Question 1

I am not a science educator; can I administer QC courses?

Accepted Answer

Yes. All Quantum Courses are designed to be simple to implement regardless of your scientific training or lack thereof. 😉

The course content is intentionally designed to be learner-guided, and the lab kits are packaged to empower students to set up and execute their own lab projects.

The digital course platform guides each student along a journey of discovery. The role of the guide is flexible—it can range from sage on the stage (if that is your school’s thing) to guide on the side.

Question 2

What is the role of the guide/educator?

Accepted Answer

Every microschool using Quantum Courses does it differently!

Here are the three main formats:

1. Self-paced. Students (or groups of students) open up their kit, login to the course platform and go. They do as many labs as they want, when they want, at least within the confines of the overarching microschool schedule. The guide can assess progress at regular intervals.  
2. Checkpoint-based. Students (or groups of students) complete each module and report answers to questions and work done to the guide, who then checks and gates the students to the next module.  
3. Teacher-directed. The guide administers each module such that all groups are doing the same modules at the same time. The guide can lead class discussions and debates about hypotheses and the meaning of results! Groups can assist each other during the lab since they are all doing the same lab.

Question 3

How do assessments work?

Accepted Answer

There are 5 points during each lab-lesson where students are tasked to show work and understanding.

1. Launch questions and hypotheses
2. Lab notes and data tables
3. Lab write-ups
4. Landing questions
5. Auto-graded problem sets

We can provide simple rubrics for schools to assess each piece. Schools can then devise their own formal assessment system as they wish.

Question 4

How do notebooks work? Where does student work go?

Accepted Answer

All student work is recorded in actual paper notebooks. The digital course platform guides students on creating their own lab notebooks.

Question 5

What does self-paced mean? What level of oversight or direct instruction is required?

Accepted Answer

Motivated students could complete an entire course without a guide. However, we suggest that a responsible adult be within earshot of students for safety.

As suggested above, though, guides can play a spectrum of roles from guide on the side to sage on the stage.

Question 6

Do you send all of the supplies? For the full year?

Accepted Answer

We send most of the supplies.  To save on packing and shipping costs, we ask schools to provide a few easily accessible items, like baking soda, vinegar, scissors, and basic classroom supplies.

The kit we send will last the entire year assuming the amounts of chemicals used are in accordance with the amounts listed in the lab procedures.

Question 7

What comes in the supply kit? Are there items you don’t send that I need to have on-hand?

Accepted Answer

For chemistry, we send various type of glassware, electrical parts, lots of chemicals, plasticware, and a digital mass balance.

As said above, there are a few items we ask schools to provide.

Question 8

How can this fit into the academic week? How can this fit into an academic year?

Accepted Answer

90 to 120 minutes per week in one or two class sessions is perfect. In this time frame, students can complete 2 labs per week.

There are 50 labs per course. So this would be 25 weeks of science.

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