Best iPad Apps for the Chemistry Classroom, the purple circle on the right says “Online 10Q check/HW system – UT Quest”
This is a list of my favorite things. Well, iPad apps that is!
For video creations, for myself, I prefer Explain Everything or Doceri. If I have it all on my ipad, which for my video notes is the case, I use Explain Everything. If it is on my desktop or laptop, then I prefer Doceri. If I need to edit an existing video or am encouraging my students to create a video, then I prefer iMovie. *disclaimer* I always give my students a choice on what apps to use, I just give suggestions for what I would use. Please keep that in mind.
To edit PDF’s, or write on PDF’s, I like meta moji notes. It does not crash and has some cool writing colors like ombre. Most of my students use this app for their paperless work.
I use k12 periodic table most of the time on my iPad when I need a periodic table app. I like that the whole table shows with the average atomic masses.
My favorite app for photo collages, diagrams, or creating a photo title is pic collage.
For fun class games and reviews, I like Socrative. Kahoot is great too but it will bump kids out sometimes, so they like to open Kahoot on their phones too. Kahoot is web based by the way.
For my weekly cumulative homework and weekly 10 Question checks, I use UT Quest. It is web based. It is great for math and science. I like that chemicals and numbers within questions can change from student to student, besides scrambling numbers and answer choices. I also like that there is free response options.
My entire course is housed in iTunes U. It is set as open if you want to add the course. Search “Amarillo” in the course search and you will see AACAL Chemistry. I like that it downloads to the students iPads so they do not need WiFi to watch video notes at home. I like that I can put due dates and it pushes the calendar out to the kids. I also like the check off task lists.
We use eBackpack for a paperless grading system. It is also web based so it makes it easy to grade my desktop. I like that I set due dates and close folders. I also like that a new feature will allow you to return all students work at once.
The BEST lab simulation app is by far Gizmo by Explore Learning. It is worth every penny. We recently figured out that it makes an excellent pre-lab before the students do the real lab with chemicals. Less waste! And they know what they are doing!
Our favorite flashcard app is Quizlet. The kids can make the terms a quiz or flashcards. They can make cards as known or unknown. The terms can also be shared.
In the past three years of flipping my chemistry classroom, I have struggled and re-worked the flow of my class. This can be tough as you, the teacher, moves from “stage” to “sage.” In other words, I wanted to remove the spotlight from me and redirect it onto the curriculum while I guide my students in learning.
My new workflow is a 5 step process as demonstrated in the graphics below.
weekly flipped workflow overviewWork flow in my flipped classroom
1. Video Notes
weekly flipped workflow – video notes
I have “chunked” my year of curriculum into neat weeks. Some extensive material get more weeks, but the info is chunked into week 1, week 2, etc. An example of an extensive unit would be the stoichiometry unit. Most units I can make fit into one week though. (My subject PLC team plans out the whole year into week long chunks from the beginning of the year. And we stick to our timeline.)
The week of material is then distilled into a 10 minute video. Yes, 10 minutes or less. Hard to believe?
The video only needs one example of each type of problem worked by the teacher, this cuts time significantly. Students can rewind a video to re-watch, if needed. I usually give an example or two per problem type for the student to work. We can then check those in class.
I typically use Explain Everything to create the video on my iPad, sometimes I will use Doceri if I need my desktop to make the video work. The video is then published in my iTunes U course, which syncs to the iPad so you do not need WiFi to access our course. The students get the notes on paper 3 days before the notes are due, typically this is a Friday; they are to watch them in their own time before the due date.
On the due date, which is generally a Monday, I check for completion of the video notes (done on paper) at the beginning of class, sometimes for a grade but not always. Then, I answer questions from students and work secondary examples if needed.
Students who have not yet watched the video will be sent to the lab area of my room to finish watching the video notes and will receive a late grade upon completion.
2. 10 Question Check
weekly flipped workflow – 10 Question check
The purpose of the 10 Question Check is to assess whether the student understands what they need to know from the notes. My students are allowed to use their paper notes on the 10Q Check. They can also ask me questions and search Google, but not ask each other.
I create and assigned the 10Q checks in Quest, an online program from the University of Texas. Quest is AWESOME for a myriad of reasons:
1. The whole campus (unlimited teachers) is only $99 per calendar year.
2. The system has hundreds of thousands of questions ready to go, but you can always create new ones if you get permission.
3. The student’s quiz tells them immediately if they got the question right or wrong; many questions have multiple attempts and will award less points per continual try.
4. Many questions have multiple versions- some that change both the number and element/compound in the problem. The program also scrambles both numbers and answer choices for each student.
5. The teacher gets immediate feedback on what the students understand or do not.
3. Two Activities
weekly flipped workflow – 2 activities
Once the student has passed the 10 question check (they get 2 tries), each student is to complete 2 activities. Sometimes my students are allowed to choose 2 between 3 or 4 activities. The activities are generally labs, a hands-on manipulative, practice problems, or a creation of a product.
These are chances to extend the students learning and cement it. Most of the time, the students work in partners or groups on their activities.
The activity is assigned in iTunes U and students will turn in their completed activities into eBackpack (or physical items into my basket).
I most often create the activity as a PDF. The students will mark up the PDF or create something of their own.
For an activity like a problem set, an issue is that some students do not like to write on the iPad; I understand this as I feel the same way. These students can use white boards that I provide or simply white paper and take pictures to submit in eBackpack. I also usually have them turn in their physical paper copied.
eBackpack allows you to grade, notate, and mark on submitted assignments. It also is a nice area for students to store work in their file system.
4. Homework
weekly flipped workflow – homework
Each week, I assign a 30 problem homework set to be completed within 7 days; it is generally given Friday to Friday. The homework set is created and assigned in Quest for the same reasons I give the 10Q checks in Quest.
Nothing in my course ever goes away, it is cumulative. Chemistry builds on itself throughout the year, so it helpful to refresh curriculum for students regularly.
Most of the questions in the homework problem set are from old units. Only about 10% is new material. This is a great place to add questions from previous 10Q checks and exams that students struggled with.
5. Cumulative Exams
weekly flipped workflow – exam
Each week, I give a cumulative exam. It is on paper and students are only allowed to use a calculator. In fact, I take up cell phone and iPads until students are finished with the exam. I want to see if the students know what they need to (on their own), and we do this by exam data.
Each week, each class goes over their exam. I pinpoint highly missed question items and rework questions as needed or requested. I retest highly missed questions until students show mastery as a class. We also look at questions by TEKS as an average, and reteach as necessary.
Generally I pull those questions into the upcoming week’s bellwork and also homework. From time to time, I will add re-teaching into the next video notes as well.
To do all of this for our exams, we create keys and scantrons within the program Eduphoria Aware.
….
I will never go back to a traditional classroom.
I cannot express enough how much better my students understand chemistry when compared to my students in my traditional classroom before flipping my class. Each year, the mastery and comprehension of my students as a whole is better and better.
I am constantly refining and updating my course, it will still change. But I love where it is now.
***These graphics are snippets from my lecture at iPadPalooza 2015 in Austin, TX, and were created in the Mindly app
Each semester this year, we tried to incorporate one PBL (Project Based Learning) into our curriculum.
The first semester we launched a week long project called “Save Yourselves, Separate the Mixture” where student groups were presented with a mixture and an equipment list along with a deadline. They were to design a method to separate the mixture based on physical properties and changes, then implement it.
Separation of a Mixture PBL Launch
Each of the other six weeks, we offer various extension projects for our Pre-AP students.
flipping chemistry with mrs. graham 