Blue-footed Boobies from the Galapagos

Menu:

Latest news:

Read more...

More info:


Links:

Science Fun
ScienceMOO

Brian's Class Materials- SPRING 2011 - SEYS 767.3

Assignment 5


Assignment 5Online science course including course evaluation

Due Date - 5/19/2011

Possible Points - 100 points for this activity

How to Submit -
  • Always make sure that your name, the date, the assignment number and course number are at the top of the page on your assignment.  
  • Copy and paste your the link to your course and to the course evaluation on the Discussion Board in BlackBoard
  • Copy and paste the URL's into a Google document and share it with qcscied@gmail.com
  • Upload your Word document or equivalent with the URL's in the Digital Dropbox in BlackBoard.  Please do not submit pdf files.  
  • Keep electronic and paper copies for your records.
Instructions for Assignment 5

Develop an online science course in Moodle that consists of at least five lessons.  Each lesson should be able to be completed independently by middle or high school students in approximately one hour per lesson.  The topic of the course should come from the Regents science curricula or Intermediate science curricula.  If you would like to create a course on another topic such as a research course, or a different topic, e.g. Forensic Science, Particle Physics, Global Warming, etc. you need to get permission from the instructor. 

Your online interactive science course needs to contain both formative and summative assessment.  These can be quizzes, tests, and alternative assessments.  Please make sure that all science content is correct, and that you cite all sources that were used in the development of the course. 

If possible, you should try and test your course with high school or middle school students.  It is important that your course is of the highest quality possible since students may use your course in the future. 

Each lesson should contain very clear, concise instructions for the students along with images and diagrams when they help make the procedure easier to understand.  In addition, the beginning of every lesson should have a jook and a question to get the students interested in learning more. 

You should include at least one hands-on, minds-on, interactive activity that students could do at home with simple everyday materials.  The students could carry out the experiment at home, gather data and enter in a Google spreadsheet, for example.  Another type of activity that should be included is a cooperative learning or group activity.  For example, students could pick a science topic to research and then present their results together on a wiki, e.g. wikispaces or the Moodle wiki mod.

It is important that you include a variety of types of interactive activities.  Do not just put slides and text for students to read.  If you want to encourage the development of science reading skills, you could assign them a task at scienceheroes.com. 

When possible, try to use Robert Karplus' Learning Cycle to organize your online lessons.  The learning cycle consists of three phases.  Phase 1 involves exploration of a phenomenon.  Phase 2 consists of introducing important concepts and terms.  Phase 3 requires the students to apply what they have learned in a different or new situation or problem. 

If you have questions about what should be include in your online science course, please do not hesitate to ask the instructor and your peers for help.

IMPORTANT:  Please use the scoring guidelines below as a checklist and make sure that your course meets each criterion.

Scoring Guidelines
  • Title of Course
  • Grade level/s
  • Subject: 
  • Numbers of lessons specified
  • Overview of the course and goals are provided
  • Time needed to complete each lesson included
  • Materials specified for each lesson, quantities, where to obtain
  • Objectives included for each lesson
  • Procedure is clear and easy for students to follow
  • Science content is correct
  • Formative assessments are included
  • Summative assessment is included
  • Answers are provided to students along with feedback for assessments
  • Certificate is provided to students
  • Course and website are user-friendly
  • Course materials are inviting and attractive
  • Course evaluation by students is present and functional
  • Each lesson begins with an interesting or engaging hook
  • Each lesson is given an interesting title to pique the students' interest
  • Images are used in the course where appropriate
  • Sound and music are used in the course where appropriate
  • Video is used in the course where appropriate
  • A screencast is used appropriately
  • All sources of media are cited
  • Sources are cited for any activities used
  • Creativity
100 points total

Extra credit points are available for inclusion of the results of student testing if possible, and for extra useful features that have been included in the course.