Science Spot

I can’t quite believe that class is over! The 2 weeks went by so quickly.

I honestly have to say that I learned so much in the past 2 weeks. This class has provided me many useful tools for my classroom. I liked how everything was introduced and explained, but with the understanding that we will pick the tools we like best to actually put into use.

One thing that struck me from the beginning was the idea that effective teachers need to take the technology the students are using every day on their own and integrate it into the classroom. I’ve used the internet and computers with students before, but the idea of being a prosumer and making the students prosumers in my class was new to me. I am hoping to use a class blog or wiki space with my classes next year. I could see my students making projects like photostories, cartoons, or graphic organizers through webspiration.

Something that this course has reminded me is the importance of and need to be a lifelong learner. There is no way we could have learned EVERYTHING out there for technology in education in just 2 weeks. Especially when you consider the site we looked at earlier this week, go2web20. There are new applications being made every day! One thing that I really appreciated from this class is that not only did we learn specific tools, but we learned where to find new resources.

Before I started this course I wasn’t sure what to expect. I am so glad that I learned useful tools and got a chance to actually complete some projects. I had a great time and I am looking forward to using some of these tool!

Here is more information on the Student Response Systems

We played around with Comic Life today and I made a very short Chaptain Planet Cartoon. Take a look!

Today we had the opportunity to explore podcasts on odeo. I explored both the NPR environmental channel and Our Ocean World, which is an educational channel about all types of subjects on the ocean.

I really like the idea of using podcasts in class because so much of it is very current and they provide interesting info in a format that many students may know already. I could see assigning podcasts as homework, or attaching them to a course blog as enrichment activities. There are so many great podcasts out there!

While looking at all of the web 2.0 resources I found a neat one called Beanbag Learning. It’s a way for students and parents to find tutors for any subject. After looking around a bit more I realized it was only in the UK, so not extermely useful for my students; however the idea is there and maybe they will extend it to the United States or something similar will be created here. There is a resources page with videos about study skills, websites with lesson plans for teachers, links to other helpful study sites. This part may be useful for us!

Another thing I found was Waze. It’s an application for user produced content about maps and -traffic problems in real time. Anyone with the application open on their phone while driving will be tracked so other drivers can see if there are traffic jams or accidents. With all the traffic programs in this area I wish I had a smarter phone to be able to use this!

Today was another day with many resources shared. I really liked group presentation about smartboard. I would have liked to have a chance to interact with the smartboard as well, though their demonstrations were very informative.

The chatzy was very interesting. I think it was a little too much stimulation at times and with so many people in the chat room it was hard to follow separate conversations. However, I could see this being useful in some situations. I don’t think I would let the students use it while I am presenting, or while we’re having a class discussion. However, if the students are working on group projects, or working on the computers individually I could see it being a great resource for them to be able to help each other.

So far in class I have liked everything we’ve been shown. I’m not sure if I’ll use everything in my classroom, but I do see the potential. I liked everything until today that is… I am really not a fan of twitter. I had my doubts going into it. I never really understood the draw or why so many people use it. I don’t think that it is user friendly and I don’t see the useful information quickly. Maybe this is because I have never been the type of person who has to be connected all the time (for example my cell phone doesn’t have internet connection). I did try twitter though, and explored a little bit, but I feel that I will not use it, personally or professionally. To each their own I guess!

My Alternative Energy VoiceThread:

I think that voicethread was harder to use than photostory. My presentation seems very fragmented and I has having problems with there being too much time and nothing being said. There weren’t options to zoom on the pictures or have transitions. Personally I think I’ll use photostory instead of voicethread, but I can see how students would be interested in this as well.

First, my philosophy page is updated with my philosophy of education.

Today we started discussing the 21st century classroom and learner. I have not heard about this from any other professor (and this is my last class in the program!), so it was interesting to me. I think it will be very interesting to see where education goes from here. How will we keep kids engaged and integrate all these new types of technology? Being able to adapt and change to new types of teaching and learning will be very important in the future classroom!

SOL – BIO.3 The student will investigate and understand the chemical and biochemical principles essential for life. Key concepts include: d.) the capture, storage, transformation, and flow of energy through the processes of photosynthesis and respiration.

Verbs: Investigate, Understand

Nouns:

Photosynthesis: capture, storage, transformation, and flow of energy

Respiration: capture, storage, transformation, and flow of energy

Essential Questions:

1. How is energy captured from the sun in photosynthesis?

2. What are the steps to transform light energy into chemical energy through the ligh-dependent and light-independent reactions?

3. How are the ligh-dependent and light-independent reactions connected?

4. What products are made throughout photosynthesis?

5. How is chemical energy broken down through cellular respiration?

6. What products are produced throughout respiration?

7. How are photosynthsis and respiration connected?

8. Why are these processes important?

Photosynthesis and respiration was probably the hardest unit I had to teach last year. The steps are detailed and confusing and they tend to not care about the info. To teach this I think it is very important to break down the steps to make it easier to understand. To do this I use powerpoint with lots of pictures and diagrams. I give the students the same diagrams so they can draw and take notes right on the diagrams. Another way to incorporate technology would be to let the students use webspiration to create their own graphic organizers that make sense to them. I have also been looking for good photosynthesis videos on Discovery Streaming.

Does anyone have any other ideas? This is what I am doing for my Integrated Lesson Plan.

Today was photo day and I had such a great time! I’ve never really played with photoshop because I never bought the software, but it was great to play with Gimp which is a free software. PhotoStory was great though! I could definitely see myself using it for fun to share with friends and families. I’m not sure I would make one to present to my class because I think it would be more effective to speak in person along with slides. But I suppose I don’t always need to record narration if I’m going to use it. I think it would be good to have the students create projects in photostory instead of powerpoint or another program. Last year I had my environmental science students create legends about the formation of deserts and desert animals. I could see it being really neat to use photostory to have them share their stories.

Here is my PhotoStory about my trip to Kenya

Kenya PhotoStory from Melissa Valentine on Vimeo.

We also worked with GoAnimate and I created an animation explaining photosynthesis. I found that it didn’t have as many options as I wanted (there weren’t many pictures or objects to add that worked for my story) but it was fun and I could see how students might have a lot of fun creating their own cartoon.

Here is my GoAnimate cartoon
GoAnimate.com: Photosynthesis by MelissaValentine

Like it? Create your own at GoAnimate.com. It’s free and fun!