Day 1:

• How well did your Hook engage students?
  
  I gave them their letter and they read it in class. They were almost believing the letter (at least enough to not say anything about it being fake). After the letter, I told them they would be pairing up and trying to determine what type of animal they would fund. They were told in the letter that the Australian DNR made a documentary on the Cane Toad. I then showed them clips of the documentary that highlighted the possibility for destruction of an ecosystem by an introduced species. I then followed the clips from the DVD a powerpoint that had about 15 different species that they could choose from, but were not limited to.
  
  
• What was their reaction to the hook?
  
  They seemed to believe the hook letter, because I did not hear any sighs. Although it is early in the year. No one even asked me if this was fake until the third day of the assignment, I had a student ask me exactly how we were going to get the info to the government. After that he said, "Wait, is this assignment real?" I could not help my laughter and gave away the answer, but that tells me that at least a few people believed the letter. The documentary on Cane Toads helped as well. It is a real problem and brought some reality to the project.
  
  
• What would you do differently and why?
  
  I would not have told the individual student that the letter was not real, and I would have spent a little time discussing the letter to make sure they understood exactly what they were being asked to do. I was afraid that by discussing it, they would see by the look on my face that the project was a fake. I would conduct conferences more often with the students. I waited until almost the last day to meet with each group and I think that was a little late. I would spend some class time going through each type of multimedia presentation, and a value for each.
  
  
• What what would you repeat and why?
  
  I would repeat the sequence of the letter and the video to reinforce the video. I also liked showing the students what type of animal/plant they could choose on the power point. I would also conduct a conference with the students. I had real positive results with them when I met with each of them. I let the students pick their groups and it worked out well.
  
  
• Did you do anything prior to starting the project to prepare students to be successful with this type of project?
  
  Not really, I have had them turn in two assignments that had detailed rubrics so they were familiar with the format of the rubrics I create.
  
  
• Other observations, comments, challenges, and/or successes?
  
  We had two days where the computers were not working so that wasted a lot of time. The professionals were not getting back to the students, I don't think it will ever be successful. One of the difficulties is that the students have no access to their E-mail accounts while they are at school.

Day 2:

• What did students spend their time with today?
  
  They were first introduced to how they would be carrying out the research process in Biology II. This took a great deal of the period because this was really the only day of instruction on how to do the research.
  
  They spent the last 20 minutes choosing their partners and species of organism their project was going to be done on. They then spent the rest of the time working on their foundation questions. I asked them to come up with at least 10 questions they wanted to research by using the introduction page as a guide. They had a rubric that guided them how to write the foundation questions, but many of the students did not have enough time.
  
  
• Are students finding your project pages and resources helpful?
  
  They have not seen the project pages (on the computer), but I would consider my unit introduction sheet as the project page. They are using the introduction page to help them build their foundation questions. At times, if they were stuck on which organism to choose, they would get online and follow the provided links to get some ideas for introduced species.
  
  
• What have students said or done to indicate they understand or do not understand the task?
  
  They are either getting right to work, or asking me questions. At this point we are not doing anything with computers, I am just having them make a set of questions that is intended to guide their research over the next week so they are not searching blind.
  
  
• What are your plans concerning sharing the project rubric with students?
  
  I am unsatisfied with my class as a whole in this matter. I am not sure they are mature enough to justify class time on building a rubric. While I think it is a great idea, I am not sure it is the best for me.
  
  
• Other observations, comments, challenges, and/or successes?
  
  As a whole, the students were very focussed on their projects. I mentioned that they had two days that were kind of lost due to computer problems, so that was definitely frustrating. I need to do more work prior to this unit with professionals. I knew this would be a challenge, but I simply ran out of time before I implemented this project.

During the Project A:

• What actions have you implemented in class that have you facilitating students learning rather than guiding students learning?
  
  I only proposed a problem for them. They are responsible for developing their own questions to answer and researching some possible solutions to the problem. I have also given them the freedom to choose what type of multimedia presentation they produce. During the research process, I am merely in the room to answer questions, or more likely, help them to answer their own questions.
  
  
• What have you had to tell students so they understand why and how your role has changed?
  
  This was done early enough in the year that I am not sure they knew any different. They did not seem to be thrown off. I think I am lucky, as well as my students.
  
  
• How are you now or will you be soon collecting artifacts of students work and progress?
  
  I collected their foundation questions on the third day after they had a chance to put them together in a concept map. This way I know if they have a solid set of questions developed.
  
  
• What checkpoints do you have in place to monitor student progress and understanding?
  
  I checked and graded their foundation questions using a rubric that I presented to them.
  
  
• Other observations, comments, challenges, and/or successes?
  
  I really did not have enough time for them to fully develop a good set of foundation questions, I really rushed the students, but it was necessary due to time constraints with a shortened schedule (1:30 dismissal)

During the Project B:

• How have students adjusted to their role as cognitive explorers?
  
  They seem to be enjoying it. They have now been given the opportunity to get on the computer to do their research. They are using or supposed to be using the strategies they developed for finding the answers to the questions they developed.x
  
  
• What have you done to encourage and facilitate students taking on this new role?
  
  I have placed it all on them. I do not feel that as seniors, they should need help in finding information or developing questions centered around an invader species that they chose.
  
  
• How have students been reporting their progress to you and teammates?
  
  This is where the way I set the project up had some flaws. I did not intervene early enough in one situation. The confereces I had with the students came too late in the project.
  
  
• What are some of the roadblocks students have encountered in being successful?
  
  The computer are not always working. They can not use email at school so contacting a professional is tough. At times they choose an organism that does not have a great deal of information on the web.
  
  
• Other observations, comments, challenges, and/or successes?
  
  They really work well when given time in class to do so. I think the amount of time given and the task are well coordinated.

During the Project C:

• Have students been successful in collaborating with others outside of the school?
  
  No, not really, I need to work with professionals ahead of time to get willing participants. The email block is an issue as well. Maybe I can get a lift on the students in my class so they can use email at school during the assignment. The project is also done in 2 weeks total, which often times is not long enough to get a response.
  
  
• Are students' products matching the rubric you originally created?
  
  Most of them have the information I was looking for, but some (usually the ones doing ppt's) fall short in the information section. While them may have had the info and read it to the class, they did not have it in print.
  
  
• Have students headed off in an unexpected direction?
  
  Not really, they just missed some of the important stuff. Most of them followed what I was looking for in their projects.
  
  
• How are you facilitating the "unpredicted?
  
  I did have a group follow the rubric, but not really do what the project was based on. They did their project on how the environment affects a fish. I graded this using the same rubric, and while they may have been embarrrased in front of their classmates, their grade was not bad.
  
  
• Other observations, comments, challenges, and/or successes?
  
  I am a little upset with some of the powerpoints, through our discussions, it was suggested that before the assignment is started, that we should develop a set of criteria for when to use specific multimedia presentation tools.

Other Days:

NO questions really, but I have incorporated the conference technique into my classroom and think it is an excellent opportunity to work with students on a more personal basis. This is one thing that is missing in high school. Thanks for modeling that technique.

Created for the Fermilab LInC program sponsored by Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory Education Office and Fermilab Friends for Science Education, and funded by United States Department of Energy, Illinois State Board of Education, North Central Regional Technology in Education Consortium which is operated by North Central Regional Educational Laboratory (NCREL), and the National Science Foundation.

Authors: LInC ACT Participant
Created: September 2004
URL: http://www-ed.fnal.gov/lincon/act/examples/journalreflections/invasivespecies.shtml