Woodland High School science teacher uses explosive experience to engage students

During science classes, teachers use labs and experiments to engage students and demonstrate teaching concepts in action. But with Woodland High School students learning fully remotely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, science teacher Stephanie Marshall has developed unique ways to involve her students in science lab experiments from home. 

To make the labs happen remotely, Marshall had to figure out how to involve students in the experiments without being able to conduct the experiment themselves. 

“Labs are such a huge part of the chemistry curriculum that I didn’t want to have students miss out on them during the pandemic,” Marshall said in a news release from the district. “I realized that I could walk the students step by step with me as I conducted the labs and involve them by having them hypothesize about what would happen before I took another step in the lab, intentionally making a mistake they need to catch, and encourage them to participate the entire time.”

According to the release, Marshall usus multiple video cameras to teach her classes and lead the labs. A webcam points at Marshall while she walks students through creating formulas, performing compound formula math and teaches lessons and concepts. A second high-resolution camera focuses on the experiments themselves, which take place in beakers, test tubes and Bunsen burners so students can see the chemical reactions taking place up close and in real time. 

Marshall also makes sure to create extremely vivid and sometimes volatile labs so students can both easily see the experiment remotely and to increase student engagement in the lesson. “Since I am conducting the experiment and not the students, I can perform more advanced experiments than high school students typically would in order to demonstrate the concepts the students are learning while also really engaging them; I try to get some of that ‘wow’ chemistry,” she said. “In fact, my goal is to light something on fire in a science lab at least once each week; if I don’t, students will actually point out that I haven’t lit anything on fire in a while.”

During one experiment, Marshall mixed chemicals resulting in a variety of outcomes while students wrote notes about the results, including the end state of a mixture, what color reactions could indicate about the product and the potential flammability of the end results. The finale of the lab involved Marshall lighting magnesium on fire, resulting in a large flame.

Remote learning presents incredible challenges for all teachers, particularly for subjects that involve a lot of hands-on work like science and math. 

“I used to walk around and check on how students were doing with practice problems, correcting mistakes in real-time and specifically helping students who might be struggling with the material,” Marshall said. “Not being able to do that remotely makes a big difference as that guidance can have huge effects on student learning.”

Despite this, remote learning provided Marshall with a few silver linings. 

“When we’re in class, I can’t do advanced labs all the time — with a classroom filled with 30 kids, I’m not going to light something on fire every day,” she said. “Also, I get to intensely work with small groups of seven kids or less for 30 minutes at a time during remote learning; getting to focus intently with these small groups encourages students to participate because they’re more familiar with one another and more comfortable making guesses or answering questions.”

Ensuring students attend class and engage with the material remain the top priorities for Marshall during remote learning. 

“Chemistry is cool and I love it, but one of my biggest goals for my students is to truly engage them so they keep coming back and keep learning,” she said. “Even during remote learning, student attendance to my labs is nearly 100 percent every week, which is great because I’m basically putting on a show where they get to learn.”