#12. Let's Flex with Memory Hackers!

Ready, Set, Go!  

We are one week into our new school year and are rapidly approaching our first flex day(s) in blended AP Psych! If you would like to see how this lesson fits into the larger unit, check out my Unit Overview. ---->>

Our first flex days are scheduled for 8/24 and 8/27.  I am so excited!!

Memory Hackers Blended Lesson 

The following lesson was designed to take place over (2) flex periods of 45 minutes each.  This lesson involves watching a documentary, participating in a class discussion online, describing and applying 6 key learning strategies and analyzing blog posts about cognitive psychology.  I have been piloting Canvas as part of my blended learning pilot and I LOVE it!  I uploaded this lesson directly to Commons in Canvas (titled 2.3 Memory Hackers) so you can import it directly into your own course.  It is free to create a Canvas course. 

Lesson Overview: 

1. Students watch the documentary "Memory Hackers" and post to the class discussion board.

2.  Review of Discussion Board Expectations that were provided on the course syllabus.
-Submit your initial post early!
-Respond to your peers at timely intervals. 
-Check out the discussion board more than once so you can be an active participant in the on-going discussion.
-Your posts should be thoughtful and encourage dialogue. Saying “good point” isn’t going to cut it. You should support your statements with examples, experiences, or references.
-Be brief — keep each post and response to one or two short paragraphs. Keep in mind that fellow learners will be reading and responding to you, too.
-Stay on topic! Your posts should directly address the question, problem, or situation as presented for discussion.
-Discussions occur when there is dialogue; therefore, you need to build upon the posts and responses of other learners to create discussion threads. Make sure to revisit the discussion forum and respond (if necessary) to what other learners have posted to your initial responses.
-When relevant, add to the discussion by including prior knowledge, work experiences, references, web sites, resources, etc. (giving credit when appropriate).
-Contributions to the discussions (posts and responses) should be complete and free of grammatical or structural errors. They should also be constructive in nature.
Adapted from https://edtech.sesp.northwestern.edu/2016/02/25/4-things-to-include-on-an-onlineblended-course-syllabus/

3. "Memory Hackers" Discussion Questions
There are 2 parts to this component of the lesson; (1) post an original response based on the  assigned topic (see chart) & (2) respond to another person's post about a different topic.

Note:  I struggled with how to format this discussion.  I'd like to give a huge shout out to our IC, Stephanie Sukow (@Steph_Sukow) for her suggestion in grouping the students by topic.

4. "The" Memory Hackers
If you haven't started following the Learning Scientists (http://www.learningscientists.org/) yet, now's the time!  They are a team of cognitive psychologists who are devoted to researching how people best learn.  For this portion of the assignment, the students were asked to watch an overview of their learning strategies and explore current research in the field of cognitive psychology.  

Assigned Tasks:
1. Describe and apply the 6 habits of highly successful students.
2. Engage in thoughtful reflection
3. Explore blog posts about cognitive psychology

Handout:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1v8EEhRRQDtp1WBACzuemsIhm3kaDCuOshAA4_s9n2b0/edit?usp=sharing



Thoughts and Reflections

I believe the advantages of using blended instruction for this lesson are numerous;

1. I can hear every student's voice through the use of the discussion board.  

2. It helps build the skills necessary for success in college and beyond; organization and planning, effective online discussion, initiating and completing tasks with multiple steps and self-monitoring.

3. I hope that by offering a choice as to when the students will complete the assignment that it will increase student buy-in and ownership.

Lastly, a quick plug and HUGE THANK YOU to the APA TOPPS team.  They have spent over a year creating a course template for AP Psych for Canvas that is jam packed with resources, videos and lesson ideas.  You can find out more about this amazing resource here: http://teachinghighschoolpsychology.blogspot.com/2018/08/new-apa-resources-canvas-course.html

Upcoming Topics
Parent's Night:  I will address our rationale for holding a parent's night (before school even started!), share the resources that we used and answer some frequently asked questions.
Memory Reconstruction Choice Project: I am looking forward to developing a more personalized learning pathway for each student.  I am currently developing a lesson about memory reconstruction and the work of Elizabeth Loftus.  I hope to have both posts up within the week!  

Thank you for taking the time to read about my experiences in blending learning.  As always, I'd love to hear from you! 

Sincerely,
Cori