Before I get started, I want to mention that I recently added some meiosis and genetics resources. Be sure to check those out! I also updated some of my bellringers.
I don’t like to start new topics with a lecture. I’ve found that students aren’t able to process as much of the information because they are literally just hearing about it. There aren’t many questions because this is all new. The teacher can’t ask higher order thinking questions because the students haven’t had a chance to interact with the material in order to start making connections. These are all things that make “flipping the classroom” so great.
When this really hit teaching, everything I heard and read about involved the student watching a video. I loved the idea too. Edpuzzle is amazing for this! You can use almost any video and embed notes and questions into it. I definitely jumped on board with this idea. However, it quickly became apparent that there had to be more than students just watching a video. For one, not everyone likes to watch a video to learn about things. It also becomes really redundant.
Also, don’t assign this for homework. Seriously, we have lots of research showing the effect of homework on learning and we know it really isn’t effective.
Here are 4 ideas that I have used in class that I find to be effective ways to flip your classroom.
Nearpod
A well designed nearpod can be a wonderful way to introduce new ideas. Getting started can seem a little intimidating, but it doesn’t need to be. Nearpod has a library you can access, if your school isn’t paying for the premium subscription, see if you can get it. It is well worth it! If you are pretty good at making PowerPoint lessons and have some that you really love, it is so easy to drag and drop those into a nearpod and add lots of activities for the students. You can add videos, questions, web content (like a website you like), vocabulary resources, and so many other options. It really is quite amazing.
If you haven’t explored in a while, they have added a bunch of activities that are already made for you. Some of them would be great for warm-ups or quick checks.
I use nearpod in a lot of ways, but one that is easy to get started with is fill-in-the-blank notes. I take a PowerPoint with some basic information and go from there. I also like that as they are working, I can look at answers to questions and see how they are doing. You can absolutely use this to address any problems you are seeing as you go. You don’t have to wait until the end of a lesson or worksheet.
Interactive Simulations
When I first started teaching, I remember using Biology in Motion simulations.
It has been so long, I remember the process to sign up to use the one computer lab in the school actually involved paper! I had to walk to the computer lab and physically sign up; how weird is that 🙂
Yeah, back to the point. I specifically remember one I used was their evolution lab. We would learn all about evolution. I would give notes (so many notes), read, answer questions on worksheets, take quizzes and do all those things, then I would take them to the library to do the simulations. That way my students had all the information they needed to understand the simulation. We also did a peppered moth simulation, though, I’m not as clear on which simulation I did for that.
I still do simulations and activities, but I don’t always do them at the end now. These can make great activities to do as students are starting to learn. One thing to keep in mind, if they don’t have much background information, the simulation or activity should be pretty straight forward and easy to understand. For example, the PhET natural selection simulation with the bunnies is pretty easy to play around with and figure out. Adding a worksheet with some questions and simple instructions can really help make these effective. Same with the peppered moth simulation. Also try some of the games on the Bioman. I actually start with Protein Synthesis Race, which is a little complicated, but I let the students work in pairs and I’m available to help if they get stuck.
Card Sorts
Yes, I said it. I honestly have a card set that I use every year to introduce mitosis. I’m going to add a link to the file because I can’t find it online to link to it. If you know where it originally came from, please let me know and I’ll link to the original.
I don’t use the entire activity anymore, partly because I don’t have access to everything. I start with having them separate the cards into 3 piles: pictures, descriptions, and titles. I tell them card #4 comes first and have them work to put them in order from there. Once those are right, then I have them add in the descriptions for what seems like it matches what is happening, and we end with the titles. They look up each title and match it to the description. They use this to take notes and do sketches. I even use some of the questions. It works SO WELL! I didn’t do it last year and I definitely noticed a difference.
I also have a card sort for ecological relationships. I don’t need to start with describing all the types and go from there. I give them examples, they look up definitions and do their own sorting. This is definitely a better than them sitting and listening to me.
Guided Reading
I know one challenge we all run into is that we have struggling readers. However, reading is still a great way to help them get information. For your struggling readers, have the reading available digitally and they can use an immersive reader or text to speech. I use Microsoft OneNote, which has an immersive reader. Microsoft Edge will also allow students to select text and then “read selection.” Nearpod has an immersive reader, but I have not used it.
Khan Academy and cK-12 have some great text resources. I use them quite a bit and add the “guided” part to the reading. I can find what I need that is at the level that my students can grasp.
This is also a great option to have if you have students that don’t like to learn from videos. I don’t have many students that don’t, but every once in a while it happens.
Those are 4 other ideas that I use. What are some tools that you use to flip your classroom without using a video?
