Twelve Hour Field Trip is Eleven Hours Too Long -- Blog Post #44

In Ontario our Ministry of Education has a relatively new initiative called Specialist High Skills Majors (SHSM) in our high schools. SHSM is designed to allow students to focus their learning on a specific

economic sector while meeting the requirements to graduate from secondary school.  At our high school, in addition to teaching science and math,  I also run the SHSM Program in Justice: Community Safety and Emergency Services which is aimed at students who may be interested in pursuing a  career in policing, fire fighting, paramedicis, law, social work, child youth worker, border patrol, security, park ranger, etc.

Last Friday the students in our Specialist High Skills Major program had the opportunity to participate in a 12 hour field trip with me. Looking sharp in our black SHSM tee-shirts, we started at Algonquin College where we visited the fire fighting, paramedic and police services labs. After a nutrition (?) break at MacDonald’s we travelled by public transportation to a local rock climbing gym where the students  participated in over 2 hours of training and participating in rock climbing.

Rock climbing is, for the most part, a buddy activity and students who do not normally interact with each another quickly buddied up in order to maximize their participation time. I had no idea that so many of our students are part monkey, or possibly related to Spiderman but they were all extremely adept at climbing and very proud of their accomplishments. I hesitate to describe the “happy dance” that one chronically depressed student did upon reaching the apex of a cliff because it was so graphically disturbing, there was however, pure joy on his face!

By now it was 3 o’clock in the afternoon. All students were respectful and orderly all day.  Five of our students had to leave the group due to either employment or family commitments. The remaining ten went onto “volunteer time”.  Together we taxied over to one of the local elementary school s where our students were the facilitators for the Grade 6 Leadership Camp. If you knew the stories behind the students that were participating you would completely understand why I may be considered, by some, to be a risk taker.

During this camp I made some observations of our students as they interacted with the 11 – 12 year olds.

1.       A new Canadian hesitant to speak English in public and a young lady who has been “thrown away” by her family

An amazing pair who were in charge of an “Agree- disagree” Activity Center.  They came up with amazing topics for the youngsters to debate and asked great questions to keep the debate going! They couldn’t believe how engaged the children were in what they considered to be a boring activity!

2.       An weak academic grade 10 student and a hyper-active grade 11 student who has had to raise himself

A fantastic partnership that ran a “parachute” Activity Center. They both spoke with authority but respect to the students.  They modelled learning and improvised on the fly. At one stage, the ADHD student asked permission from his partner to move over to the adjacent Activity Center where he could see his peer was struggling with a rowdy group of students!

3.       Tiny little gymnast

Single-handedly (until ADHA guyn offered to help) put small groups through their paces as they passed hula hoops around a closed circle. Came up with lots of variations on the theme! Her height may be instrumental in bringing out the caring and compassionate side of people.

4.       Grade 12 girl who keeps her nose clean and flies under the radar

So calm and in command with the tee shirt Decorating Activity that after she had explained the concept to the first group no other group needed instruction and each became calmer and calmer in her presence!

5.       Grade 10 boy, anxious to please!

OOOoooh grade 6 girls love this boy! His self-confidence, energy and deportment make him quite the (young)ladies man! Who knew?

6.       Shy Gradde 11 girl

Her shyness is her biggest obstacle. She really struggled when trying to facilitate each group of youngsters in coming up with their team cheer. Once Michelle was imported to help her the cheering really took off!

7.       Struggling ADD grade 12 girl

Possibly the most flexible, compliant and enthusiastic of the group. She moved from group to group helping where she was needed. She is almost too independent to work with a partner! Her organizational skills (when it comes to others) are phenomenal!

8.       Chronically depressed happy dancer

Our official photographer / videographer for the Leadership Camp. This may have been his big break!

This may all sound very civilized and organized but let me assure you if I EVER comment about the noise level in my class room again please remind me of the sound of 40 excited grade sixers echoing off the walls of a school gym on a Friday night. It is not an exaggeration to say that my ears were ringing for hours afterwards!

So it was a fantastic day on many levels but I am not going to lie to you, by 7 o’clock I was out of Tylenol, I had dined on a potluck supper of salad and potato chips, my head was spinning and I was plotting a way out! At this time the most unlikely student of the group came over to me with a cookie, gave me a hug and reassured me that I could get through this! Can you guess who that student is?

Thank you to this student for reminding me that this is why I teach!

Posting Seven -- Series and Parallel Circuits

One of the hardest concepts for students in the grade nine applied science course to fully understand is the parallel electrical circuit. I have tried many different approaches to teaching the parallel circuit over the years but it appears that the learners are not yet ready for this concept. This year I took an inquiry-based learning approach and the results were more successful than in the past.

1. Initiate and Plan – ENGAGE

We began our study of electrical circuits with the series circuit. This allowed us to become familiar with the parts of the circuit (load, source, conductors, and switch) and trouble shoot problems that are commonly encountered when connecting the circuit.

Once the class could build a simple series circuit I taught them the symbols used to record their circuits. You can read more about this process in the previous blog entry (posting six). It is also an excellent example of how the conclusion of one inquiry becomes the initial planning stages of the next inquiry.

As an introduction to the parallel circuit, we watched a video wherein both the series and parallel circuits where examined and explained using age appropriate language and examples. Then we watched a simple power point presentation that I created that covered the same ground. Then we took notes, in the form of a t-chart, to compare the two types of circuits. Next, we did a set of questions together, step by step, that covered series and parallel circuits. Finally, for our exit card that day I distributed small recipe cards. The students were instructed to use the appropriate symbols to draw a series circuit on one side of the card and a parallel circuit on the other side of the card. They were allowed to use their note books, text books, confer with each other and check with the teacher during this process (diagnostic or “assessment for learning”).

2. Perform and Record -- EXPLORE

Prior to the next class I went through each of the cards. Using two sets of stickers – big stars and little stars—I assigned groups and which parallel circuit would be built. I used colour coded big stars to determine which students would work together in small groups, students with the same colour big stars would be in the same group. I used smaller stars to determine which parallel circuit I would require them to build –the circuit drawing with the small gold star would be built. In this manner, everyone go two stars—because they are all stars -- yet I got to mix the groups up and control what circuit would be created. The students responded amazing well to this sticker system and seemed quite pleased that I had made at least some of the decisions for them!

It is not uncommon to have some students absent everyday in applied classes at our school. For those students who were missing on the day we made our cards I took a blank card for each of them, wrote the absent student’s name on it and put two star stickers on the blank card – one large one to determine the group the student would be in and one small one, that was any colour except gold!

The next day the cards on which series and parallel circuits had been designed were returned to the students along with the instructions to move into their assigned groups, pick up all the equipment they needed to build the circuit drawing with the gold star on it and go to it!

The students were soon demonstrating their ability to read circuit diagrams, planning what equipment they needed to build their circuits, constructing circuits, using instruments (voltmeters and ammeters), and experimenting to see if they could successfully complete the task.

3. Analyze and Interpret = EXPLAIN

As stated previously, building parallel circuits is very challenging for students in the grade nine applied science class so it was not surprising to me that this task took a lot of time and patience on behalf of the students. While trying to succeed they engaged in constant analyzing, evaluating and reviewing in numerous attempts to get their circuits working. Of the four groups one group finished much sooner than any of the other three. At that stage I dispersed the members of the successful group amongst the other three groups to be their “consultants”.

It was interesting for me to observe many group members using the voltmeters to determine that there was in fact current running through the parallel branches even though the light bulbs were not coming on.

4. Communicate = EXTEND

Now the students took the initiative to test all the light bulbs in their circuits and replace the ones that were not functioning. They even wanted to know the proper way to dispose of the burnt out bulbs!

This weekend I am working on my midterm report cards marks. This class has a mean score of 82%. Now I am worried that my administration will be questioning why my marks are so high! If they do, I shall refer them to this blog!

Here are some videos showing the levels of engagement in the students during this inquiry!