Have students create introductory videos as a first use of iPads in your class
In my Organic Chemistry lab class about one third of the students have their own iPad. Probably about half have used them in other classes leaving about half that have had little to no experience with iPads in an educational setting. I have noticed that when students create a digital lab report in my class many of them have frustrating problems which arise. Some of these problems are good as they cause the students to problem-solve. This is a good skill. But sometimes the frustration level is too high and it distracts from the real purpose of the iPad in that particular assignment. The purpose is to utilize the technology as a tool to develop and express creativity as the students better articulate the difficult chemistry concepts they learned in a format other than purely written.
Yesterday was the first time I took out the iPads in my Fall 2014 Organic lab. I am starting out a little differently from previous semesters.
Generally, my thinking is that iPads will reinforce a skill but in a much deeper way than just practicing the skill on a homework assignment. This did not turn out to be the case when I had students create screencasts of "net ionic equations."
I think that writing a net ionic equation really synthesizes many different skills and concepts learned in a chemistry class. The students have to demonstrate that they know how to write symbols and formulas, balance equations, predict products, know the solubility rules, distinguish between strong and weak acids. In other words net ionic equations are one of those things that "ties it all together." So what a perfect type of skill to demonstrate on a screencast. I assigned my students each a different equation. They had to write the "molecular", "total ionic" and "net ionic" equations. As they wrote they had to audibly explain what they were writing. This is no different from other screencast assignments. My thinking was that the assignment would make them learn the skill so deeply that they would all "ace" the exam. This did not happen at all. Here is a typical problem:
This is the type of problem that gives students fits because you are given a strong acid HCl and it produces a weak acid HF. In the total ionic equation H + (aq) and Cl- (aq) are written separately because HCl completely ionizes in aqueous solution. Conversely HF(aq) is written in its molecular form because it mostly stays unionized as molecules. Students have a difficult time with this.
Here is another example screencast of net ionic equations. In that example a precipitate is formed.
I have been writing about the use of iPads in the college chemistry class. But I am also a parent of three kids. Two are now in college and my youngest, Sam, is just entering Junior High. I think my youngest child's education will end up being very different from that of my oldest two. For my oldest two they did not use iPads at all. But iPads were used quite a lot in my youngest's last year of elementary school and now they are taking over the educational process at his junior high. I would like to write about my initial thoughts as a parent observing the use of iPads in my child's schools.
Mole Calculations and Lewis Dot Structures in a First Level Chemistry Class
Up to this point I have tried to use the iPad in Organic Chemistry lab and 2nd semester General Chemistry Lecture and Lab. My colleague Cheryl Shimazu has used the iPads in 1st semester General Chemistry. This semester I decided to use them in my Preparatory Chemistry class. I wanted to see how students in their first semester of chemistry, and some in their first year of college, would work with the iPads. My plan was to reinforce mole calculations during lab time. We have a lab in this class that we have been thinking about replacing for some time so I took the liberty of doing a different kind of "hands-on" experience.
Moles are one of the cornerstones of chemistry. Up to this point in the semester students have mastered dimensional analysis with mostly familiar units. But using the mole takes dimensional analysis to a whole new level. If students can master moles then they will have a very high chance of succeeding in the rest of the calculations of chemistry. But often students get stuck in the "mole hole."
I really want them to "master" the concept of moles and how to perform gram to mole and mole to mole and particle to mole calculations. I think that if they are required to explain the concept they will have a chance for it to sink in deep. So as I have many times I turned to the iPads and the app "Educreations" to give the students a chance to teach the world. Here are some links to their productions and then I will make some observations:
Steam distillation is a very common experiment done in organic chemistry labs everywhere. I like this experiment. We start with ground cloves and take out the essential oil eugenol. The room begins to smell of this wonderful molecule and it reminds me of pumpkin pie and all of those delightful smells of thanksgiving! Here is the structure of this molecule that can be found on the iPad app called "Nice Molecules":
I took a screenshot of the molecule and saved the image as a jpeg on my desktop iMac. I just marvel at the way molecules are put together and the way their structure produces their function. My students like that fact that we are not just performing steam distillation on any old molecule. Eugenol is something that is used every day and it allows me to demonstrate the relevance of chemistry to our whole life. The big challenge of using iPads in my organic chemistry class to produce digital lab reports has been time. It takes a lot of time for the students to learn the technology of an app like Explain Everything. It takes a lot of time to produce the video from their pictures and voice and all of the cool tools you have with this screen casting app. I had the students produce videos for simple and fractional distillation and one of the screencasts was almost 18 minutes long! I think they should be limited to about 7 minutes or so.
For steam distillation I decided to go a different direction. I just attended the CUE conference in Palm Springs and heard about the idea of using iMovie to make trailers. In this app there are templates that make it very easy to create these short, information-packed movies. I wanted to have my students be familiar with the technology of this app before they came to class so I assigned them to watch two YouTube videos on making trailers with the iPad app iMovie. They had to send me their evaluations of these "How to" videos via a google form. When they came to class the next day I told them that their quiz on the steam distillation lab was to create a short "documentary" or trailer using iMovie. Their creation had to describe the purpose, process and product of steam distillation of eugenol. The first movie is a trailer using the iMovie template. Be careful the music makes it very dramatic!
The second movie is not a trailer. The students simply used iMovie to make a quick video describing steam distillation in 90 seconds. Here it is:
At Cerritos College we have an "iPad work group" made up of faculty members and an IT guy who all received an iPad with the exhortation: "Go explore." I just love the attitude of the folks at my school. The work group is sort of like the old "skunk works" research group that engineering firms used to test and innovate new ideas. In February we met on a Friday for a workshop. this workshop was quite different from any I had attended, because it was run by students!
I used to think that teaching was essentially teacher centered. The teacher would convey knowledge in the form of lecture and the students would absorb it. Of course the students had to study in order to commit this knowledge to memory and deepen understanding, but this lecture model was the best way to teach in my mind. In short, this is teaching by telling.
It didn't work so well. I distinctly remember when I realized this many years ago. It was gas laws. Yes those gas laws get 'em every time! I thought I did it so well. I lectured with enthusiasm. I showed the "wow" kind of demos like the collapsing can. I lectured. I had them do the lab where the students calculate the molar volume of a gas. I lectured on the gas laws. I showed cool video demonstrations. I modeled the way to do calculations. I gave a quiz. The students all failed the quiz. Do you see the pattern here? I,I, I,I...I failed! But with failure comes learning.
The need for meaningful experience in the process of learning
It started to hit me when I asked my students. "You know when you are washing dishes and put a cup full of air upside down...what happens?"
"We have dish washers teacher!"
I realized my students did not have many of the experiences that I had had growing up that implicitly taught me about gases. So I decided to give them more experiences. Perhaps the reason they did not do well on the abstract calculations was because they did not understand the concepts behind the calculations!
The next year I ordered a set of Boyle's Law Apparatus. This is basically a syringe with a block on top and a block on the bottom so that you can stand it up freely. It also allows one to stack weights, like books, on top. It is very simple.
If you push on the blocks, you feel the invisible gas push back!
Finding Misconceptions
I then had the students draw diagrams, I called them "Black Box Diagrams", by which the student would have to draw what they imagined was what was going on inside the syringe at the molecular level. What they drew astounded me. I made them draw two diagrams, one with very little weight on the top block and one with lots of weight on the top block. The students were all over the map. Several drew the molecules as if they were balloons. With little external pressure on the apparatus the ballon-like molecules were large and with much pressure the balloon-like molecules shrunk! I had no idea they thought this way! They did not grasp the fundamental concept that the molecules are not changing at all. The molecules simply bump into each other more with increased pressure. Then I asked the students, "What is in between these molecules you drew." Almost unanimously I heard them answer, "Air!" I would always get one or two students in a class that would say, "Nothing, it's empty space." But again the majority proved that they had so many misconceptions about gases. (Sort of like I too had misconceptions about teaching and learning.)
But I realized that I intuitively had an understanding of gases that I had built up over years of experience and guidance from my teachers and through struggle. This made Charles' Law and it's algorithms in my mind just a natural and direct consequence of that intuition. My students did not have the same experiences. So either they came to an understanding of gases that had some misconceptions or they simply made up their theories. I suspect it was a little of both. Nevertheless they had ideas of gases that stood as a roadblock to understanding the abstract concepts of Boyle's, Charles' and Gay-Lussac's laws and the uses of them in calculations.
Our current understanding of the brain backs this up. We are constantly forming chemical connections between the proteins which make up our brain cells. Although I think learning is more than just brain chemistry, connections between brain cells are necessary. But what if a brain connection is made that represents a false idea? Would that pose a problem to developing a correct understanding? Is it possible that a misconception, "bad brain connection" must be disconnected and then reconnected in a new "good brain connection"?
If this is the case and much of brain research seems to say it is, then I need to have my students confront their misunderstandings about science (disconnect past connections in the brain) and form new connections that represent a more correct understanding of the science concepts.
Constructivist learning theory
This theory of learning is called in the academic world Constructivism. Now some will go so far as to say that students construct reality or students construct knowledge. I don't go that far. Knowledge of reality is something outside of me that is correct whether I say so or not. For example I don't construct knowledge of sulfuric acid. The knowledge of the reality about sulfuric acid is what it is no matter what I think. I certainly can have misconceptions of acid. That would have serious consequences. But I do think we construct our understanding of of this knowledge about such things as molecules and sulfuric acid.
Teacher as facilitator
And so my students construct their own understanding of of the world. I play a part in that by providing experiences for them, sharing my own experiences, giving lectures, asking them questions that make them think, etc. But I believe one thing for sure: My students don't come to me with blank slates for minds that I just fill in for them with my words. They have much prior understanding that I as a teacher must probe and understand so that I can help them understand abstract chemistry concepts. Often that probing reveals an incorrect understanding by one of my students. I think my job at that point is to create a learning experience for them in which they come face to face with that misconception and help them struggle to gain a better understanding. More and more I see my role as a facilitator of learning. This takes the focus off of me. The students' needs for forming good conceptions come to play a bigger role in what drive my teaching.
iPads help students construct knowledge
I think the iPads are a wonderful tool for students to develop their deeper understanding of scientific concepts. You can almost see the connections forming in their brains as they plan their presentation and begin to develop an explanation for the chemistry behind the experiment. This especially was visible to me when I had them produce a presentation in groups. Their wheels are really turning. They want to get it right! I have one student who produces high quality written lab reports that are very organized and the student gets good lab results, but sometimes this student does not quite explain the chemistry correctly. I have witnessed this student get better at it as time has gone on.
The current assignment was to create a digital lab report for simple and fractional distillation. In the presentation they had to explain the difference between the two types of distillation. These concepts are pretty high level. When writing a lab report, the discussion is pretty one-dimensional. But with a screen cast, there is verbal explanation but also diagrams, pictures, and graphs that the student must use to explain the chemistry. I think this is heavy construction! Can anyone say "physical chemistry" without flinching?
Students own their learning
In Organic Chemistry I have wanted my students to create digital lab reports that demonstrate this deep understanding. The biggest challenge for most has not been the chemistry, it has been learning how to use the iPads and the apps. The term "digital native" might not be as good a description as I once expected. But by the middle of the semester I think my students have arrived at the point where they are producing some high quality screencasts. Usually we spend two days on distillation, one for simple and one day for fractional. But this time I thought I would try to do both in one day and give the students the other three hour lab period for working on their screen cast. The students made a good start on their screencasts in three hours but most needed more time. I told them that they could come in any time I am on campus and check out an iPad. I also gave them a week to complete the assignment. Most of them either used their own iPads, I think six students either had their own at the beginning of the semester or convinced their mom and dad to get them one, or they borrowed one from a friend. Of fifteen students only one was unable to complete turn in the screen cast URL on the due date. I let this student have the extra time needed to get it done. I could see the student was getting stressed out and taking it very seriously so I had no problem giving extra time. Here are some of the best screencasts using the app Explain Everything.
You can see that each student took a different approach to explaining the difference between simple and fractional distillation.
Where to go from here
We are now well over half way through the semester. I still think it is very important that the students write. I want them to write well. I tell them that they will probably forget much of the chemistry they learn in my class. But there are two more important things I want them to learn. The first is how to learn. If I can equip them to be learners of difficult concepts on their own, what more could I want. Well I also want them to be good communicators. This involves both speaking, clearly articulating heavy concepts in a way that is understandable, and it involves writing, making a claim and backing it up with solid evidence.
I plan to have the students create their own lab reports for the caffeine extraction lab. And I think I want to have them create one more report after that, perhaps a synthesis that involves explaining the mechanism. I also want to give them at least one more "digital quiz" before the semester ends. Now that they have spent so much effort learning the technology, I want them to feel like they can create a good presentation of heavy chemistry easily. Stay tuned.
Just before I first started out as a high school chemistry teacher I really thought I knew my material. After all I had four years of college level chemistry behind me. How could teaching high school be that hard. But I soon realized that passing a written test on some content, even with a good grade, is not anything close to explaining that concept at an understandable level to 35 energetic high school students in the period right after lunch. I remember after a few days of my first teaching job saying to myself, "I really need to know this stuff a lot better!" Some days I would be what we call "just 10 minutes ahead of the students." On top of that I would get a question from a good student that would just stump me. And then there was this one student that everyday kept saying, "Mr. Bradbury, I just don't understand!" I must confess that I let that student exasperate me at times. I would try one explanation and then another and then an example. And the student just kept saying, "But I don't understand!"
Teaching a concept requires a whole deeper level of understanding. I have often wished I could give my students and oral exam where each one has to get up in front of the class and explain a concept to everyone else. But then again that can be terrifying! I remember when my Algebra 1 teacher made me get up in front of my whole class one late September school day during a typical late summer Southern California heat wave. There was no air conditioning in classrooms back then. I remember wilting under the pressure! The only thing that saved me was that I could face the chalkboard and not my classmates. But I could still feel the arrows of their stares on my back. I wanted to climb under my desk. I learned that I clearly did not understand Algebra!
Or was it that I was so full of fear in front of the class that I could not have performed even if I had all the necessary knowledge.
Nevertheless I think the best proof of deep understanding of a concept is being able to clearly articulate that concept in a very relaxed conversational manner. Screencasting allows just this. One of the most difficult concepts in chemistry is Molecular Orbital Theory. Understanding MO theory requires an accumulated knowledge, the ability to think abstractly, and the ability to see and draw three dimensional objects in two dimensions.
Screencasting can be an "equalizer"
The other thing that screencasting allows is a bit of privacy. The students can really wrestle with concepts on their own. Then they get to prepare their presentation, explain it and edit their explanation. (Hey, as a teacher I take lots of time to prepare myself!) The pressure is low. What my colleagues and I are finding is that some of the best screencasts are produced by some of the "forgotten" students that sit quietly in the back of class hoping the teacher will never call on them. Screencasting lets everybody have a chance to shine.
The Assignment I decided to have my students create a screencast of their explanation of how to draw the hybridization box diagram and molecular orbital diagrams of a particular molecule or ion. This is no easy task! I must say it is a challenge for me to do it. Even more it is a huge challenge to draw intricate diagrams on the iPad. Here is the specific assignment.
1. Draw the box diagrams showing the ground state, excited state and hybridized state for your assigned molecule or ion as shown in class. Show the VSEPR structure. Label all orbitals and show the relative energy of each. State the type of hybridization (sp2 etc.)
2. Draw the contour diagram for the assigned molecule. Label angles and label orbitals. No credit will be given if drawn incorrectly. Show orbital overlap correctly and show electrons. Make all drawings large. State the shape of the molecule. http://tinyurl.com/luw
Teacher Expectations Exceeded (Big Time!) I had a three hour block of lab time. Secretly I hoped that they would take about an hour and then we could continue working on our chemistry experiment. But I was so surprised, yet again, by how seriously they took this assignment. Some of them spent over an hour just planning and preparing how they were going to present their explanation. Most of them had already completed the assignment on paper. Some of the students went over the three hours and a few asked if they could keep the iPads during the 1 1/2 hour lunch break.
They really put me to shame. When I do a screencast that is say five minutes long I will spend no more than ten minutes on the whole process. Yes I am more experienced and so I take less planning, but when I saw what some of these students had done I must say I was overwhelmed. When I compare their work to some of my screencasts I just want to crawl under a rock! Here are a few that were created on Educreations. (The Educreations posts are not as easy to embed in a blog as are ShowMe screencasts) Even if you have no idea what a molecular orbital is I think you will be very impressed by the work of these students. They do a fantastic job of presenting. And this isn't just two plus two equals for this is very high level stuff. What level on Blooms Taxonomy do you think this hits?
These students really took pride in their work. Some of them were very interested in my response to their work. I think they felt like they really accomplished something intellectually significant. I think they did!
iPad workout part 2: Working on a digital lab report in Organic Chemistry
Last semester I told my students to create a digital lab report for my Organic Chemistry class. At that time I had no class set of iPads and only one or two students had their own. Most of the lab reports were created with a desktop or laptop. But now with the iPads I think this could be a lot easier. So for the distillation lab I told my students that they would be doing a digital lab report. Everything that is covered in a regular written lab report must be presented in a screencast. I recommended the app Explain Everything. The big hurdle is that the students are not allowed to take home the iPads, although 4 or 5 have their own. Usually we do two distillations, simple and fractional. We do these distillations over two days. But simple distillation often goes so fast, and the real hold up is setting up the apparatus. This time I decided to do both distillations in one day. They would have to work quickly, but they would only have to add the fractional column for the second distillation. By doing this in one day it opened up a whole three hour lab period for working on the digital lab report.
Again, these students spent a good deal of time just prepping for their screen cast. They uploaded text and pictures and diagrams. I was impressed with their hard work. In the end the three hours was not enough time for them to complete the lab report. This was good for me to learn. Normally they have to spend significant time outside of class working on the report anyway. But many of them do not have iPads of their own. (Although they seem to be appearing more and more as the semester goes on. Way to go parents!)
Several students asked if they could come in the following week to work on the report. So what I chose to do was give them one week to complete the digital report and send me the link. I think some or many of them will come and borrow an iPad while I am on campus in another class or in my office hour. So part 2 is to be continued...
Seeking and Finding: Two very good apps Molecular Orbital Modeling with Mols Editor
There are so many apps out there for modeling molecules. For my General Chemistry class I want to build simple molecules and be able to look at them three-dimensionally. I also want to be able to look at the molecular orbital contour diagrams. So far the best app for this has been Mols Editor. In previous posts I have shown the basic 3-D structure. Now I want my students to draw those crazy contour diagrams. These are hard to visualize and draw because they are so abstract and 3-D on top of that. Mols editor lets you build the molecule and then there is an button to display the molecular orbitals. Here is a picture of methane CH4.
You can see result of the SP3 hybridization of carbon and the overlap with the hydrogen 1s orbitals. My students found this very helpful. Of course even harder to draw and visualize are the double and triple bonded molecules. Here is an example of ethene C2H6.
Because the app lets you rotate the molecule it is very easy to see and then attempt to draw. Why didn't they have this stuff when I was suffering through Gen Chem!!! And I had to walk barefoot in the snow to school... Well it makes it easier to teach anyway.
Bond Angles and R/S configuration and Spectra with iSpartan
I also want to show my students the bond angles. Unfortunately Mols editor does not yet display bond angles. At least I have not seen that yet. But another app called iSpartan lets you draw the molecule and then it renders the molecule in 3-D. It also allows you to analyze bond angles, R and S configuration and it shows the NMR and Infrared spectra. Here is an example of finding the bond angle.
When you highlight three connected atoms (circled in above photo) the app automatically calculates the bond angle. As you can see in the picture of CBr4, which is tetrahedral, the bond angle is 109.5 which is correct. I figured this app out a little too late for my current General Chemistry students, but maybe I will use it next semester.
If a particular atom is chiral the app tells if the arrangement is the R or S. This is of particular interest to my Organic Chemistry students. Here is a screenshot of bromo-chloro-fluro-iodomethane. And you can see it is the S-configuration of it.
The last thing I want to point out about iSpartan is that you can also obtain the spectra of various molecules if they are in the available database. Next week we are doing the steam distillation lab of cloves. We will extracting Eugenol. I am happy to say that this molecule is in the data base. So my students can run the IR on their extracted sample and then compare it to the one on the app.
As you can see in the upper left corner, H-NMR and C-NMR also are available.
So for me, Mols Editor and iSpartan are two of the best apps for molecular modeling. There are others that I will "review" later. The one downside of iSpartan is the cost. Currently it runs around $20. Mols Editor has three versions. One is free. The one I am currently using is $1.99. I find it to be quite adequate. The third version has self-testing. It costs $4.99. I have not been able to find that as useful as I had hoped to yet. But these two apps really, to me anyway, really enhance my job of teaching a science that is 3-dimensional. Chemistry teaching will never be the same once this type of tool catches on!
