A Sick Teacher’s Morning/ Newton’s Law of Cooling Application

If you are uninterested in my  battle and detective work against e. coli and only want to talk Newton’s Law of Cooling, skip down to paragraph 6. I understand Newton’s law of cooling is way more interesting.

Starting at 2 am today, I woke up with a horrible stomach ache. I believe my morning from 2 am-6 am was a result from an evil army of microscopic, hairy Mic n’ Nikes- I looked up what e. coli looks like. I constantly forget about and do not give enough respect to our microscopic world that can overtake so easily.

I have two suspect sources:  I sprouted some alfalfa sprouts in my magic sprouter. I am now afraid of my beautiful cup full of alfalfa, and sadly I think I may just compost them. Or, I also tried eating dandelion leaves for my first time, which I first washed in the rain collector barrel we have. Either I am allergic to dandelion leaves, which I think is like being allergic to lettuce- so unlikely. Or, the NPR program over how rain barrels are e. coli collectors is sadly true.

Anyway, I think e. coli ruined my morning pretty horribly. Never fear though; my students had lessons today yet. I hunched over my computer on the bathroom floor putting together lesson plans. It was sad because there are three weeks of school left, so the crunch time is upon me to get all that I want done. I prepared so well on Saturday night and had today laid out perfectly, only to hand it all over in dry-heaved, butchered form.

Anyway, I slept in hard and woke up feeling a lot better (:, but still not wanting to move around a lot. So, of course the mind starts to nag at you about all of the things I could do. Three things nagged the most: 1.) Writing a month overdue thank you- check. 2.) Writing a blog since it has been months- doing it, check! And 3.) correcting some papers- oh yes, always those; never check. Never L.

I figured I would take the time to share a recent lesson. It is in progress, so it is rough. I love having my students make websites. I love it. So, for our final project to close up our Calculus course, I am having them review an application of integration we went over through a fudge making project. They will be making a nerdy website by bringing in calculus calculations to calculating the time at which the fudge needs to cool.

I only have 7 more days with them. Two of which go to taking a test, so five. The first outline for this project is down below:

Newton's Law Project

Task 1: My students at first had no idea what I meant by task one. Which to be honest I was peeved about. Was my objective not clear? Did they not know they should research about fudge making in order to do the task “CREATE THE INSTRUCTIONS FOR MAKING THE BEST FUDGE!” I got over myself though. I realize my instructions are vague. I had to prompt them, with too sarcastic of questions like “So you guys know all it takes to write instructions on MAKING THE BEST FUDGE.” I had the questions from the like “Are recipes good enough for task 1?” My response was “No. They need to find some tips and secrets." Then one students found a great resource (the first link I provided)  in the links down below. In a nutshell, they say the key to smooth fudge is in the COOLING and the WHIPPING. These were the resources I hoped they would come across:

1.) http://main.kitchendaily.com/2010/03/03/secrets-to-smooth-fudge/
2.) http://www.exploratorium.edu/cooking/candy/fudge-story.html
3.) http://www.kincaidbooks.com/Candy/PerfectFudge.htm

Task 2:  We tested over Newton’s Law of cooling as an application to integration a couple months back, so I handed back there old test, and we discussed and journalled. Then we did the referenced problem which is as follows.

“46.)  When an object is removed from a furnace and placed in an environment with a constant temperature of 80^o F, its core temperature is 1500^o F. An hour later after it is removed, the core temperature is 1120^o F. Find the core temperature 5 hours after the object is removed from the furnace.”

Task 3: I think the essential questions are the hardest part. We so far just discussed the two that I did as examples. We decided we are going to do a few batches to see how the rate at which it cools varies depending on the type of fudge it is. The types of fudge they listed: Cookies N’ Cream; Peanut butter; and regular. We are going to go with a standard room temperature. We also said we could do it on another day where the room is warmer (we do not have air conditioning at our school).

I will let you know how the rest of our discussion goes.

I see us taking two days to come up with more questions and write the protocol for the experiment.

We will take three to actually do the fudge making and website making. The roles for the website making can be the instructions for the fudge, the recipe writing, and the typing out of the protocol. Together, while the fudge is cooling and while we are eating, the calculations and the reflections can be pounded out and put up.

Stay tuned!

Proud to Share Algebra Boot Camp for Calculus

Each year in Calculus, I seem to make it a little farther with my students. I have been able to improve the course a little each year to the point where I feel my students were able to not only reach farther, but also get themselves deeper in the understanding of the concepts of calculus.

I am feeling even better about this year. I have a few things in store to make sure my students are able to focus on the key calculus concepts and that they are able to draw connections that will solidify their new learning even better. 

Change 1: Algebra Boot Camp

We have had just two days of school so far, and I am proud to share the first week's work of Calculus material. With the inspiration of samjshah's post "Algebra Bootcamp in Calculus" http://samjshah.com/2012/06/01/algebra-bootcamp-in-calculus/  I too made a bootcamp. I also have found those darn algebra skills causing so much grief.

Algebra could potentially take away from the calculus. Students getting held up on algebra tends to cause frustration. They triumph over defeating the algebra, but in this triumph over struggle, lost track of the new Calculus skill they were actually trying to do.

Then, there are just those algebra common errors.  Students doing things like this= AAHHHHH!!!!

I gave boot camp 1 on the first day of school and boot camp 2 on the second day of school to my calculus class. Here are those handouts:

Algebra Bootcamp Part 1

Boot Camp 2

I feel this was a great start of the year. In my calculus videos/lessons, I can refer to these boot camp skills. They have the worksheets in the binders/notes, so they can refer back to their findings and review. Plus, it was kind of fun to see them resurface these skills. I stepped back, and told them to use their resources and each other. I was pleasently surprised to see they remembered most of these! They worked in groups of 4 and bounced ideas off of each other very well to complete the worksheets. We had great follow-up discussion about answers following the completion.

Change 2: A huge collaborative concept map to link the concepts and skills of calculus. 

Now this one is not one I have done yet, so hopefully I will proudly be able to share this later as I go along. One project I plan on doing is having them make a concept map throughout the course of the year. After each unit, they will collaborate as a group to come up with key skills and concepts they have learned throughout the sections of the unit. They will be putting these skills and concepts into though bubbles (made out of construction paper maybe) and sticking them to the wall. It will be an ever-changing concept map where they can edit connections as we progress. I want to just do it on the wall using construction paper, but I was also thinking about having them do on on a Prezi. 

One Goal Accomplished... What is Next

As I look over this year, I am happy to say I have successfully introduced the flipped classroom environment to my Calculus Course. Again, the link to my videos is http://calculusflip.wikispaces.com/.

I reviewed one of my old posts from when I returned from ITEC- ITEC if you have not heard of it, is a wonderful technology conference that you should go to if you want to be filled with new ideas and possibly a little depressed at what is out there that you are not doing in your classroom. I am thankful to have made the realization of my life that in order to be a sane and productive person, it is best to take on just one or two goals at a time. In this scenario, you see the accomplishment and success of a focused goal, and you can move on happy. The best case of the other scenario is you have this forever long list of to-do's for goals and in spreading yourself out over the goals, it takes a really, really long time to see any success. The worst case of course is you get burned out and do not see any success. This reminds me of our fix-me-up house... so many projects, such a mess. WHY WOULD ANYONE GLUE CARPET TO BEAUTIFUL HARDWOOD FLOORS!!?

Anyway, the clear goal to implement the flipped classroom has been accomplished. Success is mine. Both my students and I have seen what it can do, and at the end of the year, we all agreed it had been well worth the transition. I have embedded some surveys that they took about the flipped classroom. The main benefit in the discussions we had is that the flipped classroom helped the students feel more college ready in that they practiced and developed the skills of self-motivation, resource use, and independent as well as collaborative thinking and problem-solving.

I still have things to do with the flipped classroom. I am still working on merging the flipped classroom with UbD. I have a goal of remaking 10 of my videos this summer in order to add more applications to the lessons, more in-depth, critical-thinking guided questions, and more visuals and media.

But, with success, I move on happy! What now? What can you expect to see this summer? Here are my three goals for the summer:

1.) I am currently working at Merrill Manufacturing for the "Extern Program." If you have not heard of this, this is another AWESOME experience that enables you to bring back a hands-on experience to your classroom. There is more information of the program at  http://www.iowamathscience.org/educators/externships.I hope to be able to create two unit projects from this experience and publish them on this blog. I also have another blog at http://extern2012-goddard.blogspot.com/ that directly follows my progress at Merrill.

2.) I want to build an energy wind turbine for operating small electronics at my house. I will use this experience and design a unit out of it for my students. Maybe having them build their own wind turbines. If anyone has ideas of the math used in making the most efficient turbines, or just any tips or advice, I would love to get in touch.

3.) Remake 10 videos for my Calculus course.

That is it. Oh, and finish the construction projects on the house...

Clearing Up Misconceptions

I had to write a letter to my students as we entered the second semester of this flipped classroom set up.  I had 5 students drop my class. 2 students dropped because they did not like the new set up. 3 dropped due to the rigor of the class.  I have 8 left.

Dear Flipped Students,

The process of flipping the classroom is still something we are all making adjustments to. We have done a survey, and I hope that you took the time to give me feedback, so I can contemplate the necessary changes and reflect on things I have not thought of. We have kind of talked things out too in class. I want you to know that I am listening, and I am trying to figure out ways to help adapt to this new learning environment.

Some key issues have come up during the discussions about this flipped classroom we have had is class. Below I tackled some of the misconceptions you and/or I may have had at the beginning of this, and I have reflected over some of the changes we could do to make this work out better:

Misconcetion 1: The flipped classroom would result in more/less work

                I want to address that if any of us thought this would make learning easier, that is not the case. This was not meant to make learning easier or reduce the work required to learn. Just as much work will need to go into practicing and trying to understand the key concepts.

 On the other hand, I do not think this is more work for you either. Again, I am going to bring up the word adjustment. I do believe there is an extra learning process that is a consequence of changing how we are learning the material. You all are going to need to learn how to learn from the videos. This initial adjustment is an extra job and challenge that unfortunately is running along side of the challenge to learn the material. As we transition into knowing this class is video-based, we have to establish techniques on how to learn from the videos. Just like learning how to take effective notes, listening actively in class, doing practice problems, etc. are study skills we have acquired over the years and developed (and still are developing), you all will need to learn another study skill of using videos to learn.

If we would have stuck with our class routine before, of course this extra adjustment and consequence would not exist. At the same time, we would never take a stab at the possible benefits of what a flipped classroom can do for us. And truly, if we are successful with this, the learning and productivity can be great.

Misconception 2: The videos should be more entertaining

                The videos are not meant for entertainment. At the start of this, I had this vision that my videos would be awesome and I could do neat effects that would get you engaged in the concepts and skills I was trying to teach through my videos. At this point, we are learning the basics of Calculus, and in all honesty, I just do not have it in my skill right now to be making explosive dramas that will relate to the things I am trying to teach you. When you learned how to add way long ago, the skill itself is not that fun to learn. The applications that come later are what make the skills more interesting.

                My goal and focus needs to be on teaching you the concepts and skills you need to be successful in building connections and learning the concepts of Calculus. Sorry.

                I will be attempting to change up the style of some of the videos. I am not sure how it will be, but I do wish for the lesson videos to be more interactive. Let me know other suggestions that may be helpful to the objective for these videos to teach and help you discover connections and skills.

Key issues and possible solutions that will improve this experience:

Asking questions during the videos:

                Of the feedback I have received about why some students do not like this set up, I find the most concerning one to be the inability to ask questions while the lesson is going on. Some of you have said you had a question come up at certain parts of the video. Now, this set-up does allow you to come to class with those questions, but most of you cannot keep track of all of the questions that arise.

This is big. Questions should not just go unanswered.

My possible solutions for this include arranging a certain time for everyone to watch the video at night so you can post questions on Youtube.  I will be on, and I could refresh my screen and be answering questions as they are posted. Similar to this, we could also arrange for an hour Skype time, where you can be watching the video, and I will be sitting, ready on Skype.  Another solution for you would be to make a journal of questions for each video. Just record the time and your question. The next day, we can pull up that moment in the video and I can explain it in class.

Do not forget that you have an infinite number of resources out there. There is Khan’s Academy, other Youtube videos, practice problems worked out on websites, and many more. Please do not cheat yourself out on the many resources available. We can discuss in class some of these ideas for solutions.

Maintaining a pace.

Some of you may have this sense of not feeling the pressure to be keeping up with homework. This is a class now that requires self-motivation and responsibility. I understand you have a lot on your plate, which is why you do have leeway in the pace. I say at most you should be spending two days on a lesson. I think that is fair. Some lessons may only really take one day for you to understand. Go at that pace. Do not stretch out the lessons you  could accomplish within a day.  If you break ahead, it would allow you to take three days on a section you may be struggling with.

I do assign large homework practice sets. However, if you look at it like this:                    

 The pace gives two days to a lesson. Night one, you go home and spend 45 minutes to an hour taking notes over the 30 minute video. Day one, you have 45 minutes to work on the assignment with me available which leads you to night 2 of homework for 45 minutes. You return back to school for your day two of in class time to finish it off- asking any more last questions. You go home that night to watch the next video and repeat the process. Overall, the reality is that there is no less than 2 hours and 15 minutes dedicated to practice problems/”homework.”  Yes, there are quite a few problems, but you also have a decent amount of paced time.

Try not to fall behind. Feel the pressure and the necessity of giving this time.  I am asking for at least 1.5 hours of homework over the span of two nights.45 minutes of that 90 minutes is note-taking/videowatching. I promise you, I am spending just as much time on this process at home as you are.

The progress grade I hope is sufficient incentive to make you keep up with pace. Your progress is worth 30% of your Calculus grade. As long as you are keeping up with pace, completing the majority of the homework assignments, and taking good notes for your binder, you have 60% in this class. The tests are 40% of your grade which you need to receive at least 70%.  Do the math. You sit at a 90% with the lowest test scores possible as long as you do your homework and stay to pace.