students…have the sub play those videos…have the students solve some related problems…have the sub play solutions to those videos, etc. It worked like a charm (at least I thought…). See example video below:

Despite initial “success”, after presenting at CUE in Palm Springs last month, something struck me. I was in the middle of my standard discussion about Blooms Taxonomy, and how the true “flip” does not involve homework with lecture, but intentionally matches the “community” (classroom) with learning activities appropriate for the community (higher end Blooms). Conversely, matching the “individual” (outside of class time) with learning activities appropriate for that space (lower end Blooms). See image below:



While giving that presentation, I realized that my students were back in San Francisco, with a substitute, watching videos IN THEIR COMMUNITY SPACE (classroom) of me solving problems as I would IN THEIR INDIVIDUAL SPACE! Because my students were all together, I was missing an opportunity to use video as an inquiry tool, and instead, using it as I normally would on the back end of an inquiry cycle, as a tool delivery medium. So, the last few times I have missed class since CUE (happens often given the arrival of my second child!), I have been experimenting with using video in a way that values the community, promotes inquiry, and models how I normally would carry out class if I was there. Rather than solve problems, I have been presenting open ended scenarios for students, and given a set of prompting questions, instructing the sub to have students discuss possible solutions to the scenario. Often, I have coupled the situation with follow up videos that provide further explanation, but NOT UNTIL the initial inquiry scenario is presented. Below are a few examples:

Pre Video Question: Does Bromothymol change color in an acidic or basic environment? Justify by writing a chemical reaction to describe the process.

Pre Video Question: Can you explain this observation using what you know about ideal gas behavior?