When it comes to teaching Math and Science, it becomes both, fun and complex. But, amid this pandemic, the question arises how would you keep it fun and engaging remotely?
Or if half of your students are learning remotely in a hybrid teaching model?
To solve these complexities, we have come up with a variety of ideas that can be adapted for a better learning outcome, especially in a hybrid teaching model.
Practice Simple Experiment and Math Projects for Remote Learning
First and fore mostly, focus on things that can be easily communicated and doesn’t require lots of materials. Check whether students can calculate volume by measuring cereal boxes? Or can measure and graph the foot sizes and wingspans of family members? for example.
Provide them with activities that allow to safely share about their home lives; it will help you build relationships. You may also use Flipgrid to share videos, or create a Padlet to share their work. Besides these, there are a number of apps, like Notability, available on iPhones and iPads and Android devices that can be put to use as it allow students on tablets to open documents, record data, and share finished documents with teachers on multiple learning platforms.
Incorporate Simulation and Games
There are numerous free as well as paid scientific and math concepts which can be simulated or recreated using apps and websites. Some of the free websites & apps are:
- PhET simulations (science and math simulations for upper elementary through high school)
- Legends of Learning (a science and math game platform)
- Tuva Labs (real data sets students manipulate for math or science projects).
- Solar System Scope
- Merlin Bird ID
- Mystery Science
- Explore Learning Gizmos
- BrainPop
So, if your school has a hybrid model, look for ways to reinforce classroom activities with any of these sites while students are at home. You may also play song recordings in the classroom, and ask students create spectrograms of each song based on the pitch changes and duration of the various notes..
Take help from experts
Taking help from experts can be a boon for your teaching. For instance, on National Geographic Explorer Classroom, it offers weekly live streams with scientists, explorers, and astronauts where students can chat and ask questions on live chat while watching each presentation. Teachers can share those live stream links with students learning remotely. Besides this, there is Cincinnati Zoo , which posts videos of zookeepers interacting with animals and answering questions from viewers; and few more covering specific area of study.You may use the online platforms for multiple use, taking help from expert is one among them. Students can watch all of the content in a classroom or at home and discuss at a in class meeting.
Add your video or ideas in your Online Content
There are tons of content, divided by standard, grade and concept at Khan Academy math and science videos, Edpuzzle, and Nearpod to help you teach. All apps have their own offering, like, Edpuzzle; it embeds questions in science and math videos to encourage students to stop and think about the content. Nearpod has guided presentations with several embedded videos, questions, and opportunities for reflection. Many of these applications include their own assessments and other forms of feedback. To add up more information and provide better understanding, you may pre-record yourself explaining your online contents. You may post your videos on YouTube or Flipgrid and include a link where kids can comment on your video or answer an open-ended question for others to see.
In fact platforms like Khan Academy have been so supportive to parents that they have curated guides to help them with a daily schedules, learning plans for remote learning during school closure.
Work with Peers
Splitting up your work with another teacher is a great option. You can ask the suitable teacher to choose a concept from the subject, create a video and activity to go along with it to be shared with students. This would save time and allow teachers to dig deep and provide a great lesson rather than rushing to complete multiple lessons in a week. Such strategies may prove extremely useful if schools are in a hybrid-teaching model where we have students at school but are also providing content for students at home.
