Evaluation

=Evaluation=

ABC's of Technology: Katelyn Brissey and Jason Cribbs EDET 746 Fall 2013 Evaluation November 26, 2013

Although I still haven't gotten the lab reports from the instructor yet, there was plenty of informal observation and questioning to rate the effectiveness of the lesson. Below is a breakdown of findings for each activity and an overall evaluation of the lesson.

The first activity was discussing how genes are passed on from parents to child. This was to gauge the knowledge of what students already knew. Some students were able to tell me that it was genes, some said "it's a combination of what your mom and dad have," and some didn't know. This was a varied group, so it was going to be interesting to see the learning curve for each one on this topic. The iBook was also added to their iPads and the students seemed to enjoy exploring the videos that were added to it.
 * Discussing**

This activity allowed students to do sort of a "pre-test" without it being formal. For example, the "mom" in the demonstration had blonde hair while the "dad" had brown hair. Before researching, some students said that the baby would have blonde hair. One student used personal experience and said that the baby would have blonde hair because they do and their mom and dad have different hair colors. Other students got really creative and asked about "red and black" hair.
 * What Traits Do You Think the Baby Will Have?**

This was probably the biggest bump in the road because students had already been doing research before, and they didn't seem to like it. I broke students into groups and had them research only specific traits to save on time and to relieve their reluctance to do "research." I would take this part out, but I'm not sure if there would be any other way for them to get this information besides telling them, which we think would be considerably less interesting.
 * Research**

This app was a bit confusing for some students because it was about blood type instead of what we were discussing before. Many students didn't know there were different blood types at all, so that required some explaining. We would probably scrap this idea next time so that it doesn't seem to come out of nowhere.
 * Baby Heredity App**

The students surprisingly liked this app. They seemed to like that it gave them the chance to see how each baby could be different based on the percentage. When they received the genotypes for each parent, the students started plugging it in, and they realized in the case of the hair trait, that there would only be a 1 out of 4 chance of the baby being blonde. Some students asked how they would know if the baby would be that 1 in 4 chance, and it was explained to them that there is no way of knowing; the guess comes from the percentages. Some other students wanted to know what their genotype was, but I told them it all depends on their parents and their parents' parents. I liked this part of the lesson because you could tell the students' motivation increased and their interest in the lesson was showing more and more.
 * Punnett Calculator**

This was probably their favorite, and that came as no surprise to me. The students enjoyed adding the phenotype on an app. Many students said they liked it better than drawing it. There were some students that needed assistance, but after some help; they were able to figure it out. They were able to save their "face" to the iPad and in no time, they were collaborating and asking to see others' pictures. They then typed the justifications for each trait, and the class seemed very focused when it came time for that part.
 * Uface App**

I prefaced this as a review for the students. This was more on plants rather than human traits, so it was a little less interesting to them, but they were able to see that passing down traits isn't just a human occurrence. We also reviewed the terms, and many of the students were able to identify them quickly.
 * Virtual Lab**

The instructor said she enjoyed the lesson and thought the students did as well. I asked if anything could be improved, and she said maybe to leave out the blood type part because it's a bit different than the genetics the standards want them to know.
 * Instructor's Thoughts**

We were able to see a formative evaluation, which seemed positive with some ideas on how to make the lesson better. I also informally asked the students what they liked and disliked. Many said they would prefer not having to write or do research, but they like the apps. The students seemed comfortable with the content knowledge, but unfortunately I'm not able to provide statistical data without the lab reports that the students completed.
 * Formative and Summative Evaluation**