PVS science classes engage students online

Pleasant View School science classes are back in session with students working from home and teacher Farhana Chowdhury working hard to help them excel.

AP College Board provided a concise syllabus so the AP Chemistry class is reviewing the curriculum. The curriculum was completed before the spring break, and as planned before the class will be reviewed unit by unit.

Chowdhury plans to give out practice tests once review sessions have been completed. She meets with her students twice a week for live sessions.

Chowdhury teaches three different Chemistry classes with tenth graders. Two eleventh-graders make up the AP chemistry class. She also teaches honors biology to ninth-graders and a few tenth-graders. She meets with them twice a week to go over topics and use an online whiteboard to draw out sample problems.

The assignments are similar to those before the pandemic. Since the syllabus for Chemistry is almost done, students have chapters with more complex problems that take multiple steps.

“My students prefer me to go over sample problems and give them a similar problem solving as homework,” Chowdhury said.

Students work on a problem set and then either take a picture of their work and send it to her or they share their google doc page with her.

The biology class is assigned essay questions covering each section and lecture slides are provided to help. Students prefer to read on their own and ask her for specific questions based on the reading.

To ensure students learn the most in the online classes, Chowdhury asks individual students questions during the live sessions. They are encouraged to ask questions based on the reading of the chapter, homework or any other question they may have.

Chowdhury said the concept of online teaching was overwhelming in the beginning in terms of class timing, grading, online assessments, testing on time and student attendance. But the administration and faculty have worked together to help each other out.

“Alhamdulillah our admin and board talked with us beforehand to ensure that we are comfortable and gave us various tools for online teaching,” Chowdhury said.