TE 408: ANALYSIS OF STUDENT WORK

Name: Andrew Warner Partner: James Nelson

Mentor Teacher: Ms. Omillian School: Mason High School
Class and grade level: 10
th
Applied Chem Date: 3/21/2013
A. Brief Descriptio of t!e T"s#
". For$"ti%e
Students were asked to rip paper into the smallest piece they could make. Then,
they were told to imagine what the smallest piece of paper they could possibly
look like. They were told to think on a very microscopic or even an atomic
(new, but familiar word) level. The purpose of this formative assessment was to
introduce atomic theory and to get their minds thinking on a level that eceeds
human vision. This was also the introduction to !emocritus and the history of
atomic theory which led up to "ohr#s model of the atom.
&. S'$$"ti%e
&(App)ic"tio
$lement %ame &bbreviation &tomic %umber &tomic 'ass
Students were given one of the four answers above and were re(uired to fill in the
remaining three. They were given about )* elements to solve with the above
format. This application activity was used to bring home the new idea that (for
neutral atoms) protons + electrons, protons , neutrons + atomic mass, and atomic
number + - protons.
&* I+'ir,
Students were challenged with three in(uiry.based (uestions that involved deeper
thought on things that they were not directly taught. $amples of this are number
of atoms in compounds, number of protons/electrons/neutrons in compound, and
the purpose of a neutron.
B. I-e") Respose focus on the most substantial of your written assessment tasks.
0uestion1 'ost of 2utherford#s particles went directly through the gold foil and
hit the other side. 3hat would happen if the gold nuclei were larger and the same
alpha particles tried to pass through it4
Ideal answer: 5f the gold nuclei were larger, more photons would hit them and
bounce back to the sides rather than pass through the foil.
5 wanted students to think beyond the bo on this (uestion. 'ost of their
assessment is what, and with atomic theory, they need to not only think abstractly,
but with models that they can never really observe. 5 would not necessarily
consider this a why (uestion, but it does allow students to go on the atomic level
and observing what eact happens if you enlarge a nucleus. $ven if students can
picture a larger nucleus, this doesn#t mean that they will connect the fact that it
will result in more deflected photons.
D. A"),.i/ st'-ets0 resposes 1 I-etif,i/ p"tters
Wit! t!is respose2 I "$ t")#i/ "&o't ")) 3 +'estios o t!e i+'ir, "ssess$et2 ot
4'st t!e first +'estio 5"&o't R't!erfor-6.
'any students understood that atoms have the ability to be larger or smaller. This
is because they connected that atoms are made up of a certain number of protons and
neutrons in the nucleus. 3ith this, 5 gave a brief introduction to the periodic table which
helps eplain the mass and number of protons each atoms contains. They also understood
that elements (at elemental state) have a 6 charge, which connects to protons + electrons.
(Some students, when asked how many electrons are in water, answered 0 although they
stated it contains 10 protons. Students may have thought that since electrons have a
negative charge and sounds like the word electricity, water must not contain any of
these particles.! Since there may have been a problem communicating electrons, 5
believe the net lesson should cover the electron a little more in depth. 5 think the
electron was a problem because it was the only component outside of the nucleus. 3ith
such a new and foreign topic, 5 believe putting the idea that all elements have electrons,
and possibly eplaining the reason why a neutral charge is so important at this point in
the unit.
F. I$p)ic"tios fro$ ,o'r 7ritte "ssess$et ""),sis for t!is )esso p)"
S'ccessf'). 'y outgoing presence and liveliness was definitely a positive part of the
section. $ven though the lights were turned out of a 7ower7oint presentation, 5 still
managed to keep students awake by tossing Starbursts at unsuspecting students. 5 also
threw them at students who answered (uestions correctly. 'y 7ower7oint presentation
was also very successful. 5n my feedback from my students, everyone who commented
on the 7ower7oint said it was entertaining and educational. 8ne student (forgive me
rambling on) even said she went home and told her mom and sister how she didn#t fall
asleep in class and learned a lot in class about atomic theory. 5 was almost brought to
tears, something 5 am kind of embarrassed to admit but 5 was so happy9 5 was also
impressed with the amount of time re(uired to work on their worksheets.
Us'ccessf')8 Some unsuccessful portions of my session was the approach of note taking
during my lecture. 3hile it was a relatively short lecture, about :* minutes, 5 didn#t
want to give them notes that they had to fill in. 5 noticed that students did not learn,
rather they copied notes to get it finished. They didn#t put any sort of active cognition in
to filling in the notes re(uired to finish the packet. Some students said they wanted it in
their notes, so an improvement 5 could do in the lesson may include a way to incorporate
writing out notes without necessarily filling in the blanks. 7erhaps asking full (uestions
during a lecture and giving students time to fill in an answer might be a better approach
to giving them something to write. &nother unsuccessful method that was the giving of
Starbursts to the students. 3hile it was a good idea, 5 feel that they might be epecting it
net time and may not pay as much attention as the time that 'r. 3arner gave them
Starbursts. 5 need to somehow make the students focus on the sub;ect now that their
minds were stimulated with sustenance.
9. I$p)ic"tios fro$ ,o'r 7ritte "ssess$et ""),sis for t!e fo))o78'p )esso.
The net time 5 will be teaching, 5 will be covering the second lesson into Introduction of
"eriodic #able. 5 made sure to engrain into students# minds that protons+electrons. 5
want this idea to be second nature to students by the time they begin the 7eriodic Table.
This idea, since it is now solidified in their minds, they will be ready to tackle ions and
eventually isotopes. Students need to know that outside of elemental (neutral) charges of
6, there are forces that act that bind elements together and most of these re(uire an ionic
charge. Students will balance e(uations and also start determining charges on elements
based on their position of the 7eriodic Table. Students will build on their ideas by the
application activity that 5 gave them to work on. They will still know how to find which
atom matches which number of protons, but they will build on the idea of being given a
charge and a number of electrons, being able to find a specific ionic element. 5 think 5
will maintain the same method of 7ower7oint presentation. 'y color coding really
helped a lot of students and 5 feel that never were eposed to color coordination the way
that 5 presented it. 5 received a lot of positive feedback about color coordination with the
atomic particles (proton, electron, neutron). 5 want to maintain consistency with the
positive things about my presentation so that there is some sort of fluidity among units.