Lesson Plan entitled "The Chemical Bond: Formation of Ionic Bonds" for the Coursera course: "Foundations of Virtual Instruction"

Παραθέτω σχέδιο μαθήματος που έφτιαξα για το on line course "Foundations of Virtual Instruction"  To μάθημα αφορά τον Ιοντικό Δεσμό  για μαθητές Α΄ Λυκείου και είναι σχέδιο για υβριδικό μάθημα με στοιχεία παροδοσιακού-τάξης και ασύγχρονου ψηφιακού μαθήματος. H αξιολόγησή του έγινε από "συμφοιτητές" και είναι εδώ

Here is a Lesson Plan for the Coursera course "Foundations of Virtual Instruction". It is for Grade 10 students and utilizes a hybrid/blended scheme of delivery. It is entitled "The Chemical Bond: Formation of Ionic Bonds". It was peer-assesed and the evaluation is here

I. Title: The Chemical Bond: Formation of Ionic Bonds

Subject Area: Chemistry

Level: Grade 10           

III. Objectives: At the end of the lesson students will be able to analyze the concept of ionic chemical bond.

Specifically they:

Will be able to describe formation of ions through electron transfer from an atom species to another.

Comprehend how resulting opposed charged ions are attracted to form ionic bonds and consequently crystals

Will be able to evaluate whether two atoms are able to form or not ionic bond(s).

II. Overview

Duties: For the virtual part, teacher has to prepare lecture video for uploading, compose blog posts, create Google Forms with assignments, evaluate assignments, provide feedback, administrate Discussion Forum  and actively participate in it. For the school class part, teacher has to present  material similar to the videos in a way that new knowledge is constructed by prompting and student responses. He also assigns homework from school Chemistry book or others and may prepare and mark notified or unwarned tests. For the virtual part, students have to view lecture video, monitor blog or their e-mail for assignment or any update , do the assignment and actively participate to Discussion Forums. For the school class part, students need to respond to prompting and have their homework done.

Prerequisites: Ability to figure out electron configuration in electron shells. Understand the concept of valence electrons. Recognize that electron configuration of noble gases is very stable (i.e. low energy); bonding is favored when participating atoms transit to lower energy state and noble gas configuration. Electropositivity and electronegativity and correlation with atomic radius.

Method of delivery: The lesson will utilize a hybrid/blended scheme of learning that aims to supplement the classroom learning. I find it crucial that my students in school have the ability to revisit school lectures at home . That gives them the possibility to approach material with their individual pace and to complete their notes. Discussion forums will prompt them to participate  and provide them the opportunity to get off-school consultation from the instructor. Blog will keep them updated with class material and assignments. I strongly believe that this type of blended scheme  is ideal for students and teachers in grades 10-12 in Greek public schools, where fully virtual  delivery is not an option.                                                                      

Tools: It will use asynchronous tools like recorded videos, blog, forum and Google Forms.

IV. Virtual Components and Lesson Activities

A.  Record lectures through videocamera, process them with Windows Live Media Player and uploaded to a YouTube channel (Note: chatzida, http://www.youtube.com/chatzida ,  is my existing YouTube channel which contains several similar videos but only for selected topics. It is in Greek, but you can get an idea.). Videos may include pause-and-think snapshots or embedded multiple choice questions. Lectures will be taped in classroom settings (i.e. using an ink board).  In detail:

a. Introduce concept after brief overview of electron configuration, valence electrons and correlation of  noble gases stability with completely filled electron shells.

b. Prompt students (pause-and-think) to recall which elements are electropositive and thus may loose electrons.

c. Pinpoint the net electron transfer of electron(s) from the electropositive to the electronegative atom when these atoms come to proximity. A suitable example to start with is the formation of ionic bond between Na and Cl. Proceed to more complex examples, such as CaF₂.

d. Emphasize the concomitant formation of ions and resulting Coulomb forces.

e. Explain the formation of crystal as a result of Coulomb forces (include an appropriate picture  in the  video).

B. Utilize blog post(s). Posts in blog may include the title of lesson, the URL of video or the embedded video, and  the respective pages in school book. For this particular lesson an embedded animation  would be really appropriate (eg. http://www.kentchemistry.com/links/bonding/bondingflashes/bond_types.swf). Post may also provide additional optional material for motivated students. An assignment created with  Google Forms can be  embedded in blog and filled by the students. Responses can be monitored by the instructor through GoogleDrive  . This is suitable when instructor needs a general feedback of the class level of concept grasping. Students can also have feedback of other participants if they select the “Show previous  responses” option. A subsequent post from the instructor will provide students feedback for the correct answers. (Note: http://moriakos.blogspot.gr/ is my existing blog and sporadically I have exploited some of the above potentials)

C. E-mail. Sending assignments via  e-mails is more suitable when anonymous responses via blog are not adequate. In that case assignments can be used for individual grading.

D. Discussion Forum. Students ask questions about ionic bond theory or assignments and their peers are encouraged to participate.  The instructor who monitors and administrates the Forum should make rules for students not to insult one another and not pass complete answers to assignments to each other. Also, the instructor may resolve an issue that can not addressed by students. (Note: My experience with Grade 10-12 Greek students is that they are somewhat reluctant to participate in a daily basis in that kind of forums).

V .Methods of evaluation: Evaluation for the virtual part will be done  primarily through assignments sent by E-mail as stated in IV.C. The drawback of this is the difficulty in identifying cheating. However, since I propose a blended scheme, a large part of the evaluation is done in classroom settings with “traditional” tests and evaluation of individual student participation. In any case students should be assessed by criteria determined in the Objectives part.