Long-distance Lab Learning

An activity that I could see working in the School 2.0 environment would be collaboratively post on a class blog. Students could post images or video of the demonstration or experiment as well as post a description of what they learned. An alternative might be for students to compare and contrast their results and explanations. It would be great if they could blog with an expert from that field or a professor.

A Time for Reflection (Topic 12)

I would like to briefly blog about my feelings about using technology in the classroom and teachers as “agents of change”. Although I’m still a new teacher, and I have both insecurities and flaws in my teaching abilities, I recognize that even I can and will have a significant impact on my students. Additionally, as teachers, both our actions and words, will reach far beyond the classroom, and into the everyday lives of our students. With this, comes great responsibility (and I suppose great fear) to bring the best learning opportunities to our students. And every now and then (I hope), our words might seep into the ears of the administration and/or our coworkers, and in this way, we can implement change subtly, but positively.

My coworkers influence me and the way that I teach, as well- I recognize the great things they do, and reflect upon how I can utilize their methods and styles to augment my own teaching strategies. While sometimes I am frustrated with both the Regents Curriculum and the approach that some teachers take (i.e. top scoring, 20-year veterans that are “teaching to the test”), I am inspired by other teachers whose teaching has become more of an art form, and whose influence on the students is both educational and motivational.

I am looking forward to this school year, and to the changes that I will make in my own curriculum, because I know that my teaching philosophy and practices, like technology, is vitally important and should be constantly revisited throughout the year.

School 2.0

I am a very visual learner and I have always liked concept maps and diagrams. The School 2.0 Map and its underlying ideals combines both of these …I think it could use more color though…

I am not sure where, but I have definitely seen this poster before. I was struck by the solid links of communication and the ability to share information and understanding remotely. I see the potential for student explanations of demonstrations and experiments that could be posted and shared on the web or school intranet.

(On a side note, there is a wiki called wikispaces at http://school20.wikispaces.com/)

One possible draw back I see is a lack of doing things, less hands on…more eyes on. For example, on the poster map we see a teacher saying “can you IM that to the virtual whiteboard?” I wonder if we are encouraging convenience and laziness in an effort to use technology. Or rather than do the experiment/demonstration, let’s watch it performed perfectly on the big screen. In the map, some students on the playground are saying “there is a virtual frog dissection going on right now”…rather than doing the dissection in class/lab.

Another potential drawback for many teachers would be time and knowledge of technology resources. The amount of time to set up each electronic lesson would be enormous. For most teachers, it will take time just to learn about the technology as well as stay up-to-date. Certain teachers will not be able to comprehend the vast uses of the technology nor apply them appropriately. Unfortunately, most students will be ahead of most teachers.

I think if the government's Department of Education is serious about this aspect of education, it needs to invest more money in bringing this technology to low income schools as well as paying teachers to be trained to use these great resources.

The world is your oyster...and it's getting too big to swallow

Dr. Zhao’s podcast rings true about global trends in business, communication, and education. At the same time, it is difficult to listen to how the world is changing so rapidly and we are falling further behind. As teachers, we work so hard every day to help our students learn and grow. It is important for all people to go beyond their own narrow perspective and challenge themselves to learn about and from others. Since we are living in a global community, people need to realize and embrace their place in the world. It is human nature, an innate characteristic of knowing and learning only via experiences, which keeps people from seeing other perspectives. We often retreat to what is most comfortable, our natural tendencies. We do this because it is easier to fall back on what we know than challenge ourselves to change our thinking and expand our views. We don’t stop to look beyond our narrow perspective and seek other viewpoints. How important is the teacher’s social and cultural perspective? Is it more advantageous to be similar or different from your students? I like the idea of new and improved… a more “worldly” you and me.

POE

When I was listening to the presentation by Kevin Honeycutt, I was thinking abut how my students work in groups for all their labs and certain demonstrations. In Earth Science, I often use a demonstration and simple lab format called a POE (Predict, Observe, Explain). It is an excellent observation and inference activity that can be adapted to most demos and labs. Each student is actively engaged in the POE and is “forced” to express their thoughts on paper and justify/rectify their ideas and observations. Similar to using a KWL, students become familiar with the format and expectations; therefore, they feel more comfortable expressing their predictions and explaining their ideas.

The students work collaboratively but are individually responsible for recording their own understanding. I have used the POE for a crystallization lab that helps students visualize and understand the solidification of molten material into igneous rock. The lab allows the students to decide on how they will test the relationship of cooling time and crystal size.

I could alternatively break the groups into the separate sections of the POE where one group would make the predictions and the other group would record the observations, and they would have to collaborate in the end to make sure that everyone could explain the demo/lab. The class could be given individual grades as well as a whole-class assessment to check on the level of collaboration.

Working With Wikis (Topic 8 Reflection)

Wikis, like Wikipedia, offer definitions of words, variations, common and cultural uses as well as information about people, places, and things. Collaboration is key to science and I feel that this same approach is embraced with wikis. Students can create a wiki on anything that is studied in class or anything of interest. They become experts in the subject and post their findings and links to resources on the wiki. They could post while in the classroom, at school, at home, at a friend’s house…anywhere that has internet access.

Octowiki

Wikis are very popular online tools because they are easily accessible and they focus on communication and knowledge of the masses. I feel that it is beneficial to seek out and utilize community resources that emphasize the importance of collaboration and sharing of knowledge. A major focus of science is to expand our understanding and share that knowledge with our community and society. Modeling this in the classroom using wikis can help teach students to be more active members of their school and society. Hopefully, students will look for their own connections and apply this knowledge to their daily lives.


Octowiki...a wiki is like this octopus, its tentacles are pulling in knowledge creating a global community of understanding.

Video Show and Tell

There are a great variety of video sharing websites and many that are great in the classroom, as long as they are pre-screened by the teacher first. No matter which video site is used, no matter what filters are imposed, and no matter what team of "experts" has dubbed the content as appropriate...the teacher should always pre-screen online videos they show in the classroom.

I have used Youtube.com as well as Teachertube.com in my classroom to show short clips of science that we can't do because of safety, money, or resources. I agree with Wesley Fryer and Rushton Hurley, the authors of the podcast, that video sharing websites offer rich opportunities for learning and further exploration. Youtube.com is an excellent website because it is so vast; however, as was stated in the podcast, there are links to random videos that also appear in your subject specific searches. The podcast author criticized Youtube in particular for the lack of filter or pre-screening that governs uploading of video images. However, when I searched his company's website (Nextvista.org), for the same topic that he used in his example, the search results for "Algebra" returned with "zero results found". I understand his point about filters and pre-screening videos, however, it appears to be a major hindering in the accumulation and sharing of videos.

I see huge possibilities in the near future for companies that can find a balance between ease and freedom in uploading, while filtering out videos that serve no rational purpose.

Blogging about Blogging (Topic 4 Reflection)

I have really enjoyed reading all of your comments and thoughtful reflections about blogging and the use of technology in the classroom. I think that the variety in our perspectives shows that this can be done many ways successfully and fairly for most students. I think there will never be a perfect way to intrinsically motivate all students to embrace blogging nor technology. I believe that using technology is one way to intrinsically motivate most of my students.

It is important for us to try to understand the personal lives, needs, and particular interests of all the students in our classes. Every class is different with great variation in students’ knowledge, their abilities and disabilities, as well as their very diverse backgrounds. How can I accommodate the needs and interests of 100+ students? Implementing cultural and/or historically bound science education requires teachers to think carefully and critically about the social context and relevance to student life today.

I believe that it is beneficial to seek out and utilize resources that emphasize the importance of science communication for the students’ community and society. Collaboration and communication are key to scientific investigation and I feel that a blog would be a great way to share data and conclusions from labs and experiments that my students perform. With the ability to access this information and share their own findings from anywhere that has an internet connection, students can do their “assignment” when it is more convenient for them and in a (technological) format that most would prefer…they might even “enjoy” their homework…

Problem Solving Mysteries

After checking out the website "Mysteries for Kids" and reading people's comments on the blog, I thought of the ways that we use mystery, discovery, problem solving, and logic for learning science. I have learned from personal experience that the teacher must make explicit connections between the material (both science content and the historical aspect) and real life experiences for knowledge to be valuable and meaningful for the students. Teachers must create a social context for the students to understand and apply their knowledge. I think that mysteries are a great way for students to learn and discover. This style of story makes the reader/listener think about what is presented to them and hypothesize about the next step or the eventual end result…This is very similar way that we approach science. We do not know about the dinosaurs because a T-Rex ran across the road on your way to work…it is because scientist discovered the way of life before we were living in this spot. Much of what we learn about the Earth and the Universe is a mystery until the truth is discovered through scientific investigations.

Miss Information & Mr. E

"Lori's "Geek of the Week" Entry" got me thinking about the impact of so much right and wrong information zooming around the world. With all of this available information and growing technology, it is important to utilize these resources to help our students learn. It is also good to point students in a good direction with all of the “misinformation” that is also found on the web. My students and I will discuss different internet websites that they use daily: ranging from music download sites, video sites, game sites, myspace pages, news/information sites, and occasionally some learning/educational websites. I think that it is important for me to also share my knowledge of “good” websites with my students. Especially during review time, I will use www.SchoolIsland.com to create assignments for my students. It is my hope that this will some how appeal to the students and make a homework assignment “bearable”. Another consideration is that my students spend a lot of time on the internet and there is a chance that they may go ahead and try a few of the assignments since they are readily available…just a click away….

On this blog website I will be sharing my experiences using technology in the classroom with my students. In the future, you will find useful videos, images, documents, and resources to expand your understanding of Science.
Earth Science Rocks!