ADDIE Project - Chemical Reactions - Development

As I begin the development phase of my chemical reactions curriculum project, I found Google sites to be the most suitable tool for the purposes of my unit and my students.  One feature that I liked about Google sites is the fact that it works across devices no matter the operating system.  Because I have nearly 135 students, I know they and their families have operating systems of preference at home.  It is located on the web and does not require any particular app to be accessed on a mobile device; therefore it will be conveniently accessed from a device of the student’s choosing. 

While it lacks the same amount of collaborative features that Moodle or Edmodo have, it is suitable to supplement in-class instruction and face to face interaction.  It is my plan to use it for this supplemental purpose.  In my district, teachers are encouraged to use the school “fusion pages” which are similar to D2L and serve as our class websites and have features which allow students to turn in assignments, access class documents, participate in online discussions, and directly message the teacher.  Therefore, many of the features offered by Edmodo and Moodle are unnecessary in my case.  While they are amazing tools, they would simply require more time and effort to be equally effective in my classroom than would Google sites. 

Because no registration is required by the students to access my Google sites, administrative and parental permission are not necessary.  Students will simply be required to read, view videos, and complete online tutorials or simulations via Google sites, and they can be held accountable through discussion on the fusion page, class assessments, and laboratory activities. 

I plan to provide one link to a main page in Google sites on our class fusion pages.  Subpages in Google will be designated for each topic within the unit on chemical reactions and on these subpages, links, instructions, videos, and online tasks will be clearly outlined for students.  Because I am already familiar with Google sites, it will be an effective and efficient tool to provide a platform for students to study facts and master the most basic skills necessary to eventually analyze chemical properties of matter by conducting and observing chemical reactions in a laboratory setting.

Chemistry Game HD Lite is too Light in Substance

I was initially drawn to this app because of the word “game” in its title, however I had very little fun playing it, and I suspect most high school chemistry students would agree after playing for more than three minutes. Chemistry Game HD Lite is an educational application for balancing chemical equations created by iTech Developers Inc.  In a market where many chemistry apps relate to subject matter beyond that of a high school classroom and are more suitable for one learning college level organic chemistry, this app looked like it might be something beneficial for my 10^th -12^th grade students.  

While it has its benefits and I would consider recommending it to my chemistry students for some extra independent practice, it is not something that I would find to be suitable in a classroom lesson or unit plan.  Unfortunately the app does not provide benefits that significantly outweigh the traditional, paper and pencil method of learning and practicing balancing chemical equations.

 

The app allows the user to pick 1-3 equations to balance at a time, and also allows a choice of difficulty level ranging from one to three, with three being very challenging equations to balance.  I found the application to be rather one dimensional in the fact that there is no actual instruction provided to the user, without a significant amount of background knowledge in chemical reactions and the concepts of coefficients and their meaning in an equation, a user would have very little success using the app.  

It offers nothing over paper and pencil practice other than young students might be more engaged using the technology, but I think this engagement would fade quickly as the novelty of the app wears off.  In addition, because of the one dimensionality of the app, in order to balance more challenging equations, a student would still need to use a pencil and paper to successfully choose the correct coefficients. 

On a positive note, however, this app could serve as a good review tool for a student who is preparing for a cumulative exam who has already mastered balancing chemical equations, but may be a bit rusty.  The app is fast, clean in appearance, and user friendly if one has the background knowledge in chemistry, but lacks the substance to really provide any meaningful learning experience.

Images from: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/chemistry-game-hd-lite/id424640348?mt=8

ADDIE Project - Chemical Reactions - Design

This project is designed for high school chemistry students. The goal of the project is to design a unit in which students can learn basic facts and concepts at home, so that class time can be better utilized for laboratory skill building and analysis of chemical properties of matter by conducting and observing chemical reactions in a lab setting.  The completion of online tasks will be monitored through written assignments which students must complete and upload to the class website.  Further formative assessment will include weekly quizzes in the classroom and lab reports for experiments conducted during class.  A summative assessment in the form of a test will take place at the end of the unit.  The activities in the action map below include both online and classroom activities to be completed by students.  In addition, some of the prior knowledge necessary to complete the learning activities will be covered in prior units while some will be learned during online tasks.