DEN SCICon - great learning experience and resources

The 3rd Annual DEN SCIcon was held this past Saturday, January 28th. The DEN SCIcon provides participants with effective strategies for transforming science classes through effective integration of digital media content. The conference was broadcast live and online so many people joined in from home. There were also in-person events around the country, hosted by the local DEN Leadership Council (made up of educators). It was all FREE.

I attended at the live Connecticut event, which was hosted at the Mark Twain House and Museum in Hartford, CT. We also got to have a short tour of the house that Twain lived in while writing his seminal works. Very interesting house.

The day started with breakfast catered from Panera Bread and then the sessions started. SCICon is broadcast using WebEx and presenters share their links, videos, and presentations through that, as their voice is simulcast. There is also a chat window that the presenters use to interact with the audience around the world, answer questions, and much more. There were about 35 of us at the CT site participating, and Patti Duncan, the final speaker of the day, broadcast from our location.

These are my notes from the different sessions. There are also links to the actual presentations.

UPDATED 1/31/2012
The full video of each presentation can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/user/DiscoveryEducation#g/c/4ACCE64D332A72FF


9 AM
Opening Session
Your Attention Please: 10 Ways to Engage Your Students in Science
Lance Rougeux
Download the presentation.

Engage: use these to hook students on a new topic

Demo, video, Show image - I see, I know, I wonder... Discussion - lead into new topic

E.ggtimer.com - online timer to keep on schedule

Writing prompts - use a picture to get them writing


Scientific Method is not a chapter, its a yearlong method for all science - Discovery Ed #scicon goo.gl/hF0V5

Too many "versions" of scientific method and too linear. It's a cycle that starts with ?. Discovery Ed #scicon goo.gl/hF0V5

Scientific method starts with question, has various routes and methods - Discovery Ed #scicon goo.gl/hF0V5


Scientific method, engineering process - both are way to answer questions and solve problems. Discovery Ed #scicon goo.gl/hF0V5

Students know how to investigate and solve problems informally - they go online and figure stuff out. Now use that in school. #scicon

Give students opportunities to practice scientific skills like question, observe, research, compare, analyze, experiment, conclude #scicon

Have students analyze commercials on TV to see fact vs fiction. Good observation practice. #scicon

Do labs, investigations, virtual labs and simulations at start of unit instead of end to get them inquiring and actively learning #scicon

Start unit with a problem and then students get info from unit work and resources during unit to solve problem. #scicon

Failure is ok! It's part of discovery, learning, investigating, problem solving, science and engineering #scicon

Tell students what they are supposed to be learning and then ask if they think they learned it. Everyday. Then have them do it. #scicon

Make sure they really understand before they get to a test. #scicon

Less step-by-step labs, more open ended. Have students then apply conclusions/results to solve original problem. #scicon