Online Course Design Ponderings

 Hello! My name is Kim Lockhart, and I am a middle school gifted science educator in the Metro Atlanta area. I have been teaching for over 15 years following a short stint as a microbiologist at the CDC. I currently teach high school physical science to gifted 8th-grade students in a diverse, Title 1 school. We have a lot of fun working through difficult content using hands-on, inquiry-based, collaborative lessons. This blog serves as a platform to share the knowledge I have gained throughout my career, as well as a space for others to share their best practices and ideas. Much of what I have learned as an educator has come from my peers and through a lot of trial and error, as I was not a trained educator at the beginning of my career. Some lessons have been incredible, some were flops, and others worked out differently than I anticipated over the years. I enjoy collaborating with peers and learning from others. Professionally, I serve as the 8th-grade science lead at my school, a...

Blended learning is a common course design due to the accessibility of technology within our schools. Every student in my middle school has a school-issued Chromebook and access to numerous digital platforms. We do not have textbooks, so as a content team, we have to create our own courses and lesson plans based on what is available from our district and the online community. Designing a blended course on electricity for gifted 8th-grade students has been a rewarding yet challenging experience.  This course consists of PhET and Gizmos simulations, an online circuit builder program, hands-on exploration, a flipped lesson, numerous collaboration experiences (both face-to-face and online), and a final project. While the goal was to increase engagement and deepen conceptual understanding, I encountered a few difficulties, mainly because some of the delivery methods were new or not something I typically do with my students. One of the biggest hurdles was using technology that offered th...