I discovered the site Learnerator several years ago while looking for good AP style questions for my students. I was blown away by the attention to detail in the questions, and how closely they modeled the questions on the AP exam. But then, it went away. Learnerator became Albert.io, and the site moved to a paid model.
After a few years of begging my school to buy the license, we decided to purchase Albert.io for every AP class offered at our school. Many teachers didn’t really use it this past school year, but I found it one of the most beneficial tools for my students.
My students either loved or hated it. I think the hate stemmed from the difficulty of the questions, which, hello, is the point. The ones that embraced it really got a lot out of the platform.
Implementation
One of the frustrations students had with Albert.io this school year was its implementation. Many teachers assigned 100+ questions at a time. Albert’s questions are in depth, challenging, and require students to go back and review their reasoning for the answers. This simply does not work if students are assigned 150 questions to do in one week.
I implement Albert in two ways.
Albert.io as homework
First, I do use it as homework. When I assign Albert as homework in AP Physics, I usually assign 20 questions to do over a few days. We go over some of the top missed questions in class before the assignment is due. When I grade the assignment, I either grade it for completion or half completion, half correction.
Here is an assignment summary from a homework assignment. I like being able to see the performance breakdown of each question.
Albert.io as extra practice
Second, I use it as supplementary problems. I create optional assignments, or students can work through at their own pace. Sometimes these count as extra credit, sometimes they are purely additional practice.
Here is a snapshot of my dashboard. I removed students’ names. I can see at a glance how each student is doing. This snapshot was taken during a week when I did not assign anything (just optional practice).
A student’s perspective
What really sets Albert.io apart is the results. They have results and testimonials on their website, but I want to share some personal data from my AP exam review period.
I’ve discussed my AP exam review style a little bit here. I like to give students choices in how they prepare for the National Exam. About two months before the AP Physics exam, I surveyed my students to help inform how to best conduct review. First, I asked them about how they prefer to review.
Actual results from my AP Physics students.
42.1% of students said they get the most out of review when they do practice problems with a group, and another 31.6% said when they take practice multiple choice (and free response) and make corrections on their answers. Both of these are possible with Albert.io, which is why I think this happened:
Students overwhelmingly selected Albert.io as the most beneficial tool for review we used. Even though they complain about it at times, it really is the best review tool we have at our disposal. The style of questions for AP Physics 1 and 2 are the closest I have seen to the rigor of the AP exam.
If you or your school is able to purchase Albert.io, I highly recommend it. However, don’t overuse it and give students choices on how much they need to do. While I don’t have my pass rate data to share yet, I am excited to see if it made a real difference in exam results. If I am going off of what student’s said, they thought the exam was cake compared to the rigor they were used to on Albert. And that’s the best I can hope for.
Educational technology, or EdTech, is changing the way classrooms are structured. Classes are becoming more student-centered and collaborative through the use of technology, but many tools are too costly to implement. Here are five free EdTech tools for Physics that I have used with success. These tools are not necessarily just for Physics, but have worked well for my Physics classroom!
1. Nearpod
I like to think about how technology can enrich an experience, rather than how it can replace something. It’s easy to add tech – it takes practice and reflection to make it enrich the curriculum. Nearpod is one of those tools that can truly enrich an otherwise lackluster lesson.
Nearpod is nearly limitless in its classroom possibilities. I discussed it a bit already in my 5 Ways to Make Instruction More Student Driven. It truly is the most powerful tool I use in the classroom. It can transform a lesson from static an uninspiring to whole class participation and collaboration.
Here is a real sample of some student drawings using the Draw It feature. The teacher receives all the drawings and can share them out to the class. We spent several minutes in this class going through each drawing and discussing what type of motion it showed.
Some of my favorite features within Nearpod are:
Collaboration boards
Importing existing PowerPoints and adding activities easily
Integration with PhET
3D models and virtual field trips
Adding a slideshow for structured browsing time
Possibly my favorite feature of Nearpod in action! These collaboration boards are a great way to have students ask questions, share thoughts, and gauge prior knowledge. I love giving students the opportunity to put things into their own words for each other.
2. PhET
I would bet that if you are reading this website about Physics, you are already familiar with PhET Interactive Simulations. It is one of the most popular and widely used EdTech tools for Physics. Thousands of science teachers use these simulations for virtual lab experiences.
One of the guided inquiry labs I do using PhET is finding out the mystery mass for this oscillating spring.
One of the reasons I love PhET is the flexibility in the style of investigations you can do. Even if you currently use PhET, I challenge you to kick your activities to the next level by including guided inquiry opportunities. These simulations are perfect for inquiry you can’t physically do in the classroom.
If you are a teacher, PhET does have some teacher created lessons you can access and use. I find that many teachers don’t know about this feature! You sign up for an account using your school email address, and the tools are located under each simulation.
Example of some of the teacher resources available. These were all created by other teachers. If you like PhET, maybe submit some of your own resources to share with others!
PhET is also slowly making its simulations HTML5. If you don’t use it because of compatibility issues, check if your favorites sims are updated!
3. Quizizz
I am a newer user of Quizizz, but this school year I began incorporating it frequently in my classroom.
I like Kahoot. Students love Kahoot. Kahoot just doesn’t work for me. I find that students like it TOO much, which can lead to chaos and students not really reading the questions carefully. I also find that it just doesn’t have the flexibility and customization tools I want.
Enter Quizizz. You can utilize Quizizz in many different ways. I tend to use it as a class warm up, or “bell work,” activity. I like the ability to turn off the question timer, add the memes for a good laugh, and assign it as in class or at home. You have the flexibility to make Quizizz as fast-paced or relaxed as you want. There are dozens of Quizizz made by other teachers, and it is super easy to add your own questions.
Quizizz also has really in depth item analysis tools, which I review with my students after each game.
One of the item analysis tools is this student performance matrix (I cut off the students’ names on the left). I like being able to see a snapshot of each question’s score, plus each student’s performance. My students struggled with these questions a lot, so we did some reinforcement after this!
4. Tes Teach
Tes Teach with Blendspace is a platform to make choice boards online. You can make the tiles a wide variety of activities, which makes giving students choices super user-friendly.
Here is a board I made for AP Physics 1. Students had to make tic-tac-toe that went through the middle, ensuring each student completed the exit ticket.
These boards don’t always look super pretty, but they are an effective way to give student’s choices in their learning. It is important to strategically place activities so that all students are working at the same level of rigor. I wouldn’t want one student watching three videos while other does three higher level free response questions.
GoSoapBox is a new tool I am testing out. It is a diverse and promising tool. I really think this might be one of the most beneficial EdTech tools for Physics out there right now.
GoSoapBox has a plethora of features. The most intriguing one is a clicker-type interface that can act as a “back channel” for your class. While clickers aren’t anything new, they are expensive and not realistic for many schools. GoSoapBox works on practically any device and does so much more than the clickers I used in college.
Here is the teacher dashboard for a sample lesson I created. GoSoapBox calls their lessons “events.”
On the teacher dashboard, you can create quizzes, polls, and discussions for students to respond to using their device. The Social Q&A feature is my favorite, however. Students can write in questions during a lecture discussion, and other students can see those questions. Students can also “like” other questions to indicate they were thinking the same thing.
This is what the students see on their device. There are currently no active quizzes or polls, but students can still ask questions and use the barometer.
The confusion barometer is another feature that could really benefit Physics classes. Sometimes I feel like I completely lose my class mid-discussion, and the confusion barometer can help me be aware of that. At any time, students can toggle the barometer to “I am confused” and the teacher will see how many students are lost.
There are hundreds of EdTech tools out there, and I discussed just five of them today. Do you know of any other EdTech tools for Physics classes? What are you doing to disrupt education in your classroom?
