Taking Biology Off Screen and Back Into the Classroom
Newly introduced labs and activities for biology classes on Edgenuity help create hands-on learning experiences.
By Ariella Just Milender
Newly introduced labs and activities for biology classes on Edgenuity help create hands-on learning experiences.
By Ariella Just Milender
As schools have continued to endure a grueling educator shortage, biology classes have remained on Edgenuity, an educational platform used to supplement learning in lieu of a teacher.
While the platform has aided in allowing students to learn the basics of biology, the hands-on experiences and labs of a traditionally taught class are missing. For almost the entire year, biology students have missed out on the interactive parts of science and instead have been purely on a screen, which has been frustrating for both students and administration alike as it is not the most ideal option.
“The positives are that the students have had the foundation and had the content as opposed to just a bunch of lesson plans, so the arch of learning is clearly outlined. The challenge is if students need the in-person support, even though we’ve opened up FLEX sections and tutorials for the students to go in and access our other teachers for that content support, even though we’ve offered peer tutoring, it’s still the challenge of not having the in-person instruction. We want every kid to be in front of a teacher and that’s always been our goal, but that’s also been the source of frustration,” said Principal Brad Craycroft.
From Alondra Adin, 11, the frustration has come from the impersonal nature of an online course.
“I have found it difficult to stay focused and motivated. I also feel disconnected from the class. I do not think it has been a successful replacement for a teacher because there’s a lack of connection and there isn’t really help if we need it,” said Adin.
In an effort to regain the classroom environment and make the class more hands-on, biology teachers Rob Zaccheo and Kyle Murdock have introduced labs and activities into the classes taught by Edgenuity for the remainder of the year.
“Zaccheo and Murdock got together and were trying to identify the key concepts that they wanted all students to walk away from in bio and the labs that usually support that learning process, and so they’ve identified labs so that the kids have that opportunity and are working to go in and teach those labs to the students who otherwise would just be on the Edgenuity program,” said Craycroft.
Although it has reduced his time with his own students, Murdock believes that it has been worthwhile and important as it gives students the experiences a traditionally taught science class provides.
“It’s definitely taken away from my physical time with my students, so I kind of create more sub-like lessons for the days that I’m over in (room) 201 with Edgenuity, but the way I look at it is I’ve been able to engage with my students for 100 or so days this year and they’ve been stuck behind a screen and so they can sacrifice I think a few days here and there for the next couple of weeks,” said Murdock.
Similarly, Zaccheo has found that the extra time taken to lead these activities has been successful thus far.
“We’re really trying to bring what we do in our classroom, so we’re not trying to throw things in there to just do it, there’s a purpose to it and we want to do stuff we’re familiar with that we can teach and adjust for them, (because) obviously they haven’t had us all year, so it’s a big adjustment,” said Zaccheo.
As the labs have recently begun, many students, such as junior Rama Haileselassie, is excited about the addition of hands-on activities in class.
“I think I can understand (the content) a lot better I’m really grateful that they’re doing the labs for us,” said Haileselassie. “Biology is one of the few sciences I enjoy and it’s really nice to get away from a screen.”
Although many agree that the labs have been great so far, some challenges still remain for students.
“This change might help us apply the material more but the problem is that it's stacked on top of the Edgenuity work we already have, so now people are falling behind. Some people just BS through the labs so they can get back to Edgenuity,” said Luke Kitajima, 11.
Although it is a new environment, Murdock remains hopeful that students will become more engaged with learning biology through the new activities.
“You can’t replicate experimental design and learning from mistakes. Learning from data that you collect personally, that you’re engaged in, you can’t do that from a screen. You can’t do that from a self-paced online course, so this is hopefully going to give them some experience in what could be a field that they are interested in and they might not have known they were interested in it because it wasn’t that interesting the way it was presented online,” said Murdock. “I think our biggest goal, or at least my biggest goal, is to just get them excited about life science in a way that they probably haven’t been so far.”
While the platform has aided in allowing students to learn the basics of biology, the hands-on experiences and labs of a traditionally taught class are missing. For almost the entire year, biology students have missed out on the interactive parts of science and instead have been purely on a screen, which has been frustrating for both students and administration alike as it is not the most ideal option.
“The positives are that the students have had the foundation and had the content as opposed to just a bunch of lesson plans, so the arch of learning is clearly outlined. The challenge is if students need the in-person support, even though we’ve opened up FLEX sections and tutorials for the students to go in and access our other teachers for that content support, even though we’ve offered peer tutoring, it’s still the challenge of not having the in-person instruction. We want every kid to be in front of a teacher and that’s always been our goal, but that’s also been the source of frustration,” said Principal Brad Craycroft.
From Alondra Adin, 11, the frustration has come from the impersonal nature of an online course.
“I have found it difficult to stay focused and motivated. I also feel disconnected from the class. I do not think it has been a successful replacement for a teacher because there’s a lack of connection and there isn’t really help if we need it,” said Adin.
In an effort to regain the classroom environment and make the class more hands-on, biology teachers Rob Zaccheo and Kyle Murdock have introduced labs and activities into the classes taught by Edgenuity for the remainder of the year.
“Zaccheo and Murdock got together and were trying to identify the key concepts that they wanted all students to walk away from in bio and the labs that usually support that learning process, and so they’ve identified labs so that the kids have that opportunity and are working to go in and teach those labs to the students who otherwise would just be on the Edgenuity program,” said Craycroft.
Although it has reduced his time with his own students, Murdock believes that it has been worthwhile and important as it gives students the experiences a traditionally taught science class provides.
“It’s definitely taken away from my physical time with my students, so I kind of create more sub-like lessons for the days that I’m over in (room) 201 with Edgenuity, but the way I look at it is I’ve been able to engage with my students for 100 or so days this year and they’ve been stuck behind a screen and so they can sacrifice I think a few days here and there for the next couple of weeks,” said Murdock.
Similarly, Zaccheo has found that the extra time taken to lead these activities has been successful thus far.
“We’re really trying to bring what we do in our classroom, so we’re not trying to throw things in there to just do it, there’s a purpose to it and we want to do stuff we’re familiar with that we can teach and adjust for them, (because) obviously they haven’t had us all year, so it’s a big adjustment,” said Zaccheo.
As the labs have recently begun, many students, such as junior Rama Haileselassie, is excited about the addition of hands-on activities in class.
“I think I can understand (the content) a lot better I’m really grateful that they’re doing the labs for us,” said Haileselassie. “Biology is one of the few sciences I enjoy and it’s really nice to get away from a screen.”
Although many agree that the labs have been great so far, some challenges still remain for students.
“This change might help us apply the material more but the problem is that it's stacked on top of the Edgenuity work we already have, so now people are falling behind. Some people just BS through the labs so they can get back to Edgenuity,” said Luke Kitajima, 11.
Although it is a new environment, Murdock remains hopeful that students will become more engaged with learning biology through the new activities.
“You can’t replicate experimental design and learning from mistakes. Learning from data that you collect personally, that you’re engaged in, you can’t do that from a screen. You can’t do that from a self-paced online course, so this is hopefully going to give them some experience in what could be a field that they are interested in and they might not have known they were interested in it because it wasn’t that interesting the way it was presented online,” said Murdock. “I think our biggest goal, or at least my biggest goal, is to just get them excited about life science in a way that they probably haven’t been so far.”