3/23 Joey: ExplanationConstructor and Constructing Explanations

I really liked the BGuILE article and thought the ExplanationConstructor was an awesome tool to help scaffold students.  It really highlights argumentation from evidence, which is such a key focus in science.  Along with the ExplanationConstructor, I also really liked how this approach allows for students to explore so many different graphs/histograms of different data sets and pick what helps support their ideas best.  Looking back at on the standardized tests in biology I reviewed a couple weeks ago, I noticed a significant portion was focused on data and graph interpretation.  I think this approach will absolutely help students be a little more prepared for standardized tests by having them engage in reasoning and argumentation using evidence from analyzing multiple graphs.  This approach also incorporates social interaction through discussion (and small groups) and also allows for revision of ideas throughout the investigation.  The ADI article highlights many of the same aspects that are considered so important in the BGuILE article.  These aspects include identification of a task, laboratory-based experience, production of a tentative argument, argumentation session, investigation report, peer-review (discussion), revision, and communication.

 I do like these two approaches and I think they have many affordances, however I have some concerns about the BGuILE classroom.  I wonder how many different scenarios and concepts are available with that software.  I also wonder how user friendly it is.  It seems to be filled with great opportunities to explore, but I wonder if all of the different interfaces are difficult to use or time consuming to learn.  The scaffolded approach to the ExplanationConstructor seems like an awesome way to get students to think about how they are constructing arguments and evidence, but I am not sure if it makes the process too prescriptive or not?  Each student has a different ZPD and will need different scaffolding from peers and the teacher, so I wonder how much of a role the software will play and if its it too much for some students?  Obviously the teacher should be monitoring students’ progress and be scaffolding them, but since the classroom described seems to be very reliant on the ExplanationConstructor it seems if it is too prescriptive you couldn’t really make it less prescriptive without abandoning the program. 

Steve 3/23: Inquiring into Inquiry

a)      Key Points for Science Teaching: The ADI article stresses the importance of argument and reflection for science understanding.  When students debate each other and review each other’s work, it uncovers misconceptions the students have about different science topics.  One thing to be careful about is that student-led arguments and discussions can lead to incorrect ideas about science so it is important that the teacher help guide class ideas when they get too far off the mark.  The part of the BGuILE article I liked best was the part about the false dichotomy between teaching just facts and teaching just process.  I like the idea of a balance of both.  Students should understand how real science is done by inquiry style projects, but it would take a long time to teach students all the content knowledge they need to keep their options open if we only used the inquiry method.  A balance of both allows students to practice the mangle of science but also learn a lot from the previous work of others’ mangle.  Without a balance of the two, students won’t be able to properly evaluate if they would enjoy a future in science or not. 

b)     Practical application: The ADI article outlines a very practical type of lesson plan that can be used in class.  The authors use the specific example of a genetic testing project to illustrate the way the lesson would work.  I can see this framework being very helpful but I would guess that some of it will seem tedious to students.  The process is so long that I fear some students might get bored with such an in-depth exploration of the same topic.  Even with a very interesting and complex topic, not all students will be interested for that long.  Many of the ideas are cool though like the double blind peer review.  The BGuILE article has lots of practical applications as well.  It discuss how reflection needs to be saved and discussed to be valuable, students can’t just reflect and never look at it again.  It also discusses how it is best to use technology that is applicable across a wide spectrum of classes.  For example, using Excel for science experiments would be good because Excel can be used in math class, in accounting, and possibly other courses as well. 

c)      Interconnections with themes:  These articles fit with the theme of introducing inquiry into science classrooms, and provide practical examples of how that can look. They also fit with the theme of constantly improving our models.  Both articles include advice to engage the students in a lot of reflection and critical analysis of their work.  This is an important part of modeling.

d)     Leveraging critique:  These articles seem to agree with the NGSS standards we read about.  Narcessian would also be a fan of these ideas as she thinks modeling is an important skill for science and articles are suggesting a lot of practices that share many elements with modeling.

e)      Connecting with class:  The articles connect with my own modeling experience in a couple of ways.  First, I find that setting aside time for reflection on what I am doing without the code in front of me is very productive, just like both articles encourage constant reflection.  Second, both articles and particularly the ADI article promote peer review, and I have found that asking classmates questions is very valuable and usually leads to good progress in my thinking. 

f)       Questions:  How do teachers properly guide thinking away from incorrect student ideas in such a free-form style of class?  What topics work better as inquiry and what topics work better as more content-delivery style?  Is there some pattern in the difference or some questions to ask to determine if a topic would be good for inquiry-learning or not?

g)      Modeling Ideas: Falling dominoes, bowling balls with different amounts of spin, bowling pins getting hit at different angles.

3/16 Steve: modeling friction

I plan to modify the traffic model to design a model of how friction and forces work.  I will have a box and three sliders.  The sliders will control mass, coefficient of friction, and force.  When the force on the box is greater than the friction force, the box will start moving.  If the force is less than the friction force, the box will not move.

This is related to NGSS standard K PS2-1 and K PS2-2:

Plan and conduct an investigation to compare the effects of different strengths or different directions of pushes and pulls on the motion of an object. Analyze data to determine if a design solution works as intended to change the speed or direction of an object with a push or a pull. So far I have made the sliders, the background colors, changed it to just one turtle and made the turtle a box shape. After I get the acceleration functionality working I will try to include an arrow that is scaled with the force slider.

3/16 Dan - Modeling Ideas

I am in the same boat as Jenna - I have explored a few models and haven’t decided on which one I would like to continue with yet.  I know that I would like to work with a physics topic but many of the traditional physics topics don’t seem to work too well with computational modeling.  Here are the few I have explored:

1. Graviation

• Explore the effects of Newton’s Law of Universal Gravitation.
• The only standard related to Gravitation involves calculating the gravitational force.  I have explored all of the extensions suggested in the model and I am looking for new ways to extend it.

2. Rope

• CLE 3231.3.1 Explore conditions associated with how waves carry energy and simple harmonic motion.
• CLE 3231.3.3 Understand wave mechanics.
• I could extend this model by trying to create a standing wave, moving or removing the fixed point, or try to a wave in an open-ended pipe.

3. Spring

• CLE 3231.3.2 Investigate Hooke’s law
• There isn’t a pre-made model for a mass on a spring, but the Bouncing Ball’s model does investigate some properties of Hooke’s Law.  Starting with that code, I could try explore how the spring constant, starting position, gravity, and friction affect the mechanical energy of the spring.

I would be happy to work with someone on any of these topics if they seem interesting.  Let me know if you have any thoughts/ideas.

3/16 Caitlin and Elizabeth - Insane in the Membrane

We are going to work on the Membrane Formation Model, which focuses on the nature of lipids in water.  You can change the strength of the water-water force and the water-oil force, among others.  When we ran the program and manipulated the variables, we noticed that the water molecules would oftentimes clump together and the lipids would surround them, with their hydrophilic head groups being attracted to the water molecules.  Thus, we wanted to see if we could manipulate the model to show different membrane formations, such as a bilayer or even a monolayer.

Chemistry NGSS standards:

HS-PS1-3.

Plan and conduct an investigation to gather evidence to compare the structure of substances at the bulk scale to  infer the strength of electrical forces between particles. [Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on understanding the strengths of forces between particles, not on naming specific intermolecular forces (such as dipole-dipole). Examples of particles could include ions, atoms, molecules, and networked materials (such as graphite).

Biology  NGSS standards:

HS-LS1-2.      Develop and use a model to illustrate the hierarchical

organization of interacting systems that provide specific functions within multicellular organisms.

The connections: The cell membrane is one of the structural components of a cell. Furthermore, the cell membrane is fluid and includes structural and functional proteins. The phospholipid bilayer is formed and held by hydrophilic and hydrophobic molecules.

Thoughts for expansion:

1.     Adding another molecule within the program that can either hydrophobic or hydrophilic interactions, or maybe even both.

2.     Creating other membrane formations.

3/16 Jenna - A Handful of Starting Points

Over the past week I've tried to brainstorm possible systems to model. I've come up with a few I like, but I haven't really settled on one in particular yet - I think I'd like to try to work a little bit on each before deciding which one I'm most interested in and has a good balance between difficultly and feasibility. Here are my ideas and the questions I'd like to explore with each:

• Pesticides
• What makes a pesticide effective? 
• How is a "safe" pesticide different from an "unsafe" one? How are the effects of each different?
• How do pesticides affect plant life? Disease spreading?
• How does pesticide immunity happen?
• Sea floor spreading
• How does sea floor spreading change the shape of land masses?
• How can the model also demonstrate the polarity of the sea floor (and how it changes over time)?
• What if spreading occurred from a single point, rather than a mid-ocean ridge?
• Arteries
• How does cholesterol build up? What effects does it have on the circulatory system? 
• Is there a way for a model of an artery to show how the rest of the body is affected?
• How do other factors (eg: high blood pressure, blood sugar, smoking, drinking) affect your health?
• What can be done to reduce or remove build-up in arteries?

What do you think would be other important considerations for any of these ideas? 

If anyone else finds any of these systems interesting, please let me know and I'd be happy to partner up.

3/16 Joey: Virus Model Ideas and Standards

CLE 3210.2.1 Investigate how the dynamic equilibrium of an ecological community is associated with interactions among its organisms. (based on carrying capacity and soon to be vaccination rates)
CLE 3210.2.2 Analyze and interpret population data, graphs, or diagrams. (all included in this model)
SPI 3210.2.3 Determine how the carrying capacity of an ecosystem is affected by interactions among organisms. (slider to change carrying capacities, interactions between people spreads disese)
SPI 3210.2.4 Predict how various types of human activities affect the environment. (how vaccinations effect survival in the environment)

These are a couple of  Biology I (9^th grade) course level expectations and state performance indicators under the Tennessee science standard 2: Interdependence.

The model I am working on is the Virus model.  Basically it shows how a human population is effected by a virus depending on infectiousness, chance of recovery, and duration of the virus.  I have added a slider that allows the user to change the carrying capacity of the population to analyze how the same virus would effect different population sizes based on their carrying capacities.  I think I am working alone on this project as of now.  Based on class feedback and suggestions I will try to see if I can manipulate the code to include vaccinations.  Basically I would like to have an option where a certain amount of the population gets a vaccination and you can manipulate that percentage and see how the number of vaccinations effects how the population survives or declines.