Teaching+Techniques

From: National Science Foundation RE: Case Study in Science []

From: Mark Ewoldsen, Ph.D. "Dr.E", La Canada High School David Hong (APES hero) wrote a great set of reviews and I put them on my review page (with permission). See [] Mark's page has several review resources. From: Mark Ewoldsen, Ph.D. "Dr.E", La Canada High School My students thought the FRQ's were well written andrelatively easy. Try using [] by PamShlachtman and Kathryn Weatherhead. They did a FANTASTIC job of describing how to prep your students for the math on the AP.

From: Lynn Dominquez RE: **Christmas Tree Recycling Project** A few weeks ago I responded about a'Recycled Holiday Tree' assignment/project that I give my students near theholidays. I received a ton of requests for the assignment/rubric. Sorry it's taken awhile, but I decided to send it through the listserveinstead of individually - enjoy! Just as a refresher, I give thehandout with the guidelines (below) to the students. After they turn themin, we place them throughout the campus and then I give our administrators arubric (below the guidelines) to 'grade' each one. The group who receivesthe highest score from the administrators receives extra credit on theassignment. I don't have a set rubric to grade it myself, I just use theguidelines as a guide. You and 2 other students will beconstructing a holiday tree made out of material that you would otherwise throwaway. The tree must be handmade, with nothing pre-constructed, andinclude the following: Every part must be made of trash or previously used products. Nothing 'new' can be included in the structure. TREE # _ Please fill out the rubric below andwhen you have finished all 8, please submit them to my box. Only ‘non-new’ products used inconstruction (except tape, staples, glue, etc.) /10 Has a holiday theme that is evidentin structure /5 Has a well-structured, self-standingbase /5 Has a ‘topper’ to help representholiday theme /5 Level of creativity /10
 * __Project Guidelines__**
 * Have a holiday theme that is clearly apparent in its' structure. Examples include, but are not limited to: Christmas, Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, etc.
 * Be self-standing with a base of some sort.
 * No food items may be used.
 * Have a maximum height of 3 feet.
 * Have some type of 'topper' to help represent your holiday.
 * A short, typed, informative paragraph explaining the purpose and vision behind the construction of your tree must be included, separately.
 * The use of 'new' nails, glue, staples, etc. can be used to put your tree together.
 * Most of all, be creative and have fun!
 * __Administrator Rubric__**
 * Total points /35**

From: Janell Simpson I taught APES all year long ona 90 minute schedule. I managed the time with a lot of collaborative learningin small groups. One thing I used at the end of the year that the studentsliked in their survey was a four slide power point summary of a topic. So Iwould look through the material for the next several days, write topics on theboard. As they walk into class they write their name by one of the topics.Usually they work with a partner. The four slides consisted of 1)title/definitions 2) visual 3) graph/ chart or math problem 4) environmentalimpact. They have one day to work on the presentation and we present the nextday. Sometimes, one student compiles all the slides, or I share them from agoogle collection folder. I can share examples with those who are interestedfrom the google collections. Another idea for video debriefing is called 4 corners. While watching thevideo, I write 4 topics in large print and paste them around the room. Afterthe video, students are told to select a corner to move to and discuss thattopic with those who gather there. I walk to each corner suggesting discussiontopics and direct the group to elect a leader to report to the class on thediscussion. This is much more effective than listening to me talk about the video.

Mark Ewoldsen, Ph.D."Dr.E"La Canada High School Re: lectures and summer assignments Try going to my homework pages - see below. I assign textbook, onlinereading, and online video which includes some lectures. You may also want to try TED Talks, and iTunes University. []

From: Gary Thorpe, Author of Barron's APES review and flash cards I've heard that some teachers glue the flash cards to the back of playing cards and then develop or modify various card games such that as students draw cards from the deck, they can either keep or discard the cards as they play, etc. I even heard some use different small, colored candies in the game(s). I don't play card games so I don't know which games they play or how they modify the cards or the games. Others use/modify the cards in developing classroom games similar to popular TV quiz shows. I believe the point is to allow students to have fun and to allow them to talk and interact with each other while at the same time reviewing APES concepts rather than having them sit quietly "reviewing".

From: Sue Barnes Hannahs, Severna Park High School I bought a set of these flash cards (Barron's) and I had a student give me her set after the exam two years ago. I separated them into broad categories (Soil, Agriculture, Water pollution, Air Pollution, Laws, Earth Processes, Biogeochem. Cycles, etc) and put a ring (bought a package of these binder type clip rings at Office Depot) through the holes. I then divided all the smaller sets of cards among my 7 lab stations with labels "Water" "Land" "Sustainability" "Human Health/Populations' etc. Students could go to the area they felt they needed to review and flip through the cards, discussing, asking each other for clarification, seeing if they knew what the card was about and how well they understood the concept. I left these out for a week before the exam and students could go to the tables at the end of class. Not very fancy, but it was interesting to watch how different kids approached the cards and discussed them.

From: Patrick Earle, T.C. Williams High School. Alexandria, VA I'm using a website called quizlet.com to make virtual flashcards. There are several games that students can play to reinforce the vocabulary words too, as well as a practice test they can take at the end. It's free too! From: Shari Tolan, APES listserv At one time, someone posted a review/concept like game called the Six Degrees of Separation...I used it recently and the really smart kids loved it. You write terms on cards and they draw 2 and then they have to show in 6 steps or less how they are connected. The most fun for them occurred when the 2 terms seemed very dissimilar and they were still able to link them--using of course, environmental science ideas they have learned this year. For instance, they started with pandemic and had to link it to solar power, which they did by way of global warming, diseases spreading, but less if we use renewable power sources which do not promote greenhouse gas generation, etc.

From Jason Bousman, Westfield High School I'm not sure if someone already said this but I had astudent that absolutely loved the ap that she downloaded onto her IPAD. She said she just searched for AP Environmental and it was only like $1.99 or$2.99. It would give a topic, diagrams, info. that they had to readthrough and then would quiz them at the end over the material. Lookedlike a pretty neat thing to use that is probably available on any I-phone,etc. The portability would be a huge advantage! Just thought Iwould share.

From: Warren YoungGlenbrook North H.S, (ret)Northbrook, IL Like many of you, I wondered what todo with the time between THE TEST and the end of school so I wanted a project that would be individual, reflect growth of learning and appreciation for Environment, be relatively straightforward to do, AND be easy to evaluate. FINAL PROJECT 1. Put together a portfolio that summarizes your experience in APES. Theportfolio must consist of 10 images (not 9 or 11, 10). 2. You must include among your images (1) one map, (2) one diagram, (3) onephotograph, and (4) one concept map. The other six images can be anycombination of the these four. The images may be your own work or copiedfrom somewhere. 3. After you identify your 10 images I want you to write anexplanation for each image. The explanation must consist of a minimum ofthree English sentences that explain to me why you chose the particularimage. Answer the question, "Of all the images you've looked at inAPES, whyis this particular one important to you?" 4. Assemble the images and description in a very inexpensive folder and hand into me before the beginning of final exams. RESULTS What did the students produce? Some of the portfolios were some of themost moving work I'd ever read from high school students. Some made melaugh and some made me cry. Most of them reflected heartfelt appreciation for the APES experience.

From: Mark Little, Broomfield High School, Broomfield CO At the NABT in Denver, a session discussed assessmentstrategies. I was not able to attendbecause of some of my obligations with the convention being in Denver but afriend of mine did attend. The sessionpresented the IF-AT assessment technique. Immediate Feedback Assessment Technique. Here is the website to look at. [] Many of us use “standard” scantron multiple choice attimes to assess students. I havefollowed the discussions about retakes and test correction policies that manyof you have discussed. I found for me and my situation that this was a bettersolution. What I have to do is enter the items I am using in thetest maker program. The test makerprogram places the correct answer in the right spot. Instead of a scantron that needs a number 2 pencil, astudent uses a coin. The cards look likea “lottery ticket”. They arethicker. There are several versions ofthese cards and they vary in the number of questions. (50 question, 25question, and 10 question) A student scratches off the choice for the answer—if theyget a star in that spot, they are correct, if they get a blank, the know theyare wrong. A student can re-guess forfewer points. For example a student can get 4 points if they get the answercorrect on the 1st try, 2 points for getting it correct on the second try and 1point for the 3rd try and no points for the 4th guess. This way, all students know the correctanswer for every question by the time they leave and they know the multiple choicescore they earned. Also, they know whatthey understood and what they need to review. In a 50 minute or so class period, my students cancomplete 25 multiple choice and 1 essay. As a teacher, I can walk around the room and I can tellby the number of blanks per question, what my students understand and do notunderstand. This helps me with myplanning. A couple other things, my students loved it, they werehappy not to wait to find out how they did on the multiple choice section andthe knew what they needed to review. I use the short sheets for miniassessments sometimes as a group over a lab and or a class discussion. Many students thought this was easy and they did not haveto study—they were wrong, they did poorly if they did not prepare. As far a retakes, my students learned to prepare thefirst time because they knew going into the test, they did not get a retakebecause of the partial points for re-guessing. If you want some “research” for the technique, Check: []