| On Your Spark, Get
Set, Go ! Spicing Up Your College Science Curriculum ! volume 4
An important mission of the Saut quantique is to
promote the exchange of innovative pedagogical activities between
collegial science teachers. To accomplish this mission, compendiums
of pedagogical scenarios are produced. French versions of these
compendiums are called « Coffre
aux trésors pédagogiques en sciences au collégial
» and « Étincelles
pédagogiques en sciences au collégial ».
The Saut quantique is pleased
to provide the compendium of pedagogical scenorios ON YOUR SPARK,
GET SET, GO ! SPICING UP YOUR COLLEGE SCIENCE CURRICULUM! (translated
from Étincelles pédagogiques en science au collégial,
volume 4, publish in 2006).
This compendium includes eleven pedagogical activities
designed and tested by science teachers in the Quebec cegep network.
More specifically, these activities include information about:
- Targeted
student population;
- Competencies
or objectives;
- Relationship
between the activity, supporting course and study program;
- Educational
support;
- Stages in
conducting the activity;
- Required
material;
- Evaluation.
Moreover, you can download an overview and a pedagogical
analysis for each activity.
The CD-ROM provided with the compendium includes
these activities in PDF format as well as appendices referred to
by authors. To buy this compendium of pedagogical scenarios, please
fill up the order
form.
Among the pedagogical activities in this compendium,
some were awarded a prize in the Getting Off the Beaten Path
2005-2006 contest, organized by the Saut quantique
with the collaboration of Merck
Frosst Canada Ltée. This contest aims at honouring innovative
science teachers in the cegep network, and finding activities that
target the general goals of the Science program (see section
Concours et prix
for more information).
The authors know how difficult it can be to integrate
a new activity into your teaching schedule, and therefore authorize
you to modify their documents as long as you mention the originating
source. Thus, appendices are also available in Word, Mapple
or Excel formats as applicable, on the CD-ROM. You can also contact
authors for questions or comments. They will be happy to answer.
If you would like to publish an activity in the Pedagogical
Treasures section and in our next compendium On your Spark,
Get Set, Go! please fill the form formulaire
de présentation and send it to the Web site responsible
(see Nous joindre).
How to download PDF files
Activities are available in PDF (Portable Document
Format) format. This format allows publication of files in their
original presentation and preserves their integrity.
To visualize and print you must use a visualisation
software such as Adobe's Acrobat Reader. You can download Acrobat
Reader 4.0 software for free from Adobe's Web:
http://www.adobe.com/prodindex/acrobat/readstep.html
To install and configure this software, please follow
Abode's instructions.
On Your Spark, Get Set, Go ! Spicing Up
Your College Science Curriculum ! volume 4
| 1. |
Bring
Your Musical Instrument!
By Simon
Langlois
Collège Shawinigan
This activity aims at familiarizing students
with the fundamental principles involved in the production
of sounds in musical instruments. Students bring a musical
instrument to class, and can compare the laws of open pipes
and vibrating strings to reality.
|
Overview
Pedagogical
analysis
Pedagogical
guide
Appendices
File
related problems ? |
| 2. |
Winter
Driving
By Anne
Blouin
Cégep de Trois-Rivières
Based on a problem situation dealing with
driving a car in winter, students divide into teams of 2 or
3 people to apply Newton’s laws (force and motion) to
winter driving.
This activity serves the dual purpose of reviewing
Newton’s laws, and relating them to preventive driving
tips that students learned during their driver’s education
course.
|
Overview
Pedagogical
analysis
Pedagogical
guide
Appendices
File
related problems ? |
3. |
Problem-based
Learning
with Multiple Representations
By Nathaniel
Lasry
John Abbott
College
Award-winning activity in the Getting
Off the Beaten Path contest
Students take on the role of a crime scene
investigator to solve a murder. To this end, they must gather
information from the scene (measure the calibre of the bullet,
which allows them to find the muzzle speed, angle at which
the bullet entered a block, etc.) and learn about two-dimensional
kinematic motion.
|
Overview
Pedagogical
analysis
Pedagogical
guide
Appendices
File
related problems ?
|
| 4. |
The
Synthesis of Macromolecules… as Easy as a Card Game!
By Patrice
Babeux
Cégep de Lévis-Lauzon
This activity consists in building various
macromolecules (polysaccharide, polypeptide, phosphoglycerolipid,
triacylglycerol, RNA and DNA polynucleotide) using playing
cards. The cards represent the various monomers that make
up the macromolecules, energetic molecules and catalysts required
for the formation of bonds. |
Overview
Pedagogical
analysis
Pedagogical
guide
Appendices
File
related problems ? |
| 5. |
Problem-based
Learning In Immunology
By Patrick
Fillion
Cégep de l'Outaouais
This activity introduces students to problem-based
learning (PBL) in immunology, in two different contexts: theoretical
and practical.
|
Overview
Pedagogical
analysis
Pedagogical
guide
Appendices
File
related problems ? |
| 6. |
Mission:
Integrating a Living
Organism into the Montreal Biodôme
By Marie-Paule
Otte
Collège Lionel-Groulx
Award-winning activity in the Getting
Off the Beaten Path contest
Students are invited to respond to a fictitious
request for proposals from the Montreal Biodôme, asking
them to analyze the potential of integrating a new living
organism into one of the ecosystems in the current exhibition.
Students divide into teams of three or four to create a company
that will determine the potential of integration of a new
species into the Biodôme.
|
Overview
Pedagogical
analysis
Pedagogical
guide
Appendices
File
related problems ? |
| 7. |
Does
Africa Have a Future?
By Jean-Pierre
Sabourin
Cégep de Sainte-Foy
Two articles published in Scientific American
in May and June 2000 serve as a springboard for this scenario.
During the assignment sessions, the group of 21 students is
divided into four smaller groups of experts. These groups
participate in a simulated international conference on the
AIDS epidemic in Africa, like the one held in South Africa
in the spring of 2000.
|
Overview
Pedagogical
analysis
Pedagogical
guide
Appendices
File
related problems ? |
| 8. |
Lab
Reports: Getting Better Results with Less Work
By Stéfanie
Hénault
Cégep régional de Lanaudière
à Terrebonne
This pedagogical strategy allows students
to acquire a writing method that can be applied to any subject.
It also makes them well aware of the correction criteria and
lets them be active in their own learning. It allows for regular
feedback and reduces the students’ and teacher’s
workload. The spirit of cooperation helps to develop a non-competitive
positive learning environment. |
Overview
Pedagogical
analysis
Pedagogical
guide
Appendices
File
related problems ? |
| 9. |
Misconceptions
about Acids and Bases: A Learning Exercise
By Robert
Perkins and Suzanne
Pearce
(adaptation et traduction par Catherine
Filteau du Champlain Regional College à
Lennoxville)
In small groups of 3-4 people, students must
solve six multiple-choice questions about acids and bases,
and agree on the answers to be formulated. Further to this
initial exchange, the teacher tells each team how many correct
answers were obtained, but does not specify which are the
right answers. Discussions then resume to increase the number
of correct answers. After the second round of discussions,
the members of the team with the most correct answers are
asked to mix with the other groups to provide assistance.
Further to this exchange, the teacher explains the best answers.
|
Overview
Pedagogical
analysis
Pedagogical
guide
Appendices
File
related problems ? |
| 10. |
Molecular
Structure and
Problem-based Learning
By Julie
Boucher
Collège de Bois-de-Boulogne
The proposed activity uses a problem-based (PBL ) learning
approach. Essentially, this pedagogical approach is separated
into three phases. During the first phase, the teacher presents
the problem situation dealing with molecular structures, entitled
Good-tasting Medicine, to teams of 8 to 10 students. After
the students read it, he facilitates a discussion during which
students identify keywords and make assumptions. During the
second phase, students confirm or reject these assumptions,
further to some individual reading and work done outside of
the classroom. Finally, during the third phase, students team
up and explain their understanding of the problem to each
other.
|
Overview
Pedagogical
analysis
Pedagogical
guide
Appendices
File
related problems ? |
| 11. |
Is
Scalar Synonymous with Real?
By Marie-Jane
Haguel, Nicolas
Pfister
and Sylvie
Savage
Cégep de Sherbrooke
In linear algebra, we talk about scalar product
and product by a scalar, but use only real numbers as scalars.
This activity is primarily aimed at studying the concept of
scalar, therefore the concept of field, to ascertain that
there are indeed scalars other than real numbers.
|
Overview
Pedagogical
analysis
Pedagogical
guide
Appendices
File
related problems ? |
| 12. |
Speed
Limits
By Ariel
Franco
Cégep régional de Lanaudière
à L’Assomption
At the end of the Differential Calculus
course, the teacher presents a problem situation that deals
with the motion of two cars over time. This activity brings
students to integrate the fundamentals of the course (definition
of a function, derivative of a function and continuity of
a function) by applying them to real-life situations.
|
Overview
Pedagogical
analysis
Pedagogical
guide
Appendices
File
related problems ? |
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