A few years back, my school was going through some upheavals. Teachers were told to teach new grades and move rooms among other things. It was mighty frustrating!  Teachers were angry and more than a little concerned about how to prepare for the changes. Then, the principal gave us all a book.  It was titled Who Moved My Cheese by the late Spencer Johnson, an allegory about change and how to meet the challenge. 

Own The Cheese!

 Why bring up this book?  Because teachers are facing an amazing amount of change quickly and often without much notice. COVID19 keeps moving our cheese!

Many of us are venturing into distance-learning out of necessity.  As science teachers, our cheese has moved.  We’re trying to figure out how to create 3-dimensional lessons that engage students and provide the rigor and relevance necessary to master the concepts.  

The Practical Science Teachers have some tips and ideas for set-up that will get you through the time teaching science online.

Setting the Stage

According to 5th grade teacher, Judy Higgins, you don’t need to reinvent the wheel or throw out rigor.  You have a curriculum. Use it, but you will need to spend some time thinking about adaptations.  Keeping the same procedure in place for each science lesson is critical for students in a distance-learning environment. Her advice is valuable for teachers in grades K-12. College,too, for that matter.

Keep the KISS (Keep It Simple for Students) principle in mind when choosing which tools will be used in your lessons.  Padlet? Jamboard? Google Classroom? There are a LOT of them!  Introduce each tool one at a time and give students time to practice them.  Establish a Driving Question Board on one of the tools and keep it there. Create cheat sheets and videos to help students access these tools easily. Post those items where students can find them! Keep changes to a minimum!

Lesson Size

While teaching students virtually, remember to break lessons up into small chunks. Recommendations vary anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour for Kindergarten up to 2 hours for high school. Some states do have their own timelines.  Lessons should be broken up into 3-5 minute chunks for early elementary up to 45 minutes for high school. That’s not a lot of time. Spend it wisely.  Study your curriculum and determine what lessons are important to know and which are nice to know. Every activity must focus on the big questions! Know the purpose of each unit. What are some activities students can do alone and those that must be presented by you? Do you have “rooms” for student collaboration? 

Set up a schedule to meet with each student privately so you can provide feedback or answer questions.  Designate a page for students to post assignments or questions. 

Parents – No Problem!

In a virtual classroom, communication with parents is essential! They are likely more anxious than you for their students to have a great experience.  Create a parent section in your learning management system (LMS). Develop cheat sheets and videos specifically for them so they understand the tools you’re using with your students.  Homework assignments can also go there. 

Tech Learning has a lot of suggestions to make online learning for any subject smoother for parents.  They also have good resources so parents can assist their student with learning.  For example, you can host a Parent Academy to keep them abreast of the science concepts students will learn in each lesson or unit. Post any pertinent information in your district’s curriculum if you have online versions.  

Make sure to send parents any announcements from the district or you as soon as you can.  You can still send home newsletters. 

Finally, make certain parents have your email!  They need to know how to contact you in case of problems, questions, or concerns.  It’s a good idea to give students your email, too, for the same reasons.

Planning Take-aways

• Use your district’s science curriculum
• Make sure to keep the rigor in each lesson!
• Adapt lessons.
• Break lessons into smaller sections.
• Select appropriate tools, including video.
• Set up areas for student collaboration
• Plan how to communicate with students and parents

Virtual learning for any subject, but particularly for science learning, demands more planning than ever.  If you keep these guidelines in mind as you begin each unit or lesson, the virtual year will be a breeze.  Proper planning prevents a passel of problems!