Gamifying the NGSS

The NGSS standards are asking students to apply science and engineering practices in order to understand how cross cutting concepts play out disciplinary core ideas. The three dimensions of the NGSS require much more than a simple addition to an inquiry lesson. The student who is not able to make connections across the content and apply his/her understanding to one DCI concept to solve a problem or answer a question in a different context or DCI has not mastered an NGSS standard.

As I considered different ways to modify my instruction in order to provide students with maximum exposure to the science and engineering practices (S&EP), as well as the crosscutting concepts (CCC), I read Leigh Roehm's lesson "pHun with Phenolphthalein" at the BetterLesson website*. In it she masterfully exemplifies just how to incorporate the crosscutting concepts into what she calls the Ladder of Discourse. Through the use of the strategy, she transfers the responsibility for the crosscutting concepts from the teacher to the students! This got me thinking about doing something similar with the S&EPs, which finally led me to the idea of gamifying the three dimensions of the NGSS.

Before I explain, I invite you to visit any of the grade-level sites I created for this. If you check out the How to Play in any of them, you will perhaps get the idea of just what I mean about how the NGSS are tied into the game.

http://mariana68.wix.com/adventure2015-5	http://mariana68.wix.com/adventure2015-6
http://mariana68.wix.com/adventure2015-7	http://mariana68.wix.com/adventure2015-8

Disciplinary Core Ideas

The DCIs are present in the training rooms. These are the concepts I cover, mostly using PBL which already gives a lot of opportunities for choice, and do not provide XP or gold coins. The main reason I have for this is that in my previous attempts at gamification, including them in the leaderboards becomes a grading nightmare (see Gamified Classroom - A Year in Review). However, as the year progresses I will be granting access to PowerMyLearning and MySciLife activities that will allow the students to gain XP and gold coins through choices in this area.

Science and Engineering Practices = XP

These are gamified, providing students the opportunity to gain XP and level up by writing weekly blogs. I first introduced my students to the idea of obtaining XP for weekly writing two years ago (see Gamification, starting really small). The structure of the posts has changed over the years, and in this iteration I am asking the students to engage with a specific character, depending on the game, and provide evidence that they have  acquired experience in the S&EPs. To gamify the S&EPs meant that students needed a structure that would allow them to make each of the practices visible in their writing. In order to create the structure I used Rodger W. Bybee's article "Scientific and Engineering Practices in K–12 Classrooms", transforming each of the practices into student-friendly statements that they can choose to write about.  It also meant that they needed a purpose to push themselves in the critical thinking required by the assignment. This is where the leveling up comes in as higher levels of XP mean privileges, such as being able to use their phones or listen to music in class.

Crosscutting Concepts = Gold Coins

In thinking about what I want students to get through the gamified experiences I was creating, it made sense that the crosscutting concepts became the boss battles. Being able to identify and explain big underlying ideas that span different content areas is what the crosscutting are about, and as such require a rather deep understanding of the content. It also means that students need to be able to revisit them over and over as their understanding grows. The irony is that these were by far the easiest to gamify. I created the Boss Battles by  transforming the K-8 statements from the NSTA's Matrix of Crosscutting Concepts, and added the Ladder of Discourse I mentioned earlier to further help the students draft their "battle". At the moment, the battle arenas are set up in blogger, providing students a dedicated space to engage in them. However, this might change as my goal is to have the students keep the same arenas for the four years that they have with me, so the page structure I propose might become too cumbersome. I am even toying with the idea of having actual "boss battle" days in the form of classroom debates - but that is a post for another day.

At this point you may be asking why I decided to award gold coins instead of XP for engaging with the crosscutting concepts. This really comes down to motivation and the difficulty I am expecting some of my students to have with this shift, especially in the lower grades. Not every student will make a big connection every week. However making that connection and being able to explain it can, over time, earn the students big rewards. 

So, what do you think? Let the conversation about gamifying the NGSS begin.

Surprise Journal

A while back I wrote about transforming my students' blogs into a more reflective space (Reflective teaching and learning - the blogs). This practice has had the desired effect in my students, allowing them to put their learning in perspective and becoming more aware of the meaning behind their experiences in my classroom. It has helped clarify goals, and moved them away from the superficiality of  "My goal is to get straight A's", to the more meaningful "My goal for next week is to pay close attention when writing my notes and keep them in an organized binder so I can use them when I study for Friday's quiz."

However, for some of my students they have also become a little bit formulaic, lacking in that elusive element that makes students attempt to go beyond the obvious.This is why I was very happy when I read the Surprise! article by Julia Galef. Her ideas led me to think about how my students' blogs could also include a simple "surprise" statement. The goal is to have students acknowledge the fact that there are everyday moments that lead us to curious discoveries. That being open to those moments of surprise gives us permission to explore creative solutions, and that being wrong is most definitely not a "bad" thing as long as we take a moment to think about what we can from it.

We have barely started including these surprises, and I am once again having fun reading their posts. My students continue to grow and explore the world around them with curiosity, challenging each other to find the most interesting surprises. That is what teaching is all about.

Beyond "I really liked this project"

Another school year has ended, and as I sit down to ponder what went well and what I would like to change, I once again am stumped by what I can do to improve reflection in my students.  Paolo Freire, in his book Pedagogy of the Oppressed, states that reflection is an essential part of learning and of becoming an agent of change in the world:

"Within the word we find two dimensions, reflection and action, in such radical interaction that if one is sacrificed -- even in part -- the other immediately suffers . . ."

If I am to promote changes in my students' thinking and growth, I need to improve their ability to reflect. So, last summer I read everything I could on the subject and promptly set about attempting to create a classroom where reflection was a big part of our daily and weekly activities, as well as a final requirement for our projects. I made a cutesy chart that was prominently displayed and used.

I made weekly reflective blog posts a requirement, and at the end of every project assigned a reflection, which was graded on a rubric. My prompt for the reflections went something along the lines of: "Describe what you learned in completing the assignment, identify what went well and detail what you will improve on for next time."

Most of my students did well with just this; however, even as I tried time and time again to give pointed feedback on the reflections, about 20% of my students seldom went beyond:

"I really liked this project/assignment because I got to work with my friends..."

"Next time, I will stay on task more and not get distracted."

What to do, what to do...

Recently, I came across Edutopia's 40 reflective questions, and I particularly liked how they separated them into categories (Backward-looking, Inward-looking, Outward-looking, Forward-looking). I think that by naming them, the respondent gets into a different mindset as he/she prepares to answer. As I move forward, I will be modifying them a little bit  to address not only the end products, but the weekly work. I will also ask students to "ACE" their answers, citing examples and non examples, as well as expanding with a "what it looks like or sounds like". Of course, there will be a rubric.

Will it work? I don't know, but I would love to hear your thoughts. How have you improved student reflection in your classroom?

Further reading:

• Block, Joshua. "Let It Marinate: The Importance of Reflection and Closing."Edutopia. Edutopia, 18 Apr. 2014. Web. 13 June 2014. <http://www.edutopia.org/blog/let-it-marinate-reflection-closing-joshua-block>.
• Boss, Suzie. "High Tech Reflection Strategies Make Learning Stick." Edutopia. Edutopia, 4 Mar. 2009. Web. 13 June 2014. <http://www.edutopia.org/student-reflection-blogs-journals-technology>.
• Yoshida, Clyde. "Creating a Culture of Student Reflection: Self-Assessment Yields Positive Results." Edutopia. Edutopia, 1 July 1997. Web. 13 June 2014. <http://www.edutopia.org/creating-culture-student-reflection>.
• Clements, Mark. "Using Reflection to Help Students Learn." Edunators. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 June 2014. <http://www.edunators.com/index.php/becoming-the-edunator/step-5-reflecting-for-learning/using-reflection-to-help-students-learn>.

Reflective teaching and learning - the blogs

If you landed here, you might consider reading what I wrote for my students on "Why the blogs are important..."

This year, all of my students (grades 5 through 8) were tasked to create and maintain a blog, where they reflected on the learning that had taken place from week to week. At first, everyone was excited about the prospect, and they created their blogs with gusto, adding all sorts of sounds and mini-games to them. However, the novelty wore off rather quickly, and even though the blogs comprised 30% of their grade (graded using a rubric), some students started to invent excuses for turning them in late and/or plain not doing them. Right around that time I came across Annette Vee's post "How to teach with blogs" and the external motivation point she makes resonated with me.

That prompted me to attempt to gamify the experience (Gamification starting really small), and also to give the opportunity of writing "Option 2 blogs". I also started accepting paper blogs and videoblogs. Although this sounds a little bit like a management nightmare, it actually turned out so well that I am definitely doing it again.

I will, however, modify the assignment a little bit. My students became pretty good at writing about the content, but the reflective piece did not improve much as the year progressed. I am currently developing a more explicit assignment that should take care of this issue, borrowing the reflection question set from Edutopia .

Pros:

• Students who blogged consistently saw a marked improvement in their writing ability. One particular student of mine comes to mind. This student lives with dysgraphia, and at first I had all sorts of accommodations for his blogs (the videoblog option was developed with him in mind). It took lots of perseverance and determination on his part, but by the end of this school year, he is able to produce weekly typed,  coherent blogs, with minimal errors, graded without differentiation. His ELA score soared, and he is more engaged in school.
• Blogging students saw an increase in their understanding of the material, and through the conversations that ensued because of the blogs, I was able to cover the material more in depth. Student blogs also helped me become aware of misconceptions and plain errors in what they were thinking or understanding. Because of the blogs, these misconceptions and errors were addressed in a more timely manner.
• Blogging gave my reluctant participants a voice and status as someone with something to share. I am reminded of another student, who I would seldom hear in class discussions. However, his blogs showed not only that he had understood the content, but showed his peers that his ideas were relevant and important. As the year progressed, he was one of the first students to obtain the rank of "Supreme Blogging Grand Master", and the pride he took in his blog and this accomplishment  cannot be understated.

Cons:

• If I am to be honest, there were several times throughout the year where I disliked the blogs. Sitting every week to rubric grade and give pointed feedback on 140 blogs each week is tiresome. 
• Even with the gamification and choice aspects, about 10/140 students across grade levels just did not blog with any consistency, or turned them in with little effort. In trying to solve this I began awarding blog immunity (top 5 scores from all classes), and tying blog XP to access to group projects (for example, in order to participate in the Eco-house group project you must have at least 100 blog XP, otherwise  you are working on the individual sustainability project). I implemented this at the very end of the school year, so it was a little late to see major changes. As this becomes part of the routine, I hope that this increased external motivation will yield results.

So, what do you think? I would love to hear from other teachers that have implemented blogs; how did they impact your students and your practice?


Further reading:

• "Edublogs Teacher Challenges." Edublogs Teacher Challenges. Edublogs, n.d. Web. 08 June 2014. <http://teacherchallenge.edublogs.org/blogging-with-students/>.
• Couros, George. "5 Reasons Your Students Should Blog." Connected Principals. Connected Principals, 20 Mar. 2013. Web. 08 June 2014. <http://connectedprincipals.com/archives/8007>.
• Lampinen, Michelle. "Blogging in the 21st-Century Classroom." Edutopia. Edutopia, 8 Apr. 2013. Web. 08 June 2014. <http://www.edutopia.org/blog/blogging-in-21st-century-classroom-michelle-lampinen>.