Online 2: Implementing Investigations
Introduction
We are eager to hear about your DataTools experiences with students. In this online event, you will share and discuss the results of implementing your first (or second) DataTools Investigation. December's online event has two parts.
In Part 1 (Thursday, December 6 through Wednesday, December 12) complete the post-implementation questions from the investigation template (see below).
In Part 2 (Thursday December 13 through Sunday evening December 16) respond to the posting of at least two of your colleagues. You may ask someone for more information, or share how you addressed a challenge similar to one faced by the teacher you are responding to. Remember that we are crediting you with three program hours for this event so please take the time to read through the postings of at least two of your colleagues. Remember to also refer back to your own posting during Part 2 of the event to respond to questions that people may have asked about your investigation.
The goals of this event are to 1) benefit from sharing and problem solving with colleagues who are doing similar work and 2) in a more general way, to continue to build a community of support for the longer term, hopefully beyond the end of your active participation in this project.
Please check the Web site regularly once you post your implementation story, to see if others have asked you a question.
Part 1: Sharing Your Implementation Stories by Responding to the Post-Implementation Questions from the Investigation Template (Thursday, December 6 through Wednesday, December 12)
- Briefly describe the investigation you carried out with students. Include the title, the dataset and analysis tools used, as well as the key question that students investigated. For example, The investigation I implemented is an adaptation of the EET chapter, Analyzing the Antarctic Ozone Hole. Students used ImageJ and TOMS ozone images to explore seasonal changes in ozone concentration. Students were placed in teams organized by year, analyzing month-by-month data for each year. Years examined were 1997, 1999, 2001, 2003 and 2005. They investigated the question, "How does ozone concentration over the south pole change seasonally?
- Briefly describe what students did during the investigation? For example, I downloaded data from the NASA TOMS Website ahead of time and made it available on the computers that students used. Students used ImageJ to collect area measurements. They used Excel to create graphs, one for each group of students. Then they analyzed graphs and shared their results orally.
- How many classes used the investigation?
- Approximately how many students completed the investigation?
- How you feel the investigation went with students?
- Were you satisfied with the level of student engagement? What sorts of questions did student ask? What insights did they have? How proficient are they in using the software?
- How will you carry out this investigation differently in the future?
- Last, please attach an example of student work (final graph, student analysis, etc.) from the investigation and include it with this post (Please do not include any information that might identify the student, such as their name)
Click here for a link to the Implementation Discussion
Part 2: Discussing Your Experiences with your Colleagues (Thursday December 13 through Sunday evening December 16)
Read through the Implementation Stories of at least two of your colleagues and discuss their experiences with them. You may ask someone for more information, or share how you addressed a challenge similar to one faced by the teacher you are responding to. When you post to the discussion area, provide comments first to anyone who has not yet received them. If we follow this procedure, then by the end of the event, everyone will receive at least a couple of comments.