Living worksheets - The evolution of the worksheet

A traditional educational practice has been the use of the worksheet. Although projects are assigned, and students have many unique learning experiences, on a day to day classroom basis, becoming educated always seemed to include the worksheet.

Until now.

With the introduction of the tablet into the classroom, having students use "living worksheets" created with an App called Explain Everything can transform how students create, learn and master concepts.  

Explain Everything can be used by teachers to make "living" templates that can be manipulated by students. This technique allows for increased teacher control while still allowing the students to demonstrate their creativity and understanding.  The teacher begins by creating a screen-cast. The only difference is the teacher does not annotate, explain or move any of the objects. They save the presentation as a project file instead of a video and upload it to the web for the students to access. Students open their own copy on their device and manipulate what the teacher has created. Almost like a "living worksheet", the final product includes animation, audio and annotation.  Students then export the final project as a video to share.  The following templates in Science show how this tool has helped students understand concepts that are traditionally hard to master.

This first example in Chemistry is a teacher template that was created to teach students how to balance chemical equations.  Students can move molecules to help visually count the number of atoms on each side of an equation.  They can add audio and annotate  the problems by changing the coefficients (numbers).

Balancing Equations  Explain Everything template (must be opened on an iPad in Explain Everything)

Balancing Equations - Student Product.

The next example was first created by an 8th grade student (Dana) while learning about the phases of the moon.  There was no assignment, she decided on her own to model the Sun, Moon and Earth in Explain Everything so that she could manipulate the moving parts.  Her project was so well done that I asked to keep her file and share it with the other students in the class.

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Phases of the moon Explain Everything template (must be opened on an iPad in Explain Everything)

Student product: Click video below

Explain Everything really can do everything.  How will you be able to make it help your students?

Augmented Reality with Elements 4D

Elements 4D 

Discovery through  augmented reality with Elements 4D on the iPad is a great way to enhance any chemistry lesson.  Students use six paper cubes with trigger images in conjunction with the Elements 4D app to bring thirty six elements to life.  Students can rotate the cubes getting a 360 degree view and by clicking on the name of the element they can get additional information about the properties of the element.

Students can take their exploration a set further by bringing two elements together.  If they have the ability to bond, they will form a new compound giving you a new image and the chemical formula of the new compound.

To have the students record their discoveries, students upload a teacher made template into Explain Everything and fill out the table (shown below).  Images of the elements and images of the compounds along with the chemical formulas are included in their product.  After the first few compounds are created, a periodic table can be given to the students to help them see if there are trends or patterns based upon the group or family the elements are in.  Students begin to discover which groups on the Periodic Table will bond with each other and which elements tend not to form chemical bonds.  Students can also compete to see which group can discover and record the most compounds.

Looking for other AR possibilities?   Check out the  Layar and Aurasma Apps.