Brian Wagner on: Aurasma and the Periodic Table
An augmented reality periodic table One of our partner educators, Brian Wagner, teaches eighth grade science at Harwood Union Middle School, in Moretown VT. This past spring, he used Aurasma…
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Newton’s Laws, standards, and practices
…line with the creation and implementation of Personalized Learning Plans (be on the lookout for some posts breaking down this alignment in the coming months). Now, in the science classroom…
Read moreP is for Performance Tasks
Using performance tasks as a way to measure student knowledge When working with a group of middle school science teachers recently whose goal was to increase the depth of knowledge…
Read moreHow to save, edit and share video clips
…places to find videos you can use in the classroom: Documentary Addict (a big pile of searchable documentary videos) Veritasium (a science and engineering answers channel on YouTube) Numberphile (educational…
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Real-world problems and project-based learning
Adapting big science for a middle school classroom One of the keys of the Project-Based Learning approach is to engage students in solving real-world problems. Ideally, students are involved in…
Read moreAssessing tech-rich instruction
…short Touchcast video I created below, you can learn about this amazing opportunity to connect students with their peers around the globe through science inquiry projects: Here’s how this pairing…
Read moreInnovative VT educators in the news
…Science. Botte has been a frequent co-collaborator with the Tarrant Institute, partnering with us most notably on building ARIS place-based mobile device games with the Echo Lake Aquarium and Science…
Read moreAssessment in Proficiency-Based Classrooms
…uses Canvas and Blendspace in a 1:1 iPad school. Proficiency in a science classroom Meet Brian Crane, a 6th grade science teacher at Rutland Town School. Crane uses Google…
Read moreStudent-centered filmmaking at Compass
…and original stories are shared with and enjoyed by a public audience. Since then, I have offered this six-week course each spring, taught in tandem with a science/technology teacher. One…
Read moreDynamic Landscapes 2017: the power of authentic #vted student voice
…how, exactly, 3D printing can help push medical science forward. (Arshad will be studying biomedical engineering in the fall at Clarkson University — definitely one to watch!) https://twitter.com/SueM_MHS/status/867031083157786624 And Champlain…
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Are you a “Learning Maximizer”?
…our students perceive themselves. Meet Erika (aka Learning Maximizer) Erika Saunders, of the Science Leadership Academy Middle School (SLA-MS) in Philadelphia, knows this. She’s a founding teacher at SLAMS, which…
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Battle Physics at Green Mountain Union High School
Come for the math, stay for the slingshots! Green Mountain 7th graders and HS physics students apply math and science to a real-world problem: hitting targets. They collaborate in multi-age…
Read moreHow do *you* mitigate heat transfer at your old elementary school?
Local connections with worldwide implications In our current study of heat transfer, our class decided to connect science concepts to the UN Sustainable Development Goals — specifically, Goal 13, which…
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Summer reading 2018
…first book, The Three-Body Problem, during the depths of winter and it was like nothing else I have encountered. The science is dense, the cultural context is fascinating, and the…
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4 ways twitter bots can help save the world
…part of a science experiment: How often does the temperature drop below a given value in the turtle tank? How often does the heat lamp turn on or off in…
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This Is Really Scary (And I’ve Never Been More Excited)
…Will Be Graphic Organizers I never-endingly wrestle with our integrated studies endeavor at Flood Brook. We integrate science and social studies around compelling questions while employing a “project-based” approach, in…
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#vted Reads: Protocols in the Classroom, with Terra Lynch
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…to. That actually reminds me of some research that I did for a children’s museum and the focus on STEAM. The idea of STEAM being Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and…
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This Is Really Scary (And I’ve Never Been More Excited)
…Will Be Graphic Organizers I never-endingly wrestle with our integrated studies endeavor at Flood Brook. We integrate science and social studies around compelling questions while employing a “project-based” approach, in…
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What students want you to know about school
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…math is great, science is great, language arts is great, and social studies is also really good. But, if I could add something it would probably be a class about…
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Summertiiiiiiiiiiiiime
…Understanding by Design Meets Neuroscience combines two of my professional interests: the science of learning AND thoughtful instructional planning. Audrey Homan I’m continuing a long-standing policy of doing absolutely nada…
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#vted Reads: The End of Average
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…seeing. Jeanie: Yet parents worry over those developmental milestones, and we’ll talk more about that later, and the science that’s debunked them as useful. So the thing I really love…
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On the cutting Edge of student-centered education
…sugaring project was something completely different from anything he’d ever done. It introduced him to tools and you the science behind sugaring, and he really had a ball with that….
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#vted Reads: Dreadful Young Ladies, with Sarah Birgé
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…— either in a fairy tale world or on another planet, the science fiction setting. That leads me to ask: you’ve taught middle school. How would you use short stories…
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#vted Reads: Dive Into Inquiry
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…wondered about your thoughts about his approach to UBD (Understanding by Design). Margi: I love that he teaches the students about UBD! We talk a lot about the science of…
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#vted Reads: Juliet Takes a Breath
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…this workshop, where Juliet is like, she’s a writer, but she’s doubting that she’s a science fiction writer. And she’s rediscovering Octavia Butler’s brand of science fiction, which is a…
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The power of thematic and integrated learning at Randolph Middle School
…to add more details, more diagrams, visuals and scaffolds to support self-direction? Example of science activity improved to include diagrams & time-lapse video https://tiie.w3.uvm.edu/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Muddy-Water-time-lapse.mp4 Teaming at its best Since they…
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Re-connect & re-imagine this return to school.
…About Science. Modules last a month and culminate in a creative exhibition of learning. Both of these cases require a fair amount of up-front work to structure the delivery method…
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#vted Reads with Elijah Hawkes
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…subject area may very well dovetail with science standards or social studies standards or psychology. So it’s not hard, I don’t think, to connect a project, like, that to our…
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Centering care and love
…that learners understand why they are being asked to wear a mask. Dig into the science of it. (video) Understanding the effectiveness of masks helps us understand the importance of…
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#vted Reads about PBIS
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…bias that goes with that. In our setting, schools also have to develop a set of transferrable skills, these skills that cross traditional disciplines. Instead of just science and math…
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#vted Reads: The Successful Middle School
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…I was in my master’s program for library science. They’re so much more talk about identities and oppression and I just love some of the things that are happening. And…
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What I Learned from my Pandemic Year of Learning
…time on a bigger assignment. For example, If I have a big project for science but only a small assignment for English, I can spend more time on science that…
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Teachers, we appreciate you.
…first teacher that helped me be excited about learning. He was a lot like Bill Nye the science guy. Lots of flash but incredible knowledgable. It was his passion for…
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#vted Reads with Jess Lifshitz
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…is writing out, “Boys are better at science than girls.” And yet when image after image and the boys room is filled with science-themed bedrooms, and none are in the…
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#vted Reads: We Contain Multitudes
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…much better student, if that got worked into his history classes, his social studies classes, his science classes. And similarly, Jonathan is really interested in poetry and music. And again,…
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#vted Reads: Community Schools Blueprint with Kathleen Kesson
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…agencies, and who were able to go in schools, who were supplied with the testing kits, who were testing the water themselves. And I wrote to the science educators here,…
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#vted Reads: The Last Cuentista
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…science at some like what’s it means to create a learning. Ornella: Absolutely, I thought so too. It’s interesting, because it was very useful. Very useful technology, if it would…
Read moreSummative Assessment
…say a teacher has been designing instruction and learning experiences to meet the NGSS science proficiency. Students who demonstrate understanding can: Construct a scientific explanation based on evidence for how…
Read moreLessons Learned from Learning Lab VT
…from past participants, a boon for busy educators eager to learn from others’ experiences. Charlie Herzog, Flood Brook School, Londonderry VT Integrated Studies & science Inquiry Question: How might putting…
Read more5 off-beat ways to use QR codes in the classroom
…levels into one piece of art for the whole school community to enjoy. 3. Take QR science to heart Idea! Have students interact with anatomy models by scanning QR codes…
Read moreMeet Aurasma: an augmented reality app for the classroom
…you how to create your own auras in Aurasma, and talk about how Aurasma’s being used by a science teacher at Harwood Union Middle School, one of our partner schools….
Read moreBrian Wagner on Aurasma, continued
…have collected on the Explain Everything app as a guide. — Brian Wagner teaches 8th grade science at Harwood Union Middle School in Moretown VT. You can reach him…
Read moreGeometry, aliens and ARIS at Edmunds Middle School
…students will be heading to the Echo Lake Aquarium and Science Center to build their own ARIS games around the themes of culture, ecology, history and sustainability. FWSU technology coordinator…
Read moreBest. Game launch. Ever.
Following up on our intro to ARIS with geometry last Friday, this morning the 6th graders from Edmunds Middle School spent some time at the Echo Lake Aquarium and Science…
Read moreARIS @ Echo
…two classes of 6th graders took to the streets of Burlington. Lake Street, to be precise, which led them down to the Echo Lake Aquarium and Science Center and the…
Read moreiPad how-to: saving auras to your Evernote portfolio
A 1-minute iPad how-to from Harwood Union Middle School science educator Brian Wagner, showing you how to save augmented reality “auras” from the popular mobile app Aurasma, to Evernote. …
Read moreVT Hour of Code: Day 3
In case you missed it, we Storified all the amazing tweets, images and sheer joy coming out of Vermont schools yesterday for Day 3 of Computer Science Education Week’s Hour…
Read moreVT 8th grade class receives EduCast Pioneer award
…way….” Rachel Goodale’s 8th grade science class at Peoples Academy Middle Level was honored yesterday for their series of speed graph Touchcasts by the makers of the app. The…
Read moreFrog dissection: there’s an app for that
…to life’s functions? Learners on the Edge team addressed these questions through a unit on Structure, Function and Information Processing in Living Organisms using the Next Generation Science Standards to…
Read moreePortfolios with Evernote at Harwood Union Middle School
…satisfies Harwood’s graduation requirements. And if that’s not enough to entice you, there’s 8th grade science educator Brian Wagner dressed as the Wicked Witch from Snow White. FOR PEDAGOGY. …
Read moreEssays on Rube Goldberg: capturing the scientific process with iPads
…long-form essays about Rube Goldberg. Featuring everyone’s favorite tech-tastic science educator, Brian Wagner. As HUMS principal Amy Rex commented, “Exemplar teaching and learning — narrow the field and provide rapid…
Read moreGet out! 4 ideas for using iPads outside (and away from Wifi)
…related to their dinosaur. Challenges could have math, science and reading comprehension worked in, as well as compelling students to really think about the Gorge and evolutionary geology. So many…
Read moreAbout that NPR piece on kids’ reading habits…
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…I’m not much of a data guy, but Tarrant Institute graduate research fellow Mark Olofson is. Mark’s enrolled in UVM’s doctoral program in education, he used to be a science…
Read moreTeaching how to code with Processing
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…over Vermont came together to learn iOS development, website design, gaming, robotics and art. Yes, art. UVM Computer Science professor Robert Snapp taught campers how to code through the use…
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Is extra credit an equity issue?
What is the worst consequence of our best idea? That’s a question that Chris Lehmann, founding principal of the Science Leadership Academy, asks his team when trying out new strategies…
Read moreOnline town halls connect digital learners with U.S. Presidents
…history and political science educators, what do these ground-breaking virtual town hall meetings mean for the way you teach students? For more information on next Thursday’s reception, visit https://www.uvm.edu/~outreach/?Page=news&storyID=19176&category=asop. …
Read moreProject-based learning at Essex Middle School: algebra and songwriting
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…world. Mary-Ellen: But that’s what it is; on your schedule it says “Family Consumer Science.” Audrey: Mmhm. Mary-Ellen: Yeah. Yasmin: Not people in this school. Mary-Ellen: Uh huh. And, if…
Read moreMaking time lapse videos with students
…middle level science teacher at SFX explained, “in the past this would have been a poster project. Using Lapse It gave students a much better appreciation of the dynamic nature…
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Robotics, PBL, and collaboration
…three options, so the 9 students in the ChampBot group selected it as the option that interested them most.” If you’ve been reading Science Saturdays for a while, you may…
Read moreA flipped classroom in Thailand
…by Mr. Jonathan Bergmann and Mr. Aaron Sams, Science teachers from Woodland Park High School in Woodland Park, Colorado. The Administrators of Bangkok Christian College (BCC), one of the oldest…
Read more3 iPad apps for audio
…in a studio setting. Pros: So easy to add sound effects. Makes falling off a log look like rocket science. Can make sound clips private on a device, but then…
Read moreBeyond Bling: how do we deepen Makerspace learning?
…stop there. Let’s create opportunities for our students to gain the skills to solve complex problems or create amazing designs at the intersection of Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics…
Read morePushing my thinking with summer reading
…July and August, thus associating these hot days with canines. Fun facts to share! That’s about all the science in this post… I hope that readers of this blog are…
Read moreE is for e-books …or are they “C-books”?
…to allow students to create the books themselves. Edmunds Middle School educator Laura Botte had students demonstrate their science learning with this type of authentically useful artifact. Using constructivist thinking…
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