DRSS: Where Chemistry & Writing Meet

6th graders and 11th graders worked together on usability testing.

By Katie Jones

Middle school and high school merged when the 11^th graders did a project involving chemistry, Technical Reading and Writing, and the 6^th graders. Often, these two sides of DRSS remain separate, but for this they worked together. 
 

The 11^th graders' part of this project involved writing a set of instructions for a chemistry experiment. The experiment had to do with the displacement of water due to the chemical reaction of baking soda and vinegar. They first performed the experiment themselves in their chemistry class, and then learned how to write instructions for the experiment in their Technical Reading and Writing class. 

After learning how to write clear instructions, the 11^th graders made instructions in a variety of formats, including written instructions, posters, and videos. 

A 6th grade student tests the directions provided to him while an 11th grader records the results of the usability tests.

For the 6^th graders, this experiment involved providing feedback by testing the experiment instructions written by the 11^th graders. On the 22^nd of September they were put into groups of 2-4 and went to either Mrs. Kancler or Mrs. Campbell's room to test out the instructions. Depending on which group's instructions they tested, they also did concurrent or retrospective testing. 

Students testing the directions provided to them by the 11th graders in Chemistry and Technical Reading & Writing

For the groups who did concurrent testing, or evaluated the instructions by watching the 6^th graders do the experiment, this included the "Think Aloud" method. The "Think Aloud" method is where the testers, in this case the 6^th graders, would say everything that they thought while doing the experiment. Other groups used retrospective testing to get feedback for their instructions in the form of a survey, taken after the experiment. Still other groups used a combination of the two methods in order to collect as much feedback as possible to improve their instructions.

This project exemplifies one of the DRSS qualities: collaboration. Not only are the 11^th graders collaborating between classes, but they’re also collaborating between grade levels. Bri Perkins, a junior, said “Collaborating with the sixth graders was fun. I haven’t worked with them yet since our grades are so separated and finally getting their insight was interesting. Their feedback is good and they were a great audience.” This shows that this is a project that will help both grades, as no matter where they go in life, being able to collaborate with others will help them to move forward.