Science Resource Links

With all the great science-chemistry resources out there, I've decided to create a spreadsheet that includes links and educators that I found interesting and helpful in gathering resources, such as demos, activities and worksheets that I can use for my classes.

If you have any other suggestions, please let me know! :) You can always tweet me @tleeteach and I'll gladly include it onto this spreadsheet.

Feel free to share the spreadsheet as well!

QR Code Worksheet

It's sometime hard to be able to get to all my students and give them individual one on one help, especially during review time. I find myself running from one end of the class to the other. So then I decided to attach a QR code on their sheet where they can use a smartphone or ipad with a QR app and scan it. It'll direct them to a google drive link where I have my answers written in step by step. 

This way, not only do my students get to check their answers, but if they're stuck, they can look at how I solved the problems step by step. This ended up saving a lot of my time and my students time since they didn't have to wait around for me to come by and help them. 

Though I must admit, it did take up maybe 10 minutes (oh no!) of my time to scan, upload my answers onto google drive and create a qr code for it. But in the end, it saved my time during class. 

This was also beneficial for the students at home since if they were stuck, they were able to simply scan the qr code and be directed to step by step solutions. 

How to create a QR code worksheet?

1) Scan answers and upload onto google drive
2) Share with Others (Make sure to copy and paste the link that allows "Anyone with the link can view"

3) Copy and paste link on QR code generator: http://goqr.me/#t=url 
4) Download or copy QR code 
5) Paste onto word document



Here's an example of what I have done with my grade 11 Functions class.

Google drive link to answers:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9AgoJMlHnGjR1FJcmMwZzdPQnM/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9AgoJMlHnGjTDYtZTB3cGxpUVk/view?usp=sharing

Ok Go and Parabolas

If you haven't seen Ok Go's new music video of their song "Upside Down & Inside Out", definitely watch it first:  Ok Go-Upside Down & Inside Out

I am so excited to show this behind the scenes to my gr 11 math class (when I teach gr 10 again, I'll definitely be showing this video as well. Actually, I'll show this video to any grade!) and the role of a parabola in creating zero gravity. One of my favourite things about Ok Go is that I think they really want to inspire people to be creative and aren't afraid to talk the math and science behind their videos, and not just focus on "oh, look we made a cool video". 

I always show Ok Go music videos to my students and find that it really helps me with the process of inspiring my students to consider the sciences. (ex/ Ok Go worked with people who worked with NASA for their Rube Goldberg Machine "This Too Shall Pass" music video. You can read more about their involvement here)

But I also emphasize with my students that the beauty of what Ok Go does shows that with the combination of art and math/science, you can create something amazing. So no matter what type of work field and whatever path of education you choose, it is needed for every day life and a part of society.

I also like to talk about Andy Ross (guitarist) and how he started off as an engineer and in computer science and that even though now he's in this band, he also makes game apps as well. He's such a great example of how diverse anyone can be.

Ok Go is a great inspiration in music, maths, sciences and especially to me.  

Using Nearpod in Chemistry 11 to assess Bohr-Rutherford Diagrams and Lewis Structures

Today I was able to use Nearpod with my Chemistry 11 class and it went amazingly well! I wanted to assess them on drawing Bohr-Rutherford Diagrams and Lewis structures and students are able to draw on nearpad. So instead of having to collect paper work and give them feedback at a later time on their diagrams, with nearpod, I was able to give them instant feedback. To be able to see the students work instantly saves so much time in correcting work. Another bonus to using nearpod is being able to share students work anonymously and it'll appear on everyone's iPad. This way I was able to grab students' examples and discuss with the class about their drawing. The students really loved this idea of sharing their work that they started to get a bit more competitive and decided to "spice" up their drawing with beautiful colours and would get excited for me to share their work. Another bonus was that I didn't have to worry about calling out students in front of the class if their work was incorrect. Since I was able to see everyone's work on one screen when they submitted their drawing, I was able to quickly look at where they drew their diagrams incorrectly. Then I shared a correct drawing and created a little discussion on why it was correct and "what not to do" on  the diagram. And it just seemed like a little announcement and only the student who drew it incorrectly knew I was talking about his drawing. (Note: I printed the questions onto a sheet of paper as well so they're able write down their answers to keep) 

This is the teacher's view. You can see your student's drawing on your ipad/laptop once they've submitted them.

A few photos of my students working away on nearpod. 

Polynomial Puzzle

With my grade 9 Math Applied class,  I have been so lucky to have such a great class that I really wanted to something different with them, instead of having them just sitting at their desks and working on textbook questions. We were on the topic of adding and subtracting polynomials and I wanted to assess them, but instead of a paper and pen type of assessment, I wanted to get them moving around and creating discussions with the classmates. So, I had created a class challenge. They were to put the pieces of a polynomial puzzle together. Each student had one puzzle piece with both a question and answer and had to go find someone else and see if their puzzle piece matched. 
Here's the outcome!

To help start them off so they knew what the final puzzle should look like (a triangle), I did put the corner pieces and draw a layout. The students did stick their pieces together on the board.

Thoughts on the activity: Definitely a great activity, great way to assess the students, especially since I was able to hear the discussions going on, and it was really nice to see the students helping each other out as well when students couldn't find where they should place their puzzle piece. 

Program: If you want to try out this activity, you can make your own puzzle, and there's different layout, with the program Tarsia. Here's the link to download the program: http://www.mmlsoft.com/index.php/products/tarsia 

Since I love the activity and could see the students really enjoyed it as well, I decided to do this activity again with them, but this time, they were to complete the puzzle on their own, so they could keep it. But this time it was focuse on multiplying monomials and polynomials. You can check out my tweet for more photos of the outcome

The Beginning of Something Good?

After discovering many great educators on blogspot, such as Sarah Rubin's and Mary Bourassa's , just to list a few, I've decided to create my own blog. My goal is to keep it up to date regularly and share some of my teaching strategies, create a portfolio online and help me connect with other educators. So here it goes!...