As a thinker, I seek to create personalized, relevant and authentic learning experiences. The following artifacts display a sample from my AP Biology Blended Course, a detailed Maker lesson plan, a remix about the Maker Movement, my ideal learning space and a fictional story about the Stanford Design Model.
AP Biology Blended Course
My blended AP Biology course was created on the learning management system Kickstand. The sample here includes an introductory unit as well as the first content unit on evolution. Each lesson is designed around my SIMPLE Learning Cycle and clearly lays out the learning objectives. Original resources include informational screencasts, activities, investigations, rubrics, & assessments. Click here to log on. Use “eagle1” for both the username and password.
AP Biology Prototype
The design stages of empathy, definition, and ideation helped me to decide my AP Biology course should build each SIMPLE lesson around a question rather than around one of the AP Biology Standards. This video summarizes and explains how I tested my AP Biology Organization prototype by reaching out to other AP Biology teachers via email, text messages, and Twitter. You can see the full prototype here. To view the video, please click here or use the video player below.
A Maker Lesson Plan
An important goal of the Maker Movement is to get students to think, explore and take risks. My Maker lesson brings together the research I encountered on constructivism, motivation, scaffolding, personalized learning, feedback, and Instructional Design as students build a 3D cell prototype using a Makey Makey. This three-day lesson activates prior knowledge, encourages collaboration, requires the creation of an interactive model and results in a gallery crawl to showcase student creations. See the full lesson plan here.
A Remix on the Maker Movement
Creating an effective remix is a great way to synthesize information on a topic. It takes hard work, patience, creativity and a little trial and error. My first attempt at creating a remix focuses on how trial and error is at the heart of the Maker Movement. To view my remix video, please click here or use the video player below.
Learning Space Re(Designed)
This project involves thinking about how my classroom can be redesigned to improve teaching and learning. Therefore, with learning theories and experience design in mind, I used the free program SketchUp to create my ideal classroom. Step 1 was to create a room without a front or a back. Step 2 involved adding movable tables and chairs. Finally, I designed the storage so that equipment was easily accessible by my students. All of this lead to an individualized and student-centered classroom. To view the video, please click here or use the video player below.
When the Teacher Becomes the Learner
This is a fictional story I wrote about how the Stanford Design model can solve an educational problem. While my wife is indeed smart and my students are sometimes bored, all characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. To read my story, please click here or use the reader below.
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