Dusto Science Teaching

One of the new routines I started this year in support of my self-directed classroom (students are working at their own pace and choosing their own path through a set of learning resources) is introducing a weekly physics challenge problem. The idea came out of two goals I've had: 1) to incorporate more higher-level challenges to students in general, to support deep thinking and curiosity, and 2) providing interesting discussion fodder that allows us to "sneak review" some of the content we are learning without simply rehashing or defaulting to me reteaching stuff they "should have" gotten themselves. After the first week I'm pretty jazzed about how my first challenge addressed both goals (and number 2 especially more than I'd expected). I doubt every week will be quite as deep and stimulating, but I'm happy to know it isn't quite as challenging for me the teacher to set up as I thought it might be! The week works like this: Monday -...

I love the new feel of my classroom with students doing self-paced work. Everyone is more relaxed and happy. To provide something of a snapshot, today I: Spent several minutes at the beginning of one class writing a recommended reading list for yet another kid who requested books about "quantum physics and black holes and stuff like that," and then making a plan with him that if the librarian can't help him find any of them at school, I'll bring in my Brief History of Time for him Monday.  Little Shop of Feedback Spent chunks throughout the day in various mini meetings with five-ish students going over basic questions they had about the content, or thinking through what they were doing in the lab. Helped several students who have been struggling to get the hang of setting their own course decide on a goal with a deliverable for the day. Multiple times, did a walk through the room and asked what everyone was working on and if they wanted any assistance, ...

I am going to try a self-paced unit for the first time after spring break in my junior physics classes. Students will begin with a document outlining all the learning goals for the unit, suggested options for resources to help them reach each learning goal, and a suggested date for completion of each learning goal. Then the plan is to just ... let them go! I kid: the plan is to have a bunch of routines, classroom structures, and resources for them while I monitor their progress and act as a coach each day. But yeah, other than that, hopefully they will just go for it. I am excited to see what learning options they chose and what kind of engagement this garners. And, of course, to see how it impacts their overall learning in terms of both mastery and self-direction. Our school this year switched to proficiency based grading, so part of the unit outline document pictured above includes a similar map of all the assessments for the unit with the related learning objectives and sugges...