Second Tech Project

For the second tech project I found a resource that I think could be really helpful in a science classroom.  For those of us who have take several lab courses in the past know that seeing an experiment can help a person understand what will be going on in the lab, but it is really hard to get that kind of experience without actually doing the experiment.  Now with the level of technology where it is, simulations are becoming easier and easier to make and perform, and now available online.  Internet4Classroom (http://www.internet4classrooms.com/chemistry.htm) is a website that has a lot of interesting tools that can be used in a variety of science classrooms, but the ones that I am focusing on are a couple of chemistry simulations: an acid/base titration and an electrochemical cell.

When I was going through my chemistry courses (any science course for that matter), there were always a couple things that I had trouble grasping.  I could see these tools as a way that every student could see the experiment before having to do it on their own.  Vygotsky would probably be happy that as an educator, I would be helping my students to learn by helping them find the tools that will aid them in their quest for knowledge, as well as giving them a means through which they could see the concepts at work.

The two simulations that I wanted to show are two interactive ones that allow you to either: complete one of several titrations to see how that process works - as well as understand what information a student is looking to get from this kind of experiment; or, create one of several basic electrochemical cells virtually to see how they work (in the macro- and microscales).  The links to these simulations are really long so I've posted them at the bottom of the post.

The Rationale
These activities are something that would definitely apply to the first level of Bloom's taxonomy: remembering.  Students would be able to make a connection between the concepts they read about/took notes over, and the visual process of the experiments.  One of the concepts that Omrod puts for in Chapter 6 of Ed. Psych.:Developing Learners for how to develop the ideas your teaching into concepts that students know and understand is to provide them with opportunities to practice those concepts.  These simulations offer a very cheap, easy way for students to practice the ideas they just learned about in class with some guidance from the onscreen instructions, without forcing them to "jump into the deep end" with the real materials.

Struggles of Implementation
Although these simulations will help students understand what is happening with the two types of experiments, they take time to do.  This means that they would either need to be something that is done at home or in spare time.  Asking that students use the internet at home can be a tricky thing--not everyone has internet at home, and if you are relying on it as a teaching tool, you might be leaving some of the students behind.  Spare time in class can be a rarity, and if you have students who were like me and don't like having to take work home, they'll try to finish homework in class before trying out these simulations.  The availability of computers could also limit the implementation of these--if you don't have  computers available before you do the experiment for real, these simulations won't have the teaching effect that they are meant to have.

Biases, Trade-offs, Limitations
Simulations offer a variety of advantages like the ability to try an experiment over and over again quickly without needing to use the actual materials (which can be expensive), you can see what should happen and which will help you understand the mechanics of the experiment for when you actually run it, and it can help you see where the information you are trying to get comes from.  But, you trade the hands-on quality of an actual experiment for those benefits.  Another limitation would be how much understanding of the mechanics of an experiment you can actually get.  The simulation of the titration allows you to titrate in a drop-wise fashion (one drop at a time) at the click of a button, but operating a stopcock on a burette so that one drop falls and mixes completely before another one falls is completely different.  These simulations are also biased toward the very simplest of experiments.  The electrochemical cell only allows for testing the three most common electrodes, but these aren't always the ones that you'll be asking about so students ability to transfer their knowledge across different experiments plays a large roll in their ability to learn.

Teacher/Student Standards
These types of simulations will help fulfill the INTASC Standards 5 (Application of Content) and 8 (Instructional Strategies).  According to Standard 5, teachers need to  understand how to help students make the connections between ideas and concepts taught in the classroom and how they are applied.  In my own experience, being able to see an experiment has helped me understand the concepts that it relates to from the class lecture--actually seeing how electrolyte solutions work in an electrochemical cell makes understanding the stoichiometric

These simulations also apply to ISTE Standards #1 (Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity), #2 (Digital-Age Learning Experiences/Assessments), and #3(Model Digital-Age Work and Learning).  By utilizing online simulations in the classroom, you are using what you know (you know it's a difficult concept to understand the first time through) so you give your students a tool to facilitate their ability to understand the ideas quicker and easier.  These simulations are inherently a digital-age learning experience.  These types of programs weren't possible before the computers could handle them, which meant that if you wanted to practice something in a lab, it meant you actually had to work in the lab, but now, you are giving your students the ability to practice outside the lab. These simulations would allow me as a teacher to improve upon the practices that are required for the courses that I'd like to teach.  I want to make sure that students will be able to understand what is happening and these activities are one tool that can help make that goal a reality.

According to Mike Stieff at the University of Chicago, students who use these types of visualization/interaction tools will be more likely to understand and use representations of the material that are consistent with what teachers and experts expect (1).  Stieff compared several classrooms that used computer based visualization/interaction activities to several that followed a standard curriculum.  His results show that although the students' achievement on summative assessment is only moderate in classrooms that use these activities, the change in understand from before use to after use is much better than in the class rooms that did not utilize them.

Links:


Simulations:


Titration:  

http://group.chem.iastate.edu/Greenbowe/sections/projectfolder/flashfiles/stoichiometry/acid_base.html

Electrochemical cell:

http://group.chem.iastate.edu/Greenbowe/sections/projectfolder/flashfiles/electroChem/voltaicCell20.html

Article:


Stieff, M., Improving Representation Competence Using Molecular Simulations Embedded in Inquiry Activities. J. of Research in Science Teaching. 3 August 2011.

If you are logged into the Drake Network you can access the full article at:

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/tea.20438/pdf