Engaging Virtual Science Instruction by Keniqua Burrows

The onset of the novel Corona Virus epidemic provided a unique opportunity for educators all over the world to demonstrate their technical knowledge and the ability to build authentic connections with students. 

The objective of this document is to explore the options that support the engagement of school-aged children during science online instruction. Additionally, as a mother of three school-aged children and an up-and-coming one, I have developed keen insight that help to inform my contributions to this article.  

In my experience, three simple steps can be taken to deliver lessons that foster engagement: 

1. Streamlining Content - many times, teachers fall prey to the necessity to follow curricullum content verbatim. Sadly, much of the instructional guiding documents followed, were not designed during a virtual teaching era. As such the content is being delivered in a manner that caters to "in-person" learners. It is therefore important that virtual teachers re-vamp the curricullum in a manner that streamlines content - without leveraging quality or standards. 

How may this be achieved you may ask? In my experience, this is actually more easily said than done. Firstly, it requires a mind-set change in instructors. Students have told countless times that science content is better digested in "chunks" as suppose to all at once. It is never useful to overload students with content, only for it to be forgotten. Secondly, teachers must plan to be deliberate in their stance to summarize content in a manner that is sustainable. 

2. Use of Interactive Media and Applications - Let's face it, of all the disciplines that we chose to enter in education; science stands out because of the opportunities for exploration, investigations, inquiry and experiments - among other things. How can we respect these factors whilst acknowledging the limitations to virtual learning for science students? Technology provides some plausible solutions, Donahue (2011) suggests some fun, effective options such as Flipgrid, Podcasting and Digital Dice. Each of these technologies allow for students to engage with science in a manner that stimulates curiosity and promotes inquiry. Additionally, applications such as Nearpod, integrates virtual reality field trips, experiment simulations and 3-D viewing of a number of science related content. Most of these applications are easily accessible, cost-free and relatively intuitive. 

3. Utilizing and promoting reflective-reflexive practices - We should strive to be deliberate in our planning to provide opportunities for the application of personal and professional reflective/reflexive practices. This maximizes opportunities for our growth and allows us to develop in areas that may have been ignored areas. Additionally, by modeling these behaviors, our students can also learn to  develop the same skills, thereby providing more opportunities for life-long learning. 

This article starts the discussion in this area and hopefully provides much needed room for further discussions and elaboration among professionals.

Reference
Donahue, D. I. (2021). Integrating Technology into Social Science Education: Engaging Students Virtually During a Pandemic. In Context, 6.