Using Science to make the world more Awesome
Written by Jason Bornstein
This article is a follow-up to my original post on Station-Based Learning. Please read it here if you haven’t already. I spent some time this week connecting with my users and gathering feedback on the station-based learning lessons. I asked each student five questions: How much do you enjoy the learning stations activity, compared … Continue reading “Feedback for Station Based Learning”
Written by Jason Bornstein
How Might We Improve Student Engagement in High School Science Classes? Here’s the motivation for my action plan: most of my students are very social. They are also (for the most part) lower achievers than students I’ve taught in the past. So, I have many students who are more interested in talking than listening, and … Continue reading “Will “Station-Based Learning” increase engagement in science class?”
Written by Jason Bornstein
As part of a joint effort between my Cohort action plan and my school-based action plan, I recently set my grade 12 AP Chemistry class a task: How Might We design the ideal hot beverage container? This was a project-based learning (PBL) activity to kick off the thermodynamics unit. For those who are unfamiliar, PBL … Continue reading “The Ideal Hot Beverage Container: PBL in AP Chemistry”
Written by Jason Bornstein
Here we go! It’s my 4th year teaching, my 2nd Cohort, and my 1st time as a Coach. It should be an interesting year… I hope to pick up my Action Plan where I left off last year, encouraging and developing GRIT in my students. Last year, grit was just a buzz word to me, … Continue reading “Kicking off another Cohort!”
Written by Jason Bornstein
As the school year winds down, my students frantically work towards final projects, tests, labs, and exams. I am madly scrambling through curriculum, extra-curricular commitments, and letting the Maple Leafs and Blue Jays toy with my emotions on a nightly basis. My Action Plan isn’t complete, but of course I’ve realized that it was never … Continue reading “The Adventure Continues”
Written by Jason Bornstein
Before I make my “Final Action Plan Post”, I have a few other things that I want to put out there. 1. Some More Authentic Learning Tasks Dilution While teaching my grade 11 chemistry students about dilution, I challenged them to determine the concentration of my (randomly prepared) sample as accurately as possible. The solution itself … Continue reading “Odds and Ends: Random Thoughts from this Year”
Written by Jason Bornstein
In my most recent foray into GRITTY problem solving in my science classroom, I posed the following question to my grade 11 AP Chem class: “What dissolves better in water: sugar or salt?” This relates directly to our solutions unit, and fit with the day’s lesson, Solubility and Saturation. Side Bar: one of my greatest … Continue reading “The Great Debate: Sugar vs. Salt”
Written by Jason Bornstein
“Better Late Than Never” … Although it seems like ages since our Face2Face session, I feel like I have had enough time to reflect on my Action Plan and even start putting it in place. There is never a shortage of distractions, and admittedly I should have posted something weeks ago, but here we are. … Continue reading “Developing GRIT in the Science Classroom”
Written by Jason Bornstein
As the popular meme goes, “Ain’t nobody got time for that!” Whether it is studying for a test, completing a lab report, committing to a school sports team or club, students never seem to have enough time. But the same goes for us teachers: how are we supposed to find the time to plan great … Continue reading “Ain’t Nobody Got Time for That!”
Written by Jason Bornstein
Welcome to Cohort 21. This is the first post on your new blog. This journal is an integral part of your Cohort 21 experience. Here you will reflect, share and collaborate as you move through the C21 learning cycle towards your action plan. Cohort 21 is a unique professional development opportunity open to CIS Ontario … Continue reading “Welcome to Cohort 21”
