Day 20 - To Scale...

The Problem...

Create an ICT artifact that expresses the scale of the really big and really small.

Why?

• Keep things in perspective!
• Creative expression in Science class
• Facilitate self-regulation
• Facilitate a more intuitive understanding of scale of things discussed in Science

Scale Misconceptions

There are a bunch of Science misconceptions that come from a lack of understanding of scale.  Here is a video about one of these by Misconception Specialist Derrick Muller of the YouTube Channel Veritasium.

The scale of really big stuff and really small stuff can be really hard to comprehend.  Here are some ways that people have tried making it easier:

1. Original Powers of 10 Video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fKBhvDjuy0
Old school, but effective!  There is also a good Simpsons couch gag parody of the Powers of 10.

2. Scale of the Universe 2 App - http://htwins.net/scale2/
Interactive scale app.  The Planck Length, the Universe, and everything in between.

3. This pic from I F______ Love Science

from https://www.facebook.com/IFeakingLoveScience

4. Khan Academy Video: Scale of the Large: Attempting to comprehend the scale of the large

In a Class...

Most of the Grade 9 Science course revolves around the very small (atoms and electricity) and the very large (astronomy) and this activity would be perfect for that class.  

I would present the above examples to a class and have them create their own artifact to illustrate scale with objects from throughout the course.  It could be a long-term project that is introduced at the beginning of the course.  The students collect the data throughout.  As an ICT Artifact, students could continue to contribute as they move through the grades.  It would serve as a good anchor point for some big concepts throughout the Science Curriculum.

There are tons of different ways students could present the data: infographics, videos, images, apps and more.  I would keep the project relatively open to facilitate Self-Regulation.  As the teacher, I would provide them with feedback as they build their artifact over the course as well as providing students to critique others.

21C...

2. Knowledge Construction: entry - adoption - adaptation - infusion - transformation
4. Skilled Communication: entry - adoption - adaptation - infusion - transformation
5. Self-Regulation: entry - adoption - adaptation - infusion - transformation
6. Use of ICT for Learning: entry - adoption - adaptation - infusion - transformation


Future Lesson Ideas...

• Create a directory of unit equivalencies (ie. 1 Newton is approximately the weight of an apple on Earth)

Day 18 - 4 Pics 1 Word

Problem...

Create a Science/Math 4 Pics 1 Word puzzle for your classmates

Why?

• 4 Pics 1 Word is engaging.  Harness that!
• Students demonstrate a deep conceptual understanding of concepts

What is 4 Pics 1 Word?

It is a popular puzzle game available on mobile platforms (iOS version here).  This is a screencap of a question (the level I was stuck on at the time of writing this):

On my Practicum...

In my Grade 9 Applied Math Class on my practicum, I often caught students playing 4 Pics 1 Word on their phones when they were supposed to be working together on a question.  Instead of telling them to put their phones away, I would walk up behind them and tell them the answer to the level they were struggling with.  This would often result in groans of "Sirrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.  Why did you give it away???" at which point they would get the picture and get back to work on their math.  They really, really wanted to come to the answers themselves and their faces lit up when they found it.   

The strange thing about this is that it's generally the COMPLETE opposite of what students are like when doing a math/science problem.  Usually they want you to give them the answer or tell them exactly how its done and there isn't that same satisfaction of coming to a conclusion as there was with 4 Pics 1 Word.

This tells me that 

a) there is something wrong with the way we teach and 

b) there is something huge we can learn about student engagement from casual games like 4 Pics one Word.  

In Blooms Taxonomy lingo, my Grade 9 Applied Students were using Higher Order Thinking Skills  (Analyzing and Evaluating) when playing 4 Pics 1 Word.  And it is self-directed and collaborative!  I hardly ever saw a student working on the game alone.  Making the word associations in 4 Pics 1 Word are highly dependant on prior knowledge and experiences so certain answers come easy to some people and are more difficult for others.  I have been stuck staring at questions for a loooong time and then somebody comes by and gets it instantly.  Thus, the nature of the game makes it conducive to  collaborative.  Education should be the same.  It shouldn't be a chore to work together.  It should be necessary and fun and embedded in the task!

As a teacher, this would be an excellent activity for a unit review:  Have groups of students Collaboratively come up with a 4 Pics 1 Word question for their classmates.  This pushes 4 Pics 1 Word to the highest level of Bloom's Taxonomy: Creating.  Students have to synthesize their understanding of the units concepts and be creative to make their problem tricky for other students.  They can take pride in making their question hard for others to figure out.  I think this is a form of Skilled Communication.  They have to express their understanding of a concept in an indirect, yet targeted way.

I'll come up with a physics/math example and post it here SOON.  It's late and sleep is good.

Students decide!

I think one of the biggest reasons I saw so many students play 4 Pics 1 Word is that it is not teacher-mandated or evaluated.  Students hear about it from friends and online.  It is self-directed!  They have a choice to play the game and there are no time limits for each level.  Also, there is no penalty for asking a friend to help, unlike a test or assignment.  

Because I think the reason so many students play it is because they have a choice to play it or not, asking your students to create a 4 Pics 1 Word problem for fellow students would potentially undermine some of its appeal.  This why giving students choices and letting them decide how they want to study/present material is so important.

21C...

This activity doesn't do so well on the neXt Lesson continuum.  I think its strength is in conceptual thinking though and is worth giving students as an option for a review exercise.


1. Collaboration: entry - adoption - adaptation - infusion - transformation
4. Skilled Communication: entry - adoption - adaptation - infusion - transformation

Day 15 - Road Trip!

The Problem...

What do you need to know to plan for a road trip?

Why? 

• Bring together many skills from the Grade 9 Essentials Math Curriculum
• Have students learn skills that are directly applicable outside school
• Interdisciplinary opportunities (business and geography)

I'm starting this entry in a van on the way home from Fond du Lac, Wisconsin  This past weekend I was on a road trip with @emnose and her family to pick up her brother from university.  Long, long drive but great trip!  Their highway bridges are a lot nicer looking than ours (these are the things you notice when you are a Civil Engineer).  Maybe we should start tolling more of our highways... another discussion for another day.

View Larger Map

The curriculum...

@emnose had the the idea to do an entry based on the road trip so I started to think about some of the things that you need to research when you are planning a road trip. I quickly realized that planning a road trip brings together many of the skills in the Locally Developed Essentials Math courses.  I actually taught a Grade 9 Essentials Math course with my AT during one of my practica. I actually think the road trip activity would be an excellent culminating activity for the course.

The Essentials course has a heavy focus on real-world, concrete skills. The Grade 9 course for example had 3 units: money sense, measurement and proportional reasoning.  Really, the activity could be modified to fit into any math course but I thought this was a practical activity for the Essentials students.

In the classroom...

I would start the activity by asking the class what kind of things you would need to research before going on a road trip (I may specify USA because it provides the opportunity to discuss exchange rates and different taxes). Most of the following things should come up in a class discussion:

• Shortest travel time
• Shortest travel distance
• Lowest travel cost
• Exchange rate
• Cost of gas (conversions of volume and currency units)
• Taxes and tipping practices
• Time zone/daylight savings
• Hotel bookings and availability
• Driving rules and other laws
• Vehicle needed and packing allowances

Students could then get in groups, choose their destination and start working on what was discussed.  Deliverables should be based around Skilled Communication of their findings and could take the form of an itinerary sheet, a budget sheet including a total cost of trip, a custom google earth map and/or a travel booklet/infographic with all the info in it.

Equity and 21C...

To be a better example of 21st century learning and for the Knowledge Construction to be authentic, the road trip should actually happen. I know this isn't plausible for most high-schools or affordable by many parents but what if there happened to be a school team going on a road trip to a tournament? The class could help with the preparation of that (including creating a budget and booking the hotel). 

Because of the equity issues involved, I would probably only do this activity if there were a school trip actually planned that the students that were planning it were able to attend!  I think the activity is only worth it (from a 21C perspective) if they actually use the knowledge they construct and the products they create.  For a lot of 21st Century Learning (as well as Critical Pedagogy and Global Citizenship Education), I think it is necessary for a teacher to be highly opportunistic based on what is going on in the school and school community.  That's one of the reasons why I keep these entries fairly vague and open-ended.  I'll post a quick blog entry about this in a bit...

1. Collaboration: entry - adoption - adaptation - infusion - transformation
2. Knowledge Construction: entry - adoption - adaptation - infusion - transformation
4. Skilled Communication: entry - adoption - adaptation - infusion - transformation
6. Use of ICT for Learning: entry - adoption - adaptation - infusion - transformation

Day 14 - EQAO and Equity

The Problem...

What educational equity issues become apparent when looking at EQAO results?

Why?

• Provides relevant context for statistics concepts
• Opportunity to turn a social justice lens on inequity in education
• Potential for Grade 12 students to help Grade 9 students get prepared for EQAO testing

This idea comes from a lesson example that I developed for a curriculum interrogation assignment at OISE.  It's an interesting lesson idea that I thought would be good to improve by looking at it through a 21st Century lens.  

The Math Curriculum...

I have stated before that the math curriculum is very concept-heavy (at least compared to Science which distinguishes STSE and skills expectations from concepts).  This generally leaves little room for deep investigations about culturally relevant and engaging topics.  

The vast majority of examples of using social justice education, global citizenship education, culturally relevant/responsive pedagogy or critical pedagogy in math class that I have heard have been based on statistics.  Unfortunately, in the high school math curriculum, statistics really only seriously comes into play in Grade 12 Data Management.  I think one way of increasing student engagement in math classes would be to spread out the Data Management concepts throughout the grades (another may be providing teachers with a bit more flexibility with the concepts).

Because Data Management is the obvious math course for the delivery of social justice education, I have stayed away from it in my blog.  Up until this point, my math entries have focused more on being critical of bias in math in general.  This however is an investigation about how we can use math to look at equity in society.  It fits in directly with a bunch of the Data Management expectations.

EQAO and Equity...

The following plot compares Primary EQAO data to Stats Canada Data on average family income.  Each dot represents a school's average result.  The article this plot comes from can be found here (it was published by EQAO in 2008).  This plot alone can be the starting point for a serious discussion on equity in standardized testing and education. 

I thought a good way to start the class would be to hand out a bunch of questions from a past Grade 9 EQAO test.  This will get them in the frame of mind of a Grade 9 student.  They can start to think about what factors may give students students trouble with those questions.  Note: A bunch of past secondary EQAO tests and other EQAO related resources can be found here.  

Find the relationships...

Then they could start looking at data.  The above plot can be found online but to facilitate Knowledge Construction students should be going to the EQAO website to get the raw data.  They can then draw their own relationships.  Some of the simple relationships they can get directly from the EQAO data are gender and stream comparisons.  Questions that may be good discussion starters are:

• does the division between genders seem to be increasing or decreasing over time?
• does the division between academic/applied seem to be increasing or decreasing over time?

Other sources of data students can compare the EQAO results to are Stats Canada data and even the Fraser Institute Rankings (which frankly scare me because of how seriously they seem to be taken).

Critical analysis...

After establishing relationships, students can begin discussing why some of the relationships exist.  As a teacher, this is where things can become difficult and exciting.  The discussion is the part of the investigation that can be most thought provoking and interesting but often gets left out for the sake of saving time.  I believe we're talking about 21st Century Fluencies, that excuse is unacceptable.  Bypassing the discussion doesn't help students develop the Skilled Communication and Real-World Problem Solving skills necessary for the 21st Century Learner.

I think another huge topic of discussion is taking a step back and looking at standardized testing in general.  What is the purpose of EQAO?  Really it is to evaluate teachers and schools.  Is this the best way to do this?  Is it a good representation of the academic strength of the school?  How else should schools be evaluated?  What equity issues may arise because of standardized testing?  What biases are present in both the test itself and the data it produces?  

It would also be interesting to look at the standardized testing situation in the United States, where it is much more pervasive and compare it to Ontario.

Action!

Now, how can these results be used by the Grade 12 Data Management Students?  I would say it's a good opportunity for the Grade 12 students to help the Grade 9 students that are preparing for the EQAO.  If they find relationships in the data that could be beneficial to the younger students then they could share their results.  Most likely, they will not be able to directly influence any of the factors that cause inequity but they can at least advocate for and educate the Grade 9's.  Most students probably never think back to EQAO after they write it but I think this is a good opportunity to build some school community and leadership skills by having Grade 12 students setting up tutoring sessions for Grade 9's.  There's the Collaboration!

21C...


1. Collaboration: entry - adoption - adaptation - infusion - transformation
2. Knowledge Construction: entry - adoption - adaptation - infusion - transformation
3. Real-World Problem Solving & Innovation: entry - adoption - adaptation - infusion - transformation
4. Skilled Communication: entry - adoption - adaptation - infusion - transformation

Day 12 - Infinities

The Problem...

How big is infinity?

Why?

• Opportunity for Math/English interdisciplinary study of The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
• Address the common mathematical misconception that you can treat infinity like any other number in an equation
• Present the mind-boggling idea that an infinite series can have a finite sum
• Illustrate the idea that there are unanswerable questions in math.

The other day, I asked @emnose what I should write an entry about and she had the idea to use the novel The Fault in Our Stars by John Green.  

Today I finished the book.  Great read. Crazy sad but crazy good.  I was already a huge fan of John Green's YouTube channels (VlogBrothers, mental_floss and his brother Hank's channel SciShow) but hadn't read any of his books.  @emnose highly recommended I read The Fault in Our Stars.  Her rationale for using the book in a lesson idea was that a recurring theme is infinity. She's a smart one.  I don't want to give away any of the book so I'm mostly keeping details out of this entry.

Mathematical Infinity...

"Some infinities are bigger than other infinities," a character in The Fault in Our Stars states after explaining Zeno's Paradox.  I thought it would be interesting for students to explore what infinity exactly means in math, and compare it to how it is used (literally and metaphorically) in literature.  

In math, infinity gets messy.  In physics, its where black holes (singularities) appear.  Grade 11 and 12 students discover some of these difficulties when they are trying to plot rational functions or taking limits in calculus.  Some of the most interesting examples of these problems are found when trying to solve the indeterminate forms.  There are subtleties with infinity in math as illustrated by this TED-Ed video (and in Fault in Our Stars):

Interdisciplinary Infinity...

After a student had explored some of these mathematical problems with infinity, they could start to explore how the word is used outside of math.  The Fault in Our Stars is an interesting investigation because it bridges the gap between infinity being used metaphorically and mathematically.  Using The Fault in Our Stars as a starting point, students can explore other places infinity is used in literature.  

Interdisciplinary investigations are critical to 21st Century Learning.  According to the 21C framework, Knowledge Construction must be interdisciplinary to be Transformative. To bring it more into the 21st Century, the investigations can be done Collaboratively in groups (maybe pair up a Grade 12 Calculus student with a Grade 12 English Lit student) and the results Communicated in a variety of forms (writing, video, infographic, art).

To Infinity, and Beyond...

Infinity isn't the only interesting math/science connection in the book.  Here's one of my favourite quotes:

“I believe the universe wants to be noticed. I think the universe is inprobably biased toward the consciousness, that it rewards intelligence in part because the universe enjoys its elegance being observed. And who am I, living in the middle of history, to tell the universe that it-or my observation of it-is temporary?” 

This could be the jumping off point for some interesting philosophical conversations about why we do science and math (or really any other subject).  Along with my Number Bases blog entry, this idea helps students see the more human-created foundations of the way we understand Math.  

The TED-Ed video above also exposes a highly important fact:  It has been mathematically proven that there are questions in math that are unanswerable.  I believe this has huge implications for how we should think about math.  To come back around to infinity, I'll leave you with the awesomely beautiful and mathematically interesting quote from the TED-Ed video, 

"Someone one said the rationals (fractions) are like the stars in the night sky.  Then the irrationals are like the blackness."

21C...

1. Collaboration: entry - adoption - adaptation - infusion - transformation
2. Knowledge Construction: entry - adoption - adaptation - infusion - transformation
4. Skilled Communication: entry - adoption - adaptation - infusion - transformation

Future Lesson Ideas...

• The Philosophy of Math - see this Numberphile video called Do Numbers EXIST?
• Other cool interdisciplinary combos like the Evolutionary Biology in Galapagos (a novel by Kurt Vonnegut)

Day 11 - Hockey Stats

The Problem...

• How are all those hockey stats collected and what do people do with them?

Why?

• Engage students with the data collection and management behind sports
• Expose students to the real-world application of statistics
• Entry point to talking about the cultural impact of hockey in Canada

This entry is coming a day late because I was too upset to write one after the Leafs loss to the Bruins in overtime in Game 7 yesterday.  It's fresh on the minds of Leafs fans so I decided I would blog about it and somehow tie it to math.  Below is an nhl.com screenshot of the top 10 players from the 2012-2013 NHL regular season:

http://www.nhl.com/ice/playerstats.htm?season=20122013&gameType=2&team=&position=S&country=&status=&viewName=summary#?navid=nav-sts-indiv

That is a lot of stats to collect for each player!  In addition to analyzing the data on the site in a Grade 12 Data Management class, the question of how and why they collect these stats at all would be an interesting way of pulling the topic into the 21st Century Classroom.  

Close to home...

I think an awesome activity would be for a class to organize in order to collect an array of statistics of a team's season.  Ideally it would be a season played by their own high-school team so small groups of students could go out to collect stats for each game.  The class could consult with the coach/team at the beginning of the year in order to Collaboratively decide what statistics would be most beneficial for the team. They could analyze the stats over the course of the year and create reports to the coach who could ideally use them to improve the team's performance, supporting both Real-World Problem Solving and Skilled Communication.

In addition to potentially providing the coach with tools for improving the team's performance, the purpose of this activity would be to expose students to the process for the collection of data and some of the complications that may arise.  This Knowledge Construction would not occur if students were just studying stats taken from nhl.com.

Note: this obviously doesn't have to be a for a hockey team.  It could be any sport. Hockey is just what I had on my mind at the time of writing.

Digging deeper...

Once they have collected the data, they could start asking the deeper questions about collecting data in sports.  For example: in what ways are the data collected in hockey games are used?  Below are some things that may come up:

• Help teams improve their performance:  find ways to improve their team or find weaknesses in other teams
• Scouting for the NHL: the site behindthenet has a comprehensive report on how junior player's stats are projected to estimate what their performance in the NHL would be
• Fans love stats!  Stats get fans more engaged.  It is a source of revenue for the teams and leagues.
• Provide research for medical studies (for example: the concussion epidemic)

Here are some other questions that may be good discussion starters: 

• How much money is spent to collect stats in the NHL?
• Is it worth all the money to collect the stats?
• How many people does it take to collect stats for one NHL game?
• How might projecting a Junior players stats into the NHL be problematic?

21C...

1. Collaboration: entry - adoption - adaptation - infusion - transformation
2. Knowledge Construction: entry - adoption - adaptation - infusion - transformation
3. Real-World Problem Solving & Innovation: entry - adoption - adaptation - infusion - transformation
4. Skilled Communication: entry - adoption - adaptation - infusion - transformation

Future lesson ideas...

• Along the same lines but for Baseball: the math behind Moneyball (the movie)

Day 3 - How Many Lightbulbs?

The Problem...

How much energy do you regularly use?  How much of an impact will you have if you reduce your energy use?

Why?

• Students examine and visualize the extent of their regular energy use to get an intuitive sense of what energy really is
• Bring big sustainability topics into science classes

Visualizing Energy...

This is a video I found a while ago on TED-Ed:

This video is full of important Science, Math and Sustainable Development topics.  It helps students visualize energy use (hard to visualize by itself) in terms of lightbulbs (easier to visualize).  He discusses the fact that we need more substantial, systemic change than just 'eliminating plastic bags' to really make a difference in the world.  

The video has been flipped on TED-Ed, meaning that in addition to the video, it has questions and extra resources for students.  It is a good place to start a conversation on difficult topics such as sustainable power generation and personal energy use.  Today I will focus on the personal energy use aspect.  Flipped to a class, the questions given on TED-Ed can act as a homework check for a teacher as well as a formative assessment about their current understanding of the topic.

Personal Energy Audit

Watching the video, I was reminded of a project from third year where I had to perform a Personal Energy Audit by tracking my energy use over the course of a week.  We then had to analyze our results and create a plan to reduce our energy consumption.  Here are some of my results from that project:

The hardest part about collecting the data is figuring out the rate of consumption of each item.  Most of them require the application of Ohm's Law (V=I/R) to find out the current.  The natural gas can be found from utility bills and transportation can be approximated by mileage and gas consumption.  This is where a Google Spreadsheet would come in handy.  Each student could be assigned a different item and figure out how much energy it consumes for each hour/kilometre/month in operation and record the value and any assumptions. They could record their findings on the spreadsheet so the rest of the class would be able to see it.  They could then use their classmates' values to Collaboratively calculate their total energy consumption by just keeping track of approximately how long each appliance is running and multiplying it by the consumption.  The collaborative aspect of the task makes it much less laborious for each student while emphasizing the need for authentic and necessary collaboration. 

Be Critical...

After performing the analysis, they would be responsible for creating an Action Plan that they can use to figure out how to reduce their energy consumption which they will put into practice.  They should then compare their results to the number of lightbulbs given by the presenter in the video and critically analyze his assumptions.  As an extension, the whole class can look at the total energy consumption and find out how many lightbulbs that equates to.  Group discussions can be used to develop strategies for reducing power consumption as a school/community and educate their peers on the issue.

The investigation gives the students a great feel for the scale of their impact compared to the assumptions in the video.  They can validate the speakers assumptions based on their own data and determine whether their personal impact is worth the effort it may require.

Curriculum connections...

In terms of curriculum, the assignment requires appropriate research, unit conversions, energy conversions, record keeping and data management, and basic electricity and energy calculations.  Based on these expectations, Grade 11 or 12 Science would probably be appropriate.  I think an interesting application would be for students to start the project in Grade 9 (or earlier) and track their energy use until Grade 12.  This way they can evaluate and improve their own plans for reducing their energy consumption. 

On the 21st Century Continuum...

Depending on how far a teacher wants to go with this project, I think it has the potential to be transformative in all dimensions of the 21C framework.  The best part of it is that they can put self-constructed knowledge to good use with their Action Plans and set a good example for friends and family members by implementing them.


1. Collaboration: entry - adoption - adaptation - infusion - transformation
2. Knowledge Construction: entry - adoption - adaptation - infusion - transformation
3. Real-World Problem Solving & Innovation: entry - adoption - adaptation - infusion - transformation


4. Skilled Communication: entry - adoption - adaptation - infusion - transformation
5. Self-Regulation: entry - adoption - adaptation - infusion - transformation
6. Use of ICT for Learning: entry - adoption - adaptation - infusion - transformation





D2L

Today I attended a D2L training session.  D2L would provide students doing an Energy Audit with the tools to collect the data, discuss the results and share the results with each other.  They would also be able to share their results across schools and boards and track their progress over the years.  

Future Lesson Ideas

• Nuclear Power Generation and Energy Return on Investment (EROI)
• Analyse carbon footprint/GHG emissions
• Embodied energy and life-cycle analysis

Day 2 - We Stopped Dreaming

Neil deGrasse Tyson is a one of my favourite astrophysicists (as well as subject of the fairly popular meme below from http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/neil-degrasse-tyson-reaction).

A lesson I developed for the Space Exploration Unit in grade 9 Science for one of my classes at OISE involved the following video based on Neil deGrasse Tyson audio clips:

The discussion...

In the lesson, the video was meant to stimulate discussion on the ethics of funding space exploration. For that lesson, I kept the discussion centred around the ethics of space exploration but it could easily broadened into a discussion about science funding in general.  It can also be used as a starting point for Digital Citizenship conversations about reliable sources online and bias.  Some interdisciplinary (Science, Math, Civics, History and Politics) discussion topics are:

• Bias in the video
• Funding space exploration with tax dollars
• Ethical issues with funding of science and scientific research in general
• What sources should we use to verify Neil's claims about NASA funding?
• Verify Neil's claim about cutting 4/10ths of 1% into the dollar bill
• How has the funding changed since the video was made?
• How does the funding of Canada's version of NASA, the Canadian Space Agency compare to NASA funding?
• What cultural impact has Chris Hadfield had with his tweets from the ISS?

In a class...

I think a good way to use the video is to flip it to the class for homework using something such as TED-Ed where you can add multiple choice and discussion questions and have students answer them at home before a class discussion.  The questions can prompt Knowledge Construction where students to explore their preconceived notions about the topic and how their opinion may change after watching the video.  The teacher receives the results and can structure activities and discussion prompts based on those opinions.

STSE

Space exploration funding is that it is a great example of an STSE issue (science, technology, society and the environment) that aligns with the [Grade 9 Science] curriculum and is also a good entry point for the implementation of the 21C framework.  What I like about the secondary Science curriculum is that it stresses STSE issues (the ordering of expectations used to be skills then concepts then STSE but is now reversed to STSE then concepts then skills).  This provides Science teachers with an opportunity to ask more open-ended and critical questions.  [I actually think the extremely dense math curriculum could benefit from a similar structure]

On the 21C Continuum...

By no means does the idea reach the transformative end of the continuum by itself but it does start to get students' brains critically thinking about media and provides an opportunity for a great discussion in subjects that do not traditionally present such opportunities (Science).  The is an opportunity for students to exhibit Skilled Communication, both in classroom discussions and in online discussion questions on TED-Ed, D2L or other platform.  It also opens the doors to larger discussions on the Nature of Science and the impact of Science on culture.

2. Knowledge Construction: entry - adoption - adaptation - infusion - transformation
4. Skilled Communication: entry - adoption - adaptation - infusion - transformation

Neil deGrasse Tyson Extras

• More videos on the topic can be found at: http://www.penny4nasa.org/category/videos/
• This is an interesting link to a Neil deGrasse Tyson interview with Jian Ghomeshi on Q: http://www.cbc.ca/q/blog/2012/03/28/neil-degrasse-tyson-on-q/

Day 1 - Hacking Passwords

Today was my first day at 21C/AICT.  Learned a lot.  Had a blast.  Here's my lesson idea for the day:

The Problem...

Evaluate and understand the effectiveness your password and develop a method for generating safe passwords

Why?

• Develop understanding of combinatorics
• Illustrate how combinatorics apply to students' lives
• Help students develop a plan to protect their online identity

You're Doing Passwords Wrong...

Last week, my bro sent me the link to an article about password security called You're Doing Passwords Wrong. Its about how ineffective the typical password is and how we can better protect ourselves.  According to this article, a good password is probably not what you would expect.  It goes into a little detail about the math behind hacking passwords (see this XKCD link for more on the math).  The first thing I thought of when I read the article is that there's a math assignment in this.  

Digital Citizenship...

A part of 21st Century Learning and something my supervisor and I were discussing today was Digital Citizenship and the responsible use of technology (and the importance of this in math and science classes).  Part of Digital Citizenship is protecting yourself online.  Password security allows students to explore concepts in math while providing them with a way of improving their online security.  It is also an opportunity to discuss the ethics of the computer hacking and virus industry, a Real-World Problem that has global implications.

Curriculum Connections...

The investigation can involve exploring and comparing the number of combinations of certain lengths of passwords and the processing speed of computers.  Estimates can be compared to results on http://howsecureismypassword.net (see below).  This would be great for a Grade 12 Data Management course or even as an entry point for combinations and permutations in younger grades. 

Screenshot from http://howsecureismypassword.net 

Turns out a password I used to use could be hacked by a desktop PC in less than 0.1 seconds.  Needless to say, that isn't my password anymore.

21C...

Students end up with a usable ICT product at the end of the investigation: an effective password (or method for creating an effective password).  There is also an opportunity to extend the project to a school or community level by having students raise awareness about password hacking and online security through multimedia (poster, infographic, video).  This is an opportunity for students to demonstrate Skilled Communication.

3. Real-World Problem Solving & Innovation: entry - adoption - adaptation - infusion - transformation
4. Skilled Communication: entry - adoption - adaptation - infusion - transformation
6. Use of ICT for Learning: entry - adoption - adaptation - infusion - transformation

To tech or not to tech...

A separate but noteworthy point that was brought up today is that 21st Century Learning shouldn't imply that you have to Use ICT in a lesson.  Different classrooms have different access to technology.  The tech is a means for supporting the learning in a 21st century classroom and should not necessarily be the focus as it won't always be available.  (My math instructor at OISE made a similar point last week when he was talking about using iPads in a class.  The apps are there to support the learning.  Start with what you want the students to learn and then see if there are any apps to support the goals.  Seems obvious but sometimes I get caught up in new apps that may be cool but won't necessarily contribute to effective learning).

Future lesson ideas:

•  Internet Security: Data encryption and prime numbers