Apologia Science: Teaching with Apologia for the first time

 Is this the first time you are using an Apologia Science textbook?  Don’t panic.  First, the science textbook has enough materials and information to provide a comprehensive course for your child.  This is true of every, Apologia textbook, whether it’s Young Explorers, Middle School, or High School.  (Buy a used textbook.  Don’t feel compelled to buy the latest edition.)  what else do you need?  I recommend buying a test booklet and solution guide.

1.  Do you need a study guide?  No.  Do you need the ebook, audio book,  dvd, or online course?  No.  I like the Young Explorers Notebooking Journals.  (Be sure to look at both versions: Chemistry and Physics and the Junior Notebooking Journal.). But there is enough material, experiments, and projects in the textbook; the notebook is nice, not necessary. 

2.  Make a schedule.  The notebooks from Apologia has daily schedules.  Here are sample, Co-op schedules from Donna Young.  My husband, Rob, and I just divide the number of modules over 32 weeks.  For example, Physical Science has 15 modules.  I need to do two modules each month to complete all 15 before the end of May.  Middle School and High School modules have reading, study guides questions, experiments, and tests, all of which needs to fit into a two week window.  

3.  Do all of the experiments.  Write four lab reports for Middle or High School level courses.   Here is Apologia’s guide to writing a lab report.  If you are teaching from the Young Explorers series, create an observation sheet.  Just list observations in a composition notebook.  Make Fridays fundays  with experiments.  

4. The study guide questions typically align with the tests for Middle and High School Science courses.  Be sure to use the solutions guide to make corrections.  Use the guide to study for the test.  It’s fine to divide the test. If your child forgets a test question, restudy and correct the test.  Middle and High School students should take tests.

5.  Keep records.  I love Google Classroom.  I use it for grades.  You can use a spreadsheet to keep track of tests.  You can treat study guide questions and lab reports as part of the grade, too.  Take photos of tests, labs, and sample questions from each module.  Make a digital portfolio.  Here is a sample.  It will be invaluable when you create a transcript for your child at the end of high school.

Start with a textbook, solution guide, and set of tests.  Read the book.  Hoopla has Apologia audiobooks.  See if your library has a free subscription for Hoopla.  Try Khan Academy for help when you hit a bump.  Since this is the first time you are teaching with Apologia, don’t try to add a bells and whistles.  Make it your goal to complete the book.  Period.

Science Strategies: Lesson Overview

How do you create a plan?  Teachers in formal settings are required to create and submit their lesson plans.  When I did a bit of consulting, the program included 5E Lessons.  Here is a sample lesson I made with the 5E format.  I like the 5E format.  Do I use this construct in reality?  No.  Instead my lessons are organized with Google Classroom, slide presentations, and lists.  How do you shape a science lesson?

1. Start with an opener.  I like to use a demo, a discrepant event, or a lab to get the unit started.  This slide deck has some opening labs.  Class begins with a few instructions before the kids get to work.  Before I actually teach about density, precision, percent error, etc, the kids do a few labs.

2. Then we regroup.  I follow up with more instruction: More Module 1: Accuracy and More Module 1: Density.  Part of the instruction is to review the lab spreadsheets.  Frequently, the instruction is woven in with the lab discussion.  What is density, accuracy, precision, and percent error?  Do the kids understand the math?  This is a good time for a quick quiz to see if everyone understands.  Along with the labs, the kids work on their lab reports.  (It helps to sit next to a kid, read, and point out errors.)

3. Usually, I have a list for each module. Before I can create the list,  I use a Slide Presentation and try to add every activity with links into the slides.

I scan folders in Google Classroom, look over the notes, and assemble activities into a slide deck, such as Ionic Formulas.  (There are over 50 slides.  Some kids really struggle with naming.) I try to have models, graphics, POGILS, articles, simulations, etc.  I’m looking for hands-on resources to help the teens understand the material.  Believe me, I’m open to ideas.  Part of every module is review, study guides, and tests, too.  The schedule and dates are in Google Classroom.

4.  What is the real lesson?  It’s a list.  Yes, resources are organized in Classroom, including the slides, and lab links.  I need a check list to be sure I have covered all of the ideas, skills, and activities.  All of this process is distilled into one reminder, the lesson.  

Science Strategies: Make up Kits!

 Do you teach for a Co-op?  Are you teaching the same classes regularly?  Do you have favorite labs you know you’ll use again?  Make up kits!  In another life, I might have 40 kids in one class.  I needed a system.  The answer was to make kits.  For me, a kit has materials and instructions.  I use bins with equipment and lab instructions for larger classes.  Each group has a kit.  It saves so much class time!

There are some labs, activities, or projects we always do.  One example is the catapult kit.  I keep ping pong balls, craft sticks, spoons, and rubber bands in a box clearly marked catapults.   There is a bin with Hot Wheels track, launchers, and cars.  I make up kits for activities we use for class, outreach projects, or even Faith camps.  (Catapults are safer than slingshots when we teach David and Goliath.  It’s still fun to smack Goliath with a catapult shot.)

Labs, such as the Unknown White Powder Lab is a pain to set up.  I keep a kit and fill the little bottles as they are depleted.

Paper activities comprise kits, too.  I have stacks of envelopes with all the supplies.  I make extra sets of paper activities; some pieces inevitably go missing.  If a set is incomplete when the kids are doing the lab, say a concept map, I make another set or two on the spot.

Clay Brain continues…

 I want mid-sagittal brain images for clay models.  We’ll use the models to name the parts of the brain. BTW, the Prang clay works well; it shouldn’t be baked, however.

A Nervous Experiment Update

 My Co-op class is redoing the labs kids missed before Christmas.  Do you think my Co-op class is different from yours?  Two of the kids are now mikes ahead.  Everyone is restarting.  I had an idea for A Nervous Experiment.  Use a compass instead of a paper clip.  Use it gently!  You can adjust the compass for different centimeters.  

Science Strategies: Case Studies

 Case Studies can enhance science education.  I wish I had more time to add them to my classes.  We’re doing Six Landmark Case Studies as part of Module 8 in Advance Biology. The ideal case study acts like a hook or reinforces a lesson.  Phineas Gage survived a metal rod through his skull.  This type of article engages kids.  Like everything else, POGILS, models, concept maps, spreadsheets, etc.  I like to sprinkle in a few interesting case studies into my lessons.  It really depends on your child.  These case studies may be the spark that ignites your kid’s interest in science.

Science for Kiddos: Case Study Archives, and Purdue have case studies for younger students.

Medical and Scientific: hhmi Biointeractive has over 300 case studies, such as Human Skin Color.  Whenever I browse HhMi I feel as though I’m doing a mini symposium.  They are always excellent; but, when would I have the time to really to do it justice?  Anatomy lends itself well to clinical case studies.  The problem is the sheer numbers.  You could go down that rabbit hole for hours.

Biology: NSTA has loads!  Look at Battle of the Blood.  The article is fairly brief and there are follow-up questions.  This lesson dovetails well with the genetics of blood types.  NSTA has case studies for Chemistry and Physics, too.  

Chemistry: Some of the ACS Chemmatters Issues have articles, which are similar to case studies, such as Authentic or Not (Art Forgery) or Otzi, The Iceman.  (BTWI use Otzi as part of a lesson on isotopes.)  Chemistry is already pretty loaded with labs and instruction.  I do try to add a few Chemmatters articles to the course.  

Science Strategies: Lab Assessment and Lab Reports

 We do at least four, formal lab reports in each science class.  Why?  Several, online home-school programs require four lab reports.  (Mother of Divine Grace and Kolbe Academy require four lab reports, as a minimum.)  However, I assess labs all the time. Here is how.

Sometimes, lab assessment is informal.  Let’s say hypothetically, we struggled with the Spinach Leaf Photosynthesis Lab and were frustrated beyond measure trying to get the disks to sink and FINALLY rise in the bicarbonate solution.  Arrrgggh.  Did everyone make a valiant effort?  Were we all on task?  Job done.  I am not going to torture or test the kids’ patience any more.  I do the same thing for a simple lab, such as Reaction in a Bag.  I ask each group to explain what happened.  If the team did not happen to note the temperature change, they redo the lab.  Otherwise, I award points to everyone completing the lab.

 One method is CER.  Here is a template.   For example, we can do Density of Metals lab, comparing volume by displacement and volume by direct measurement.  The kids guess which method is more accurate.  The teen might claim, ‘Volume by displacement is more accurate than volume measured with a ruler.  (Really.)  The student completes the lab and compares density values. The data table is evidence.   Finally, the reasoning is that measured with a ruler or calipers have a lower percent error.  The kid can scratch out his or her original claim and revise it.  CER works well for The Specific Heat Capacity of Metals lab, too.  The kiddos make a guess claiming which metal has the highest heat capacity.  Then they do the lab; the data table supplies evidence.  Finally, the reasoning is a statement of which meal has the highest heat capacity.  The kids do the lab, collect data, and analyze the results.  At this point, we focus on data collection, organization, and how to create spreadsheets.  

As often as possible, the data sheet becomes the assessment tool.  The kids collect class data and summarize it in a spreadsheet.  The lab grade is a completed spread sheet.  We work on the lab title.  For instance, it’s important to specify which lab, rather than ‘Vincent’s Bio Lab’. We remind kids not to hard code numbers.  (If you take an average on a calculator and put the number in a spreadsheet, it’s called hard coding a number.  Teens should create formulas, instead.)  In all, the spreadsheet represents a significant amount of work and constitutes the lab grade.

Sometimes the lab assessment amounts to calculations—usually in a data sheet.  One example is Flinn’s Flame Test lab. Note the data table in the lab.  The kids complete data table #2.  Once their answers are correct, they earn credit for the lab. Similarly, we do the White Powder Lab.  The kids run tests on a dozen known, white powders.  Then they use their notes to test twelve unknown white powders—the same powders mixed up.  The grade is getting all 12 white powders correct.  The lab takes a minimum of two days—loads of work.  The grading takes a few minutes.  The kids are learning about qualitative analysis.  They like that the grade is based on solving a puzzle, which powders are which.

Finally, we write Formal Lab Reports with a lab report rubric.  Yes, the rubric is more of a score sheet.  I spend the bulk of my time editing the reports.  The kids struggle to report materials in complete sentences rather than a list.  I insist the report is written in the third person.  The kids slip into the imperative, instead.  We have long, uncomfortable conversations about what constitutes plagiarism.  Kids have trouble writing both a background paragraph and a conclusion.  It takes two or three revisions before I accept the lab report as complete.  This is one reason I only require four reports.  I will combine a few labs into one report.  For example, the teens are doing Nerve Experiments.  They’ll combine all of the experiments into one big lab.   Another example are Dissections; we combined the dissections, sketches, and photos into one big, lab report.  You could combine Candy Chromatography and Paper Chromatography into one lab report.  Kids like this approach; it feels like less work.

Science Strategies: Inquiry-Based Instruction

 In another life, I did some consulting, regarding inquiry-based instruction.  Labs should be inquiry-based as often as possible.  Why?  Kids do more thinking with inquiry labs.   For example, you can follow these DNA Extraction Instructions to the letter.  Instead, change a variable.  Change the detergent: soft soap, shampoo, different liquid detergent brands, etc.  or change the temperature of the alcohol; chill it.  Does the change in the variable change the outcome? Does isopropyl of ethanol produce more strands of DNA?  Be sure to change ONE variable to make comparisons. (BTW, the key is to use fresh meat tenderizer.  Usually Dawn dish detergent works best among detergents.)

We do this a lot.  For example, look at Flinn’s Chromatography Challenge.  Vary the brands of felt markers.  Try water, isopropyl alcohol, and ethanol.  Vary the solutions or ratios of water and alcohols.  How does each change in variables change the outcome?  You can do inquiry science with a standard, paper chromatography lab.  Try using plain water and different alcohols, or different concentrations of alcohols with the same brand of black pen.  You might use the same alcohol solution and compare different brands of black pens.  You’re extending the lab.  

Another idea is to modify Photosynthetic Flotation lab; it uses spinach leaves.  This version modifies the sodium bicarbonate solution.  It also suggests trying Swiss Chard or ivy.  If you compare results between spinach leaf disks and Swiss Chard disks, the lab becomes inquiry based.  The same is true if you just make a weak solution of citric acid to use instead of the bicarbonate solution.   

Try to compare rates of reaction with The Alka-Seltzer Reaction.  Instead of using this lab, give the kids the tablets and ask them to think up ways to make the tablets react quickly: break up the tablets, crush vs whole, or change in water temperature.  You give the kids the tablets and let them run with it.  Then make Alka-Seltzer Rockets.  What combination of tablet and temperature works to launch the rocket?  

I try to make density, more inquiry based.  Here is a standard density of metals lab.  We review how to determine density, mass/volume.  I demonstrate how to measure volume by displacement.  The kids use rulers and calipers to measure cubes.  Which method, direct measurement or displacement is more accurate?  (The method with calipers produces results closest to the accepted values, the densities in the lab chart.  The lab also explains percent deviation, also called percent error.)  I give the kids the materials and let them design the lab, ideally with a data table.

Even labs, such as this Activity Series can be more inquiry based.  I set out the materials and ask the kids how we could test to see which metal is more reactive.  If there is a chemical change, there is a chemical reaction.  Sometimes, I show the kids the lab set-up and ask how we can tell which metal is most reactive and which metal is least reactive.  Usually, they see they’ll have to set up test tubes with all kinds of combinations of metals and metallic solutions to run tests.  The more the kids can think up their own lab designs, the better.  Here is a conductivity lab, kids can use to design the experiments.  

Whenever, I see an opportunity to change one variable, omit some instructions, or just make the kids think, I use it.  Ask the question: ‘What if….?’  When I give them tools with limited instructions, I still take an active role.  How are you going to set up your lab?  What are you trying to determine?  How are you organizing your data?  What do you think will happen?  Which variable do you think has the most impact?  Inquiry labs often mean less time setting up labs and more time getting my teens to think.

 

Science Strategies: CER or Claim-Evidence-Reasoning

 CER or Claim-Evidence-Reasoning is part of inquiry-based education. (BTW, BSCS helped develop inquiry-based, science instruction. The older textbooks have great labs!)  CER usually starts with a question.  I like to pair CER with discrepant events or thinkers.  Here are three discrepant events: the poly density bottle, the disappearing beaker, and the shrinking volume.  We use a CER Template and begin with a question.  Let’s begin with the density bottle.  Here is the question: Why do the beads settle in the middle?  Next we shake the bottle over and over to allow kids to make observations—the evidence.  As you shake the bottle, solids are evident.  The kids ask more questions.  What is in the bottle apart from the beads? There is alcohol, water, and salt.  The other question is ‘Why do the white beads settle on top of the blue beads?  Now, the kids state their claims, based on evidence, and site their reasoning.  It doesn’t have to be written.  I like to do a CER together.  The kids will eventually talk about density and determine the fact that the white beads must be made of different material from the blue beads.  

What is the point?  CER helps kids make sense of experiments and results.  Here is another example: the Flame Test Lab.  Here is a question: What colors do different salts produce when heated in a flame?  (Here is Flinn’s demo with an explanation regarding emission spectra.)  If you stick to flame colors, the kids match the salt with its color as it burns.  (An even better approach is to use copper chloride and copper sulfate to show that both turn a flame blue-green.)  Then the reasoning is that copper compounds produce blue-green flame.  Again, if you can use potassium carbonate and potassium chloride, two different potassium compounds, it is easier for the kids to understand that the potassium produces a pale, violet color.

CER doesn’t need to be cut and dry.  I use the process to help kids come to a conclusion.  Let me take another example, Vanishing Volume.  Kids will repeat this demo because they think they did something incorrectly.  Here is the question: Why is it 50 mL and 50 mL do not form 100 mL.  We use five mL each.  The alcohol molecules slop between the water molecules.  The claims will vary.  Often kids think the alcohol evaporates because some of the volume disappears.  It may help to keep a small cup of alcohol out to show it won’t evaporate that quickly.  It also may help to mix ping pong balls with marbles to demonstrate what is happening.  Do we need to use a template and submit it as an exercise?  Hardly.  

How do you use this approach in lab? Start with the purpose.  What data or observations were made?  Draw a conclusion.  For example, different metallic salts produce different colors.  In the Disappearing Beaker, the conclusion is that light passes through the corn oil in the same manner as it passes though the beaker (made of Pyrex or borosilicate).  They have the same index of refraction.  

It is hard to find good CER examples.  I’ll share what I have: Example #1

Are these liquids the same?  No.  Make a list of observations to create evidence and summarize or explain your reasoning.  Liquids #1 and #4 are the same because they have the same properties: density, melting point, and color.

Below are a couple more CER examples I use.

Here is an example of using CER with historical experiments, which is pretty good.  The Biology Corner has some CER examples, which are fine, but not great. These CER Questions (with labs or demos) are okay.  Here is a good explanation and with good examples.  I use a good examples to teach the process and then get kids to draw their conclusions based on the data in the lab.

 

Advanced Biology: Module 8, Brain, Spinal Cord, and Reflex Arcs

 We’re resuming Co-op class tomorrow.  I have loads of stuff to finish before we really tackle Module 8: make-up labs, lab reports, more brain models, etc.  I went over Module 8 again and have a few ideas.  First is the Reflex Arcs POGIL.  (Both the POGILS and answers are hard to find.  Use Somatic Arc, Reflex Arc, and Reflex Arch POGIL Quizlet to help with answers.)  

There are many, many, specific terms in Module 8. We started with the parts of the brain and Lobes of the Brain, as we review the bones in the skull and make clay models.  We are going to create our own Brain Anatomy Charts. 

I want to review Six Landmark Case Studies: Phineas Gage, Louis Victor Leborgne, Henry Molaison, Auguste Deter, Solomon Shereshevsky, and Patient SM, The Fearless Woman.  We’re using Neurons and Brain Anatomy, specifically the Legions sections, which has brief discussions of the case studies.  

Module 8 is tough—mainly because of the sheer number of terms, regions, lobes, etc.  We spend ten to fifteen minutes at the beginning of class just doing a bit of review. The kids do the study guide, coloring, tests, and lab reports outside of class.  I hope we can finish Module 8 this month.

Science Strategies: Hooks

 What is a hook?  It’s an interesting starter to ‘hook’ a kid’s attention.  Often  hooks are discrepant events.  Right now, discrepant events are sold as part of inquiry science.  But, teachers have used ‘hooks’ forever.  It’s just a great way to teach.  They elevate any topic.  For example, I use Density Bottle to introduce density, as a concept.  I ask my kids to explain what is happening.  Now we can tackle the topic—usually with a lab.

For optics or optical illusions, I use The Disappearing Beaker.

For a gas law introduction, I use Can Crush.

Another  great discrepant event is a Cartesian Diver.  My favorite version is   here. Have the kids explain why it sinks. 

 

It helps to have a list of discrepant events to use. Invitations to Inquiry has 486 pages with loads and loads of ideas.

Here are a few great ideas for Chemistry: Discrepant Balloons, Vanishing Volume, and several at Teaching Chemistry as an Experimental Science.