Back to school!

I suppose this post is a bit late for the title, as our students are in their second week of the 2014-2015 school year!

I attended a workshop for modeling instruction in chemistry over the summer and was quite eager to apply what I learned in the classroom.  Upon completion of 100 hours of training in in modeling instruction, we graduates received membership to the American Modeling Teachers Association.

Our school is on a modified block schedule-- classes meet 90 minutes a day, 5 days a week for an entire semester.  I teach biology in the fall and chemistry in the spring.

I debated if I should attempt to implement the ASU biology modeling curriculum this fall, or just stick with the chemistry curriculum that I was familiar with from the summer workshop.  In the end, my decision was to go ahead and try both the biology and chemistry modeling curriculum this year.  The main factor affecting my decision was I didn't want to fall back into a lecture/lab pattern and "forget" all the good techniques I was introduced to in the modeling workshop.  Plus, I was concerned that the farther removed I was from the workshop, the less inclined I would be to utilize much of anything that I learned about modeling.  I went through the biology curriculum on my own before students returned.  Everything seemed quite doable and in line with both the techniques I had learned in the chemistry workshop and the state standards. 

I hope to blog my experiences to serve as my own personal reflection, as well as to hopefully help others embarking on the journey as novice modelers.

Currently, my biology students are working in Unit 1:  Experimental Design.  More to follow...