[00:00:05] Speaker A: Id the future, a podcast about evolution and intelligent design.
[00:00:12] Speaker B: Welcome to id the future. I'm your host, Andrew McDermott. Well, what do you get when you combine the fundamentals of chemistry with intelligent design concepts and topics taught by an experienced, enthusiastic instructor in an innovative online learning environment?
You get Discoveryu's high school chemistry. I'm joined today by the woman who brings it all together, Kristin Murray, to discuss what her class is about, why it's different than your average chemistry course, and how the very first year of offering it at Discovery U has gone. Kristen has roughly 15 years of educational experience spanning the traditional building classroom, online classroom curriculum development and tutoring. She graduated from the University of California, Riverside with a B's in biochemistry and then completed an MS in teaching through western Washington University. Kristen is a Washington state certified teacher with endorsements in chemistry, biology and general science. She has ten years of teaching experience within public school districts and seven of those years were as an online instructor. Kristen, welcome back to id the future.
[00:01:21] Speaker C: Thank you so much, Andrew. It's great to be here. I think the last time I was here we were getting ready to kick off the course. So great to be back and give kind of a synopsis of where things ended up.
[00:01:31] Speaker B: Yeah. Well, for those listeners who missed our initial chat about your class last year as it was starting to roll out, can you give us a breakdown of what the class is about?
[00:01:42] Speaker C: Absolutely, Andrew. First of all, chemistry and lots and lots more of that. So students definitely hit all the kind of nuts and bolts and fundamentals of chemistry, ranging from what's an atom atomic structure, how are electrons organized within the atom? How does one atom bond to another? How do we break those bonds within chemical reactions? How do we predict the amounts of products formed or reactants consumed using stoichiometry and onwards into various other topics in second semester states of matter, gas, laws, all kinds of cool stuff. I think though, the other component to this class, and kind of the icing on the cake was the id components that were also integrated into the class where applicable. All in all, I think it's first and foremost a chem class, but definitely some very cool id topics tucked in there too.
[00:02:37] Speaker B: Okay, cool. So what is your own background and experience in teaching chemistry?
[00:02:43] Speaker C: Yeah, so I have a bachelor of science in biochem from UC Riverside and then I went on to do a master's in teaching through West Washington University.
And then I have got about ten years of teaching experience in the public school arena and seven of those actually were online and six of those seven years were actually teaching online chemistry.
[00:03:04] Speaker B: Okay. And what is it about, you know, the mathematics of it and just the nitty gritty gritty chemistry that has attracted you to all this? What do you like about that?
[00:03:16] Speaker C: Yeah, I. So I have enjoyed chemistry since I was a high school student myself.
I really resonated with just how organized and cohesive chemistry was. It made tremendous sense to me. It wasn't. I mean, Andrew, it wasn't the case that I didn't like biology. I loved biology. But it's funny, I tended to find the way that my mind worked. Biology made more sense to me in light of chemistry. And so that, I think, is why I kind of went on to take biochemistry, because I was taking a significant amount of biology, but then alongside of that, I was also taking a significant amount of chemistry. I think from a teaching standpoint, I really enjoy teaching chemistry. I mean, if I had to pick a subject, I would absolutely pick chemistry. And I think some of it is, as you just alluded to, there is a fair amount of math, and that can be very intimidating for students. And I kind of take great delight in lowering those fears and leveling the field so that students can find chemistry more accessible. I also just. I really enjoy conveying to students, again, the organization and cohesiveness of chemistry. I appreciate that myself, and I love conveying that to them. I think the last thing is so much of chemistry is applicable to everyday life. You know, just this week, students and I were talking about catalysts in a reaction, and we immediately found ourselves talking about catalytic converters in cars. And there are so many other examples of that that come up throughout the course. That, again, is a reason why, if I had to pick a subject, I would absolutely choose chemistry to teach.
[00:04:58] Speaker B: Yeah. So many real world applications for math and chemistry. And, of course, it's one of those disciplines where, as a human being going through study of it, you're glad that it's not one way today and a different way tomorrow. There's a consistency, there's a dependability to this type of science where you wake up in the morning and everything is still the same. You know, things still equal the same things, and you can rest in that. And that's, of course, a springboard for all sorts of fun adventures. Well, tell us how your chemistry course is a little different than the average. What makes it special?
[00:05:37] Speaker C: Yeah. So, Andrew, undoubtedly the id piece that's been integrated to this course we're applicable is totally unique from any chem class that I have previously taught in my teaching experience. We can return to that and kind of look at what does that look like? More practically, I think the other things that make this course unique and special is as an online course, it is definitely a dynamic course. You know, it is not the case that our students are sitting at home alone with a textbook, working chapter by chapter, you know, doing section review questions. In stark contrast to that, this is an online course that is offering students a diverse suite of ways to learn. And so we do offer various websites that we can send students off to that I've curated. I've handpicked and said this is a great source to learn this information or an article or a reading from their text. There's also tons of amazing YouTube videos out there today. No point in me reinventing the wheel when there's absolutely terrific content out there for students to learn from. I think another component to the class, which I was very excited about being able to offer was labster simulations. Andrew this is a terrific company that creates state of the art virtual simulations for students to do online labs, and it gives them the opportunity to do labs that they probably wouldn't be able to do from their home, let alone from their local school. So that is a really unique technological piece to the course. And of course, we also offer wet labs so our students have the ability to order a kit of various chemicals and glassware and so forth. And these arrive at their house and they can conduct these labs with the consent of course and supervision of a parent right at home. Finally, there's plenty of opportunities along the way for me to be assessing their learning. So again, this is not the case that a kid is turning something in and they don't hear from the teacher until the very end of the class. I am frequently giving them feedback every time they submit an assignment to me, which is usually on a weekly basis, I'm providing typed up, student specific feedback. Hey, this is what you got, right? Hey, I think we need to revisit this topic I'm also discussing. Hey, maybe we need to have you revise or tweak this. So, lots of resources for learning, lots of individualized teacher feedback to support you in your learning. I think another component that makes this class, again, being an online class special is it is a synchronous class. So I had ample experience teaching in the asynchronous world before this position. And so I was accustomed to students kind of working at their own pace, on their own, independently. But in this class, and I've actually found this to be really cool, the students and myself are working in step with one another every week and we're meeting twice a week in live weekly Zoom sessions to cover content together. And what I'm finding is that it's easier for students to stay engaged and on track when they know they're going to see that instructor twice a week in live sessions. So all in all, I would say all of those pieces, cumulatively are making for a really cool online class that I am genuinely excited about.
[00:09:07] Speaker B: Sounds like a very dynamic learning environment, very different than what you might imagine, you know, just a kid kind of sitting struggling through things by themselves. This is a dynamic teacher student experience and it sounds awesome. And I have to say, as a former classroom educator myself, that a teacher's enthusiasm is very important to the success of students in the class. That enthusiasm is contagious, of course, but it's also instructive. It shows students that there are enjoyable, important things in this life worth learning. And so I can tell that you have plenty enthusiasm for this class and for this subject.
[00:09:47] Speaker C: Andrew actually, on a comic note, when I was teaching in a building classroom, my first period chemistry class was at 730 in the morning and I would, I would always arrive at school just full of energy. It is naturally how I am wired, with or without caffeine. And I will never forget. And I've shared this with some of my students this year, much to their laughter. I remember I did have one student raise their hand and they asked me as the instructor if I could please calm down.
So it was not the instructor telling the students to calm down, it was actually the student telling the teacher, could you just have less energy?
[00:10:24] Speaker B: That's funny. You know, the energy level can go up and down, but the enthusiasm comes out strong and that's important for kids to see as they're learning themselves. Well, I'm excited to hear your report on the first year of this class. What can you tell us?
[00:10:40] Speaker C: Yeah, so we were small in number. You know, it's our first year we're kicking off, we're getting launched. So we had about ten students enroll. But I have to tell you, we had an absolutely fantastic first year. And I think in a lot of ways this group of students has allowed us to set a firm foundation going forward for the class and I think we're even more excited about where things go from here, having kind of seen how this is all shaped up and gone this year. So a couple of highlights. First and foremost, I think that our registration process kicked off seamlessly. Don't think we had any major issues and that's a really important part of being an online class is that the technology works just fine.
I think our orientation night at the start of the year in September where parents guardians students could come in and kind of ask questions about the class. Also good start to the year going forward. There was three different learning portals that students were accessing for maximal student learning experience in this class, and I can share more about those portals as we go on. But again, there was a seamless integration of those three different learning portals and I really felt like collectively we were offering students a lot of positive content.
[00:12:01] Speaker B: Okay, well, let's pretend listeners are participating in your class. Tell us about a normal week in the course. What would students be doing?
[00:12:09] Speaker C: Yeah, certainly.
As I mentioned earlier, students are going to be meeting twice a week in live weekly Zoom sessions that are about 90 minutes each. During that time, there's going to be plenty of opportunities for me both to be teaching, for students to be interrupting at any time with a question that they have, which is not even an interruption. That's a good thing. And there's also going to be opportunities for students to sometimes model their own work in class. There's also after class, the class offers an optional homework drop in. This is real time help for students that maybe during lecture they were absolutely confused and they just need some time to debrief after lecture or to work a problem or two. There are three different learning portals in the class that students will be accessing throughout the week. So the first portal students use is something called discover you. This is kind of our content delivery portal. This is where students have all their content sequenced in a way that we're perusing through the course. So this could be readings from their textbook, from the web id related content. This could be YouTube videos, PowerPoints, or handouts I put together for students and at various points too, promptings to head to their second portal, which I'll talk about now to take an assessment covering that content. So portal number two is canvas. Canvas is a learning management system, LMS for short. This is where our students are submitting work. This is in the form of quick quizzes or tests, wet labs, virtual labs, simulations, discussions. It's also the location that students could review their grades. And actually parents have observer accounts to also view their students grades at any point that they would like. And it's also the portal that students email with me. So it's like a self contained classroom, if you will. The third portal that we offer students is labster. And again, I mentioned that earlier, this is where students have access to high quality simulations and so students will be directed to go off to labster to complete various simulations. And I think there's a lot of really cool opportunities there to experience some lab work in a virtual context. And again, the other piece to the classes, students might be doing wet labs. So for those students who select to do so, they've ordered their various lab kits, like I mentioned earlier, and they are at home conducting various labs right there at their house.
[00:14:29] Speaker B: Okay. And did you find that the kids enjoy the wet labs just as much as the virtual?
[00:14:34] Speaker C: You know, it's so funny. Every student is different in this respect. So I have some students who really enjoy the virtual labs. I have other students who prefer wet labs. They're a mix. It's cool that we can offer them both for that reason. You know, some students are more wired for the virtual experience, and they enjoy manipulating things on their computer screen. And other students prefer that kind of wet lab vibe, you know? So it's cool we can offer both of those to students.
[00:15:02] Speaker B: Yeah, totally. Now, Kristen, what did the students think about the class? You know, that that is a big consideration. You know, a teacher can think they've got the greatest thing going, but if students aren't quite getting the connection there and the enjoyment out of it that they need and the learning, then that might fall apart on their end. So what did the students think about the class this year?
[00:15:25] Speaker C: Yeah, so I very intentionally tried to collect student responses in this department, both in the form of statistical feedback and also just in more anecdotal comments that students had about the class. And you're right, that really matters to us, especially with this being year one of the course. So we really wanted to get a handle. Are students enjoying this class? Would they want to see this continue? And I think the feedback I can share and I'll give some specifics was so encouraging for us that, yes, students are enjoying this and they want to see things like this go forward. So 100% of the students felt that the instructor was knowledgeable about the subject matter. 89% of the students felt the instructor clearly and logically explained new concepts and skills. 100% of the students felt the instructor was engaging and enthusiastic about the way that they approached teaching. And actually, two students had some just helpful comments in that. One student said, I really enjoyed working with a teacher who actually enjoys their job and teaching. It makes a world of difference. Another student, Andrew, said, I've never in my life had a teacher beside my parents who was dedicated and excited. As you both of those are encouraging for us, it means students genuinely felt like, when I showed up to teach, it's what I wanted to do, and it is. I genuinely do like teaching chemistry. 89% of the students felt the course offered a diverse set of learning resources. 89% of the students felt that they learned a lot in the course. So that was very helpful for me to see. One student said, I would say that this course has definitely done way more than prep me for future chem classes. It's shown me how to be more responsible of my own schedule and has really pushed me mentally. 89% of the students felt the course was interesting and engaging, and 89% of the students felt that the instructor cared about them personally and academically. For me, when I reviewed this feedback, which came in the form of various student evaluations or surveys, this was just so important to me, Andrew, because with this, again being the first year of the course, we needed to know that we were headed on somewhat of a correct trajectory if we were going to keep this going in future years.
[00:17:32] Speaker B: Well, it's great to hear the students not only enjoy the content and how you presented it, but that you actually encourage them in other areas of their educational career, so to speak. You know, being more responsible, being more prepared. Those are all great things that can come out of a well organized course. So I'm pleased to hear that. Well, people do worry sometimes that an online course might be impersonal or disconnected. And I think you, you have shown that your course is different, but what would you say to that? You know, to folks that still say, well, it's still good to sit down together and do it, you know, in a traditional learning environment. And they've got a point, you know, face to face learning. I mean, there's no substitute. But you've got some really good selling points here, don't you?
[00:18:16] Speaker C: Well, first of all, I would say that that is a very reasonable question to ask. And I would say that there are certainly online courses that can be impersonal and can be disconnected. And so we have been extremely intentional over here at Discovery Institute Academy to avoid that pitfall. It is our goal to connect with our students. And, you know, granted, we have a small crop of students this first year. I know all their names. I'm regularly interacting with them in class and connecting with them. And we do that, as you've shared here, we've hit on some of that, but we do that in so many different ways in the live sessions. Yes, students are absolutely encouraged to raise their hands and, you know, to start in the beginning of the year that can feel a little intimidating for students, they're not used to being in a Zoom classroom, maybe, and they feel a little bit shy or awkward. It doesn't take long for that to wear off. And very quickly, kids are raising hands and saying, wait, wait, wait. Can you pause for a second? I need to screenshot that. Wait, hold on. Can you just show me how you did that step one more time? Wait, that didn't make any sense. Miss Maria, do that again. You know, it's also the case, though, that I'm prompting them so very frequently in an online class to make sure they don't go off daydreaming, to make sure that they're not disconnected. I will often right after teaching a skill, Andrew, I will say, okay, everybody, fingers up. One means I'm lost and confused. I have no idea what was just said to me. Two, I'm just starting to grasp this concept. And three, and this is an ongoing joke in our class, I will tell students they can raise a three if they think they have mastered this content and misses Murray should retire because they're going to take over the class. So we always have a chuckle about that. But I'm often, often getting their feedback in class to make sure that they're not disconnected and that it doesn't feel impersonal. Again, I mentioned they can come in during homework drop in. So it's another way we bridge that gap between us over the computer. You'd be amazed what students send me, Andrew, over email and text. So maybe I'm not collecting papers at the end of class in a brick and mortar classroom, but students will take screenshots of their work, send it off to me and say, okay, can you just take a quick look at this? Am I on the right track? Do I need to go back and revise this? I think the last way that students and I bridge that gap is through this awesome facet of canvas called submission comments. And the idea here is that with every single assessment that a student does, whether that's a quiz, Andrew, a test, a wet lab, a virtual simulation, there is a comments thread that accompanies that assignment. And so in that I can specifically point them back to the assignment and say, hey, I want you to circle back to number six in this assignment. Or hey, I'm going to provide this link, please go take a look at this and then go back to that. You know, it becomes this really awesome back and forth conversation about the assessment that, I have to be honest, is unique to the online world. In my time as an instructor in the classroom, you'd get some level of that with a paper based assignment, but you get way more dialogue about an assignment or a correction in a virtual classroom. At least that's been my feeling, because kids can so quickly see your feedback, type right back and say, oh, right, okay, let me add this to my thought. You know, so I would say it's a valid question. You know, is this online class gonna be impersonal or disconnected? But I would say we. We've got lots of ways to address that concern and to bridge that gap.
[00:21:49] Speaker B: Sure sounds like it. Well, intelligent design is integrated into this class, and that's a really cool feature here. You know, I was peeking into parts of the course and saw the project where you were having students pretend that they were going to the radio station to have a five minute chance to defend intelligent design, to basically push back on ideas and science, or it's not scientific. And what would you say to that? You know, and of course, you had guest lectures, folks from the intelligent design community coming in and sharing the fundamentals of id. So tell us a little bit about how intelligent design was integrated here.
[00:22:24] Speaker C: Yeah, so this was such a unique challenge to this course, Andrew. Again, I've totally taught chemistry in prior courses. I've never been asked to integrate ID into a class. By integrated, what I mean by that is the goal was to add id pieces to the course where it made the most sense, where that particular id topic was applicable to the chemistry that they were already studying in the sequence of the course. And so practically, we had a couple of different examples of this that I can share to kind of help families understand what does it look like to integrate id into a course? So in unit one of the course, students were actually kind of doing a nature of science unit. You know, what is science, what is not science? And so part of that is we actually thought that that was a great time to introduce the theory of id and to say, where does ID fit within the framework of science? So students read a chapter from discovering intelligent design, which is a terrific resource for families that I found to be really effective with students. And they then read a second article on the positive case for design. And this was then followed with a guest speaker, a PhD scientist, to further help students flesh out what is id? What's the argument that it is making? In another example, students were in unit three of the course, and they were learning about, in the context of chemistry, the electromagnetic spectrum. Perfect topic to bring in Doctor Michael Denton's work from children of light, where students considered how the sun emits the right light and the right heat for life on earth and how our atmosphere permits that correct light and heat to reach us. As another example, as students kind of wrapped up their unit on chemical reactions, what a perfect time to then start asking the question, do chemical reactions in the form of chemical evolution lead to life being formed? And so this was their first introduction to what I would call origin of life type thinking. And they again read another chapter from discovering intelligent design. And they then followed that up with another lecture by a guest PhD scientist. And with their knowledge of chemical reactions, they could appreciate the question that was at hand. Was it best to assume that molecules would organize into a first life? In second semester, just to close this out, we revisited Doctor Michael Denton's work. We circled to the wonder of water, and we looked at how water and its properties are significant to the hydrological cycle, to plate tectonics. And again, it was really cool, Andrew, to see students that were already armed with chemistry speak things like states of matter, specific heat capacity, surface tension, viscosity, seeing those terms come up in Denton's work and then asking questions about their significance, the properties of water and its significance, significance to the hydrological cycle and to plate tectonics. Very cool, unique aspect of the course. These are all ways in which we're looking to integrate id into the course. And what it practically looked like for us this year.
[00:25:40] Speaker B: That must have been very rewarding for you to see those things coming together. And it really is almost the perfect time to study concepts of intelligent design when you're actually knee deep into science itself. Right when you're studying chemistry. Well, here, let's introduce some of the chemistry behind life and the design of life. You know, perfect interaction there.
[00:26:02] Speaker C: Yeah. And I mean, you know, Andrew, when we asked students again, you know, we were sampling their feedback through the year. When we asked students, 89% of the students felt the id in the course was interesting and informative. 89% of students felt that they knew more about id than they did before. I get that we were a small group of students this first year, but still those statistics are really encouraging that the students overall did find that id piece to the course really helpful and really interesting.
[00:26:31] Speaker B: And that small group of students also has the distinction of being the founding students of the course in its form. So thats pretty special. Well, are there any plans for this coming school year? Are you going to offer this again?
[00:26:44] Speaker C: Absolutely. We are definitely looking to see this class go forward next year. Families can actually head to our course landing page to find out more information and to register for the 2024 25 school year and the website actually that families want to go to might sound a little odd, but it's discoveryinstitute academy. Again, that's discoveryinstitute Academy. Once there, you're going to find all the information and registration info that you need. So you're going to find your course description, dates, times, tuition. You're going to find the course syllabus, the course agreement. You can learn a little bit more about me if you need to, as well as view a welcome video. The deadline for the first semester course registration is Monday, August 19 and we are letting families know that spots are limited. There is a coupon code for a discount as well. You will also find the registration link there to go ahead and apply for this course and register for next year again. We would love to see this course, Andrew grow next year with more students. And if I would just say to our listeners, if you, a friend or a family member, have a student in need of chemistry, please share our course page to learn more and register again. That website was Discoveryinstitute Academy. Discoveryinstitute Academy well, Kristen, I'm so glad.
[00:28:08] Speaker B: To hear that you and your students had a positive experience this year with this and I'm excited to see you offered again. And as Kristen said, listeners, the deadline to sign up is Monday, August 19. Spots are limited and the place to learn more and register is Discoveryinstitute Academy. Thank you very much for your time, Kristen. This has been a blast to get caught up with your course and I'm looking forward to chatting with you again.
[00:28:33] Speaker C: Thank you so much, andrew. Great to be here.
[00:28:36] Speaker B: Well, for id the future welcome to the future. I'm andrew mcdermott. Thank you so much for listening.
[00:28:42] Speaker A: Visit
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