An Onboarding Video for Physical Science

In preparing for gamifying my Physical Science class, I've been reading blog posts, listening to the Well PlayED podcast, and participating in the #XPLAP twitter chat when I can (10PM is so late sometimes!) Several people who gamify make intro videos to help get students excited about the game. I've been working on the Apple Teacher certification and most recently finished the iMovie badge. It just made sense to give making this intro video a try with iMovie.

I enlisted the help of my younger two daughters to set the scene, make some characters, and try our hands at some stop-motion animation. (Much laughing ensued at some of our mistakes--and the girls begged me to leave them in.) After taking over 100 pictures we looked at the themed trailers in iMovie and decided their retro trailers was a perfect match. I briefly hopped over to Google Photos to make the animations since the assistant in Photos makes it so easy. Then we got to work choosing pictures for the trailer, and changing the titles on the pages to match the theme of my class. You may notice that I added a couple of quick shots of items and badges-just to pique their curiosity. I'm hoping this trailer will at least add some anticipation for the class.

Go, Go, Gadget...

I've moved onto another part of developing the game of Physical Science.  Another element of the game comes in the form of "items." Since we're going with an Inspector Gadget theme, I'm calling them "gadgets."

Students earn these gadgets several different ways.  I wanted to make finishing homework extra rewarding. If students earn their badge for successfully completing the work for every chapter in a unit, then they get a mini-spy glass gadget (which is a 2 x 3 inch card).  This allows them to bring an index card of information with them to the unit test.  If they do a superb job on an assignment from each chapter and therefore get a star on each badge in that unit, they get a mega-spy glass gadget. Then they may use their entire notebook for the test.

The rest of the gadgets will be given for soft skills I want to encourage in the class. I think it's so valuable to be able to work well in a group, to stay engaged through an entire task, and to do their best work. I'm sure there will be other things I want to encourage and will add them as I go.  At the end of the class, I plan to pick the group (called squads) that worked together best and each will get to pick a gadget card.  The group who scored the most points the week before will each get to draw a card.  I'll also pull them out when someone does an exceptional job with a task.

There are cards to help a group during review games, to help individually on a test, to allow them to break some rules of the game, and to get a little treat occasionally.  Many will be valuable to their group, and I'm aiming for some peer pressure from group members to make sure each of them are keeping up with the class.

Students will be allowed to trade cards at certain times and will hopefully encourage the social gamers.  There is also a card I give them all to start with.  If they ever don't complete their work, they have to hand that card in.  Without that card, they can't trade or use any of the other cards they have.

To hold earned cards, there will be a baseball card holder taped into the front cover of their composition notebook with clear mailing tape. Since it's a little bit too big for that area, the top will be folded over and fastened in place with Velcro.  I am a little nervous about the cards falling out of the top row.  My 7th grader suggested a little bit of washi tape over those three openings. I may let students decide how they'll secure the top row.

Here are the names of the gadgets, what the gadgets allow, and how they are earned.

Gadgets

Item	Power	How to Earn
Mini spy glass	Bring index card during test	Earn all badges for that unit by completing all normal case work with a passing grade
Mega spy glass	Use notebook during test	Earn stars on all badges for unit by doing exceptional work on normal or special cases for each chapter
PI badge	Allows trading, allows use of all other gadgets.	Given, lost if normal case load isn’t completed, returned when caught up
Steps retracer	May complete more than one special case for a chapter	These are given to the group who has earned the most points in a week, to a group who has demonstrated exceptional collaborative skills, or has done exceptional work in class on a project, or to a person finding an Easter egg.
Time machine	May complete a special case from a past unit
Sweet Stock	Pick from the candy supply
Loot lifter	Pick from small items
Doubler	Holder may take two prizes, or a large one if at level 2
Interrogation Minimizer	On multiple choice test questions, holder may ask teacher to eliminate 2 incorrect choices.
Executive Pardon	Allows holder to submit work 1 week late without penalty.
Spring Shoes	Allows user to skip another groups’ turn during a review game.
Secret Storage	Allows user to place more than one card of the same type in the same slot of the gadget holder.
Software Update	Allows user to trade a card with the teacher. (once at level 3, can ask for a specific card, under level 3 has to pick randomly)
Flash Bang	Allows user to double the value of a review question for their group.
Super Sonic Ears	Allows user to ask for a hint on a test question.

I used google drawings to make the cards.  Each student will have a baseball card holder in his/her notebook to store the cards earned. The cards are divided into two files.  Gadget Cards 1 and Gadget Cards 2 and there is also a template.

Salting the Oats

This coming school year, I am teaching Physical Science in addition to AP Biology.  This class is not at LCS, but at a local homeschool consortium. Last year, I taught Living Environment there and had one of my least favorite classes ever.  I had taught the same class the year before and had a good mix of motivated/unmotivated students.  This past year though, the balance was off, with a much stronger unmotivated portion.  I'm not talking about struggling students either, but capable kids who didn't seem concerned about their grade.  I know it's not about the grades, but the grades were reflecting a lack of learning.  It wasn't unusual to have more than half the class not turn in an assignment at all. (Yes, I kept in touch with parents and yes, I worked on tweaking the class as we went to try to pull them in.) I kept thinking, "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink." But then my mom's voice chimed in with, "But you can salt its oats!"

As I was thinking about this coming year, I focused on "salting the oats." I had read, Teach Like a Pirate by Dave Burgess and then I read Explore Like a Pirate by Michael Matera, and decided that I was going to gamify Physical Science.

I used the NGSS from NY State (p. 28-35 of the document) to divide our book into units. At first I was going to make a badge that students would earn for each NGSS Middle School Physical Science learning objective that they mastered. With a couple of chapters not having LO's attached to them, but only core ideas, I decided it would be easier for me to keep track of and award badges by chapter.

Now, I feel like I need to make it clear that gamifying a class is not about badges.  It's just one element of the game and it happens to be the first game element I have physically worked on.  The theme is going to be "detective", Inspector Gadget style.  I had been thinking about basing it on the show CSI, but it seemed kind of gory for middle school, then I toyed with Nancy Drew.  I read one of the books, which did give me an idea of a game element to add, but I decided that I really don't like Nancy Drew! A couple of weeks later, our family watched the Inspector Gadget movie for movie night and a theme was born.

Just today, I finished designing the badges, one for each chapter.  The students will have a notebook with a divider for each unit.  The divider for the unit has spaces for a badge for each chapter. I decided to make the badges 1 1/4 inches, since from my scrap-booking days I had a circle punch that size.  I'll print them on card stock to make them sturdier and then send them through our Xyron sticker maker so students can stick them right in without having to deal with glue or tape. Students will earn the badge by successfully completing their Normal Case Load for that chapter.  Getting the gold star takes more than that, but more on that later...

I think my next project will be solidifying the Normal Case Load (regular weekly homework) and Special Cases. The special cases will give students a choice of projects to complete in each chapter to help them master the learning objectives--with several choices, they can pick the assignment that they feel will work best for them. Then I'll move onto item cards, that we will call "gadgets" that students can earn for working on soft skills that I think are important.

Here are the links to the badges and the unit dividers:

Badges

Unit 1 Divider

Unit 2 Divider

Unit 3 Divider

Unit 4 Divider

Unit 5 Divider