Category Archives: B. T-GEM

The grade 6 BC science curriculum includes the Big Idea: Earth and its climate have changed over geological time. A T-GEM model will be used to support inquiry and engagement by the students. Khan (2010) strongly emphasizes the importance of teacher interactions which engage students in inquiry. Understanding climate change requires big picture thinking and simulations and interactive images can prompt one to form questions, seek answers, assess their previous thinking and adjust accordingly. Using “model based learning” that requires students to critique, build, and change how they think about the world we can achieve high level learning (Khan, 2007).

An example of a T-GEM model would be:

GENERATE

In the first phase of the T-Gem model the teacher will look to have students express their level of understanding. A good way to do this would be to use the NASA Global Climate change website to explore the various images of climate change and related stories about the real effects. Students will also use the climate change simulation available to show how things have changed over time in greens gas and climate.

https://climate.nasa.gov/

Students will read and view the images and articles and write down their observations and questions. They will describe any relationships or patterns they see in the material. The students will then make notes for further exploration. They will also note their initial reactions to using the simulator.

EVALUATE

In the next stage students will engage in research to determine what the believe about climate change, whether it is an undeniable fact, whether they believe it can be reversed, what effect humans actually have etc. They will attempt to answer the questions they geared in the first stage through this process. They may explore the websites and then discuss their findings in small groups.

Students will research using the following websites:

https://www3.epa.gov/climatechange//kids/index.html

https://climateclassroomkids.org/

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/climate-change/

MODIFY

After discussing in groups students will be asked to share what they have found, explain what they used to think and how that may have changed, and draw conclusions based on the activities and research they have performed.

As a final activity students will collaboratively explore what the future will hold if the problem is not addressed. They will be tasked with designing a plan of action of how they and others can help fight climate change.

Khan, S. (2007). Model‐based inquiries in chemistry. Science Education, 91(6), 877-905.

Khan, S. (2010). New pedagogies for teaching with computer simulations. Journal of Science Education and Technology, 20(3), 215-232.

As a couple classmates have already identified, I also have noticed that students struggle with fractions as they move beyond identification of basic fractions such as half, quarter, and eighths. Particularly, comparison of fractions is a tricky topic to tackle with students in the lower elementary, and one in which teachers often rely heavily on visual aids. I’m going to add another one to the list, as I think that the app “Oh no, fractions!” has been extremely helpful as a tool to help visualize and compare fractions. Though it has other functions for adding, subtracting, and multiplying fractions, for the age group I teach, it has been most useful for comparing. The function of the app to estimate before they check their work allows them the space to explore and try to find commonalities and relationships within comparison.

Generate:

Students use Oh no, Fractions! to explore initially, before being answering guiding comparison questions:

Which is larger, 1/3 or 1/2?

By how much is 2/3 larger than 1/5?

Evaluate:

Give students fractions to name and sort. Have them order the fractions from largest to smallest. Create fractions on a linear fraction mat, pie chart, and using a variety of other tools. Talk about reasons or strategies for mapping the comparison. How did you get to your answer? How do you know that it is true?

Whitacre and Nickerson talk about a “reference point” perspective, involving “reasoning about fraction magnitude on the basis of proximity to reference numbers and a “components” perspective involving “comparisons within or between two fractions, as in coordinating multiplicative comparisons of numerators and denominators” (Whitacre & Nickerson, 2016). It is these perspectives we aim to get at and explain, in terms of logic used to compare the fractions. Ex. “How do you know one fraction is bigger? Step by step, explain your thinking. Is this the same or different to other people in your group?”

Modify:

Generate a list of rules as a class- we know that: x, y, z about fractions. Get the students to elaborate as much as they can on their reasoning. Once the list has been compiled, ask the student to pair up and investigate:

Can they be applied to sharing anything?

Can these rules be applied to all fractions?

Reference:

Whitacre, I. & Nickerson, S.D. J Math Teacher Education (2016) 19: 57. https://doi-org.ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/10.1007/s10857-014-9295-2

I explored an article by Clegorne & Mastrogiovanni who discuss the ways in which design thinking might bridge the worlds of science and humanities. In Grade Three, students explore the nature of sound, its sources, qualities and what it is. They learn that sound is vibration and that changes in vibration can affect the loudness, pitch and quality of sound. They learn about sound travel by studying what things carry sound, what things make it louder or softer, and what happens to sound when it reaches their ears.

As a part of this unit, we begin with a problem students may be familiar with: airplane noise because our school’s neighbourhood is on a flight path. We begin and end the unit with the same problem and can see growth in student understanding of how sound travels and how to mitigate harmful noises. A common misconception is that sound can be “blocked” by objects and students often suggest at the beginning of the unit that a good way to deal with the harmful or bothersome noises would be to put steel plates around houses to block out the noise.

As we explore sound, we integrate digital tools to counter misconceptions: a decibel meter such as the one available on itunes and twisted wave, an online audio editor that allows users to manipulate sound and view the effects of different kinds of sounds on the sound waves. For example, students might be asked to speak in a high or low pitch and to vary the loudness of the sound produced. Following this, I ask students to create a podcast studio using the design thinking process and to test which materials are best at creating the ideal quiet studio and explore why those materials might work well. They are encouraged to go through multiple iterations as they hypothesize, test, and evaluate various materials. At the end of the unit, students are asked to return to the original question about the effects of being on a flight path and how to mitigate the sounds. Almost all students recommend soft materials inside the home over steel plates. The airport problem provides students with the opportunity to extend their understanding beyond the science concepts alone and into real-world applications.

Clegorne, N., & Mastrogiovanni, J. (2015). Designing alternatives: Design thinking as a mediating learning strategy to bridge science and the humanities for leadership learning. The Journal of Leadership Education, 14(4), 46-54.

Khan, S. (2010). New pedagogies for teaching with computer simulations. Journal of Science Education and Technology, 20(3), 215-232.

One of my colleagues wrote about being drawn to T-GEM and I thought that was such a simple yet accurate description of my reactions and professional opinions as well.  One of the things I appreciate the most is that the T-GEM cycle continues repeatedly throughout a lesson, unit, day, etc. This is the most reflective of what we actually do with information; we get or discover new information, understand it, and reorganize our knowledge, understanding and beliefs. 

When I think about concepts or ideas that are challenging for students to master, fractions immediately comes to mind.  Especially operations with fractions.  When using technology to enhance understanding, I believe students need to see and experience a variety of representations and scenarios.   

Generate 

http://www.abcya.com/fraction_percent_decimal_tiles.htm 

This fraction resource gives students an opportunity to explore and understand equivalent fractions, an important concept for adding and subtracting.   They can drag, drop, and manipulate the fraction bars to generate an and reaffirm their understanding.  Students are given a few simple practice questions to model and try.  For example, 2/3 + ½ 

Evaluate 

https://www.visualfractions.com/AddEasyCircle/ 

At this stage, students engage in more in-depth evaluation of the concept.  They can manipulate more of the conditions to test their ideas and assumptions. 

Modify 

http://www.learnalberta.ca/content/mec/flash/index.html?url=Data/3/B/A3B3.swf&launch=true  

Using the information and understanding developed in the first two phases, students can modify and confirm their understanding by exploring this lesson. 

One of the most important components throughout these phases, is the dialogue between students, and between students and teacher(s).  Alone, these resources and T-GEM does not have as amplified impact but combining the power makes it all more effective and efficient.   

T-GEM-Circuits

One of the areas where I find students struggle every year is the construction of parallel and series circuits. When using actual batteries/wires, students often are able to make a lightbulb glow or a motor run simply by randomly connecting different objects together. While this might accomplish a goal, it does not help build student understanding as to how circuits can be designed.

In looking through resources to help with this T-GEM lesson, I came upon a resource called Circuit World, provided by Cumbria and Lancashire Education Online (CLEO). Circuit World is incredibly helpful because it allows students to build circuits with no real room for false-positives, and lets students represent their circuits using 3 different visual themes.

Generate:

To start this lesson, I would demonstrate for students how to build a working circuit using Circuit World. I would then lead us in a talk about the difference between parallel and series circuits, culminating with the class building a parallel circuit together on the smartboard.

I would then ask students to build 2 different circuits; one using the larger lightbulb and the other using the smaller lightbulbs. I would also ask them to add switches so that both lightbulbs could be used independently.

Attached to this section I would ask the following questions:
-Why do you think our original circuit design was not able to light up the large lightbulb?

-Why is switch placement so important? Were there places you put the switch that didn’t help with the goal of operating them independently?

-Did anyone happen to burn out a lightbulb? (A common problem of adding too many batteries.)

Evaluate:

Next, I would present a number of circuits to students that are non-functional. I would then ask them to recreate the circuit on their own computer, but improve it by making it functional. The problems with circuits here would range from simple (no battery) to more advanced (more bulbs than the batteries can power) to quite difficult (wiring all over the place).

Modify:
For this final step, I would ask students to get creative with their circuit design. I would ask that they use newer elements (resistors) and incorporate them into their previous circuits. What effect do these new elements have? How do they change what you are able to do with the circuit? I would also challenge them to use a variety of output devices (alarm, motor) instead of just lightbulbs. How do series and parallel circuits differ when adding in a variety of output devices?

Having taught grades 4, 5 and 6 for the last six years, I have found that area and perimeter are concepts that we revisit each year. Year after year, the students’ understanding of the topic varies widely. Some have an excellent grasp of the concepts and are ready for a challenge. Others really struggle with the topic and have trouble grasping what area is and how we calculate it. I find it difficult to have challenging and engaging activities ready for each of the students in my class that represent such a wide ability range. I have several sets of resources and different manipulatives that I try to reach each student with, but until today I wasn’t sure of a way to include technology into teaching this topic. (A BIG thank you to those who have already posted on T-GEM, as I previously hadn’t been aware of PhET – what a valuable, and free!, resource!) I’ve sought to combine the PhET area builder simulation with T-GEM to create a new way of teaching area and perimeter to intermediate students.

Generate:

Allow students to explore the area builder simulation on PhET under the explore section. Initially, have them create one shape, noticing the change in area and perimeter as they go along. Encourage the students to think about and try different shapes, for example, a line of 4 as opposed to a square of four. What do they notice?

Suggested teacher questions:

• Can you recognize any patterns when you add a square onto your shape?
• With the same number of squares, will the area always remain the same? Why or why not?
• With the same number of squares, will the perimeter always be the same? Why or why not?

As students to generate a hypothesis – will the answers to these questions always be the same?

Evaluate:

Instruct students to try the side by side shapes on the PhET area builder. Ask them to test their hypothesis. The visual aid and ability to construct multiple shapes quickly should help them to deepen their understanding of area and perimeter. At this point students could work together, one using each side of the screen to see what they notice about the effect that increasing size or creating different shapes has on area and perimeter. Do they need to modify their original thoughts?

Modify:

Ask students to use the game feature of the PhET area builder simulation. One aspect I really like about this is the true levels of differentiation that can occur. For example, level one of the game is very basic. Level six, on the other hand, becomes quite complex and asks them to draw upon more of their mathematical skills. (See examples below). I am confident that this simulation could help to strengthen and modify each of my students’ understanding of area and perimeter.

In her work on T-GEM and teaching with computer simulations, Samia Khan (2011) argues that, as educators, we need to provide opportunities for students to compare data. Further, Khan states that computer simulations visually draw attention to patterns and assess scope of relationships. I think that the PhET area builder simulation, used in the way that I have demonstrated, touches on all of these concepts. Additionally, this simulation can adapt to  the students own ‘mental models’ in a way that I cannot (Khan, 2007). I can’t wait to try this out in my classroom now!

References

Khan, S. (2007). Model-based inquires in chemistry. Wiley InterScience, 91, 877-905.

Khan, S. (2011). New pedagogies on teaching science with computer simulations. Journal of Science Education and Technology, 20(3), 215-232.

This lesson was creating using the T-GEM process for our measuring unit in grade two.  To begin my lessons, I start by discussing non-standard units of measurement.  This is where students get to explore using paper clips, cubes and other tools to measure different objects around the classroom, school.  In my experience students become really excited to do this and it is a fantastic way to have students work in pairs or small groups towards a common goal.  By the end of the non-standard unit, I need to ease my students into standard units of measurement and using a ruler.  Each students already has a ruler in their desk but at the beginning of grade two it is usually used for drawing straight lines as students do not yet understand what the lines on the ruler represent.  I believe that this is where the GEM process would repeat as we move from non-standard measurements of unit, to standard measurements (mm, cm, m).

I have to say that I enjoyed creating this lesson.  It is simple, but an important topic for students to learn and be excited about as the units become bigger and conversation begins in older grades.  What I appreciated most about the GEM process was the cyclical fashion that the information and inquiry is presented.  As teachers probe with questions and what if statements, students are provided the opportunity to explore and engage with the material and modify their mental models as they progress (Khan, 2007).  As well, technology can be used to expand students learning to answer extreme values, visualize the information, produce data quickly and generate graphical trends (Khan, 2011).  I have set up this unit without digital technology; however, I think it would be a fantastic to add in distances (km) using maps and other tools when students begin to realize that cm will only get them so far.

I have uploaded my cycle onto google docs:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1qOMT_oapac8IQynxZnW4-kmzC33Q48dEPkcD2x0YneM/edit?usp=sharing

Khan, S. (2007). Model-Based Inquiries in Chemistry. Department of Curriculum Studies, Faculty of Education, University of British Columbia. 91(6). 877 – 899. doi: 10.1002/sce.20226

Khan, S. (2011). New Pedagogies on Teaching Science with Computer Simulations. Journal of Science Education and Technology, 20(3), 215-232.

In our Grade 9 Science Program we have a unit of study called “Transferring and Controlling Electrical Energy”. The premise of the unit is to be able to identify electrical conductors and insulators, and compare the resistance of different materials to electric flow. They also need to use switches and resistors to control the electrical flow and predict the effects of these. Finally they need to develop, test, and troubleshoots circuit designs for a variety of specific purposes. This unit has proven to be particularly challenging for students despite having been exposed to Electricity and Magnetism in our Grade 5 Science Program many years previous they lack the mental models necessary for an accurate understanding (Khan, 2007). Students come with many misconceptions about the basics of circuits and electricity thereby preventing the acquisition of knew knowledge including the use of resistors and switches. Additionally these concepts are very abstract to students who have no first hand exposure to these devices in real time, literally this technology is hidden behind the walls away from students making it hard for them to conceptualize the variables. I appreciated the need to have a computer simulation in order to experiment and visualize representations of these electrical concepts in multiple ways order to generate rules and relationships by being able to introduce and evaluate new conditions and thereby modify their original hypothesis or understanding (Khan, 2010). This simulation allows students to interact with the behavior of circuits, resistors and switches in a way that would not have been observable otherwise (Khan, 2010). This simulation also removes the human error and frustration found in building these physical circuits over and over without success and having to determine was it a fried resistor, or just a fried student brain.

I chose to introduce the PhET interactive simulation from the University of Colorado. This simulation is highly engaging, integrates with Google Classroom, and is Chromebook friendly. Not only can students use the simulation to uncover previous misconceptions and missing understanding of basic circuit construction (flow of electricity, positive vs negative, two points of contact on the bulb itself etc) as well as experiment and build understanding of the new variables such as the switches and resistors. The simulation allows for the continual cyclical use of evaluate and modify as students refine their understanding with each attempt and introduction of another variable (Khan, 2010). The Circuit Construction Kit Simulation can be found here.

These are images of some of the potential exploration showcasing a growing understanding through a cyclical relationship between evaluating and modifying throughout the lesson moving from misconceptions, to new understanding, and an extension of the application of new knowledge.

I chose to represent this simulation and with a TGEM visual showcasing how this inquiry can LIGHT UP learning.

Trish

References

Khan, S. (2007). Model-based inquiries in chemistry. Science Education, 91(6), 877-905

Khan, S. (2010). New pedagogies for teaching with computer simulations. Journal of Science Education and Technology, 20(3), 215-232