Facilitation Strategies
In order for your students to work together in groups and have a successful PBL experience, desks should be arranged in a way that is conducive to student collaboration. For the first day of the PBL, students should sit in a traditional manner (i.e, rows, either individually or in partners as the room allows). The first day includes an entry event, discussion, and forming of groups, so sitting individually or in partners would facilitate this. As soon as students are assigned to their groups, they should be placed in a group seating arrangement immediately. This helps to promote ownership in their project as well as a healthy working environment. The classroom seating arrangement shown below will be used in implementing this PBL lesson. The setup below allows students to work in close proximity, and utilize the teacher on an individual group basis. As said priorly, students will be in groups of 3-4, so tables or lab benches will facilitate collaboration the best.
Questions from each level of Bloom's Taxonomy during unit:
Level One: Remembering Questions
-State the definition of nanoscience -List two properties of a nanoparticle -Describe the size of a single nanoparticle Level Two: Understanding -Describe in your own words nanomedicine. -Categorize what “world” (macro, micro, nano) the following objects would be in: DNA strand, oxygen atom, pencil, human skin cell. -Predict what factors play a role in self-assembly Level Three: Applying -Show how 4 positive and 4 negative nanoparticles could self assemble. -Infer how the surface area to volume ratio would change when an item is cut in half. -Demonstrate how surface area could play a role in nanomedicine. |
Level Four: Analyzing
-Distinguish between a particle that is 1nm versus one that is 1m in size. -Investigate how nanoparticles would act differently in different environments. -Examine how nanomedicine is currently being used today. Level Five: Evaluating -Justify why nanoscience research in the field of medicine should continue. -Assess the quality of your groups work. -Evaluate the use of nanotechnology and its’ impacts in disease treatment. Level Six: Creating -Create a model for how small a nanoparticle would be in “real life” -Hypothesize and design a basic experiment showing how nanotechnology could be used in disease treatment. -Build a model of and describe your nano-object and how it would improve disease treatment. |
Questions to facilitate student thinking during unit:
1. What did you observe?
2. What patterns do you notice?
3. Why do these observations and patterns exist?
4. What questions are you asking yourself to make observations?
5. What variables are you considering when making your research?
6. Are you collecting any data and is this data valid? How do you know?
7. Is there a trend in your data? What does this trend mean?
8. How do your observations and data apply to the big question?
9. Big Question #1: How do the prior activities and labs apply to what you're doing right now.
10. Big Question #2: How does what you’re doing apply to the big question.