WTS 4 & 6

Teaching with EDpuzzle Technology

Spencer Rohlinger
Saint Marys University of Minnesota
Schools of Graduate and Professional Programs
Portfolio Entry for Wisconsin Teacher Standards 4 & 6
EDUW 692 Technology and Communications
Bob Anderson, Instructor
December 11, 2016

Selected Wisconsin Teacher Standard Descriptors

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WTS 4 & 6

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Wisconsin Teacher Standard (WTS) 4: Teachers know how to teach

The teacher understands and uses a variety of instructional strategies, including the use of
technology, to encourage children's development of critical thinking, problem solving, and
performance skills.
Knowledge. The teacher knows how to enhance learning through the use of a wide
variety of materials as well as human and technological resources (e. g. computers, audio-visual
technologies, videotapes and discs, local experts, primary documents and artifacts, texts,
reference books, literature, and other print resources).
Dispositions. The teacher values flexibility and reciprocity in the teaching process as
necessary for adapting instruction to student responses, ideas, and needs.
Performances. The teacher develops a variety of clear, accurate presentations and
representations of concepts, using alternative explanations to assist students understanding and
presenting diverse perspectives to encourage critical thinking.

Wisconsin Teacher Standard (WTS) 6: Teachers communicate well

The teacher uses effective verbal and nonverbal communication techniques as well as
instructional media and technology to foster active inquiry, collaboration, and supportive
interaction in the classroom.
Knowledge. The teacher understands and can use effective verbal, nonverbal, and media
communication techniques.
Dispositions. The teacher is a thoughtful and responsive listener.

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Performances. The teacher knows how to use a variety of media communication tools,
including audiovisual aids and computers, to enrich learning opportunities.

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Danielson Domains
Domain 1: Planning and Preparation
Component 1a: Demonstrating Knowledge of Content and Pedagogy
Component 1c: Selecting Instructional Goals
Component 1d: Demonstrating Knowledge of Resources
Component 1e: Designing Coherent Instruction
Component 1f: Assessing Student Learning

Domain 3: Instruction
Component 3a: Communicating Clearly and Accurately
Component 3c: Engaging Students in Learning
Component 3d: Providing Feedback to Students
Component 3e: Demonstrating Flexibility and Responsiveness

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Pre-assessments
Self-Reflection Assessment of Student Performance and Learning Environment
I am in my third year of teaching Biology at Baraboo High School which is a rural school
within the Baraboo School District located in south central Wisconsin. I currently teach four
sections of Biology which is a required course for all students. My four sections are composed
of 86 students (43 males and 43 females), of which 81 are ninth graders, three are tenth graders,
one is an eleventh grader, and one is a twelfth grader. Ten students are identified as
Hispanic/Latino, five are Native American, two are African American, one is Asian, and 68 are
White. Four students are identified as Learning Disabled (LD), two are identified with
Emotional Behavioral Disorder (EBD), one is diagnosed with Autism, and ten are identified as
at-risk of academic deficiency. One of my sections of Biology is supported with a special
education assistant to assist the special education students in that section. There is a wide variety
in abilities in both math and reading skills ranging from below grade level to advanced
placement. When planning lessons for this course, I keep in mind the length of activities, ways
to incorporate movement, and delivery of notes to accommodate these students.
The unit I am currently teaching in Biology is the Genetics unit. Past experience has
taught me that this unit requires a lot of differentiation, as having adequate math skills is required
to excel in this unit. Given that there is a wide range in my students math abilities, I need to
differentiate each lesson so the pace is appropriate for each student. At the beginning of each
unit, my students complete a pretest where I can assess their level of understanding for each
standard within the unit. The standard I have chosen to assess is their ability to apply concepts of
ratios and Punnett squares to explain the variation and distribution of expressed traits in a

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population. This standard is directly related to the Next Generation Science Standard HS-LS3-3.
Apply concepts of statistics and probability to explain the variation and distribution of expressed
traits in a population. This is an expansion on what they learned about genetics in their middle
school life science class. Their pretest (Artifact A) included questions about probability of
outcomes and complete dominance Punnett squares. Many of these questions, including the
complete dominance Punnett square should be a review from their middle school course. When
analyzing my students responses (Artifact C) on the pretest it became clear that some needed a
lot of direct instruction, while others needed a quick review of the rules. Fifty six students scored
a 3 or below and 50 scored 4 and above on the 6-point scoring guide (Artifact B). A score of 4
has been set as the threshold for proficiency.

Technology Selection and Instructional Strategies to Guide Learning Process and Growth
As a result of my students performance on the pre-test, I have chosen to incorporate a
technology that students could use to quickly review the key concepts instead of going through
notes in the traditional direct instruction manner. EDpuzzle is as free software that allows you to
insert questions into an instructional video. The students are unable to continue viewing the
remainder of the video until they correctly respond to the questions. If they respond with the
incorrect answer, it will replay that section of the video and provide students another opportunity
to answer the question. Another great feature of EDpuzzle is that students responses to the
questions are recorded and could be used as a formative assessment. A limitation of EDpuzzle is
that while I can insert as many questions into the video as I would like, the questions must be
selected response (i.e. multiple choice). I have selected EDpuzzle because it will allow my

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students who are accelerated to move at a faster pace while I am still able to work in small
groups with students who need further explanations.
After reviewing my students performance on the pretest, I have chosen to incorporate
EDpuzzle into just one of my four sections of Biology. I chose to incorporate this technology
into my 4B section because this is a group of students that have strong math skills, many of
whom are accelerated in their math course, and made simple mistakes on their pretest that I feel
will be easily corrected with a brief review of complete dominance Punnett squares. After going
over the correct responses to the pretest and an introductory activity that reviewed the essential
vocabulary for the genetics unit, I assigned students the EDpuzzle (Artifact D). The link to the
EDpuzzle I created was posted to our Google Classroom page. The instructional video I chose to
use for my EDpuzzle was from the YouTube channel Amoeba Sisters. My students have been
previously exposed to the Amoeba Sisters channel when reviewing content in previous units.
When students finished the EDpuzzle, students were instructed to complete their homework
assignment, the post assessment (Artifact E) which was comprised of four practice complete
dominance problems, and submit their answers on our Formative classroom page. In my other
three sections of Biology, I chose to use direct instruction for the delivery of the notes on
complete dominance Punnett squares based upon the needs of my students in terms of their math
skills and the nature of the mistakes made on the pretest. All of my students completed the same
post-assessment, regardless of the delivery of instruction. My hypothesis is that EDpuzzle will
be a successful mode of instruction and there will be no noticeable difference between students
who view the EDpuzzle or receive direct instruction.

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Post-assessments
Comparisons and Insights of Student Performance and Learning Environment
The post assessment (Artifact E) my students completed consisted of four, multipart complete dominance problems. They submitted their answers for each problem on
our Formative classroom page. The questions I chose to review for the post assessment
are a representative sample of all the skills assessed on the pretest for complete dominance
Punnett squares. After reviewing the results of the post-assessment in all four of my
sections of Biology, I did not notice a strong difference between the sections that received
direct instruction and those that completed the EDpuzzle for their instruction.
In reviewing the data from the post assessment from my students, I was pleased to
see that all students who were present in class for the complete dominance lesson showed
growth. While initially, only 30 students scored a 4 or higher on the pre-assessment, 68
students scored a 4 or higher on the post-assessment, with 41 students earning a perfect
score of 6/6. It was encouraging to see that 87% of my students reached a proficient or
advanced level with only one day of instruction and practice.
When directly comparing my sections that received direct instruction versus the
EDpuzzle, I noticed that the section who viewed the EDpuzzle slightly outperformed my
other three sections that received direct instruction. The section that viewed the EDpuzzle
nearly 92% of my students achieved proficiency compared to 87% of my students
achieving proficiency in the sections that received direct instruction. While I am pleased
to say the EDpuzzle was an effective means of instruction, I am hesitant to say that it is a
more effective means of instruction. In the section that viewed the EDpuzzle, there is only

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one student identified as special education and twelve that are placed in accelerated math
courses. The ability to complete these types of genetics problems requires strong math
skills. In this section all but one student is at or above grade level in their mathematics
abilities. Their strong math skills likely played a large role in their successes in
completing complete dominance Punnett squares.
What surprised the most in comparing the two different methods of instruction was
how the learning environment changed. In the sections that received direct instruction, the
students were much more relaxed and comfortable with the mode of instruction. They
responded as a class when asked informal formative questions. Those who had questions
interjected when appropriate. However, in the section that viewed the EDpuzzle, the
students seem much more uncomfortable with the mode of instruction. They felt the
strong need to write down everything they read in the questions that were inserted into the
video. They also wanted confirmation from myself that they were answering the questions
correctly, even though the computer notified them about the accuracy of their responses.
After a few students received affirmation that they were doing a great job, they seemed to
become more at ease with the EDpuzzle. I contribute a lot of the change in the students
responses to the fact that at this point in the semester there are well established routines to
our classroom. This was a completely new form of instruction for them. Despite their
apparent discomfort at the change in instruction, they did exceptionally well on the postassessment. I am hopeful that when using EDpuzzle in the future, students will become
more familiar with this routine.

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Reflection of Entire Learning Process

What Worked and Why
1. Inserting questions into the Amoeba Sisters video after key vocabulary words were introduced
and examples of Punnett squares when completed worked. This allowed students to have a firm
understanding of the content being presented before expanding upon their knowledge.
2. It worked well to allow the students to individually view the EDpuzzle video on the
Chromebooks. This allowed each student to move at their own pace and often times allowed
them to answer their own questions.
What did Not Work and Why
1. It didnt work to have the students sitting closely to one another as they watched the video on
EDpuzzle. Not all students remembered to bring their headphones to class and given that all
students were at slightly different places in the video, the sound from their neighbors computer
was a distraction for some students.
2. Announcing to the students that the EDpuzzle would take place of their notes for the lesson
proved to be challenging. The students have a well-established routine for note-taking and felt
compelled to write down everything said in the EDpuzzle.
My Next Steps
1. Collaborate with my colleagues who also teach Biology so that we can incorporate more
EDpuzzles into our curriculum to better differentiate the pace of instruction. Allowing students
to progress when they are ready and to stop, review, and ask questions will better meet the needs
of our students.
2. Provide a different set of instructions when introducing the EDpuzzle to eliminate confusion
about note-taking. Students have a well-established note-taking routine in all sections of Biology
taught within my school. In not calling the EDpuzzle, a replacement for notes, the students will

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be more likely to see it as an instructional activity and more confidently progress through the
video.
3. Providing headphones for the students while they view the EDpuzzle would be beneficial so that
they do not become distracted by the noise coming from their neighbors computers.

Artifact A: Genetics Pre-Assessment Student Example

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Artifact B: Scoring Guide for Pre- and Post-Assessments

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Artifact C: Student Data from Pre- and Post-Assessments

All student data from the pre-and post-assessment.

Student Number

Section

Pretest

Post-test

Student 1

2A

Student 2

2A

Student 3

2A

0 missing

Student 4

2A

Student 5

2A

Student 6

2A

Student 7

2A

Student 8

2A

Student 9

2A

0 missing

Student 10

2A

Student 11

2A

Student 12

2A

Student 13

2A

Student 14

2A

0 missing

Student 15

2A

Student 16

2A

Student 17

2A

Student 18

2A

Student 19

2A

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Student 20

2A

Student 21

3A

Student 22

3A

Student 23

3A

Student 24

3A

1 missing

Student 25

3A

Student 26

3A

Student 27

3A

Student 28

3A

2 missing

Student 29

3A

Student 30

3A

2 missing

Student 31

3A

Student 32

3A

Student 33

3A

Student 34

3A

2 missing

Student 35

3A

Student 36

3A

Student 37

3A

Student 38

3A

Student 39

3A

Student 40

3A

0 missing

Student 41

3A

Student 42

3A

Student 43

3A

Student 44

3A

Student 45

1B

Student 46

1B

Student 47

1B

Student 48

1B

2 missing

Student 49

1B

Student 50

1B

Student 51

1B

Student 52

1B

Student 53

1B

Student 54

1B

Student 55

1B

0 missing

Student 56

1B

Student 57

1B

Student 58

1B

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Student 59

1B

Student 60

1B

Student 61

1B

Student 62

1B

Student 63

4B

Student 64

4B

Student 65

4B

Student 66

4B

Student 67

4B

Student 68

4B

Student 69

4B

Student 70

4B

Student 71

4B

Student 72

4B

Student 73

4B

Student 74

4B

Student 75

4B

Student 76

4B

Student 77

4B

Student 78

4B

Student 79

4B

Student 80

4B

Student 81

4B

Student 82

4B

Student 83

4B

Student 84

4B

Student 85

4B

Student 86

4B

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Artifact D: EDpuzzle

Link to view the EDpuzzle that was created for my students to view.

Link to EDpuzzle

Artifact E: Genetics Post-Assessment Student Example

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