The more I research and reflect
on how we learn best, the more frustrated I get with programs that
essentially require teachers to teach to some form of standardized test
in order to ensure the success of students. Though I believe that IB
biology provides a good platform for skill development in higher order
thinking skills with lab design and analysis of data, I find the content
to be too prescribed in terms of terminology and phrasing. As a
result, a teacher could potentially get great results by simply teaching
the test using only a program approved textbook or study guide for
teaching resources. In addition to this, the time requirements for
completing the "content delivery" in the higher level course, frequently
prevent teachers from using more time-consuming, non-traditional
methods such as project-based learning for much of the content.
Several months ago, I read a great post
by Shawn Cornally from his blog "Think, Thank, Thunk". If you do not
follow him, you should definitely add him to your list. In this post,
he made me yearn for a teaching situation in IB biology where I could
implement all of the cool strategies I get to use in my 10th grade
integrated science class (not bound by a standardized test at the end of
two years) such as project-based learning and gamification. The
struggle he describes is one that I would love to tackle in my IB
biology class. I wrote to him to ask how he could possibly do all of
that in an AP/ IB class (talk about your super teacher).
It turns out that his school doesn't have an AP or IB program for
biology, though some elect to take the AP Biology exam after taking the
course. I suppose the grass is always greener, but at the same time, I
decided to make it my mission this year to find ways to move away from
the test and challenge my IB students creatively forcing them to use
those higher order thinking skills that we as a school have embraced
this year: namely critical thinking, creativity, information fluency,
and collaboration.
My last post is
one example of how I have moved away from the lecture model in IB to
teach content that is typically delivered old school style. Today I
will explain how I taught cell transport processes using a new tool I
discovered called Inklewriter.
It is almost a guarantee that my students will find a question similar to these on their exam in May of their senior year:
- Describe the process of mineral ion uptake into root.
- Explain how the structure of the villus in the small intestine is related to its function.
- Explain the process of active and passive transport that move materials across a membrane.
- Explain how a nerve impulse passes along a neuron.
- Explain the process of ultrafiltration.
What
do all of these have in common? Cell membrane transport. As a result
this is one of the most crucial themes for kids to not only understand
but also be able to apply to a myriad of situations.
Inklewriter
is an online "choose your own adventure" tool. Though you
would typically find uses for this in an English class, I adapted it to
address this theme in IB Biology. Since cell membrane transport is
dependent on several variables such as concentration of molecules, size,
polarity etc., it reads just like a choose your own adventure story.
If this is the situation does it do this or this?
Prior
to class, I had all students sign up for accounts and familiarize
themselves with the instructions on how to create a choose your own
adventure story. Then in class, I paired them up and let them run with
it. The majority of them chose to use a metaphor such as a bouncer
(cell membrane) at a party, or Middle Earth (still trying to process all
of the weird references in this one). Others created their own fantasy
or went the literal route.
Either way, the entire class was actively engaged in this activity, and I was able to identify any gaps in their understanding of transport
by reading their stories. Since the majority of them also applied their
knowledge of transport using a metaphor, they are more likely to remember
how this works and be able to apply it to new situations when they learn about the
different body processes or transport in plants. The best part was that
we only had to spend one class period working on this. The engagement
factor alone motivated my students to devote more time outside of class
working on this than they would have if I had simply assigned a reading
out of a text for them to memorize.
Here is a link to the assignment. You can find a more detailed description of this along with a PDF file under the IB Biology Lessons link on this blog.
