4th post: ICT tools and final reflections

In this last post from the CLIL course I will summarize my work on the use of ICT resources and I will make some reflections about the course.

Starting with ICT resources, I will show you an activity proposal that my students should make to express their results from the practice they are going to make.

TITLE OF THE TASK: Results from the practice with a poster format

AIM OF THE TASK: Students have to explain their Project in the study of the effect of solid size in the reaction rate (practice). I want them to show their results using a poster, because it is a common media used in scientific publications.

DESCRIPTION OF THE TASK: (What are they going to do? How are you going to organize them? Steps to follow and final product) After doing the research in the lab, they have to organize and explain the results: The poster must include the following parts: -          Introduction: explain what is the reaction rate -          Objectives and hypotheses: explain the aim of the practice -          Material: list the material used in the practice -          Experimental procedure: explain the steps of the research -          Results: you need to use a spreadsheet (google, Microsoft excel, Calc, …) to produce a graphical representation of the results. The viewer should be able to understand the results only by looking at the image or graph. You also need to explain the graph -          Conclusions: answer the hypotheses and objectives

WEB TOOL (link): http://artefactosdigitales.com/presentaciones-2/ I propose they use https://www.genial.ly/es or any slides tool such as Google slides, Microsoft powerpoint or others.

Tutorial about the web tool. Register in the webpage genial.ly or use google slides using your google account in both cases. If you are using genial.ly, choose the ‘student’ (estudiante) category and then choose some design that is suitable for your task. You may also follow the steps in this videotutorial with some ideas:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VznRviR8pBU Additionally, follow the description of the task in order to have all the necessary information.

Next, I am sharing with you my unit plan as an elevator pitch:

https://www.powtoon.com/online-presentation/bDgRhqMZj4i/?mode=movie#/

Finally, it's time to answer the questions about this module:

• What did you learn? I have seen again that scaffolding is very important for unit creation and that ICT resources can be a way to introduce new vocabulary in a friendly way. I also learnt to use a video tool while creating the elevator pitch.
• How did you learn? As usual, by reading the provided information and practicing
• Do you have any problem? No...
• Would you like to investigate a bit more about any subject? Yes, I am interested in gamification, which is not directly a CLIL tool, but it is linked to ICT resources. I think it is very interesting for students.
• Which question do you propose to someone who read this post to help you with CLIL? What are your favorite ICT resources? What do students enjoy more?

After finishing the course, it is time to make some final reflections:

• 3 things I have learnt.
• I have learnt that there are several thinking skills and all of them need to be developed
• I have learnt some cooperative learning methods
• I have become aware of scaffolding as a must in CLIL design
• 2 things I will do in my lessons.
• I will introduce cooperative learning methods
• I will make use of a driving question
• I will make objectives and evaluation clear at the starting of every unit
• 1 thing I will continue learning about.
• I need to learn more about self assessment
• I want to know more about CLIL applied to science class, because I think that a lot of tools are more suitable to other subjects. Additionally, a lot of tools seemed very childish to me and I want to know more tools for 14-18 year students

Third post: Evaluation and assessment

This time, I will be explaining the work I have made in Assessment as a methodology applied to CLIL.

Teacher's assessment

I will begin by sharing the Teacher's assessment rubric that I made for my unit:

Mark Activity	1 (needs development)	2 (Novice)	3 (Competent)	4 (Expert)
Starting activity	Can’t tell any difference between chemical and physical change	Can explain some examples but can’t make a scientific definition	Can make good definition with appropriate examples	Makes a perfect scientific definition with examples
Adjusting chemical coefficients	Does not participate in the activity	Knows how to identify an incorrect reaction but fails to adjust by himself or herself	Can do most of the exercises	Can do all the exercises and explain the need of doing the adjustment
Chemical reaction rate	Can’t explain the topic he or she worked with	Is able to explain his or her topic to others and has a basic knowledge of the other topics	Knows all the topics of reaction rate	Knows all the topics of reaction rate and can tell some real life examples
Practice (chemical reaction rate)	Does not participate in the activity	Can understand the phenomena that takes place but can’t design an experimental proposal	Can make a reasonable research proposal and explains the results of the experiment	Makes a good research proposal and explains the results perfectly
The mol	Can’t explain anything from the new concept	Has a basic idea of the concept and application	Knows the concept and can make most numerical exercises	Can explain the concept and mathematically apply it
Concentration calculations	Can’t make conversion factors	Makes some of the required calculations	Makes most of the required calculations	Makes all of the required calculations and explains them
Driving question	Can’t understand what is being asked	Can explain what is asked but can’t answer it	Knows how to approach it and gets to the solution	Gets the answer and explains all of the steps
Language	Never uses English	Knows some of the CALP and uses some of the BICS and scaffolded language	Uses English most of the time and knows all the CALP and some of the BICS and scaffolded language	Uses English most of the time without mistakes
Working diary	Not used or poorly done	Frequently done but not concisely and correctly	Frequently and extensively done but with some mistakes	Done every day, extensively and correctly

Peer's assessment

Secondly, I will share with you the Peer's assessment. That is: a tool for students group to assess their work in a task.

Activty: chemical reaction rate

You will work in groups of 4. After finishing the tasks, each member of the group will get marks by the other members of the group. The marks will range from 1 to 4, being 1 the lowest mark and 4 the highest.

Name	Contribution to task development	Team work and cooperation	Personal work	Final mark

Self assessment

In third place, I am sharing with you a self assessment tool for students. It should help them to find their weakest and strongest points and how to improve their work.

Read the rubric. It has a series of items that will be evaluated. Think about the activities that you have been doing and your work on them. Follow the criteria from the rubric and propose a mark for each of the items.  

Activity	Mark (1-4)
Starting activity
Adjusting chemical coefficients
Chemical reaction rate
Practice (chemical reaction rate)
The mol
Concentration calculations
Driving question
Language
Working diary

Now, explain in the back of the paper the reason of the marks you have given to yourself. Which is the activity you did best and why? Which one is the worst and why? Which are the kind activities that you perform better?

Finally, what could you do to improve you work? 

Thinking routine

Next, I am sharing with you a thinking routine adapted to a topic of my unit:

TITLE OF THE THINKING ROUTINE: Question starts. This is an “understanding routine”. It will take place around “the mole” topic

EXPLANATION: The mole topic is a very abstract one. I will introduce some basic ideas about the topic and then let them think some questions about it. These questions will help to introduce the topic and they will try to understand the following explanations and activities in order to have better answers to their questions.

RESOURCES: List of questions: Why…? Why is the volume the same in any substance? Why is it useful to use Avogadro’s number? How would it be different if…? What are the reasons...? What are the reasons of the mass difference between atoms? Suppose that… Suppose that 2 molecules of CO react with 1 molecule of O2 to generate 2 molecules of CO2. Would the volume increase or decrease? What if we need to know…? Can we predict the volume of the products? What if we knew...? What is the purpose of...? What is the purpose of using the mole concept by scientists? What would change if the molecule is formed by 4 atoms instead of 1?

HOW ARE YOU GOING TO USE IT? I will introduce some basic ideas about the topic and then let them think some questions about it. They will answer to the questions by pairs and they will share some of them with the class. These questions will help to introduce the topic and they will try to understand the following explanations and activities in order to have better answers to their questions. Then, we will work in the mole topic and they will have time to reexamine their answers.

Finally, I will answer the required questions:

• What did you learn? I learnt to do a rubric. I have never done or used one before. I also learnt about assessment tools
• How did you learn? By reading and trying to apply it to my CLIL unit.
• Do you have any problem? No
• Would you like to investigate a bit more about any subject? Yes, about thinking routines. I find there are a lot of them but it is not easy to find what you need.
• Which question do you propose to someone who read this post to help you with CLIL? Are you familiarised with thinking routines applied to science? Which ones are useful for you?

This is my second post. This time, I will be explaining the work I have made in applying cooperative work or learning to design a CLIL unit.

First of all, I am sharing with you the language skills that will be worked during this CLIL unit.

CALP Content Language	BICS Basic Interpersonal Language	Language through Scaffolded Language.
Atom Molecule Mol Mass Gram Unit Percentage Substance Compound Conversion factor Mixture Volume Density Liquid Solid Gas Solution Solvent Solute Concentration Molarity Plot Stoichiometric coefficient Chemical equation	Are you sure about this conclusion? What’s your opinion about this? I agree with you I see your point but… I don’t agree with you because… How do you say … in English? What is the meaning of …? I think you made some mistake Is this correct?	Can you plot these data? How can you do this calculation? How many molecules are in X mol of molecules? Which reaction will be faster? This one because… Could you adjust the chemical coefficients of this reaction? Yes, by making sure there are the same number of atoms in both sides of the chemical equation What is the relation between volume and quantity of substance? They are proportional, which means that when one increases, the other also does it. Is there a significant difference in the volume of X molecules and the volume of X atoms? No, there is not. How can you calculate the mass of a solution? Using density and a conversion factor What is the difference between density and a percentage? Density expresses the relation between mass and volume of the entire mixture, while percentage expresses the relation between solvent and solute in a mixture (concentration)

Next, I am adding two of the activities that I would use in class in order to work in two topics of the unit:

Class Organization: Groups of 4 students

Cooperative Learning Technique 1: Jigsaw Task you are going to work: Important elements in the reaction rate Students will form groups of 4. All of them will listen about the reaction rate or velocity. Then, one member of each group will form a new group to talk about one specific factor that affects the reaction rate: concentration, temperature, solid particle size and catalyst. They will think of a model that explains the effect on the reaction rate and some real life examples (reactions that take place in our bodies, kitchens, atmosphere, plants, …). Finally, the original 4 membered groups will be formed again and each of the students will explain to the others the shared models and ideas.

Cooperative Learning Technique 2: Team-pair-solo Task you are going to work: Adjusting chemical coefficients in a reaction First of all, in groups of 4 they will have some chemical reactions that are adjusted and some that aren’t. They will need to find which ones are adjusted and what is the mathematical reasoning behind. Then, they will divide in pairs. They will have some reactions that need their coefficients to be adjusted and a proposal of adjustment by myself. Some of them will be correct and some of them will not. They will need find which ones are correct and which the correct way to adjust chemical reactions is. The goal of this part is trying that they don’t make common mistakes in this kind of exercises. At this point, we will correct this last exercise and a mathematical logical order will be discussed in the classroom. This will be applied, still in pairs in some exercises. This time they will have to do it, instead of finding if it is correct or not, but keeping in mind what they did before. Finally, in their own, each student will do more exercises. This will show themselves if they have followed the procedure and are able to apply the theory. They will join with the original group of 4 again and compare the solution. This way, other members of the group that learn faster will be able to explain if there is any mistake to others. At the end, one member of each group will share the solution of one of the reactions with all the class.

Now, I will show you a couple of displays that I made using Canvas. I think they would be nice in a Science class, especially in the laboratory. 

However, after making them, I think it would be more interesting if students created some displays to hang in the classroom.

Another activty that I have been doing to prepare this CLIL unit is the KWL chart, which I share with you now:

K What do my students know about the topic before I started the unit?	W What do I want my student to learn along this unit?	L What have my students learnt at the end of this unit?
The titles of the units in Chemistry is very similar from 3rd to 4th of ESO and to 1st of Batxillerat. From one course to the next one, units become broader and more complicated models are explained and applied. For this reason, most concepts in the unit should already be known by students: -          Chemical change -          Reaction rate -          Adjustment of chemical equations -          Energy in the chemical reaction	Apart from remembering the topics from last year and working on them at a more demanding level, these are the new topics: -        Quantity of substance: the mol -          Molar volume -          Stoichiometric calculations -          Molar and percentage concentration	By now, the concepts that are not new must be consolidated by students. I hope that by the end of the unit they will have a notion of “the mol” concept, which is really abstract, together with the molar volume and a basic application to calculations in the chemical reaction. That is, explaining chemical equations by the use of mol concept instead of atoms and molecules.

Finally, I will answer some questions about the process of learning:

• What did you learn? I have learnt very useful techniques for cooperative learning and communcaton tools. I find them useful not only for CLIL units but for any class. I have learnt that I need to be very careful with the language used in the classroom. It is necessary to give the students tools to communicate.
• How did you learn? I have learnt by reading the topics provided in the course, by looking for information in some webpages or videos dedicated to CLIL or cooperative learning
• Do you have any problem? No, I don't.
• Would you like to investigate a bit more about any subject? Yes, I think that the topic of scaffolding the process of learning is very interesting in order to empower students, with the aim of having them be part of learning. I think that you must practice a lot in order to achieve it.
• Which question do you propose to someone who read this post to help you with CLIL? Which are the most useful cooperative learning tools in your classes?