Newark Academy Science Department Course Reflection 2013-2014

1. Select from the following:

Teacher

Select

Mr. Bitler

Ms. Celente

Mr. Erlandson

Dr. Hobson

Ms. Hone

0.0% (0)

0.0% (0)

100.0% (10)

0.0% (0)

0.0% (0)

Course

Select

Interactive

Interactive

Interactive

Investigation

Discovery

Systems

0.0% (0)

0.0% (0)

0.0% (0)

Biology

Chemistry

0.0% (0)

0.0% (0)

Chemistry
Honors

0.0% (0)

Physics

0.0% (0)

Physics
Honors

0.0% (0)

Slot

Select

0.0% (0)

100.0% (10)

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0.0% (0)

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2. Please rate how strongly you agree or disagree with each of the following statements below based on your personal
experiences in this course thus far.
Rating

Strongly Agree

Agree

Disagree

Strongly Disagree

Not Applicable

90.0% (9)

10.0% (1)

0.0% (0)

0.0% (0)

0.0% (0)

10

80.0% (8)

10.0% (1)

10.0% (1)

0.0% (0)

0.0% (0)

10

60.0% (6)

10.0% (1)

30.0% (3)

0.0% (0)

0.0% (0)

10

80.0% (8)

20.0% (2)

0.0% (0)

0.0% (0)

0.0% (0)

10

100.0% (10)

0.0% (0)

0.0% (0)

0.0% (0)

0.0% (0)

10

90.0% (9)

10.0% (1)

0.0% (0)

0.0% (0)

0.0% (0)

10

80.0% (8)

20.0% (2)

0.0% (0)

0.0% (0)

0.0% (0)

10

answered question

10

skipped question

Count

I have found that my teacher

explains course material and
expectations clearly.
I have received helpful feedback
from my teacher on my work and
performance.
I have received timely feedback.
I have been given opportunities to
demonstrate my learning on a
variety of assessments.
I have been given opportunities to
engage in independent thinking.
I have found the learning
environment appropriate and
positive.
The teacher has been sensitive to
my needs.

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3. Describe your experience in this course.

Response
Count
10
answered question

10

skipped question

4. How effectively do the assignments, in-class activities and labs help you understand the material and develop your
skills? Please be specific.
Response
Count
10

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answered question

10

skipped question

5. What has been most effective for you about this instructor's teaching? What has been least effective for you about this
instructor's teaching?
Response
Count
10
answered question

10

skipped question

6. Which labs were most helpful? least helpful?

Response
Count
10
answered question

10

skipped question

7. Was the average workload for this course reasonable?

Response
Count
10

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answered question

10

skipped question

Page 2, Q3. Describe your experience in this course.

Not bad, the course material can be hard at times but the chapter reviews and outside resources are big helps.

Jan 6, 2014 7:26 AM

I've really enjoyed Enviro and I find the subject matter interesting-- I think it is also presented in such a way as to enhance
comprehensive understanding and interconnectivity.

Jan 6, 2014 7:20 AM

I really like the classroom environment. Mr. Erlandson is really encouraging and I feel that it makes the students want to
participate more.

Jan 6, 2014 7:19 AM

Enviro is my favorite class- I have truly had a really good experience, and I am very comfortable and interested whenever
we are in class.

Jan 6, 2014 7:19 AM

Its been a great course so far

Jan 6, 2014 7:18 AM

I really enjoy this class. Mr. Erlandson's passion of the topics makes it much easier to learn. The expectations are high
but the assessments are fair. It is definitely a class I look forward to.

Jan 6, 2014 7:17 AM

Its a very difficult course because there is so much material to read and understand. I find it a little harder because we
don't exactly get time to go over all of it before we finish each unit.

Jan 6, 2014 7:17 AM

Mr. Erlandson is the man I have managed to learn a lot of material in a short amount of time Also, I have refined my skills
in the lab

Jan 6, 2014 7:15 AM

Fun, positive, interesting.

Jan 6, 2014 7:15 AM

10

Phenomenal.

Jan 6, 2014 7:15 AM

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Page 2, Q4. How effectively do the assignments, in-class activities and labs help you understand the material and develop your skills? Please be
specific.

It helps to add another way of thinking about what we learned and how it applies to real-life situations. For example, we
did a partnered assignment on identifying climographs which ended up helping me better understand the material during
the test an final exam.

Jan 6, 2014 7:26 AM

I think, generally, everything is positive with the only difficult thing being the labs. I feel as if I don't know exactly how to
make my labs better and it's not because I'm not getting feedback, it's just that the feedback is very specific to that
individual lab and I can't seem to find a trend to try to fix. In addition, I feel like I don't know which calculations to do (since
we have to plan it ourselves) but I think if I knew more background information on the topic, I could come up with
something. But I feel like sometimes, not always, we do the lab before the lesson which is hard.

Jan 6, 2014 7:20 AM

The labs require the students to really think about the material we are learning, which helps a lot with understanding.
This is because the students design the labs themselves and are forced to apply the material learned.

Jan 6, 2014 7:19 AM

I think that the activities in Enviro are definitely very helpful, and have been great ways to further my understanding of the
chapters. Specifically, the labs (i.e. the systems lab) are very helpful for understanding concepts that are hard to address
in a textbook.

Jan 6, 2014 7:19 AM

They help alot. The labs test and quizzes have all been great.

Jan 6, 2014 7:18 AM

The tests are a good assessment of our knowledge on the topics studied. The labs are a little more difficult, where we
are pushed to come to conclusions on our own. However, this ultimately prepares us to think outside of the box rather
than have a lab already prepared for us to complete step by step.

Jan 6, 2014 7:17 AM

I think labs are the most helpful way to explain concepts because they are interactive and they force you to really think
about what happened and why. We don't do may in-class activities; it is mostly a discussion-based course.

Jan 6, 2014 7:17 AM

The coursework is varied and appropriate

Jan 6, 2014 7:15 AM

Very effectively.

Jan 6, 2014 7:15 AM

10

Specifically, class discussions are the best. The textbook isn't that great, and neither are the labs. But then again we don't
really need labs to explain the concepts.

Jan 6, 2014 7:15 AM

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Page 2, Q5. What has been most effective for you about this instructor's teaching? What has been least effective for you about this instructor's teaching?

The most effective is probably the very through review sheets and classes before the tests. I'm not really sure what the
least effective was, but overall Erlandson's pretty good.

Jan 6, 2014 7:26 AM

Mr. Erlandson is a really engaging teacher and clearly really likes the subject and involves the class. He also takes any
question, even the simple ones.

Jan 6, 2014 7:20 AM

The way that Mr. E makes the class really interactive (labs, class discussions, group work, etc.) is extremely effective.
On only one occasion, I felt that we rushed to take a test and didn't really get to go over the reading sufficiently.

Jan 6, 2014 7:19 AM

Mr. Erlandson ensures a comfortable learning environment. I am never afraid to ask questions, and I find that the
classroom environment has really helped me become more interested in the subject. Also, Mr. Erlandson's instruction is
very clear, and his methods of presenting facts (such as his power points, study guides, reading questions, etc) are very
useful. I don't think there are really any ineffective things Mr. Erlandson has done- there was one lab that wasn't returned
for a while but it did not make a huge impact!

Jan 6, 2014 7:19 AM

The multiple learning techniques Could explain material better

Jan 6, 2014 7:18 AM

The most effective part of his teaching was the labs. However, sometimes he does not always fully answer our
questions.

Jan 6, 2014 7:17 AM

Examples are the most effective ways Mr. Erlandson explains concepts. I think the least effective methods are reading 25
pages of dense material a night and going over 10 random question on them the next day. I do not retain the information
that way.

Jan 6, 2014 7:17 AM

Most Effective: He lucidly explains challenging concepts Least Effective: His struggles with Canvas are funny, but detract
from the course

Jan 6, 2014 7:15 AM

Most effective: discussions.

Jan 6, 2014 7:15 AM

10

Most effective: He's the bomb.com Least effective: He could explain labs better

Jan 6, 2014 7:15 AM

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Page 2, Q6. Which labs were most helpful? least helpful?

The most helpful lab was probably the lab where we had to measure things in the energy budget because it put to test
our ability to build a lab with minimal instruction and to see if we actually understand the information being applied. The
rest were fairly helpful, maybe the first one involving water and wind being the least.

Jan 6, 2014 7:26 AM

The most helpful was probably the albedo one because it really clarified the four concepts. The least was probably the
initial one.

Jan 6, 2014 7:20 AM

The most effective was the systems lab for energy budget. The least effective was the mung beans maybe but it was still
fine!

Jan 6, 2014 7:19 AM

The systems lab was definitely one of the most helpful labs I have done. Because it covered so many concepts, I really
felt like I understood the material more!

Jan 6, 2014 7:19 AM

Elodea was most helpful Least helpful was albedo

Jan 6, 2014 7:18 AM

The Elodea lab was the most helpful while the Albedo lab was the least helpful.

Jan 6, 2014 7:17 AM

To be honest, I don't remember specifically. Although, I think all the labs are very effective and helpful.

Jan 6, 2014 7:17 AM

All labs were helpful, especially the albedo lab

Jan 6, 2014 7:15 AM

Most: respiration. Least: albedo.

Jan 6, 2014 7:15 AM

10

I didn't like any of the labs.... Especially the insolation one that seemed pointless

Jan 6, 2014 7:15 AM

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Page 2, Q7. Was the average workload for this course reasonable?

Yes, at times it seems to be A LOT of readings but for the most part they end up helpful for tests and various
assignments.

Jan 6, 2014 7:26 AM

I think so! I think the homework is very frequent but it makes sense and it's helpful as opposed to busywork.

Jan 6, 2014 7:20 AM

Yup!

Jan 6, 2014 7:19 AM

Yes!

Jan 6, 2014 7:19 AM

Yes it was a perfect amount. Senior spring should be fun

Jan 6, 2014 7:18 AM

Yes

Jan 6, 2014 7:17 AM

I think it takes a lot of work. You have to be determined to do well in this course. It is definitely one of my hardest classes.

Jan 6, 2014 7:17 AM

Yes

Jan 6, 2014 7:15 AM

Yes.

Jan 6, 2014 7:15 AM

10

Yes

Jan 6, 2014 7:15 AM

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