Active Learning Strategies by

Whole Class

ansmith63 — 2023-11-19 19:55:43 UTC

White-Entire class participates

Blue- Individual assignments

Pink- Small Group activities 3-4 students

Green- Pair and share or 2 student group activities

Yellow- Teacher

The activities listed can be used in most Biology lessons.

Getting to know you(Promoting social behaviour)

ansmith63 — 2023-11-20 00:08:31 UTC

First week of school. The teacher sets up a grid with varied statements such as: favorite activities, hobbies, what children are good at doing, have you ever travel to another country, speak another language, etc. The students the take the paper and find other students that fit the descriptions in the grid. This gets the the student up and moving and meeting their new classmates.

Student Surveys

ansmith63 — 2023-11-20 00:17:31 UTC

An inventory of questions designed for the teacher to learn what the student's interests, curiosities, likes/dislikes, skill queries about their homelife, what they would be interested in learning in biology (what are their expectations), what they feel their academic strengths and weakness are, what do they want to be as an adult, etc.

Learning Environment

ansmith63 — 2023-11-20 00:46:34 UTC

The Biology class will look like a classroom and a laboratory. There will be laptops, research books and the textbook that the students can get up and us at any time. The students will understand the safety procedures for all laboratory experiments by completing a formative after a tour of the class/lab, this maybe periodically updated. The students will have have their own laboratory book for these instructions and to write up experiments, collected data, analysis, and conclusions. Student will always be allowed and encouraged to ask questions.

Webquest (Student preparation for a lesson)

ansmith63 — 2023-11-20 00:59:49 UTC

One thing I have observed in a biology classroom and often causes students to give up is the vocabulary used in biology. As a preview, students are given a Webquest with short articles of current issues that use the same vocabulary in class. They have to find the articles on the internet and answer questions. The readings will be chosen slightly above what they learned in middle school, activating prior knowledge or, recalling and scaffolding for the deeper knowledge they will learn in high school biology.

Hook (Ecology section in Biology)

ansmith63 — 2023-11-20 02:42:13 UTC

Get students interested in thinking how living and non-living things serve a function in successful ecosystems.

Pair and share

ansmith63 — 2023-11-20 16:09:35 UTC

After the video, ask the students:

List some living and nonliving factors in the introduction.

How are the living and nonliving factors related/what is their relationship?

What types of organisms are in the greatest number?

What organisms are smallest in number?

Guided notes

ansmith63 — 2023-11-20 16:57:44 UTC

In my fieldwork this semester my mentor is a 22 year veteran of teaching gifted and AP biology. I know that guided notes are not encouraged, but these allow student to have organized notes, ready to rely on for classroom activities. The PowerPoint slides are also available for more visual learners.

Game Predator Prey relationship

ansmith63 — 2023-11-20 18:14:09 UTC

Students in groups of four will model a real life example of the relationships between aquatic predators and prey. They will collect data of predator or prey dying or reproducing over 20 cycles and graph their results, finally they will answer questions based on their knowledge of the relationships between predators and prey and the data they collected by interpreting the graph, and open ended questions.

Modeling

ansmith63 — 2023-11-20 18:27:40 UTC

The instructions were long and confusing for the predator/prey game. I modeled how the can mark off an ecosystem on the lab-top benches and to use erasable ink markers to represent prey. I will also model three cycles, showing the students how many prey they start with (quarter sized circles) and how to drop the card (predator) on the ecosystem. The card must land on three prey to get enough energy to survive. If it does not all the remaining prey double. The drop the card again, if the card lands three prey, another predator enters the cycle. The eaten prey are erased from the lab-top, but those not eaten double again.

3-D model of an Energy Pyramid

ansmith63 — 2023-11-20 20:13:36 UTC

Students will build a 3-D pyramid. First side, students will put the trophic levels in the correct positions. Second side, they will draw plants/animals that included in the matching trophic levels. The third side will demonstrate how much energy from the bottom trophic level is available for the next. The last side the student will explain what they just created demonstrates.

Foldable flip chart

ansmith63 — 2023-11-20 20:28:19 UTC

Students will make foldable for mitosis. The cover will name the part of the cycle and when you flip it, the student will draw what the cell looks like at this stage. The will also include a brief description of what is going on in the cell and the proper names for the organelles involved.

This will also be used as a guide for macromolecules: Proteins, Lipids, Carbohydrates, and RNA/DNA.

Students teaching students

ansmith63 — 2023-11-20 20:34:04 UTC

Students will learn about the biogeochemical molecules, oxygen, carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus. In small groups, one student in each group will be randomly assigned a cycle. They will illustrate the cycle, creativity encouraged, and then they will teach the other 3 students about the cycle they drew and why it is important.

Students will create a model of Photosynthesis and Cellular Respiration

ansmith63 — 2023-11-20 20:40:41 UTC

In two different units, but tightly related, the students will construct models and explain their models of Photosynthesis and Cellular Respiration to the teacher as a group.

Guided Lecture

ansmith63 — 2023-11-20 20:53:16 UTC

A controversial biological topic is chosen that is included in the standards. The students decided if the are pros or cons for the topic chosen. The groups will receive one top tier journal article on the topic and the students need to pick two more high impact articles. The students will devise a strategy to orally communicate their points of view. The teacher will guide the discussion, so that everyone is allowed to participate and to clear up any misunderstandings.

Stations

ansmith63 — 2023-11-20 20:59:34 UTC

Various activities will be scattered around the classroom about the current unit. Students will move around the room to each station and complete the activity at that table. Once they are finished they can check their answers that will be in the folder off to the side. This is a good review and like most of the group activities you can listen in on their conversations to check for understanding. As the students move around, you can also see their body language and get an idea of how they feel about the material.

Case Studies

ansmith63 — 2023-11-20 21:07:48 UTC

Mostly biotechnology and DNA/RNA.

Student will receive a case study of a "who done it" case. The articles will be set up to require the student to recall prior knowledge and anything that is not covered in class will be explained in the narrative. The students will be provided several pieces of evidence, toxicology reports, MO's, and DNA, total and mitochondrial. They must work through the evidence to find the murderer.

Informal formatives

ansmith63 — 2023-11-20 21:13:28 UTC

During lecture, the teacher will stop periodically where an important vocabulary word could be used, a comparison, or concept. The teacher will wait until someone answers, implying this might be an important thing to know. These should occur as often as possible and the teacher should keep notes on students that are not quite hitting the mark.

Formal formative

ansmith63 — 2023-11-20 21:16:02 UTC

Short quiz, some questions could be multiple choice, but short answers requiring the students to the beyond the rote memory should also be included.

Warm up example

ansmith63 — 2023-11-20 22:14:10 UTC

Complete the following nucleotide sequences:

side 1 of original DNA : ATCTTGAAC

New side 2 after replication:

mRNA after transcription:

Guest Speaker

ansmith63 — 2023-11-20 22:20:52 UTC

Invite a professional scientist you know that would like to talk to your class about real life practices in science. Allow enough time for the students to ask questions. Have the students write a brief paragraph about what they learned.

Biodiversity Field Trip

ansmith63 — 2023-11-20 22:33:54 UTC

Students will be trained to use the "Merlin" app. from Cornell University to identify birds and "Seek" by iNaturalist, id's plants, animals, and insects. Groups of 4 students will go outside the school (Our Ecosystem at school), chaperoned, and count as many differents species in 45 minutes. They will the go home and do the same thing, within a weeks time. We will organize the data and extrapolate the schools biodiversity data compared to student's home data.

Ticket out the door 3,2,1

ansmith63 — 2023-11-21 00:07:21 UTC

In the 3-2-1 technique, students write about 3 things they learned, 2 things they found interesting, and 1 question they still have about the lecture content.

These often help give the teacher an idea of what the students are learning and where they might be struggling.

Wanted Poster

ansmith63 — 2023-11-21 00:11:22 UTC

This can be used in several biology lessons. Give the students a choice of making a "Most Wanted Poster", or a public service announcement in the for of a brochure. In this case it is a virus. The students have to answer the common name, scientific name, and its "wanted" name. Where did it originate, is it zoonotic, what damage does it do and is there a treatment or a cure. If found alert proper authorities.

End of the Unit Summative

ansmith63 — 2023-11-21 00:17:16 UTC

The end of the unit summative test should consist of some easy matching, vocabulary words, and fill in the blank. The majority of the questions should consist of details that the majority of the students have to stop and evaluate what the question is asking. This can be accomplished by multiple choice. I would also have several short answer questions. I would let them depending on the number, if 5 questions, they have to answer 4.

Review for summative

ansmith63 — 2023-11-21 00:23:49 UTC

Provide a list of questions, that cover the entire chapter, a day before the test. This would be homework and if they have completed all if the material they should have all of the answers in their collective unit work. A key should not be provided unless there is a question on the review that is incorrect.

Design an Experiment

ansmith63 — 2023-11-21 00:43:22 UTC

Propose a problem that can be investigated in a laboratory setting. The students can do research and then come up with a hypothesis and the develop an experiment to test their hypothesis. Ask the students what to expect from their experiment and what conclusions they can make. The students could also share their hypothesis and experimental design with the class and receive feedback and hopefully open academic discusssions.