Activities and Materials
Behind the Curtain - Making Thinking Visible
Description of Unit Timeline
This unit is going to go in the Genetics unit of the curriculum and it will last for approximately 4 weeks of 50 minute class periods. The time can be adjusted for differently timed class periods as needed. Direct instruction that mimics teacher lecture time is flipped for the students. Students will watch content videos at home for their "homework" assignments so that the time in class is utilized for activities, question and answers, and project work time. To ensure that students are watching the videos, they are supposed to bring at least one question to class to further drive their learning. Using some components of a flipped classroom also provides for the scaffolding needed between students. The group work time that is available between activities (that wouldn't have been available before) can now be used to differentiate between content gaps for those who need more help or for those who need a larger challenge.
Learners will be introduced to nanotechnology by seeing how its characteristics vary through size. They will mess about with items that naturally contain nano-characteristics and commercial items they might already be aware of. At the end of the first week, students will be introduced to the project. Then, throughout the pace of the DNA and heredity unit, students will be able to make cross connections between the nano-content and bio-content. During project time, the learners will apply both of the themes towards the driving question. The strategy was to have an anchor of nano-material prior to the genetics material so students could actively utilize those characteristics during their project. The driving question and checkpoints for the project facilitate student focus of including nanotechnology. Lastly, students have the opportunity to strictly focus on the meat of their project and presentation during an included fourth week. This also provides for flex time with content or other unplanned for activity.
This unit is going to go in the Genetics unit of the curriculum and it will last for approximately 4 weeks of 50 minute class periods. The time can be adjusted for differently timed class periods as needed. Direct instruction that mimics teacher lecture time is flipped for the students. Students will watch content videos at home for their "homework" assignments so that the time in class is utilized for activities, question and answers, and project work time. To ensure that students are watching the videos, they are supposed to bring at least one question to class to further drive their learning. Using some components of a flipped classroom also provides for the scaffolding needed between students. The group work time that is available between activities (that wouldn't have been available before) can now be used to differentiate between content gaps for those who need more help or for those who need a larger challenge.
Learners will be introduced to nanotechnology by seeing how its characteristics vary through size. They will mess about with items that naturally contain nano-characteristics and commercial items they might already be aware of. At the end of the first week, students will be introduced to the project. Then, throughout the pace of the DNA and heredity unit, students will be able to make cross connections between the nano-content and bio-content. During project time, the learners will apply both of the themes towards the driving question. The strategy was to have an anchor of nano-material prior to the genetics material so students could actively utilize those characteristics during their project. The driving question and checkpoints for the project facilitate student focus of including nanotechnology. Lastly, students have the opportunity to strictly focus on the meat of their project and presentation during an included fourth week. This also provides for flex time with content or other unplanned for activity.
Explanation of Nanotechnology Activities Placement
The placement of content material for both biology and nanotechnology is intentional to the project. The goal is to have students conquer any misconceptions about nanotechnology through messing about with commercial products. This first contact with nanotechnology should ease some apprehension associated with the topic. It will also be a chance for students to learn about current products that they might be familiar with and see how technology is already engrained in these items. The reason for placing the size dependent properties activity first was to 1) use familiar objects so any student could relate to the activities and 2) get students comfortable with some properties of nanotechnology. By having this activity first, the goal is to have students gain confidence in the nanotechnology conversation for the rest of the week.
On the second day, students are asked to create their own experiment to determine the effect of a changing surface area to volume ratio. The experiments include dissolving sugar, reacting a potato with hydrogen peroxide, and placing aluminum in a reactive solution. The design of the variables in the experiment is more important than the accuracy of the measures students might use; so the teacher should have faith that students will find results that support the conclusion of the lab, even with a wide range of error. Students will find a way to induce a dramatic enough reaction if given enough needed guidance and will feel engaged to actually be a part of the decision making process in the lab. Being able to design their own experiment is a skill the students need in science class, but especially will be built if they choose to create their own research experiment to answer the driving question. However, not every student will be able to complete every lab. The plan is to jigsaw this activity. Groups will be able to complete one lab and then will explain to other groups what their goal was, how they designed their experiment, and what conclusions they came to with the data they received. This sharing of information allows the students to practice their public speaking skills as well as getting them to know their content well enough to explain it to someone else.
The gummy capsule lab is placed on the third day to reiterate defining a good experiment. The students are asked to create a solution that will influence their gummy liquid to self assemble into a more structured capsule. Many solids and liquids should be provided so the students have options to choose from and interact with. After they have successfully found a solution that works, the next challenge is for them to encapsulate a staple in the structure. This action parallels the ability for protective structures like micelles and other self assembled structures to deliver an object. All students will probably find out what components are necessary for their solution to get their desired goal, however it might take some guidance from the teacher or reference to resources to get the students to figure out WHY the liquid reacted the way it did in that solution.
And then students will be formally introduced to the metric scale. Students will probably have already been exposed to this scale in previous schooling and is one reason it wasn't placed on the first day. The thought process was that it wasn't as attention grabbing as a mess about activity and the macro examples could be interpreted well enough without the students needing a structured definition of the metric scale in the first place. Some students are initially turned off by any sign of a number and an introduction to a number scale might cut off the attention of a population of students. By having the scale after the activities, the students realize their activities were occurring on a much smaller scale than normal. It was also an appropriate place to introduce the size and scale of DNA, so the transition between DNA and nano-scale worked well in the plan of activities.
These nano-activities do not have a formal compounding order and can be switched based off of the teacher's discretion and overall goals.
Entry Event Description
Stage 1: Introduction and discussion
Students will be introduced to the conversation about nanotechnology with a discussion. The teacher will pose the question, “How does nanotechnology already affect us today?” Students might think that this sort of question is too difficult because the word “nanotechnology” seems foreign and unimaginable. This point of the discussion is to get students to think about their preconceptions about nanotechnology. Is this something that only scientists in far away labs use? Is this technology of the future or only available in sci-fi movies? Our goal is to lead them to then start thinking…”What is technology? Does technology always have to mean electronics?” This discussion also lends itself to allowing the teacher to see what pre-knowledge the students already have over the topic and what misconceptions he or she might need to address.
After students begin discussing and brainstorming about nanotechnology, they will be allowed to “mess about” in some comparison demonstrations over currently used nanotechnology in commercial and natural items. These activities can be found in the activities link. While the activities don't require a definite experiment or manipulation, they should guide the students to a particular conclusion. The students will work in pairs to travel around the room to reach each of the activities. To begin with, there will be a timer for students to have only 5 minutes per station so that every student has the opportunity to visit each demonstration. Then, once everyone has the opportunity to get to each comparison of nano-application, there will be free time for students to revisit stations that they needed more time with. Students are required to turn in the responses to the handouts associated with each demonstration for credit. These handouts will be useful for completing the objectives in the individual portfolio assignment.
Stage 2: Watch these two videos and discuss:
Magic School Bus-Inside Ralphie
Fantastic Voyage
Students will be introduced to the driving question and project officially through the use of the videos linked above. After having a week of exploring the nano-world, students will begin connecting this technology to the human body specifically. This allows all of the content material to be in the lens of the nano-application. Students will then start to think about how society has toyed with the idea of implementing nano-medicine and compare it with actual, present day nanoscience.
Description of how activities will lead to mastery of nanoscience content
The students will be able to master the nanoscience content because they will be highly engaged in the lab activities about nanoscience. The “messing about” lab activities will first spark their interest and get them to begin wondering and asking questions about nanoscience. From this first activity they will begin to understand some of the basics of nanoscience and then become more comfortable and familiar with the concepts of nanoscience. They will realize that the technology being used is something currently tangible; not some futuristic idea.
Another goal is to have students develop higher order thinking skills in relationship to the nano-content. The point is not for students to think of the nano-content as separate from the biology content but to have the two themes integrated with each other. The plan is by having the nano-material at the beginning of the unit, all of the genetics content can be interpreted through the lens of a nano-application.
Description of the kinds of investigations the students may undertake to answer the driving question
The students can explore the driving question from multiple perspectives because they can choose how they are going to focus their research. They can choose to focus on the research aspects of the genetic disorder of their choosing or they can move into the treatment side of the disorder. The students will not necessarily be taking numerical data that applies directly to their driving question, but they will be taking information from the sources they find and the activities they complete in class and combining it with their creative thoughts to create the solution to the driving question. Another aspect teachers need to be aware of is keeping the creative process grounded with scientific validity. To maintain support for the students' proposed project, they are required to prepare a draft proposal describing their plan. This creative plan should be backed by evidence they compile throughout their research process and from connecting the concepts visited in the nano-stage of the unit. One designed way to get real-world feedback about the reality of their proposal is for these students to submit their draft idea to a nano-scientist. The scientist will be able to share information about the content and application which will be invaluable to the project.
Some heritable diseases that students may choose are Alzheimer's, Parkinson’s, Down syndrome, Diabetes, and different forms of cancer. Resources for these can include Alzheimer’s Association, National Institute on Aging, Mayo Clinic, Parkinson’s Disease Foundation, PubMed Health, National Down Syndrome Society, American Diabetes Association, Cancer Research, American Cancer Society, National Cancer Institute.
If all of the students choose the same disease to study, there are multiple ways of handling it as the teacher. Depending on the class, a teacher may implement the “first-come, first-serve” idea and once a topic has been chosen it is no longer available. If the teacher would like to see the different ways students may go in their free choice, a teacher may allow students to work on the same topic. A technique recommended for this would be to make sure the groups are not sitting close enough to each other to ensure their ideas are their own and not something that they overheard.
Detailed plan for choosing the most appropriate tool
This unit was planned for a school with access to 1:1 technology. Each student has access to an iPad. For those activities not accessible through the iPad, the school also has computer labs where students may use non-Apple resources. While current students are defined as being a part of the “digital generation”, they are not always digitally literate. Students are going to be asked to use the wealth of knowledge available on the internet and the teacher will be primarily concerned with counterbalancing student’s research time. The role of the teacher during this time is to ask students questions to mold them into critical thinkers. “Is this a credible source? Why? Does this apply to your goal? How can you find information so you can understand this source? Are there other sources you have found which refute this information?” Students will be asked to present their final project. This presentation is required to be digital. However, the tool used for the presentation is not defined. Students may use Powerpoint, Glogster, Prezi, Notability, or any app that clearly and professionally presents their material. Just-in-time assistance from the teacher may be necessary at this point for any students who are unfamiliar with these types of applications. Some resources which may be helpful to students are linked below. These links will also be provided in the Student Resources page so they may have easy access to them. During the last week, the teacher will provide some free time for students to download and “mess about” with presentation apps on their iPads so they can choose the resource that best fits their final product.
Microsoft Office 2010: Excel Tutorial
Microsoft Office2010: Word Tutorial
Microsoft Office 2010: PowerPoint Tutorial
Glogster Tutorial
Prezi Tutorial
Notability Tutorial
The just-in-time materials will be used when the teacher notices information gaps during debriefing time, bell ringer, exit tickets, and when the students turn in the portfolios. Places that teachers may find bio- or nano-content additional help are here under the difficult areas or misconceptions headings.
Detailed description of how the activities will create student ownership and involvement
The students will have the opportunity to choose their own genetic disease to research. This ability to choose, instead of being assigned, a specific disease will allow students to feel committed to one that might be particularly personal or interesting to them. Students who have the autonomy to choose tend to put more effort and drive towards the work they are putting in.
The second goal is to get students thinking about making their own experiment or treatment. Instead of having students research about current medical research and reporting on it, students will be creating their own experiments or potential treatment options. By students using their own imaginations and problem solving skills, they will develop a stronger accountability for what they are developing. The hope is for students to build a better appreciation for the scientific method process and how research and application intertwine.
Since students are being pushed to think LIKE scientists, one path they should explore is communication with current scientists and resources. In the resources tab, there is a list of potential scientists whom students may feel free to contact. These resources will be particularly useful for students who would like to hear more about current application of nanotechnology in the medical field. Depending on the student’s needs, they may email, call, or set up an interview to contact these scientists.
Detailed plan for debriefing and reflection of skills through project completion
Every morning is reserved for debriefing. This time is for the teacher to review conclusions from the day before as well as answering any questions from the previous night’s video watched as homework. This time is flexible to close information gaps but also utilize for as long as necessary based on student response. Time allotted is generally about 5 minutes every morning.
The specific objectives adapted from the 21st Century Skills for this PBL unit are found on the Standards page. They will be assessed by either completion of steps throughout the unit or through reflections in the self and group evaluations toward the end of the unit. For more immediate, formative feedback and communication between students and the teacher, there will be a poster by the door which has a green, yellow and red section. As the students walk out the door they should place a sticky note/magnet/or other replaceable object in the colored section that represents how well their group work went that day. This technique allows students to provide quick feedback without taking away instructional time. The teacher can quickly observe how the day went and can use this distribution to discuss what went well or what didn’t work well during the debriefing time the next day. This time can be used to let the entire class work through social tensions by listening to each other.
The placement of content material for both biology and nanotechnology is intentional to the project. The goal is to have students conquer any misconceptions about nanotechnology through messing about with commercial products. This first contact with nanotechnology should ease some apprehension associated with the topic. It will also be a chance for students to learn about current products that they might be familiar with and see how technology is already engrained in these items. The reason for placing the size dependent properties activity first was to 1) use familiar objects so any student could relate to the activities and 2) get students comfortable with some properties of nanotechnology. By having this activity first, the goal is to have students gain confidence in the nanotechnology conversation for the rest of the week.
On the second day, students are asked to create their own experiment to determine the effect of a changing surface area to volume ratio. The experiments include dissolving sugar, reacting a potato with hydrogen peroxide, and placing aluminum in a reactive solution. The design of the variables in the experiment is more important than the accuracy of the measures students might use; so the teacher should have faith that students will find results that support the conclusion of the lab, even with a wide range of error. Students will find a way to induce a dramatic enough reaction if given enough needed guidance and will feel engaged to actually be a part of the decision making process in the lab. Being able to design their own experiment is a skill the students need in science class, but especially will be built if they choose to create their own research experiment to answer the driving question. However, not every student will be able to complete every lab. The plan is to jigsaw this activity. Groups will be able to complete one lab and then will explain to other groups what their goal was, how they designed their experiment, and what conclusions they came to with the data they received. This sharing of information allows the students to practice their public speaking skills as well as getting them to know their content well enough to explain it to someone else.
The gummy capsule lab is placed on the third day to reiterate defining a good experiment. The students are asked to create a solution that will influence their gummy liquid to self assemble into a more structured capsule. Many solids and liquids should be provided so the students have options to choose from and interact with. After they have successfully found a solution that works, the next challenge is for them to encapsulate a staple in the structure. This action parallels the ability for protective structures like micelles and other self assembled structures to deliver an object. All students will probably find out what components are necessary for their solution to get their desired goal, however it might take some guidance from the teacher or reference to resources to get the students to figure out WHY the liquid reacted the way it did in that solution.
And then students will be formally introduced to the metric scale. Students will probably have already been exposed to this scale in previous schooling and is one reason it wasn't placed on the first day. The thought process was that it wasn't as attention grabbing as a mess about activity and the macro examples could be interpreted well enough without the students needing a structured definition of the metric scale in the first place. Some students are initially turned off by any sign of a number and an introduction to a number scale might cut off the attention of a population of students. By having the scale after the activities, the students realize their activities were occurring on a much smaller scale than normal. It was also an appropriate place to introduce the size and scale of DNA, so the transition between DNA and nano-scale worked well in the plan of activities.
These nano-activities do not have a formal compounding order and can be switched based off of the teacher's discretion and overall goals.
Entry Event Description
Stage 1: Introduction and discussion
Students will be introduced to the conversation about nanotechnology with a discussion. The teacher will pose the question, “How does nanotechnology already affect us today?” Students might think that this sort of question is too difficult because the word “nanotechnology” seems foreign and unimaginable. This point of the discussion is to get students to think about their preconceptions about nanotechnology. Is this something that only scientists in far away labs use? Is this technology of the future or only available in sci-fi movies? Our goal is to lead them to then start thinking…”What is technology? Does technology always have to mean electronics?” This discussion also lends itself to allowing the teacher to see what pre-knowledge the students already have over the topic and what misconceptions he or she might need to address.
After students begin discussing and brainstorming about nanotechnology, they will be allowed to “mess about” in some comparison demonstrations over currently used nanotechnology in commercial and natural items. These activities can be found in the activities link. While the activities don't require a definite experiment or manipulation, they should guide the students to a particular conclusion. The students will work in pairs to travel around the room to reach each of the activities. To begin with, there will be a timer for students to have only 5 minutes per station so that every student has the opportunity to visit each demonstration. Then, once everyone has the opportunity to get to each comparison of nano-application, there will be free time for students to revisit stations that they needed more time with. Students are required to turn in the responses to the handouts associated with each demonstration for credit. These handouts will be useful for completing the objectives in the individual portfolio assignment.
Stage 2: Watch these two videos and discuss:
Magic School Bus-Inside Ralphie
Fantastic Voyage
Students will be introduced to the driving question and project officially through the use of the videos linked above. After having a week of exploring the nano-world, students will begin connecting this technology to the human body specifically. This allows all of the content material to be in the lens of the nano-application. Students will then start to think about how society has toyed with the idea of implementing nano-medicine and compare it with actual, present day nanoscience.
Description of how activities will lead to mastery of nanoscience content
The students will be able to master the nanoscience content because they will be highly engaged in the lab activities about nanoscience. The “messing about” lab activities will first spark their interest and get them to begin wondering and asking questions about nanoscience. From this first activity they will begin to understand some of the basics of nanoscience and then become more comfortable and familiar with the concepts of nanoscience. They will realize that the technology being used is something currently tangible; not some futuristic idea.
Another goal is to have students develop higher order thinking skills in relationship to the nano-content. The point is not for students to think of the nano-content as separate from the biology content but to have the two themes integrated with each other. The plan is by having the nano-material at the beginning of the unit, all of the genetics content can be interpreted through the lens of a nano-application.
- Apply: Students will be able to apply size dependent properties in developing their project while answering the driving question.
- Analyze: Students will be able to analyze the benefits and risks of the nano-treatment they are conducting.
- Evaluate: Students will be able to evaluate how effective current nano-treatment is towards similar diseases.
- Create: Students will be able to create an experiment or treatment that addresses a genetic diseases that uses nano-properties.
Description of the kinds of investigations the students may undertake to answer the driving question
The students can explore the driving question from multiple perspectives because they can choose how they are going to focus their research. They can choose to focus on the research aspects of the genetic disorder of their choosing or they can move into the treatment side of the disorder. The students will not necessarily be taking numerical data that applies directly to their driving question, but they will be taking information from the sources they find and the activities they complete in class and combining it with their creative thoughts to create the solution to the driving question. Another aspect teachers need to be aware of is keeping the creative process grounded with scientific validity. To maintain support for the students' proposed project, they are required to prepare a draft proposal describing their plan. This creative plan should be backed by evidence they compile throughout their research process and from connecting the concepts visited in the nano-stage of the unit. One designed way to get real-world feedback about the reality of their proposal is for these students to submit their draft idea to a nano-scientist. The scientist will be able to share information about the content and application which will be invaluable to the project.
Some heritable diseases that students may choose are Alzheimer's, Parkinson’s, Down syndrome, Diabetes, and different forms of cancer. Resources for these can include Alzheimer’s Association, National Institute on Aging, Mayo Clinic, Parkinson’s Disease Foundation, PubMed Health, National Down Syndrome Society, American Diabetes Association, Cancer Research, American Cancer Society, National Cancer Institute.
If all of the students choose the same disease to study, there are multiple ways of handling it as the teacher. Depending on the class, a teacher may implement the “first-come, first-serve” idea and once a topic has been chosen it is no longer available. If the teacher would like to see the different ways students may go in their free choice, a teacher may allow students to work on the same topic. A technique recommended for this would be to make sure the groups are not sitting close enough to each other to ensure their ideas are their own and not something that they overheard.
Detailed plan for choosing the most appropriate tool
This unit was planned for a school with access to 1:1 technology. Each student has access to an iPad. For those activities not accessible through the iPad, the school also has computer labs where students may use non-Apple resources. While current students are defined as being a part of the “digital generation”, they are not always digitally literate. Students are going to be asked to use the wealth of knowledge available on the internet and the teacher will be primarily concerned with counterbalancing student’s research time. The role of the teacher during this time is to ask students questions to mold them into critical thinkers. “Is this a credible source? Why? Does this apply to your goal? How can you find information so you can understand this source? Are there other sources you have found which refute this information?” Students will be asked to present their final project. This presentation is required to be digital. However, the tool used for the presentation is not defined. Students may use Powerpoint, Glogster, Prezi, Notability, or any app that clearly and professionally presents their material. Just-in-time assistance from the teacher may be necessary at this point for any students who are unfamiliar with these types of applications. Some resources which may be helpful to students are linked below. These links will also be provided in the Student Resources page so they may have easy access to them. During the last week, the teacher will provide some free time for students to download and “mess about” with presentation apps on their iPads so they can choose the resource that best fits their final product.
Microsoft Office 2010: Excel Tutorial
Microsoft Office2010: Word Tutorial
Microsoft Office 2010: PowerPoint Tutorial
Glogster Tutorial
Prezi Tutorial
Notability Tutorial
The just-in-time materials will be used when the teacher notices information gaps during debriefing time, bell ringer, exit tickets, and when the students turn in the portfolios. Places that teachers may find bio- or nano-content additional help are here under the difficult areas or misconceptions headings.
Detailed description of how the activities will create student ownership and involvement
The students will have the opportunity to choose their own genetic disease to research. This ability to choose, instead of being assigned, a specific disease will allow students to feel committed to one that might be particularly personal or interesting to them. Students who have the autonomy to choose tend to put more effort and drive towards the work they are putting in.
The second goal is to get students thinking about making their own experiment or treatment. Instead of having students research about current medical research and reporting on it, students will be creating their own experiments or potential treatment options. By students using their own imaginations and problem solving skills, they will develop a stronger accountability for what they are developing. The hope is for students to build a better appreciation for the scientific method process and how research and application intertwine.
Since students are being pushed to think LIKE scientists, one path they should explore is communication with current scientists and resources. In the resources tab, there is a list of potential scientists whom students may feel free to contact. These resources will be particularly useful for students who would like to hear more about current application of nanotechnology in the medical field. Depending on the student’s needs, they may email, call, or set up an interview to contact these scientists.
Detailed plan for debriefing and reflection of skills through project completion
Every morning is reserved for debriefing. This time is for the teacher to review conclusions from the day before as well as answering any questions from the previous night’s video watched as homework. This time is flexible to close information gaps but also utilize for as long as necessary based on student response. Time allotted is generally about 5 minutes every morning.
The specific objectives adapted from the 21st Century Skills for this PBL unit are found on the Standards page. They will be assessed by either completion of steps throughout the unit or through reflections in the self and group evaluations toward the end of the unit. For more immediate, formative feedback and communication between students and the teacher, there will be a poster by the door which has a green, yellow and red section. As the students walk out the door they should place a sticky note/magnet/or other replaceable object in the colored section that represents how well their group work went that day. This technique allows students to provide quick feedback without taking away instructional time. The teacher can quickly observe how the day went and can use this distribution to discuss what went well or what didn’t work well during the debriefing time the next day. This time can be used to let the entire class work through social tensions by listening to each other.