I have been using legos to help teach chemical bonding, balancing chemical equations, stoichiometry, dimensional analysis and limiting reagents to my chemistry students. We will discussion I use this in my classroom and how I got my supplies using a front and center grant. We will go through my assignments that I do with my students and see what other ideas people have to use legos to teach.
I will discuss how I use the 3D Molecular designs water kit to help my students understand water and solutions. We will discuss the different hands on activities I use with the water kids and my students to show the properties of water and different types of solutions. We will also discuss how you can show how water dissolves substances.
In this participatory session, we will discuss several approaches to justice-centered science education, and then collaboratively brainstorm ideas and questions about how to begin centering justice in our own teaching practice. The presenters will give an overview of recent work done in this area by Danny Morales-Doyle (author of Transformative Science Teaching), Django Paris (culturally sustaining pedagogy) and Anastasia Sanchez (the Social Focus Framework). In addition, we will briefly discuss how phenomenon-based curricula and 3D Learning can act as a springboard into justice-centered teaching. We will then brainstorm social justice science issues that matter to, or affect our students and their communities, as well as questions related to teaching and learning science for social justice. The objective of this session is to explore the path that middle and high school science teacher learning communities might take to develop an understanding of what it means to center justice in their practice.
This presentation will showcase how UWO’s Biology Department is partnering with UWO’s Dual-Enrollment program, CAPP, to provide transformative educational experiences for students. The focus of this current collaboration is part of a larger endeavor to help STEM learners translate educational experiences into career endeavors by working with regional employers as well. As UWO pivots to a new learner-centered academic structure that emphasizes career clusters, CAPP’s role in providing early access to college courses while students are still in high school can play a larger role in smoothing students’ transition to career pathways available at UWO and increasingly at other institutions of higher education.
A brief overview of UWO’s CAP Program will provide context for how we envision our collaboration with Biology—and other fields—can work to advance student learning in Wisconsin. Drs. Jessica Lucas and Mallory Janquart from the fields of Biology and Laboratory Medical Technology will showcase the career-case studies they have worked on.
As we are seeking more teachers to participate in our collaboration, attendees will learn the role of CAPP adjuncts in developing/ testing new curriculum and how to participate. Attendees will also learn about how UWO is using career clusters and trying to connect students with STEM careers. NGSS are not addressed directly, but college-level science standards are key in the design of the new curriculum. An interactive quiz is part of the presentation of the career-case studies and the new curriculum activities.
