moodle

Mastery Teaching: FAQ’s:

These questions were asked by my friends on the College Board AP Chemistry List-Serve. Though we believe that mastery teaching is much bigger than Chemistry classes, it is they who helped us to think through many of the questions and problems that we faced as we adopted this innovative and revolutionary new teaching strategy.

What is Mastery Teaching?

Where can I get trained?

Can I come and visit your school?

Will you come and train our staff?

I can’t come to Colorado—will you do a webinar?

Cheating on tests

Where can I watch a sample podcast?

Incentive to progress and not just slack off.

Where do I purchase Chemistry Podcasts (Screencasts)?

Somebody Else doing something similar

Do I get the “follow-along-Notes with the DVD?

Do Kids take responsibility for their own learning?

Who Makes the Podcasts?

Procrastinators and More on Grading

And yet more on grading…

Who is being taught this way and how big are your classes?

Where are you websites: How can I get more information?

Could this work with POGIL?

Will this work in a 4x4 Block?

Will this help my students on the state test?

What software do you use to make the podcasts?

Will this work with other subjects such as physics and math? Is there staff development opportunities available for those subjects as well?

Does this work in math? Can I see samples of the podcasts?

What will you do 2nd Semester with kids who are behind?

How big (in MB) are your files and how do you accomodate kids who don't have access to technology?

Lab Logistics and Cheating on Labs?

Grading of Papers

Mastery Chemistry in AP Chemistry

What is Mastery Teaching?

In reading a post of yours on the AP listserve, I was intrigued with your reference to podcast/mastery teaching. This is not something I am familiar with but would love to know more about it. We have a successful chemistry program, but are always looking for new ideas for our lowest students. Do you have any literature on how you run your program? I see that you sell some of your podcasts, but I am just curious about how the system works. Do kids have access at school? Do most of your students have computers at home? How is your school day structured? Who are your students? Etc.

Any info would be greatly appreciated

Thanks!

Betsy

1. We don’t lecture in class anymore. Students watch podcasts to receive the direct instruction.

2. Students work at their own pace, though there are benchmarks that they must receive to get a certain grade.

3. Students work through each unit (traditional units that all chem teachers teach)

4. So a student (We have a check off sheet that they follow in each unit—see below an example from our states of matter unit)

a. Watches certain podcasts

b. Does certain demos with their teacher

c. Does certain worksheets

d. Does certain labs

e. Takes a unit exam.

5. They then take a test and must score an 85% or better to move on_. If they don’t they go back and figure out what they didn’t understand_. And that doesn’t just include the test: If a student shows me a certain worksheet and they are consistently writing NaCl₂ instead of NaCl I make them go back and fix it until they understand.

6. This does create a certain level of chaos: We have 4-5 labs set up at one time so that students are possibly doing 4-5 different labs at the same time, kids taking a test, kids watching a podcast on their i-Phone, working on worksheets, etc. My role now changes: I am the expert that they get help from—not the “sage on the stage.” I know this sounds crazy to manage but actually it is easier than you imagine. My principal was in the other day and he watched the class (my year to be observed) and he said: “I am sold!.” He wants our math classes to do this, particularly Algebra because our kids don’t understand Algebra even after being in an Algebra class all year (as measured on the state exam). And how cool would it be for us Chem teachers if students really UNDERSTOOD Algebra. It certainly would make our job easier…

7. It works!! More kids are truly understanding Chemistry than ever before.

Below is an example outline of a unit of study. Students use this as a check-off and once they have “mastered the content” they move on.

Chemistry: Unit 6 Outline: States of Matter

Assignment

WB Page Number

Score

Can be Done at Home?

Out of

Podcast 6.1 (CB 1-5)

Online

Yes

ü

Worksheet A

Pg 15-16

Yes

ü

Aluminum Can Crush

Pg 5

No

100

Podcast 6.2 (CB 7-11)

Online

Yes

ü

Demo: Boiling Water with Ice

In Class

No

ü

Worksheet B

Pg 17

Yes

ü

Podcast 6.3 (CB 13-17)

Online

Yes

ü

Lab: Heat Capacity of a Metal

Pg 6-7

No

100

Worksheet C

Pg 18-19

Yes

ü

Podcast 6.4 (CB 19-21)

Online

No

ü

Worksheet D

Pg 20-22

Yes

ü

Lab: Determining the Enthalpy
of a Chemical Reaction

Pg 8-11

No

100

Podcast 6.5 (CB 23-25)

Online

Yes

ü

Demo: Burning Paper with Steam

In Class

No

ü

Lab: Heat of Fusion of Ice

Pg 12-14

No

100

Worksheet E

Pg 23-27

Yes

ü

Lab Test: Finding ?H

Teacher Handout

No

ü

Unit 6 Exam

In Class

No

100

(You must score 85/100 on all assignments with a number to move to the next unit. For those assignments with a check, you need to do it to the satisfaction of your teacher)

Where can I get trained?

Can I come and visit your school?

You bet: we are always open to folks coming and seeing this in action.

Will you come and train our staff?

You bet..We are poor teachers who always are willing to share what we learn. We don’t charge too much.

I can’t come to Colorado—will you do a webinar?

We are presently setting this up.

Cheating on tests

Could you tell me how you keep students from cheating on tests?

Thanks, Susan

Susan: great question.

Since students can take the test multiple times we obviously had to work on this. This requires different versions of the exam. We have also set aside some corners of the room where students take the tests and there is little chance of them cheating. We are right now working on doing many of our tests on a computer using moodle. With moodle I can write questions such that each kid gets a different question. For example a student might get a limiting reactant problem but student A starts with 3.4 grams and student B starts with 4.6 g. that way each student gets a unique exam, and in fact each time a student takes the exam they get a unique exam. We are right now working out the bugs of the system, but it is coming along nicely.

Where can I watch a sample podcast?

From: Warren, Ellen k [mailto:WarrenE@fulton.k12.ga.us]

Do you have a smaple podcast that we can view? Thanks

Go to google video and do a search for WPHS Chemistry. We have probably 90 videos uploaded there. One example might be: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2213373481372000105&ei=6pYcSdHNCJXeqAPx7cTDBw&q=wphs+ap+chemistry

This is a podcast from AP chemistry on buffers.

Incentive to progress and not just slack off.

Subject: mastery teaching

what's the incentive to advance through multiple units. Are there kids who "play" this system and purposely advance as slowly as possible? If you don't advance until you're 85% proficient--seems like you could just resubmit 80 times and make it only to gas laws by the end of the year.

Julie Mullane

Chemistry

Julie: Great question:

The students each week are given benchmarks: So for this coming week they must have completed:

A = Pass Unit 5 Exam (85% or better)

B = Unit 5 Podcast 5.3

C = Pass Unit 4 Exam (85% or better)

F = anything than less than above.

We thus change which assignment they need to "get to" each week. So there is a moving line. And ultimately there is an assignment that they need to "get to" by the end of the semester and the end of the year. We also limit them taking tests once per day. So taking the exam multiple times costs them time that they could be progressing through new content. They are uncomfortable getting behind.

We also celebrate every time a kid scores an 85% or better on an exam. I am looking for a gong (on ebay) to celebrate each successful passing of each exam.

I hope this makes sense:

Where do I purchase Chemistry Podcasts (Screencasts)?

http://chempodcasts.com

Somebody Else doing something similar

I teach Physical Science in addition to AP Chem and our staff have spent the last 2+ years implementing a similar master process in Physical Science (both the Chem and Physics sections). The process Jonathon describes is INCREDIBLY similar to our process and I agree that the results are exciting. We handout folders on the first class with every assignment for the entire semester listed and then use a date stamp to stamp off assignments as they complete them. We also place stars on each document at locations where students are required to touch base with the instructor during the process. It is controlled chaos but students truly do understand more science through the process. Listed below is the link to our physical science website where you can download docs and see what we call "video-based" instruction.

http://www.kunaschools.org/schools/khs/departments/science/PhySci/PhysicalScience.php

I am beginning to work toward a similar process for AP Chem and look forward to similar results.

Michael

Do I get the “follow-along-Notes with the DVD?

Dear Jonathan,
Thank you for sharing your Mastery Teaching method. I'm very excited about trying it and have just bought your DVD for 1st year chemistry today. I teach both public school and homeschool students - what a difference. I've been wondering this year how I could get my public school students to take more responsibility for their education like my homeschool students do. I think your program might be the way!

Does your DVD have files of your handouts to show me how you "run" a unit? In other words, do you include a master plan to show the order that the students should work on various activities and readings/videos for each unit?

Thank you!
Beth

Yes: the dvd has our follow along notes for ap chem. And for our general program you get our entire unit handouts. They are last year’s, but should work for you. This is our first year of the Mastery Program so we are modifying things so that they fit the mastery program better.

Do Kids take responsibility for their own learning?

Thanks a lot Jonathan. I took a good look at your site and to be honest when I first read your post I was very skeptical. The more I thought about it and talked with the other chem. teacher here the more and more it made sense. Thanks for making your information open source, that is very gracious of you. We’re going to take a good look at your program and give it try here.

Thanks.

Tom

Tom: Yea, it sounds kind of crazy, but we are seeing kids take responsibility for their own learning and they are actually learning the stuff.

If you need help in getting things set up we would be glad to help. It has taken us quite a bit of time to make this work, but it really does…

Who Makes the Podcasts?

Mr. Bergmann,

Thanks for the information on mastery chemistry. Maybe you have been asked this but my question is, Do you make the podcasts yourself? Are they lectures that you have taped of yourself giving the information? Are they long 40-50 minutes or shorter 10-20 minutes.

Thanks

Dave

Dave: good question: Yes we (myself and another Chem teacher, Aaron Sams) made all of the podcasts ourselves. However a number of teachers across the country have been using our podcasts for implementing this model in their classrooms. We actually sell them at http://chempodcasts for a minimal fee ($25 for Chem and $ 25 for AP Chem).

Length: The Chem podcasts tend to be 15-20 min each and the AP Chem podcasts tend to be 30-40 min.

Have a great day

Jonathan Bergmann

Procrastinators and More on Grading

Jonathan,

I'm doing something similar starting this year and I'm in the hectic crazy phase right now. I'm also the only chem teacher so I'm on my own in this endeavor. One thing I'm struggling with is the procrastinators. In my classroom, we work on units (4-5 weeks) and students are at their own pace except that everyone takes the exam at the same time. There are several "gate-keeper" quizzes in each unit to make sure they're mastering topics as they go. Right now we're nearing the end of the unit and now all the procrastinators are coming out of the woodwork and trying to catch up--which means it makes my life miserable as I have kids in my room before and after school furiously trying to meet the deadline. Not optimal for their learning either. Any thoughts?

Even after less than a semester, I'm committed to this classroom model as it's exciting to see the students taking responsibility for their learning, but I need to tweak it some before I'm committed--to the looney house.

Thanks,

Cathy

Cathy: You are right in that this creates a hectic and crazy classroom—and yet I am loving it. It works like a charm—controlled chaos.

The procrastinors are a problem: but since I input a grade at the end of each week and that gets reported to their parents, if they are behind then the parents get a notice that they are failing. They could still turn everything in at the end of the semester, but with the notice going home each week (via email and our grading software—infinite campus), the kids get busy when parents start hasseling them about having an F. One thing we did was to do away with the D grade. Students earn each week an A, B, C, or F.

So for this week:

A = Pass the Unit 5 Exam with at least an 85%

B = Complete the Unit 5 Worksheet C

C = Pass the Unit 4 exam with at least an 85%

F= less than above

So we have weekly benchmarks (as per above) and students have to “cross the line” each week. This “line” moves each week with a new set of benchmarks.

It isn’t perfect, but it is working.

If you have further ideas, we are always open to suggestions. Collaboration with like minds really helps. You say that you are the only Chem teacher. Feel free to bounce ideas off of aaron and I and we welcome your ideas as well. More minds thinking about the same things makes for better learning for all of our kids.

Have a great day

Jonathan Bergmann

I have copied aaron so that you could copy him to any subsequent emails.

I too have a question about the mastery concept

How are final grades assessed if one person finishes half the units that another student completes?

Cheryl

Cheryl: good question: Grades....

the further you get in the content the higher the student's grade. So for our first semester, to earn an A students must master half way through our unit 6. This includes taking, and mastering our final exam from last year and doing a project. Last year we finished the semester at the end of unit 5 (stoichiometry) so we set the bar for an A past that point. We have students now who are starting unit 6 and I anticipate that they will finish unit 6 and go above and beyond the "A" grade.

For student to earn a B they have to have completed unit 5, done last year's final (with mastery) and do a project. for a student to earn a C they must finish unit 5 and then master the final. So we have it scaffolded that way.

Right now we are thinking of actually delineating this even more. In the future we think that we could have all students who are taking a first year course in the same classroom at the same time. At our school we only have 2 levels of first year Chemistry: Principles of Chemistry (1 section) and Chemistry (7 sections): {We also have 2 sections of AP}. So what we are thinking is that students who just learn slower will have the option of getting Principles of Chemistry credit: Students who work at an average pace can get Chemistry credit, and for those students who excel and learn faster, they can earn Honors Chemistry credit (a class we don't currently offer). Students would all work through the same content, but their grade would be determined by how much material they master.

I think I have said this before: But this is working out VERY well. Students are being "forced" to learn. They can't just attend class, do some assignments, and then hope for the best on the exam. They are discovering that they really can learn. An interesting anecdote: We had a couple of students who were doing well on all of the assignments and then when they go to take the exam they don't even have a clue as to what to do. At first we thought of this as test anxiety, etc. Well, come to find out, they essentially were copying all of the other kid's work and it just looked like they were learning. After a hard conversation with these students, they acknowledged what they were doing and are now going back learning the material that they never really learned in the first place. So this system doesn't allow the kids to not learn. And for those students who are fully invested in the program, I am seeing them truly take ownership for their own learning.

you can probably feel my enthusiasm for the program. It has been a truly remarkable year.

Have a great day.

Jonathan Bergmann

And yet more on grading…

Jeremy: This was something we discussed at length and for what it is worth: here was our "solution."

We also have to give grades each week for athletics'. So we have set up weekly benchmarks. If a student doesn't make it to that benchmark then they have that grade. We do have a sliding scale.

For this coming Friday:

A = Complete and pass the Unit 1-5 Exam

B = Complete and pass the unit 5 exam

C = Complete Unit 4 WS C

F = anything less than above.

We have in our grade book (infinite campus) all of the assignments and students either get a 1 or a blank. On exams they must get the 85%. And then we set up one category that counts for their entire grade. If a student has an A we enter 95%, a B, 85,%, a C 75%, and less than that a 55%. We decided to do away with D's and so far nobody has questioned it.

There have been some interesting discussions with parents. In fact I have an email from a parent right now who wants to know why their student has all 100%'s (1 out of 1) on all assignments and still has an F. I need to explain to her that her son has not completed enough assignments to get the passing grade... Once they finally understand the grading system, then the really appreciate that I am "forcing" their kids to actually LEARN the material instead of just passing them on with nominal understanding of the content.

I hope this helps

Have a great day.

Jon Bergmann

Who is being taught this way and how big are your classes?

Sounds really interesting. How big are your classes? Does this work for regular, honors and AP?

Pat

Pat: We are starting this program with our first year chemistry students. We also teach AP chemistry but with them we decided to not "experiment" with them. So they are doing what we call our pre-podcasting model where students watch the podcast lectures at home and in class we get lots more labs and directed problem solving time with them. We are uncertain if we will do the mastery model with our ap students next year. That is still in discussion.

Class size: We have probably on average 24-28 students in each class.

Where are you websites: How can I get more information?

We actually have several sites:

My Chemistry Page for my students: http://www.wpsdk12.org/~jbergmann

For AP Chem Teachers: http://www.wpsdk12.org/~jbergmann/APChemTeacher

For Podcasts: http://chempodcasts.com

For learning how to use podcasting (a bit dated--we need to update it): http://educationalvodcasting.com

Could this work with POGIL?

Hi Jon,

I was curious if you guys have thought about pairing your techniques with POGIL type activities (replacing your worksheets, etc)? I was thinking this might be a great way to consolidate two great techniques that help students learn the material instead of floating through it. I really appreciate you sharing your materials and look forward to getting ours set-up for next year.

Cheers,

Chris

Chris: great minds think alike. I have been thinking that this is my next step. I have not been to a pogil training, but have read quite a bit on the topic and think this ultimately would be the most effective method…

Will this work in a 4x4 Block?

Hi Jon, I love the model you do with your students. I have 20 weeks of chemistry with my students. Daily block of 99min. Do you think this model would work for them also?

Thanks,

Carol

Carol: I don’t see any problems doing this with a 4x4 block. In fact I think it might even be better than what we do (1 block every other day for the year). Kids would have concentrated time to do their work with less classes getting in the way.

Jon Bergmann

Will this help my students on the state test?

I’m sorry since I think you’re getting TONS of emails about this because we all find it so fascinating … but I have one more question for you …

Do you have a state curriculum and/or state standardized final exam? I feel like that drives so much of my teaching these days, so I’m just curious …

Thanks!

Jenny

Jenny: don’t worry about the questions: I am collecting them and saving them so that I can possibly write a journal article, some grants, etc. The answers to the questions will become something…

As of right now, Colorado does not a have state exam for Chemistry. However, I am on the committee, that will be mandating that in the near future. (Actually I am on the governors commission that oversees the re-writing of the standards which will ultimately lead to course exams in all subjects, Chemistry included).

That said: And I think that the mastery program, will help test scores. Since my students actually are ALL learning Chemistry, though at different paces, I think that they will do better on any state exam. I guess it is possible that students might not have mastered some content, but with my system they will learn things more deeply.

And everybody else out there on the list-serv. I welcome the questions and dialogue. This is great discussion and collaboration.

Cheers.

Jonathan

What software do you use to make the podcasts?

Go to http://educationalvodcasting.com to get a coupon code for SnapKast (http://snapkast.com) . this is very easy to use.

Will this work with others subjects like Physics and Math?

Though I have titled this mastering chemistry, this methodology of teaching would work in many content areas. Our math teachers are looking into adopting this especially in their algebra 1 classes. So it would easily work in a physics course. In terms of training: we are glad to do the training, and in fact we are doing a workshop this coming Jan in Colorado (Jan 16-17). You can find this at http://educationalvodcasting.com . We are also planning on doing one June 22-24. We don’t have all the details worked out so we don’t have a flyer for that just yet. Also at that website you can learn more about what we are doing. This is not some sort of program that has been developed commercially, it is just something that aaron and I have “invented” recently using the video podcasts. So if you want to try this out, as far as we know we are the only ones using this approach. It has caused quite a stir as people have found out about it…

So in terms of staff development, as of right now I guess we are the only staff development “opportunity.” We have traveled a bit to share what we are doing and have gotten some good feedback. One teacher told us that our staff development was the best he had been to in 20 years of teaching. That said and we would love to have you come to Colorado either in Jan or June—or if you district was interested we could come to your site and train you on-site.

I hope this helps.

Have a great day.

Jonathan-

I am sure you have been inundated with questions as the discussion on your teaching techniques has really taken off on the AP Chem listserv. Well, here is one more...

I am very interested in your technique. I am trying to explain it to my dept chair and to the administration. I would love for them to find the funds to send me to your workshop in June. But anyway...my question. I imagine that you remove your podcasts from your page once your class has finished with a topic so I can not find this topic on your current list. My admin (former math teacher), with limited chem knowledge, would like to see your podcast(s) on mole to gram to particle conversions and on stoichiometry. They would like to see if mathematical problems can really be addressed in this format without students being present to ask immediate questions. Anyway, is there any way I could get ahold of your podcasts on these topics? If this goes well, I am sure the school would be willing to purchase your DVD but I think they would like to see a sample on a topic they understand. Thanks for any help you can give.

Leslie

Leslie: don't worry about the questions: I am just adding them to the faq page and will post these for folks. I also plan to use this to write a journal article and also possibly to capitalize on it in some way. To find the mole conversion podcast you can go to:

http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=wphs+chemistry+3.2&emb=0&aq=f#

We actually have uploaded our lower quality podcasts to google video. If you search wphs chemistry you can see our stuff (about 100 videos). This video is our first year of chemistry podcasts so they are a bit rough, but you should get the idea. This year we are re-making all of our ap chemistry podcasts and the quality is much better.

Have a great day.

Jonathan Bergmann

What will you do 2nd Semester with kids who are behind?

Cathy:

A good question: We had to think this through. For what it is worth, here is what we have come up with. We are going to set the “ultimate” benchmark for the year. We don't honestly know where that will land at the end of this, our first, year. So in our system at the end of this semester the benchmarks are:

A= Pass the Final with 80% + do a project and be ½ way through Unit 6

B = Pass the Final with 80% + do a project

C = Pass the Final with 80%

F = Anything less than above (We did away with D's and so far nobody has challenged us on this—we never asked administration we just did it—we shall see if it flies in the future)

So a student has to have completed unit 5 and gone one step past that. If they don't then they get an F.

So next semester they have to start where they left off. But what we are telling them is that if they “cross” the A line by the end of the school year then regardless of what grade they got 1 st semester we will give them an A for both semesters. This will require us to manually go back and change their grade. This only seems fair, since they truly have mastered to the A level. This also is giving hope to our kids who got behind 1 st semester. In the past week we have met with each kid and discussed where they are at and what they need to do to get to their target grade. There is only 3 weeks left until our semester ends on Dec 19 th . What we are finding right now with our students who have gotten behind is that they are working very hard right now and frankly, we think that about 1-2 students per class will end up failing. This is actually better than when we taught a traditional curriculum. Of course this is just my sense, but I will know in 3 weeks. The other think I am seeing is a lot more kids coming in at lunch working on labs, working on assignments, etc. It has been pretty cool seeing them beginning to take ownership for their own education. I would love for our Algebra classes to start this sort of program and start training the kids to do this. Then I think they would learn that learning is their responsibility. I think that before students had school “done to them.” And with this model, for them to be successful, they must actually LEARN the content. My role is totally switched: I am a Chemistry coach, not the teacher authority figure.

How big (in MB) are your files and how do you accomodate kids who don't have access to technology?

ScreeenCast Size

Onto your other question: We are using SnapKast and find that the file size is 1MB per min. That sounds like what you have as well. Though these files are pretty large, our students learned pretty quickly that a flash drive is essential for their learning. These kids are “digital natives,” so this has not been much of an issue for them.

Now for those of you out there who think I teach in a tech rich school district and all kids have ready access to technology, that would not be true. We teach in a rural school district that has all socioeconomic strata. We do have kids who live in million dollar houses, but also many kids who are just above poverty. For kids without internet or computers we have found a way using NERO software to convert the podcasts into a DVD format. We bought online 200-300 blank dvd's and we burn them such that they can put them in a dvd player and push play. I think each dvd is about $0.25 so it is really a minor expense

Lab Logistics and Cheating on Labs?

Question: i was wondering if i could ask you a few questions about how you are running your mastery chem program.

i am curious about the logistics of the labs:

how do the students do the labs? do they have to sign up for them in advance? is it first-come, first-served? is there a certain number of lab stations set up
and do they get to pick? do you only have labs for a particular unit setup and/or do you have labs from past units available as well?

when students do labs are they written up in lab books which are handed in? do you return marked labs back before the end of the unit? how to do you prevent
other students from copying someone elses lab results?

many thanks
niels

Neils: we had to deal with this issue in class. We think some of the students were copying others's labs and so we decided to make sure that each student had done each lab. Students must get our signature to verify that they have actually done the lab. Now are they copying someones questoins. What I am now doing is also asking that they answer a key question about the lab in order to get "credit." In doing this I have "caught" a few kids who were copying work (mainly worksheets)and then I have had stern discussions with them about how they are not going to ever pass an exam unless they individually understand the Chemistry. I guess the moral of the story is that some kids will try and find ways to cheat. With a new system such as ours students will try and find the loopholes just as they always have in the past. I think our system actually "catches" more of these kids. No longer can a kid cheat his way through Chemistry.

Lab Logistics: We have set up around the room several labs. I would guess that there are 4-6 labs set up at a time. We label them and students go to that station to do the labs. Before students actually "do" the labs I require that they spend a few minnutes with me discussing the lab with me. This discussion includes:

Safety:
Pre-Lab Discussion
Procedure.
Any other of the key points that I want to make. For example: What is the key concept that students must get out of a particular lab, etc.

Grading of Papers

One thing that we have been doing is checking the students work in real time. Students bring me their assignments (worksheets, labs, and even tests). I then grade them on the spot. If I see mistakes I hand them back and ask students to do them over. This is also done with tests and labs. So I don't end up taking papers home to grade. So much of my class time is used by me grading the student work. This makes class time truly crazy, but I think that the immediate feedback is very helpful to the students. It also allows me to differentiate. My top students must turn in "perfect" work. For those students who I know are going to barely pass the test with the 85% (often on the 2nd or 3rd try) I allow less than perfect work. If they generally get the topic then I mark them down as mastering the content. These students are usually behind the main group of students and it gives them some hope as they move along.

Mastery Chemistry in AP Chemistry

From: Michelle
Jonathan, I purchased your DVDs this summer and am pleased with them. I have been following the strand about Mastery and have a question. I have only one semester to teach AP chemistry. I am hoping to apply your concepts and have the students watch the podcasts on their own time. Do you have any suggestions for me with this level of class, like what would be the best source of problems to work the following class period,etc? They would have to be on a schedule and not really working at their own pace. I have already had these students for honors chem. Thanks for any input you have time for.

Thanks, Michelle

Michelle: what you are describing is exacly what we are doing with our AP Chem classes now. Students watch the podcasts on their own time (but they all do the same podcast on the same night). And then in class students work together on problems. We are using Zumdahl's 6th Edition and most of our questions come from there. We have thought of writing our own series of questions so that they more closely mirror the AP format, but have not had the chance to do that just yet. We call this method the Pre-Vodcasting Model. Where students watch the podcasts at home and then do the "homework" in class with us there to help them when they get stuck. It works wonderfully. We are uncertain if we are going to do AP Chem next year with the mastery model. We find that with this model this level of student works better when there are lots of them to work together. I hope that helps. If you do end up using this model (and our podcasts) please tell us how things go for you. We would like to see how this is working outside of our school system.

Mastery Teaching: FAQ’s:

What is Mastery Teaching?

Any info would be greatly appreciated

Thanks!

Betsy

1. We don’t lecture in class anymore. Students watch podcasts to receive the direct instruction.

2. Students work at their own pace, though there are benchmarks that they must receive to get a certain grade.

3. Students work through each unit (traditional units that all chem teachers teach)

4. So a student (We have a check off sheet that they follow in each unit—see below an example from our states of matter unit)

a. Watches certain podcasts

b. Does certain demos with their teacher

c. Does certain worksheets

d. Does certain labs

e. Takes a unit exam.

7. It works!! More kids are truly understanding Chemistry than ever before.

Below is an example outline of a unit of study. Students use this as a check-off and once they have “mastered the content” they move on.

Chemistry: Unit 6 Outline: States of Matter

Worksheet B

(You must score 85/100 on all assignments with a number to move to the next unit. For those assignments with a check, you need to do it to the satisfaction of your teacher)

Where can I get trained?

21st Century Learning that Works!

Using Video Podcasting to Revolutionize the Classroom

January 16-17

To Register

By phone: 719-686-2012

Kelley Havin 719-686-2012

Cost

$250 per participant

$225 Earlybird Special, Pay by December 20, 2009

Date

January 16-17, 2009 (Fri.- Sat.)

8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Location

Woodland Park High School

151 N Baldwin St.

Woodland Park, CO 80863

(15 miles West of Colorado Springs at the base of Pikes Peak)

Credit

1.0 Credit available from Adam’s State for $45/credit hour

Can I come and visit your school?

You bet: we are always open to folks coming and seeing this in action.

Will you come and train our staff?

You bet..We are poor teachers who always are willing to share what we learn. We don’t charge too much.

I can’t come to Colorado—will you do a webinar?

We are presently setting this up.

Cheating on tests

Could you tell me how you keep students from cheating on tests?

Thanks, Susan

Susan: great question.

Where can I watch a sample podcast?

From: Warren, Ellen k [mailto:WarrenE@fulton.k12.ga.us]

Do you have a smaple podcast that we can view? Thanks

Go to google video and do a search for WPHS Chemistry. We have probably 90 videos uploaded there. One example might be: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2213373481372000105&ei=6pYcSdHNCJXeqAPx7cTDBw&q=wphs+ap+chemistry

This is a podcast from AP chemistry on buffers.

Incentive to progress and not just slack off.

Subject: mastery teaching

what's the incentive to advance through multiple units. Are there kids who "play" this system and purposely advance as slowly as possible? If you don't advance until you're 85% proficient--seems like you could just resubmit 80 times and make it only to gas laws by the end of the year.

Julie Mullane

Chemistry

Julie: Great question:

The students each week are given benchmarks: So for this coming week they must have completed:

A = Pass Unit 5 Exam (85% or better)

B = Unit 5 Podcast 5.3

C = Pass Unit 4 Exam (85% or better)

F = anything than less than above.

We also celebrate every time a kid scores an 85% or better on an exam. I am looking for a gong (on ebay) to celebrate each successful passing of each exam.

I hope this makes sense:

Where do I purchase Chemistry Podcasts (Screencasts)?

Somebody Else doing something similar

I am beginning to work toward a similar process for AP Chem and look forward to similar results.

Michael

Do I get the “follow-along-Notes with the DVD?

Yes: the dvd has our follow along notes for ap chem. And for our general program you get our entire unit handouts. They are last year’s, but should work for you. This is our first year of the Mastery Program so we are modifying things so that they fit the mastery program better.

Do Kids take responsibility for their own learning?

Thanks.

Tom

Tom: Yea, it sounds kind of crazy, but we are seeing kids take responsibility for their own learning and they are actually learning the stuff.

If you need help in getting things set up we would be glad to help. It has taken us quite a bit of time to make this work, but it really does…

21^st Century Learning that Works!