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Just like real scientists: Gizmos STEM Cases

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• Li Ye, Assistant Professor
• Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
• California State University, Northridge
• April. 2. 2022

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Agenda

• Have you used Gizmos STEM Cases before?
• What are STEM cases?
• Highlights of STEM cases
• Just like real scientists
• Handbook
• Heatmap
• Try a case study: Water Crisis!
• Connect to real projects

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A quickwrite before we start Link

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• How familiar you are with Gizmos?

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• How do you use Gizmos in teaching?

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• Have you used STEM cases in Gizmos?
• -If yes, how do you use them in your teaching?

What are STEM Cases?

Gizmos STEM Cases: Link

• 23 Virtual interactive case studies; 1 is free!
• Put students in the role of STEM professionals
• Task students with solving real-world problems
• Allows students to test ideas to find solutions & gain a deep conceptual understanding of science skills and concepts
• Analyzing and interpreting data
• Constructing explanations and designing solutions

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Highlights of STEM cases

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Just like real scientists! real world problem-solving

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Students act as roles of scientists

• environmental chemist, wildlife biologist, medical toxicologist, etc.

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Solve real world problems and propose solutions

• disease outbreak, low honey production due to wasps, save life of a the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) agent that has been poisoned, etc.

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Just like real scientists! real world problem-solving

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Hypothesis- Predict - Observation- Results-Revise Hypothesis

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Data Collection -from multiple sources

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Control experiment / multiple tests and comparison

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Data analysis and interpretation

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Case summary!

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Resources for future research

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Handbook

Interactive guides that focus on the science concepts underlying the case

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Searchable Glossary

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Review of concepts prior to taking the Cases

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• Assign as homework-flipped classroom

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• Extra credit assignments before exams

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• If class time is limited, can used to replace the case, 15-20 mins

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Heatmap: real-time data by level of understanding

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free-response questions

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Heatmap: grading and comments

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Click a Green cell you will see details and can comment:

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Click a Blue cell you can score and comment:

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Heatmap: grading and comments

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Grade by question #

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Change the colors to Grayscale

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Reset activity: give students more attempts

/allow unlimited attempts

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Heatmap: student data

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By different skills

- 6 types of skills

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By skills over time

-across multiple attempts

-across multiple cases, did they improve on certain skills?

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Print student results as a whole class/each individual

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Example student report

Case study Example 1

Water Crisis: Stoichiometry

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Link

This case is based on a real incident that happened in Flint, Michigan.

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Teacher might use

Case menu

Handbook menu

Glossary

Mute

Teacher guide

Unlocked

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Students

Case menu

Handbook menu

Glossary

Mute

Results-scores and comments

Can’t skip steps

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Concepts and Topics

Stoichiometry, Stoichiometric Coefficients

Mass, Moles and Molar Mass

Concentration and Molarity

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Tasks

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Role: Environmental Chemist

Let’s try it out!~10 mins

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Classroom enrollment code

TL4GZZ

Gizmos: https://gizmos.explorelearning.com/

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Handbook -like a mini case study

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Case Tasks-Real world settings

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A town - Ferrisville

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Tasks-Case

After complete the Handbook

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Identify what is wrong with the water supply in Ferrisville

-Compare multiple water sources and interpret data

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Investigate reasons for why the water is contaminated

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Test hypothesis and propose a solution to treat the water supply

-Make it safe again!

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Case summary

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Further Research

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Brainstorming: Quickwrite link

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How would you like to use the Gizmos STEM cases?

Connect to real projects?

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Water Quality project:

Water from home/school/community?

Is the water you drinking safe?

Drinking water regulations

Drinking Water Test Strips

LA’s 2020 Drinking Water Quality Report

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One idea: