Angela Daneshmand

Unit 6.3: Evaluating Previous NASA Missions part of TIDeS:TIDeS Teaching Materials:Earth Science
What does it take to execute a successful NASA mission? In this unit, students research past NASA missions and evaluate the engineering design by comparing the mission goals to the design of the rover completing ...

Unit 6.4: Design Your Own Rover part of TIDeS:TIDeS Teaching Materials:Earth Science
How will we investigate other planets for resources? In this unit, students work in teams to design a rover/orbiter headed toward an assigned planet/planet's moon. They will research about the ...

Discover Plate Tectonics part of Guided Inquiry Introductory Geology Labs:Activities
This is a student-centered activity for a synchronous online course where students access google slides to complete during a video conferencing session (eg. Zoom) in break out rooms. Students will be introduced to ...

Santiago Canyon College: Using the TIDeS module in Earth Sciences for Educators part of TIDeS:TIDeS Teaching Materials:Earth Science
Before TIDeS, I had to teach this course on Zoom due to COVID-19. There was a heavy focus on Geology and only 1-2 days of Astronomy, Oceanography, and Meteorology. The course consisted of mostly lecture slides with some active learning incorporated, as well as online labs from the Pearson Lab Manual. Overall, it was very piecemeal, as it lacked a holistic view, appropriate scaffolding, and motivating questions to engage the students. TIDeS materials focused more on the process of science and covered topics in all Earth Sciences using real data from online databanks. Students engage with the content in teams to make predictions, complete tasks, and evaluate previous engineering designs. Students reflect on what they have learned and connect it back to the process of science using science and engineering practices. My favorite aspect of the TIDeS materials is that students build confidence in their abilities and understanding and envision themselves as scientists at the end of the course. Using the TIDeS materials has changed my entire outlook on this course. I am learning alongside the students every semester because each team wants to focus on something slightly different. It keeps the content interesting for me and I enjoy every semester now instead of dreading it on Zoom. It is student focused, very interactive, and really helps build students' confidence in their own ability to "do" science. There is nothing more rewarding than hearing students say that this class makes learning science fun and that they are excited to teach science in the future.