Class 7 (Oct 16) Entrance Slip - Experiential Learning

1. Define your topic: Experiential Learning

2. Analyze your topic into concepts

        a. Demonstrations 

            - Have students make predictions and discuss observations to spark curiosity about the concepts

        b. Simulations

            - Give students the time to play around with simulations to experiment and observe the concepts

        c. Project-based Learning

            - Students can learn through creating and building projects 

I chose this topic because when I think back to my physics classes in high school, I mainly remember all the fun experiments and demonstrations my teachers showed us, and the concepts associated with them. And I realized that I learn best when I can see the concept and play with it myself. I enjoyed the bridge-making project I did in physics 11, and I found the catapult project that the physics 11s were building at one of my school visits so fun and fascinating that I wanted to recreate the same kind of experience for my own students. Simulations also interest me because they allow students to experience things that we can’t easily do in a classroom setting. By playing with simulations, students can learn the concepts at their own pace and focus on details that they are curious about. I also like the idea of introducing new concepts through a demonstration. I think that by doing it this way, letting students watch something surprising happen as the hook of the lesson, students would naturally be engaged in the topic, as they want to find out why it worked, which makes new ideas more exciting and sparks curiosity. With demonstrations, simulations, and project-based learning, physics concepts can feel more relatable and engaging for students, turning abstract ideas into something they can explore, feel, and remember. 

Class 6 (Oct 9) Entrance Slip - Refocusing Our Efforts: A Shift From Grading to an Emphasis on Learning

I had fun reading this article. The part about teachers focusing on engaging the students in learning, making learning fun and engaging for them, stood out to me. I have always considered sticking to the curriculum as a checklist, working to ensure that students master all the learning outcomes, and grading students’ understanding as one of my primary responsibilities as a teacher. But after reading the article, I started to feel that it is not the case. I think that students still should aim to understand and try to apply all the concepts in the curriculum, but they don’t necessarily have to achieve Extending in every area. I thought of the candy crush metaphor I learned in EPSE 317. Sometimes, it is ok to just get two stars out of three for some levels, and you have the freedom and option to challenge yourself for the third star only if you want to. I also thought about one of our discussions in LLED 361, on a proficiency scale rubric, do we read from the top down, where everyone is 100% perfect unless or until they make a mistake, from the bottom up, where everyone is a zero unless or until they earn their way up, or from the middle out, where everyone is given some credit for capability to start with. We also discussed the column rubric, as one of the TCs mentioned that if students don’t know what the ceiling is, they will produce higher-quality work. By leaving space for interpretation, giving students some freedom in the rubric so that the rubric is something students are also participating in, and adding unexpected, above expectation things that students did to the marking scheme, I feel would make grading less stressful and learning more meaningful for students, as they are focusing on what THEY can do, instead of what the TEACHER wants them to do. 

When I was in high school, I liked being assigned percentages for my work. I saw grades as a challenge for myself, which motivated me to study hard. I still remember in social studies 10, I set a goal for myself to get an A for the class, which meant that I needed to get Extending for almost all of my assignments. Because of this goal, even though I didn’t enjoy the class, I was motivated to pay attention in class and try my best on my assignments. I felt that because of this challenge, I learned more than I would have with my lack of interest in the class. For me, grades served as a way for me to gamify my learning journey, to make learning fun, and as an indicator of how well my understanding was. A negative aspect I thought of about grading and tests when I was in high school was how a careless mistake on a test would result in a deduction of marks, which made me feel that all my understanding and work done to understand the topic had gone to waste, and made me very frustrated at myself. Regarding the topic of tests, I also remember when studying for my midterms of finals in my university physics classes, I would always cram them last minute, and rely on my short-term memories during the tests. The results usually turn out well, but it was mostly “not knowledge”, as I was just “[blurting] out all the stuff [I] memorized” last minute. 

Thinking from a teacher’s perspective, assigning grades in assessments seems like one of the tasks teachers have to do to represent students’ understanding to universities, parents, and students, so that they can know where the student is without having to go through all the work that the student has done. With how the whole system works now, I feel that the teacher is not in control of whether to assign grades or not, but I think there are strategies teachers can use to lessen the emphasis on grades and encourage students to step out of their comfort zone to experiment and explore without worrying about their performance as they take risks. Below is a list of ideas I have summarized from my experience and from the reading, to shift the focus from grading to learning:

1. Allow students to "experience relatedness and connectedness"

    - Showing students a cool phenomenon, then explaining the concept, so that they are genuinely interested in how things work

    - Incorporate group work activities

    - "Encourage students to invent explanations for everyday observations related to [the] topics"

    - Incorporate students' personal interests and culture in the lessons

2. Let students experience "perceived competence"

    - Provide "completion mark" opportunities for some of the learning outcomes

        -> To not penalize weakness when students develop it, so that students can develop on skills and learn without worrying about their grades

    - Provide retest or alternate ways to show their understanding so that students feel more comfortable learning

    - Provide more than one opportunity for students to demonstrate their understanding

    - Reminding students that "their success did not have to be defined by a letter grade"

    - Having the lowest grade weighted less can decrease students' stress in their marks and motivate them to take risks

3. Make students “feel ‘freedom from excessive external pressure toward behaving or thinking a certain way” - Give students the freedom to choose what assignment to do, to show what they know for the same learning outcome. -> Firm goals, flexible means - Give students the freedom to choose “a topic that was of interest to them” - Have the class “discuss criteria and create a rubric for the project” - Have open-ended design projects where students can utilize their learning from the unit to apply to the projects

Class 5 (Oct 2) Entrance Slip - Learning the Grammar of Animacy

I was amazed by how beautifully written this reading was. I was reminded of the second sit spots activity we did when I was reading the part about “[turning] off the voice in my head until I can hear the voices outside it. I thought of how many random thoughts I had in my head during the activity in the beginning, and after I was aware of them, and put them aside, I was able to hear so much more that was around me. 

Teaching scientific terminology in the classroom, I really liked how the author talks about “to name and describe [a concept] you must first see”. I believe that learning physics can be a lot more fun and relatable if students are introduced to the knowledge by knowing what the concept looks like, before knowing what the concept is called. Just like when Jim Thunder in the reading started by telling a joke in Potawatomi, making the author wonder what he was talking about because they couldn’t understand the language, then spoke about “how lonely those [languages] will be, when their power is gone”, when no one could understand them anymore. By introducing the terminology associated with the concept after allowing students to observe the concept taking place, students can feel the concepts themselves before assigning them to a specific name, which can make the terminology more meaningful and personal. The author also wrote in the language they were learning on sticky notes. This way, the author puts themselves in an environment surrounded by the language, which can improve their mastery of the language. Similarly, in physics classrooms, like what we learned in the physics pedagogy class, having a vocabulary list on the wall for students to see all the time, and incorporating the terminology in discussions, can help students learn and get used to the terminology, which I feel is also a good way to teach scientific terminology in the classroom. 

One of the ways to Indigenize my own classroom and curriculum that I thought of when reading the chapter was to remind students to be aware of their surroundings, and respect all animate and inanimate things, just as they would treat other human beings, just like how the article said, “teaching them to know the world as a neighborhood of nonhuman residents”. This can include introducing examples of how physics takes place in nature, what the roles of physics in the life of other animals are, so that students can be invited to learn from other living beings. Moreover, encouraging students to learn from their peers, reminding them of “the capacity of others as our teachers, as holders of knowledge, as guides”. By inviting students to learn from different perspectives, reminding them that “there are intelligences other than our own, teachers all around us”, students can develop their abilities to interpret and learn from both the environment and their peers. 

Class 4 (Sept 25 ) Entrance Slip - Building for Change From the Ground Up

I had fun reading this article. The part where it talks about acknowledging where our stills are “best suited to aid the community and where [our] internal needs for creative fulfillment can be satisfied”, and “sharing the skills for making something with others” really spoke to me. This reading reminds me of my high school friend. I like to bake, and my high school friend grew up in a family where her dad likes to go fishing and her mom grows different fruits and veggies in their backyard. Whenever I bake cakes, bread, and cookies, I would share with my high school friend, and she would share with me the fish her dad catches, or the figs and lettuce that have grown in their backyard. By doing this, I felt a sense of community, and I felt proud of what I was able to bake and share with others, like the emotional boost the article mentioned. 

I don’t think globalized consumerism is completely a bad thing, as it seems like what the article is saying. Growing up in Taiwan and moving to Canada, imported goods are one of the few ways I can have access to the food I am used to eating growing up, to connect with my identity and culture. So I feel like there can be a balance between community resources and outsourced products. 

Applying to physics classes, in our pedagogy class, we were introduced to many demonstrations that can be built with cheap, accessible materials to visualize concepts for students. So instead of buying imported demonstration equipment, we can find ways to utilize what is around us to teach physics in an interactive way. Hopefully, in the end, we can be like the article says, “[create] situations that fulfill emotional, physical or spiritual needs [that] can subtly open one’s thinking to a new world of possibilities and show people what they didn’t even know they were missing”.

Class 3 (Sept 18) Entrance Slip - What We Have Learned From Campus Teaching and Learning Gardens: The Ubc Orchard Garden and Cultivating Learning Network

I really liked how the paper talks about teaching in a school garden with the garden as a “co-teacher”. Before reading the paper, in terms of teaching physics in a garden, the first thing I thought of was to move the classrooms to the garden and do all the activities that can also be done in the indoor classroom, because that is what my high school teachers were doing. But as I was reading the paper, I realized that instead of making the garden a replication of the existing indoor classrooms, I can acknowledge the garden as a co-teacher and make use of the living world, inviting students to connect with “the world of the outdoors using all their senses” and learn from the garden itself. This way, we can, as written in the paper, “develop alternative educational experiences that counter the human-centric approaches of modernity”. From the paper, I learned that by moving our class to The Orchard Garden, we are making the garden an important part of this program rather than a “decorative add-on”, so we are also in a way contributing to creating and sustaining the learning garden in UBC. 

Applying to teaching physics in high school, I thought of using elements in the garden to demonstrate physics concepts. Some examples that I thought of include using sunlight and a magnifying glass to study refraction, observing rainbows from sprinklers, and setting up for the double slit experiment using water in a clear container and sunlight. 

One of the difficulties I thought of is the documents that might need to be done in order to be able to bring the class outside, as I vaguely remember my high school teacher complaining to us about how many forms she had to fill out to be able to take us on a walk outside. But I think this difficulty could be solved if taking students outside becomes a routine, so that there could potentially be less paperwork required.

I also learned about the Roots on the Roof. Being in UBC for more than 4 years, I had no idea that this space existed, but I am excited to go take a look one day! 

Class 2 (Sept 11) Entrance Slip - On Becoming a Reflective Teacher

The part about how “prospective teachers very quickly adopt beliefs and practices of those university and school instructors with whom they work” really spoke to me. It made me think of how I wanted to focus more on learning physics through observation after going to my first field experience and seeing how engaging and fun his classes were. I realized after reading this passage that I, too, have adopted the beliefs of my school advisor at the time. I think the reason the author said this could be because in this program, we are all like sponges absorbing all the information given to us. However, after reading this article, I realized that while listening to and absorbing the information, it is also important for us to critically reflect on the information given to us in order to be a reflective teacher. I agree with the article that wholeheartedness is important in teaching. We are committed to teaching ALL students, so we need to actively find different ways of sharing our knowledge that makes sense to all, being open minded about the content, methods, and procedures, and actively thinking why we are doing what we are doing in the classroom. 

From this article, I understood the purpose of doing all those reflections in education classes, so that we are not passively absorbing the information. And I learned to start being a reflective teacher by finding what my current beliefs are, reflecting on my beliefs, examining the assumptions under my beliefs, comparing my beliefs to other people’s beliefs, and considering the consequences for me and others of holding the beliefs. From this article, I realized that I want to become a reflective teacher. I want to try my best to not force my own beliefs on students, but instead, share my beliefs and be open to listening to the beliefs of my students.