If you live in, oh…  Saint Joseph, Missouri… what effect can you possibly have on ocean resources?  For folks who have lived out their lives from the center of a continent, issues such as this tend to pass by without even a glance.  And yet, certain actions we take on a regular basis directly affect marine ecosystems hundreds of miles away.

No ocean in Missouri

As an educator who hails from dry land in relatively rocky Missouri…  I have long struggled to help these concepts move beyond the abstract and into the concrete lives of my students.  From the start, the Marine Biology program in my district was built around a rich field study set truly in the middle of nowhere on the Andros reef in the Bahamas…  aboard sailboats for a week in April.  If you haven’t seen them, sets from our most recent two field studies in 2009, and 2008 can be found on my Flickr page.  From the images alone, I think you’ll instantly see the educational value of this experience.

From the start, leaning my curriculum against such a rich experience has done wonders for establishing relevance in this course.  However, in my opinion, there is still value in being able to understand our effects on ocean resources…  even when were hundreds of miles from water.  Of course there are many ways in which we on dry land are still intimately tied to the ocean.  However, over the years it seems the direct connection from plate to mouth is the one that establishes a real connection with my students.

Challenge based learning

I’ve written before about projects concerning seafood resources.  Working up to last year, these challenges have moved from the classroom alone toward true social action.  It seems pretty easy for students to buy in to the idea that teaching not only helps one to learn something, but it can also affect change in the world.  Working up to last year’s challenge based on ocean resources, students were encouraged to take on their own project.  There were given the challenge of being creatively independent in reaching a wide audience of local folk with information related to smart uses of seafood resources.

While certain successes were had with this approach, a rather novel set of occurrences this year has pulled us back together as a whole class to take up this challenge in our community.

The End of The Line

“Imagine a world without fish” is the tag line that follows the title of this new full length film.  The End of The Line made its debut at the Sundance Film Festival in January.  The film had its North American premier on July 19, 2009, and continues to play in theaters, communities, and campuses across North America.  Screenings this month are scheduled in cities like Anchorage, Alaska and Kamuela, Hawaii.  The film shows most often on college campuses and at film festivals.  In Saint Joseph…  far from the sea…  it will play free to the public in the Benton High School auditorium.  Here’s betting that this public screening of the film will be the only one for hundreds of miles.

On October 26th, from 6 to 9pm, Benton High will be a hub of discussion about ocean resources, especially smart and sustainable attitudes toward our ocean.  Fr0m 6 to 7pm, a gallery walk will take place in the hallway leading to the theater.  Marine Biology students who have been studying these issues will present displays and talk with guests informally about topics that bring these issues directly to the “table level” in our own community.  Our guests will also leave with practical tools in hand to make smart decisions about seafood.  Pamphlets, pocket guides, bumper stickers will serve to remind well after the film ends.  The End of The Line has a runtime of 82 minutes and will begin at 7pm.  After the film, students will again be available to discuss individual topics in the galleryway until 9pm.  Concessions will be available.  Hey, its a movie.  Movies require popcorn, right?

The screening of the film is sponsored by the Saint Joseph Marine Institute (Marine Biology program) and the Saint Joseph School District.  Thanks to district officials who have long sponsored innovation in the classroom, this community event will be offered free of charge.  Thanks, Dr. Dial.  My students thank you, as will any members of our community who are touched by this experience.

To help spread the word about this free community event, feel free to download a copy of the full-size poster here and display in your school or place of business.

I believe information literacy is the responsibility of all content teachers.  The following piece is a bit about how I tend to kick off a new year, and how to easily aim at info literacy from very early on.  As I have said here before, I do not like to go shy into the new school year.  Our students are learning from us every second of every day.  The real question then is what are they learning.  As the lead learners in the classroom, this is under our control.

With this in mind, it is my goal to have my students leave the room on that first day with a few things spinning around in their heads like…

1.  “Wow. This class is active.  I was working with ideas and classmates the entire period.”

2.  “This guy means business.  He is infectiously passionate and serious about this class, and yet has room for humor within all of the intensity.”

3.  “He seems to have a longview for us in the class.  I can tell he has plans for us and cares that we are “in” as much as he is.”

4.  “I might be headed for a music major in college next year, and this will likely be my last formal science course, but I am actually thinking this class might be built with people like me (as well as the biology geeks) in mind.”

5.  “I had better get used to sharing my learning.  This class is open.  I will certainly have to step out of my comfort zone a little on this one.”

6.  “Not sure how I feel about construc…. whatever he called it…  but if it means I won’t have to sit while he talks all period, then I’m for it.”

I obviously believe in creating the ultimate mental model, and then working from there with my planning framed by those ideals.  This year we started the school year with built-in early release days and short periods.  Last Wednesday was our first full period of instruction.  I just don’t believe that on that first day you can just go gently into your course.  It is my philosophy to swing hard from day one.

So how can you teach your students who you are, what to expect, what you stand for, what and how they’ll be learning during the year…  all in one day?  As usual, I’m still debriefing the success of this one lesson, but I do believe that all of this is possible.  Stick with me on this one.  Here in a bit, I’ll ask you to help me assess some of this by scanning through the pages of online student writing about this lesson.  Here’s a small sample as a preview:

I believe this type of learning is important… the activity split up our class in two sections making each side work together in a very short amount of time. This helps build chemistry between everyone in our class which I believe is very important since we’ll be around each other for a whole year. It was also important, because it made all of us think and learn about a topic we most likely hadn’t heard anything about. Science has a lot to do with the unknown and I believe this issue on shark cartilage really challenged us on something we had no clue about. We had to work to decide whether or not the shark cartilage was effective and for that matter whether or not the information we were given was reliable.” ~Kerstyn Bolton

Day one

I don’t do stand-alone “ice breakers” any longer.  That’s not a criticism of those who do, but in my thinking that says to the students:  “we had to construct a special event outside of our normal work in this class in order to talk to and learn about one another.”  I design my first day to be authentic collaboration and sharing among students where classmates must rely on one another to complete a content-related task, or solve a content-related problem.

My learning goals for the day were rather broad.  It was day one.  They were as follows:   1. Setting classroom tone.  2. Building the foundation of a learning environment.  3. Proving the concrete, daily value of science.  4. Team-building.  5.  Evaluating and debating a scientific assertion in the field of medicine.  6.  Establishing an academic spirit for our first online work at Principles of Biology.

Shark cartilage?

So, to trim down a rather complex story…  We divided into two large groups (10 students each side) to examine the idea that shark cartilage supplements can be used as a safe and effective treatment for some types of cancer.  This is fringe alternative-medicine stuff.  There is a ton of web chatter on both sides of this issue.  Though the medical community is rather aligned on this issue, as with any “natural” treatment, there are many proponents on the fringes.  The data found on the web is, in short, a big area of gray to most people.

The information on this issue is all over the board.  There are a few freely accessible journal articles on the web, there are terribly crackpot e-commerce sites, and there are hundreds of examples in the gray area between the two.  Because I had to have a brisk pace to finish in one period, I constructed two packets… one for each group.  One group of ten got a packet full of public websites representing the “for” side of using shark cartilage supplements as a treatment for cancer.  The other group of ten were given a packet representing sites that represented the “against” side of the issue.

With no formal instruction on argument nor debate, the students were led through a protocol to digest the content of the packet in short order and prepare a speedy argument aligned with their given viewpoint.  I led them through a series of skimming, compiling, active reading, and sharing tasks to help them build structure for an argument in about 20 minutes.  Considering this was a group of ten working with a subject they knew nothing about, that is saying something.  The action was fast and furious.  Frankly, they ended up engaging in a better debate than I had even anticipated.  Battles over sources cited and inherent biases came out without being prompted.

“I LOVED learning like this because I think it gave everyone a chance to teach everyone else.” ~Hannah Rush

Ultimately, they were to take their thoughts from the day and reflect on both the content learning as well as the process of the day’s learning events.  To me, I never go a day without sharing the strategic purpose for that particular event.  If I don’t have a best-practice reason for doing what I’m doing the way I’m doing it…   then I (and they by default) would quite possibly be wasting time.  This keeps us all on our toes and makes the “game of school” completely transparent within my class.

So let’s see where the rubber meets to road on this one.  If you haven’t been tempted to click through to the discussion thread on this already, please do so now.  I think you’ll be pleasantly impressed by the willingness to dive head first into this one and really discuss the issues.  As of this morning, there are seven pages of student discourse.  I think you’ll appreciate this look into how students approach the task of reflecting deeply over their learning in this class.

“I really thought what you said about “You learn only 10% of what you read, but you learn 95% of what you teach” was very interesting…  …This makes our activity in class so much more exciting to me! I remember a lot of what my section said about shark cartilage and that’s because I had to, because my team needed me…” ~Kerstyn Bolton

My LMS can beat up your LMS

Not only should information literacy not be an add-on, nor should your Library Media Specialist.  At Benton, we are undergoing a true paradigm shift in library media services.  By hiring Melissa Corey, we have in the span of a summer updated our services to bring the library’s digital tendrils into every classroom in our building.  Last year, the physical space of our library was scrapped for a full redo to bring it up to date as a learning space for 2010.  This year, we have the personnel to put the plan into action.

As this lesson was unfolding, I realized that I was setting up our new Library Media Specialist to fly in the next period, cape and all, to deliver the way to a more rigorous online research process.  What I didn’t know is how personalized this service would be.  Boy-  were we in for a surprise.  For starters, here is the slide show she used to help deliver our learning for the day:

Thanks

Three years ago I moved into a position of instructional coach for my building.  The majority of my days are now spent as a content-generalist coach focused on helping teachers improve pedagogical skills.  Our opt-in model keeps the conversation focused on one thing:  pedagogy as opposed to content.  This is a very smart model for honing in on the “P” sphere of Mishra & Koehler’s TPACK framework.  However, perhaps even smarter is the fact that I am not completely removed from being behind the wheel of my own classroom.  Teaching my own class is a way to assure my attachment to at least most of the day to day experiences of our folks in “the trenches.”  My opinions on instructional practice and concrete strategies are only as good as my ability to pull them off in my own classroom.  I say this for perhaps a different reason that you might think.  The core of my role as a coach is to question, to advise, to consult, encourage, and inspire my colleagues toward better and better things.  It really isn’t about “me.”

That said, my ability to move down any strategic path toward best practices in instruction with a teacher is directly tied to both my familiarity and comfort level with that mode of learning.  Put simply:  you can’t talk the talk without walking the walk.  So during the day, I teach Principles of Biology during period three as well as Marine Biology.  Marine Biology is a special case across the board.  The program was created in 1999 and and includes night classes from 7 to 9pm on Mondays, a roster made up of students from our three local high schools, and a week-long field study on the coral reefs of the Bahamas each April.  Did I mention yet that my district respects and fosters solid innovation?  For that, my students and I are terribly lucky.

To my original point

Seriously.  Blogging is such a reflective act for me.  So often I start down a simple path and quickly realize there is far more under the hood to discuss.  So with that out of the way, allow me to introduce you to two of my newest colleagues:  Jennifer Toalson and Alex Paolillo.  Interestingly, between the two, they teach quite a range of subjects: General Biology, Environmental Science, Microbiology and Genetics.  More interestingly, they were (somewhat recently) Marine Biology students of mine.  Our department has a total of less than seven FTE’s.  Therefore, here are two-sevenths of my immediate world.  Jennifer was a member of the 2002 Marine Biology class and Alex was a 2004 member.

Jennifer joined the Benton Science Department last year and was an immediate success.  As the oldest of seven, she is a natural at building relationships and getting the most out of younger folk.  Jennifer’s Dad is also a teacher of industrial arts at a high school across town.  Alex, who will begin his teaching career this fall, also comes equipped with a teacher’s pedigree.  Alex is actually the son of two teachers and his father was at one time the Director of Secondary Education in our city.  And yes…  in my prized image below, you’ll see Alex attempting to feed bread crumbs to seagulls from his bare chest in The Bahamas.  Tell me this isn’t going to be fun.

How many of you have been lucky enough to have two former students as direct departmental colleagues?  How fun is that?

I can’t tell you how excited this makes me.  Again….. I am now only a really a small part of the science department at my high school.  However, with a wife who is the Department Chair, it is even more exciting to see our immediate world become so infused with young, enthusiastic blood.  One thing I can say for sure about Alex and Jennifer:  they really want to make a difference in the lives of young people.  With that, anything they want to work hard for in this profession will come to them.  Not only do I remember their high school days as fun-filled, I now have spent time with them as colleagues.  The following pics will give you a glimpse of them in their (recently) younger days as Marine Biology students.  One might wonder if perhaps holding a sea urchin or encouraging sea gulls to feed from your belly makes one a likely candidate for biology educator in later years.  I am staring to believe so.  (funny now to see them so young again here in the next two images)

I recently thought about doing a quick and dirty post that mentioned these two coming on board as biology teachers.  (as biology teachers, biology teachers in my hometown, and as biology teachers in my current school)  The day it hit me was a few weeks ago when Erin, Jennifer, Alex, and I spent the day at a biotechnology workshop in Kansas City…  (many thanks to Erin for organizing the day’s events.)  Overall, we had a great summer day of re-connecting to the past and teambuilding for the future.

In closing

Since Marine Biology began in 2000, some of my former students are undergrad marine biology students.  A few are even PhD candidates.  People frequently ask about those.  However, the demographic that isn’t often inquired about might just be those who have lived their entire lives in the center of the continent…  who love biology…  love the energy of youth…  but cannot find a better reason to move that far away from a strong family/friends network.  I’ve been thinking quite a bit about this as of late.

See what this does?  I start out with an idea to post a simple image from a recent workshop and I end up tacking it on to personal connections, people-to-people connections, coaching, and the TPACK framework.  When I began blogging a just over a year ago in April-  it was done as a “proof of concept” exercise.  That has blossomed into the mess you now see.  The bottom line is:  You cannot imagine the effect blogging will have on your future learning unless you are actually doing it.  This truly is a new genre of writing.  It is more than empowering for the everyman who embarks upon it.  Give it a try.  What are you waiting for?  And while you’re at it…  give my two new colleagues a shout out from the masses.  They will soon be getting an earful from yours truly about establishing their “digital footprint” and getting connected as a professional.  I am excited about being a leader in the “T” (in TPACK) revolution in the Saint Joseph School District.

Stay tuned…

Artwork

Give me potential or give me death.

~Sean Nash

A Patrick Henry moment

Yep, I just quoted myself.  It’s OK, I’ll take that one.  In fact, I think I’ll take it and run with it for a bit.  Check it out.  See, I don’t deal well with what one of my science department colleagues refers to as the “Negative Nelson.”  These are folks who jump quickly to the most negative outlook possible to begin any task, discussion or debate.  Now I’m certainly not talking about people who exhibit the valuable skill of being able to ferret out potential pitfalls in any new endeavor.  Karl Fisch, in a recent workshop at MICDS in St. Louis, referred to those elements of a system as the “yeah, buts.“  His willingness that day to confront potential snags head-on is one of the marks of any successful project manager.

That said, negativity used as a strategy to push back from the table (whether conscious or unconscious) in order to avoid change or conflict is a very toxic thing.  Life is too short and too difficult as it is.  Stirring up extra negativity in such a challenging career field is more than a waste of time.  In my 18 years as an educator I have had the benefit of working in environments that were so positive and supportive that I was constantly inspired.  I have also had my years where “clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right” is about the most polite way I can put it.  Negative Nelsons. Thanks, Jennifer.  That one is elegantly simple.  It made me laugh, and it made me reflect.  So obviously, I haven’t been able to get in here to write very much as of late.  Please excuse the rapid-fire unloading of thought here.  I’ll get back to succinct when I get more time.

“I would have written a shorter letter if I had more time.”

~Blaise Pascal

Why the “2.0?”

Now that I think of it, I probably could have just entitled this one “2.0″ because this is now what this phrase means to me.  I’m not going to go off into the history of the quirk of using “2.0″ to signify the newest iteration of…..  something.  Heck it is now used for pretty much anything:  Web 2.0, School 2.0, Library 2.0, Government 2.0, and on and on and on.  Tack a two at the end and instantly whatever you are talking about, planning, or selling becomes better, newer, shinier.  From my personal perspective, what at one point meant something to those pushing the envelope of using the Internet in education, now means means less.  The more you use something, right?  I get it.  I know.  After a while of having “2.0’s” ping-ponged about in the echo chamber of online communications… the meaning does tend to get stale.  If you subscribe to the tweets of some of the more connected edtechers out there, you’ll find more than a few who are just plain ol’ sick of the term.

Why it doesn’t bother me

Let’s just get this out of the way first:  According to Global language Monitor, “Web 2.0″ is the  1,000,000th word added into the English language.  So there.  It means something.  For the “How’d they figure that?“, click here.

I’ll be honest.  I hate it too by now.  It is the height of cliche’ in my head.  However, I think I am just sick of it considering how much I actually feel the need to use the term in my current job as an instructional coach in the middle of a constructivist reformation/technology integration pilot.  I try to use a ton of helper phrases to describe this entity as well: read/write web, social web, participatory web, and other.  Those are great, and do help, but I still need two-oh.

In a recent technology summit in our school district, an administrator actually started out one of the segments declaring that in terms of education, Web 2.0 “doesn’t really mean anything,” and that people really can’t agree on whether it will have an impact or not.  This is one statement I had to disagree with point blank that day.  Really, I get why it might seem less-than-concrete on the surface.  With utmost respect, to an educator not using the participatory web in the classroom (or anywhere else professionally) “Web 2.0″ must look a bit like the wild west compared to the pricey and packaged comfort of a content management system like Blackboard, WebCT or E-Companion.  But think about it-  a constructivist classroom probably does look like Dodge City to the vast majority of people who were educated in the neat and tidy rows of desks in the American schools of our past.

What it means for me is that frankly…  I don’t have to wait for anyone any longer.  When I want to go, I go.  When my students are ready for something better (that fits good pedagogy) we go.  With a robust and lightly filtered network-  no longer did I have to wait for more software to be decided upon, purchased, server space to be allocated, or passwords to be doled out.  With Web2, I was able to immediately make a go at what I, my administrators, my students, and my parents thought was the right path to follow.  I could hone a web tool to my liking in a weekend.  I didn’t need to wait for a comprehensive plan filled with multiple opportunities for job-embedded professional development and one-on-one coaching.  I was ready, and I rolled on.

All of a sudden, more than at any time previously in my career, I was able to model myself as a learner in the classroom right alongside my students.  I was able to show them what it looked like to be a connected learner in the digital world of current information and communications technology.  Now I am ready to go back and help build that comprehensive implementation plan for our teachers and students.  I hope I am continually able to model those experiences in the other direction as well…  still as a learner modeling the navigation of our newly-digital terrain, though not only for our students but also for those who make far-reaching decisions for each of the students in our town.

Positivity and possibility

I need positivity.  My engine thrives upon it.  I need open potential.  I need new possibilities.  Here’s why I decided today to “re-like” the terminology of 2.0:  It is just so full of possibility.  School 2.0?  Seriously, who isn’t interested in reforming the future for the largest open-schooling system in the world?  Don’t answer that.  Good point.  I’m sure there are plenty who aren’t.  But look how many really are.  Because of Web 2.0, the folks who want to step up and have a hand in the remaking of our outmoded schools, libraries and governmental participation models…   can.

Web 2.0 is still a novel and effective tool for democracy.  It is still a new way to interact via the Internet.  Why not let it remind you of the shiny possibility of doing something better the next time you try?  Sticking a two at the end of something doesn’t automatically make it better.  However, possibility is as contagious as negativity.  Spread some love, will ya’?

Artwork

This strategic look at comparisons is an adaptation of an academic paper I wrote this past year. I dampened it a bit, but I didn’t do a full rewrite. Sorry in advance for the impersonal tone. I had strong enough positive feedback on this one that I thought it might have justified a wider audience. So here it is… we’ll see I suppose. Also, this is a pretty straight-up look at a direct strategic approach to instruction. That is certainly something, as you know, I don’t spend much time on here. The focus here tends to be more on big picture items. However, certain skills are worth careful and detailed guidance. I would argue that this is one of those.

Similarities and Differences

No reference to specific teaching and learning strategies would be complete without a reasonable outline of the act of identifying similarities and differences. Perhaps most notable in this category is the best-selling instructional text; Classroom Instruction that Works by Marzano, Pickering and Pollock in 2001. Marzano later even put the practice of identifying similarities and differences -commonly referred to by practitioners as simply comparing and contrasting- on a still higher pedestal by referring to it as the single most effective strategy to increase student achievement. In What Works in Schools: Translating Research into Action, Marzano lists similarities/differences at the top of a chart which boasts a 45 percentile gain for this strategy alone. This notation served to boost this strategy to the single most effective of the nine referred to in the text. To provide some perspective, the second most effective strategy according to Marzano’s work is summarizing and note-taking, which is associated with an overall 34 percentile gain when utilized effectively (82-83).

Wait a second  -trust me, I get it-  meta analysis certainly can be a skewed way to quantitatively look at instructional strategies. But for this examination, let’s get past that and look at this as a foundational book that has found its way into millions of classrooms across the country. These numbers for comparing make the potential value of this teaching and learning process undeniable even in a broad statistical generalization. However, in my experience as a biology instructor and a generalist instructional coach, one key element is often absent from the delivery of strategic comparison. While students are nearly always guided through the identification of similarities and differences between two concepts, the specifics of the relationship of these differences to one another is too often neglected. In short, this relationship is often referred to as the “criteria” from which to differentiate, or what I will refer to as the “with regard to what?” element.

The strategy of comparison, “takes advantage of the natural human capacity to make comparisons.”

According to Chapter Five in The Strategic Teacher by Silver, Strong and Perini, the strategy of academic comparison “takes advantage of the natural human capacity to make comparisons” (71). I actually like this book. I think it deserves a bit more attention.  The dashboard-like feature at the start of each chapter ties things together in an interesting way.  The text contains several interesting ideas about the ways that these thought processes play out in the mind of the student. Comparison allows us to increase memory by the simple fact that two linked ideas last longer than any two ideas left alone. Comparison allows the use of prior knowledge to help make sense of new ideas. Help in making connections and creation of new and unique ideas certainly can be facilitated by this strategy, and finally it helps to make abstract thought visible and easily-overlooked content unavoidable (74). Solid use of the technique is ultimately made more effective through a process that involves:

• Describing each item separately
• Identifying similarities and differences using a comparison organizer
• Forming and discussing conclusions
• Synthesizing learning by completing a task (71)

The Silver and Strong text continues by solidifying proper use of the strategy by including a step by step approach which early on includes providing students with criteria for analyzing the two items. This is essentially the basis for drawing a comparison between any two things. Examples listed in the text include:  What do they eat? What do they look like? How do they behave? (75).  In my own instruction, this is the point where I might ask students for example; “How does the wing of a bird and the flipper of a whale differ with regard to structure?” This crucial cognitive element requires students to think about why they are drawing the distinction as well as directing them toward differences described in the curriculum that students may not directly discover on their own. However, much as I have noted in my own practice, Silver and Strong ultimately speak to the importance of moving students toward independence by teaching them how to formulate their own criteria for comparison (75).

Convergent or divergent?

In Classroom Instruction That Works, Marzano differentiates between teacher-directed comparison tasks as opposed to student-directed tasks. Both have their place in the repertoire of the instructor, but both tend to give differing results. It stands to reason that if a teacher wishes to have student thoughts and responses revolve around a tighter, more homogenous standard-  then teacher-directed activities would be selected.  In this case, the students would be given the criteria from which to draw their distinctions.  However, if the teacher wishes to encourage divergent and creative thought, student-directed activities would be prescribed.  In student-directed work, the criteria or characteristics from which to differentiate come directly from the student (16-17).

Though Marzano begins with descriptions of simple comparison tasks like the Venn diagram, he ultimately moves on to the far more complex Comparison Matrix (19).  The Matrices are very structured tables that tend to require a close adherence to the given criteria.  In my experience with similar comparison matrices, student responses and discussions tend to be more tightly wound around a few criteria and rarely stray into more creative or original territory.  To me, there also seems to be something about the structure of the matrix that requires a more careful gradual release of responsibility to the students, even though it is more prescribed. In my opinion, the treatment of comparison strategies by Marzano, Silver, and Strong is reasonably thorough and informative. Not all authors give this process the weight it is due. The way I see it, this is perhaps the most effective instructional strategy simply because of the sophistication of thought processing required. Put more simply-  comparison of rigorous content is just plain harder to do than it might at first seem. Ultimately getting it right in the classroom tends to score big points in academic achievement. I see little disconnect in these two realities.

Not enough respect?

Like many attempts to portray teaching and learning as simplistic tasks one can write the classic “how to” manual for, treatment of comparison strategies often falls shy of the mark.  The very popular text by Stephanie Harvey & Anne Goudvis on comprehension and understanding, Strategies That Work, makes very little mention of comparison strategies.  The one solid mention of a single comparison strategy is found within a “strategy lesson” vignette within a chapter devoted to “Synthesizing Thought.” In it, a seventh-grade science teacher is highlighted for teaching students the differences between coral and kelp, two marine organisms. The vignette briefly explains how the teacher utilizes a “three-column form that is similar to a Venn diagram, since they both report similarities in the middle” (149). No mention of ever going deeper with this strategy is mentioned in the text.  My biggest criticism of simplistic organizers like the Venn diagram is the fact that there is little to no opportunity nor suggestion that students should categorize their differentiation along the lines of criteria or characteristics. This tends to allow more potential disconnects in the process. Subsequent examination of student work of this kind often reveals differences without a counterpart in the opposing concept. This is oftentimes the pitfall of simplistic organizers found throughout the Web for easy download from many websites. Teachers may tend to jump to implementation of such tasks without careful forethought into the type of thinking they ultimately want to elicit from their students.

Another crucial aspect of this strategy that is worth mention is the tendency of teachers to hug too tightly to graphic organizers throughout their plan of action with students. Compare/contrast is one skill that tends to be very tied to a few typical graphic organizer forms. While the help these forms provide with organizing complex thought is valuable in the beginning, students should be released from the printed forms as quickly as is feasible. There is little to gain from releasing students too early in the implementation of a sophisticated strategy.  However, staying too long on the crutch of any graphic organizer tends to leave students ill-equipped when faced with situations where there is no pre-existing organizer. I find that after many scaffolded lessons with organizers of increasing complexity, it is valuable for students to begin practicing this strategy on a blank page.  Only then will they be forced to see this type of organization of thought in their head.  Though I release kids from teacher-printed forms as quickly as possible, I do find that my Zoology students tend to gravitate toward one or two basic versions of comparison diagram.  Perhaps this has more to do with the nature of the information they work with in this course…

A zoological example

In a recent example from my classroom (see image above), students were asked to participate in a hands-on examination and dissection of two preserved animal specimens for anatomical comparison. This strategy is not only useful for the study of comparative anatomy; it is imperative for a deep understanding of the structure and function of animal life. This year, instead of two separate dissection & anatomy lab investigations of Arthropods (invertebrate animals including insects and crustaceans), I decided to do both analyses together.

In one regard, I felt like this lesson might lead to students experiencing a more shallow analysis of both organisms in one lab setting.  However, I ended up being very pleasantly surprised. Students spent time analyzing the detailed structures of each organism (grasshopper and crayfish) and recording general and specific observations (image directly above). They then were allowed to graphically chart similarities and differences in the way they saw best fit for the task at hand.  All but one group utilized a format very similar to the one we landed on previously in a large group discussion/debrief as being the best for examination of our content (image directly below).  It is important to note when looking at the student artifacts in this case, that even though this was a fairly teacher-directed strategy, enough freedom was allowed so that student responses went beyond mere structural differences that were directly observed.  Many of the comments were inferential toward the supposed physiology of the animals.  Several of these comments were likely a result of prior knowledge.  However, many took structural differences and used these to also infer behavioral differences that would be observed in live specimens.  This is an important leap from the stated task and one that is carefully facilitated in scaffolded steps.

Stepping into the hypothetical

Even though students were given little direction by this stage of the course, it is interesting to note that nearly all graphic depictions followed that which was decided to be most beneficial to students by students. This somewhat rigid form was then used to organize thought and in no way seemed to limit responses to the concrete things observable in specimens and on the printed page. An examination of some of the characteristics recorded, including the “with regard to” element of the chart, shows a solid grasp of directly-observable concrete structures. You also can notice a few attempts to take these structures into the abstract of how they might influence the performance or behavior of the specimens.

Regardless of application, it is clear that attempts to have students identify similarities and differences in an academic setting is effective in elevating student understanding.  From the research summarized by Marzano and the careful work done by Silver & Strong, to the few small examples of student work from my classroom, there is more support for this strategy than can be ignored.  From early attempts with Venn diagrams to complex exercises in determining and developing criteria for distinction, academic comparison requires a sophisticated set of thought processes.  Engaging students in such rigorous tasks ultimately sets them up to develop a deep understanding of complex content.

Cited

We are less than a day away from our Marine Biology class field study on Andros Island in the Bahamas.  I am still waiting for students to come in to weigh their gear.  I still need to pick up a few last-minute items.  I still need to prepare to be perfectly (and wonderfully) off the grid for an entire week.  As hurried as I have been lately, I have done some fun preparation for this blog.  Since I cannot write for at least a week, two of my electronic pals have agreed to make a guest appearance in my absence!  Dr. Punya Mishra (of TPACK fame) and Stacy Baker (of Edublog Awards fame) will be taking the wheel.

I don’t exactly know what they will be bringing to nashworld other than the typical insight and wit they spill forth in their own projects on a regular basis.  Stacy’s class blog was the 2008 Edublogs Award winner for “best class blog.”  Her insight on how to pull off this type of framework will certainly be valuable.  Along with Dr. Matt Koehler, Dr. Mishra is one of the co-developers of the TPACK framework.  Our school has begun to embrace the simplicity of the framework as well as the deep commitment it takes to move toward the “center” of the model.  I am convinced this framework will be more valuable as more of America realizes the need for true integration of technology into our current and future models of education reform.

We have a ton to learn from these two.  I am already excited to read what they bring to the site while I am away.  Did I mention that I still haven’t left yet?

Andros Island?

Without going into too much detail in my frazzled state, I will say that the reason for our choice of field station locale is simple.  Andros Island boasts what is said to be the third longest barrier coral reef in the world.  We will be on 45′ sailboats for seven days, snorkeling the reef, mangroves, sandflats, blue holes, etc.  Just a few hundred miles off the coast of Florida, Andros is an amazing and surprisingly remote place.

At nearly one hundred miles long, Andros is overwhelmingly the largest land mass in the Bahamas.  Nassau, the capital city, sits on New Providence island with over 250,000 inhabitants and is the bulk of the tourism target.  Andros, on the other hand, is large, flat and green with just around 8000 inhabitants.  This island is wonderfully and yet very strangely “backwoods” considering its proximity to the United States.

Until we return with our many fish tales, take a second to visit our class network or perhaps some of the images from our 2008 field study.  The Ning site is less than a year old.  It will be exciting to spill the journals, images, and videos of eighteen students onto that space when we return.  We stopped updating our crusty old static “Web 1.0″ page back around 2003 or 2004.

Protecting living coral

That said, our crusty old static presence was still quite functional a few years back when I was contacted by a member of the Center for Biological Diversity about using some images from our site for an historic petition to list the first coral species under the Endangered Species Act.  Apparently, our images of the Andros reef chronicled the state of two threatened species of Caribbean-region corals quite nicely.  And of course, being a marine biology teacher, I have images that tell the entire “natural history” of the ecosystem as opposed to merely pretty pictures.

The petition that was prepared (by no means a typical “petition,” but instead a 111 page formal manuscript that takes patience to load) not only features one of my images on the cover, but is illustrated using mostly our images from the Andros reef.  Hey-  whoever said “Web 1.0″ wasn’t much for education?  My students get a kick out of all of the international communication that happens as a result of our network, blogs, etc.  However, this one event in 2005/2006 stuck out like crazy at the time to my students of Saint Joseph, Missouri.

I suggest checking this document out.  If for no other reason than to see what something like this entails.  Well, that and…  the photos!  If you do check out the petition, slide all the way back to the “acknowledgments” on page 111.  It was pretty cool to see our little school district listed there so prominently on such a landmark document.  The real bottom line here:  this petition succeeded in getting both Elkhorn and Staghorn coral listed as threatened species under the ESA.  These are some of the only invertebrate species ever gaining protection under the Endangered Species Act.

So stay tuned for Punya & Stacy…  and a ton of news from the reef!

.

Today’s lesson in Principles of Biology was essentially: pay attention.

Students were directed to a teacher-led discussion prompt and associated website on the “Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus“- a rare, endangered, and absolutely amazing animal. The only fact not disclosed in the very vague discussion prompt here is the fact that this animal is… not… an animal. It is perfectly false. It is wonderfully false. It is very over-the-top false. Anything beyond a surface skim shows the weakness in the presentation.  How well do your students “read?” How well do we discern sources of information? How “media literate” are we?  Do you teach these skills in your subject area?  Or is this perhaps the exclusive domain of the Communication Arts department?

This website has been in existence for over ten years now.  However, it is as good as new if you are arriving for the first time- and while sitting in a biology class.  It is certainly interesting to take a peek into an actual student discussion surrounding the topic. Check it out here, on our class network. There are five full pages to examine.   It really is interesting to read through and find the kids who actually were fooled by this prior to posting. It is also quite enlightening to read from those who weren’t fooled.  How did they know?  What was different?  I think you will have to agree that they were all good sports about it!  I have some open-minded and fun-loving students for certain.  In fact, Tania Sheko, a fellow blogger and teacher-librarian at Whitefriars College in Australia recently noticed a few of our online discussions and blogged about it.  They are seeing increased value in the openness of our network as the year goes on.

Halfway through today’s tongue-in-cheek lesson, I passed around a few pages from this online resource to ground the discussion: The Center for Media Literacy. Included in the site, the “Literacy for the 21st Century” guide is an excellent document, as is the “Five Key Questions That Can Change the World,” document.  I suggest saving this particular resource for future use.  The five questions are derived from the following core concepts:

1. Authorship

2. Format

3. Audience

4. Content

5. Purpose

Do you believe spending precious class time to address issues regarding media literacy in your content area is important?  If so, what do you do?  How do you do it?  How do you justify a lesson that isn’t likely to be specified within your curriculum?  What would you like to know more about?  Enjoy the discussion… we certainly did this morning.

.

Lyrics:
People get malaria when they’re bit by a mosquito
It’s taking lives like a torpedo
Every year one million die worldwide
But you can prevent it with insecticide

Maybe a breakthrough cure for malaria
To starve the parasite was their idea

Every thirty seconds a child dies
Without treatment, it’s no surprise
A family in Africa could be saved by a bug net
Too bad they can’t afford one yet

This treatment fights the drug-resistant kind
Hopefully we can put malaria out of mind

I wish this cure will help people everywhere
I want it to end their nightmare

Understandably, I often field comments like: “I just need to see what technology integration looks like.” Well, I would say this is a nice little example of a student taking a piece of content and exploding it into not only a scientific and artistic expression… but ultimately what may just move across the plane of classroom into social action. And to me, that is golden. This blog post and video are certainly not about the technology, but rather facilitated by it.  To think that you can sit in front of a camera, and then a computer and create rich content like this to demonstrate learning is very cool. Though to think your response could actually move folks to action is, well… nothing short of inspiring.

The video is just a part of a really nice blog post that provides some nice context for the song. You really need to visit this link to get the full experience. Shoot- perhaps Miss Jennifer needs her own YouTube channel to publish future scientific songstress expressions?

This post was made by a student of Stacy Baker’s biology class. Stacy is one a handful of my Twitter friends who helps to keep The Synapse running along with Erin & I. Her class blog was most-deservedly voted “Best Class Blog” in the 2008 Edublogs Awards.

I am pretty excited to see all of the chatter about this post in such a short time (as I hope Jennifer is). You never know where these things will go. So what do you get out of this? What does it make you think? Is this to be valued as highly as I value it? Am I wrong in thinking so? I would love your feedback.

Cyber-cynicism

Stacy is a cyper-pal of mine and one of our growing group of inspiring collaborators on The Synapse.  She is also a blogger herself and a teacher whose class blog entitled “Extreme Biology” was nominated and won a 2008 Edublogs Award for “Best Class Blog.”  She has recently taken the newly-released features on Animoto (adding text overlays and altering slide pacing) and really ran with them.  She is now becoming quite adept at using Animoto to deliver motivating “trailers” to introduce new topics of study for her biology classes.

One of the things I respect Stacy for the most  -is not only being willing to immerse herself in the latest technology-  but for taking the professional “second look” at any of these technologies for their real educational value at the classroom level.  I think her blog is a really good example of how one does this.  If you see what I see throughout her archives, you will notice time and time again a willingness to experiment, reflect and evaluate.

Several of us in our spontaneous little web community, including Erin, have been experimenting with this sparkly video tool since its debut.  Like most people, we all fell in love with the cinema quality of the transitions, its ability to match action to the music you select, and the overall ease of use.  This post of mine from last June was all about the tool itself.  That was pretty much prior to any attempts at classroom use.  To be honest, most of us quickly gave up on Animoto as an “instructional” tool.  That is, until we all pretty much seemed to spontaneously remember that there is a ton of value in grounding our course concepts in relevance.

Settling in

I think this follows a natural progression with the adoption of any shiny new technology.  The early adopters among us seem to dive in, feel out the parameters, see what it can do, and then spread the news quickly.  The next step then seems to be true evaluation on the front lines  The MLK day trailer above is a perfect example of a multidisciplinary look at one topic in biology.  If this video doesn’t make a brief case for the relevance of the study of genetics, then I’m not sure what does.  The biology of race is not one often examined in biology classes and I applaud the energy Miss Baker is putting behind this issue.

If you have read much of this blog you also know I am a huge proponent of front-loading any conceptual heavy-lifting with tons of attempts to engage and motivate.  It seems as if I am coming onboard with Animoto being another good tool to “hook” student interest.  From my first attempt at Animoto:

CoMPeTitiOn?

…until recently, I saw Animoto as a really slick little marketing tool for education.  The fast-paced and pretty videos work really well to show off something that has already happened.  With a few new features, and a switch in thought from marketing to motivation, I am now seeing Animoto in a very positive light for classroom use.  Actually-  my wife, Erin just beat me to a post on this topic.  What is this- competition?  Wow.  In fact, notice the title of her blog.  Perhaps this is what happens when firstborns marry.  But yeah-  please feel free to welcome her into the blogosphere with some feedback as this is her first post on an individual blog.  Also be sure to check out her video there introducing “mollusks” to her zoology students!

Have you used Animoto yet?  Feel free to comment with examples…

Is it possible to make a claim that your iPhone application can help to save the world?  In this one case, I think it might be justified.  Honestly, I never thought I would be the type of person to do a write up on the latest “cool app” for the iPhone.  That all quickly changed with the new year’s eve release of “Seafood Guide” for the iPhone.  Seafood Guide is a product of Seafood Watch.  According to the website, Seafood Watch is…

A program of Monterey Bay Aquarium designed to raise consumer awareness about the importance of buying seafood from sustainable sources. We recommend which seafood to buy or avoid, helping consumers to become advocates for environmentally friendly seafood. We’re also partners of the Seafood Choices Alliance where, along with other seafood awareness campaigns, we provide seafood purveyors with recommendations on seafood choices.

So what if you say, “Sean, I don’t own an iPhone”, or how about “I don’t even like seafood, so…?”  If this is you, then stay with me another minute.  There is a little something for everyone here.  There is something for the geek, the teacher, and the conscious consumer in us all.  Before we go any further, click here if you want to download the app straight away.  You hyper-connected geeks will love how the iPhone platform allows for easy access to a ton of information about the seafood available to you at local restaurants and markets.

Teaching “sustainability”

It is always been really easy for my Marine Biology students to appreciate the intrinsic beauty and fragility of coral reefs.  Spending seven days snorkeling remote reefs of the Bahamas in the month of April will do that to you.  However, I have always wanted my students to do more.  I want them to know that what happens back home matters as well.  We have only recently attempted to study conservation of ocean resources from our home near the center of the continent.  In fact, Missouri does a super job of conservation of regional natural resources at the state level.  Anyone who has ever been hunting, fishing, etc. in Missouri for a long time would know that we have a very proactive and effective Department of Conservation.  Learning Marine Biology in Missouri is a different story, however.  How can you convince teenagers that something they do at home can directly affect natural resources in an ocean so many miles away?

Those of us in the know realize that the very air we breathe is filled with many oxygen molecules that originated in the sea.  The facts are simple, but abstract.  The challenge: find a concrete example of how a local teen can touch the ocean on a Tuesday in Missouri.  My attempt at a solution:  a project-based approach to protecting oceanic resources that includes social action.  To make a much longer story quite shorter here, download my documents for the lesson series which includes: 1) a beginning presentation making the case for action to students, 2) exploring what we know, don’t know, and can find out about local usage of seafood resources, and 3) the actual “call to action” in the form of a performance task, minimal sample solution, and the associated scoring guide.  Please feel free to ask questions, or offer suggestions about any element of this project.  We would certainly appreciate the help!

Conscientious consumption

For several years now, we have distributed booklets in one way or another as an approach to a public awareness and education program.  This year’s project will be opened up considerably with regard to the ways in which students can attack the problem.  For the first two years, we used the free resources available from the Blue Ocean Institute.  The very first day I laid eyes on the “Guide to Ocean Friendly Seafood,” I knew it could be a valuable tool to not only learn about these issues, but also to publicly inform others.  The newest product available for download as well, is a sushi guide.  Yum.  You can order a single free wallet-sized guide here, or ask for a class-sized volume.  I have always requested enough for widespread distribution by students.

This year, we also began using resources made available by the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch program.  You can download a copy of the guide for your region, order a large number for a project such as the one described here, or get it on your fancy phone.  In fact, you don’t honestly need an iPhone to get the guide digitally while trolling through your favorite fish market or restaurant.  Simply navigate to mobile.seafoodwatch.org and choose the guide you need.  In the end, consumers need not remember all of the gory details of why farmed salmon are relatively damaging to marine ecosystems….  or why wild-caught Alaska salmon are a good choice due to abundance by careful management.  Many differences such as this one are not readily intuitive to consumers.  Many casual seafood buyers who are conscientious people would assume that anything “farmed” would be better than continuing to pull organisms from wild habitats.  This application can help average phone jockeys negotiate the subtleties of the situation.

Geeks

Go get it.  I’m sure you have far sillier apps taking up space on your phone.  I know you paid money for the Koi Pond…  my daughter thinks those little fishies are actually in there!  Do our children a favor and check out Seafood Guide available for iPhone from the Monterey Bay Aquarium.  We could all carry around the nifty little pamphlet, but why would you with a computer in your pocket?  Bringing this useful guide to the finger-scrolling pleasure of the iPhone is a significant milestone in this mission.  Not only do you get the “score” for each species in your region, you can also learn a lot of the supporting details as well.

This app is a perfect compromise between paper and lugging a laptop to the grocery store.  Navigating your way through the nuances of research, conservation, environmental impact, and sustainability are not easy.  This guide is a real solution toward putting solid scientific data and decision-making into the hands of an increasingly large public.  This app makes caring simple and science palatable.

Help us to save the planet… one fish at a time.