While technology can be a great tool in learn, it's also important to look at the downsides of it and make contingency plans should something happen. While I like being able to take my inorganic chemistry and biochemistry books around with my computer, they also became a hindrance when the power was gone for over a week from the sandy aftermath. Hand i still had the in print text, I would have been able to do something more productive over that long break. Earlier this summer, the processor on my computer finally burned out, and i wasn't able to recover the files from the old hardrive resulting in a lot of lost documents and files I would rather have. Fortunately, I kept a hard copy of the lesson plan from 312 that allowed me to do the final.
Now the point of those anecdotes isn't to make excuses for the missing interactivity or the missed biochem lab, but to serve as a warning that there should always be a back up plan for things that go bad. If you need a youtube clip for class, download it as a backup. Same with web pages, hit the files tab and save page as. It won't keep the hyperlinks, but it's better then whatever error message from either your connection being down or the website. Now if your computer goes down for some reason, you should have plans in place to still be able to teach the lesson as effectively as you can
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
Cell Phones on tests
Somewhere over the course of the day yesterday I encountered an article talking about allowing the use of cellphones on tests and I'm going to share my thoughts on the subject.
I don't think it's a particular good idea to allow cell phones on tests. My reasoning mainly through a science perspective. Use of a cell phone changes the result of the test as an assessment. Does the student really understand this question or do they know how to use google well? Also since many have smart phones, are they really using the internet or are they using the notes that they've prepared before hand? If this is a math or science test, how can you be sure the student doesn't have a subscription to a website like cramster and just posted your question and maybe an expert decides to do the work for them? Sure the student got the question right, but is it really their work? It's significantly harder to tell
Now for some content areas a cell phone might not cause those concerns, but what it can do is give students an advantage over others. A student with a smart phone is in a better position then a student without one if students are allowed to use them in an assessment. It's not right to start students off at a better position because their family provided them with what is essentially a pocket computer.
Just my thoughts and concerns over the situation.
I don't think it's a particular good idea to allow cell phones on tests. My reasoning mainly through a science perspective. Use of a cell phone changes the result of the test as an assessment. Does the student really understand this question or do they know how to use google well? Also since many have smart phones, are they really using the internet or are they using the notes that they've prepared before hand? If this is a math or science test, how can you be sure the student doesn't have a subscription to a website like cramster and just posted your question and maybe an expert decides to do the work for them? Sure the student got the question right, but is it really their work? It's significantly harder to tell
Now for some content areas a cell phone might not cause those concerns, but what it can do is give students an advantage over others. A student with a smart phone is in a better position then a student without one if students are allowed to use them in an assessment. It's not right to start students off at a better position because their family provided them with what is essentially a pocket computer.
Just my thoughts and concerns over the situation.
Saturday, December 15, 2012
. Digital Citizenship
Friday's tragic events have left America in shock with many expressing anger,but often times this anger is directed at the wrong target. For those that don't know, in the rush to get ahead of the competition, various media sources incorrectly identified the shooter his face was plastered on various websites. And then from there the incorrectly named shooter was sent various hateful through facebook, and others sharing his name on twitter.
So what can we do to stop the backlash involved in these cases? Obviously we can hope that the media goes back to the days in which it had to check sources of information before rushing to the latest headline, but I don't see the media changing unless there were some heavy monetary penalties. Should we teach kids to be more patient and wait for the facts to come in? That they shouldn't attack those that commit heinous acts?
These are just some of the questions going through my head that I really don't have an answer to
So what can we do to stop the backlash involved in these cases? Obviously we can hope that the media goes back to the days in which it had to check sources of information before rushing to the latest headline, but I don't see the media changing unless there were some heavy monetary penalties. Should we teach kids to be more patient and wait for the facts to come in? That they shouldn't attack those that commit heinous acts?
These are just some of the questions going through my head that I really don't have an answer to
Friday, December 14, 2012
The difficulty in finding level appropriate information in chemistry
Over the course of this course, I was somewhat frustrated at how hard it was to find sources of information on chemistry written at an appropriate level for high school. It seems like so much of the information about the subject is written at the college and graduate level that giving a student a task involving a search on the internet could result in a much harder then expected result. In a previous interactivity I linked to symmetry @ otterbein (http://symmetry.otterbein.edu/) and while that is a good site if you have someone directing you on what you should be looking at, if found on its own, it will likely look like an alien language to someone in highschool. It's not really the fault of the site itself since it was intended to be used for that. Another site is the models 360 ( http://www.chemeddl.org/resources/models360/models.php?pubchem=222 ), while providing a good 3d view of a molecule, I can forsee those options being very confusing if you don't have a college level understanding of the area.
It seems like if I want to incorporate the technology I want into a classroom at an appropriate level, I'll have to end up writing and coding it myself. better brush up on those flash/java/actionscript skills.
It seems like if I want to incorporate the technology I want into a classroom at an appropriate level, I'll have to end up writing and coding it myself. better brush up on those flash/java/actionscript skills.
Final interactivity
The lesson plan i used as the basis for this exercise in integrating technology into the classroom is from my curr 312 course. Numerous changes had to be made to incorporate technology into a manner which would benefit the class. The only applications of technology the original lesson planned had was the watching of two videos about the discovery of the electron and neutron. It also contained a section where the students would come up with explanations about a computer simulation in a previous class; but without any details on what the simulation was, what it was about, or at what level of knowledge it contained, I could not really incorporate it into the technology lesson plan.
Another problem I encountered was with the curriculum standards for physical sciences. Looking at other fields, I can see how the standard was broken down into further subsections while the physical science was left fairly broad and sometimes branched off into different directions rather then building directly on a previous base. An example of this the 5.2.12.A.4 standard (Explain how the properties of isotopes, including half-lives, decay modes, and nuclear resonances, lead to useful applications of isotopes.) and most other standards in that level. At best this is branch of the 5.2.12.A3 standard, but unrelated to standards that proceed it. The end result of this problem is that within the matrix the same standard is used multiple times. During further explanation of the sections within the matrix I will break down the standard further. Now onto providing my rationale of the matrix
The first row of the matrix is the access. Within this part of the matrix, students will be introduced to the atomic models through lectures. The way technology will be used in this method could be through several methods depending on what is available at an appropriate level for the students. The most basic and easiest to find would be computer animations for the various atomic models with myself explaining what is happening in the animation with the subatomic particles. The NETS-S standard is incorporated fairly naturally in this standard since the current atomic model picture is generated through complex computer calculations from solving the Schrodinger equation. Also within the access row, the periodic table will be introduced. Students with a computer will be able to visit a website like, http://www.webelements.com/ and have easy access to wide array of information about the elements when I point out important information about how the periodic table is organized. This information includes things like the importance of the chemical symbol, the atomic number, and the atomic mass.
The next row of the matrix is analyze. Here the students will be analyze the atomic models and then produce to combine that information to that found in the periodic table. The first part will consist of me lecturing putting together the two standards. Students will then break into small groups and formulate how the electron configuration for an element will change the atomic model for an individual elements, and also begin group work with sample problems derived from the information in the periodic table. With the technology listed, it will help facilitate the learning process since they will be able to see how the atoms nucleus grow in size as the atomic number gets large, how orbitals begin to take shape. While something like that could be shown on a blackboard, computer modeling would make it much easier since it happens in three dimensions.
For evaluate. I would take the group work that the students did in the previous section and have them present it to other students. Since this work would be done on a computer, it would be easier to share with others. Any problems that arise could be easily corrected and feedback given
For the production row, students will take corrected work from the group exercise and begin individual work on the lesson. Students will be given problems related to information on the periodic table similar to those that were given in the group work and asked to solve the problems and submitted through email or googledocs. Any more corrective feedback will be given to the students, but the assignment will contain some aspect of formal assessment
In the communicative row, students will be given an element and will create some form of media to demonstrate the information that they learned from the periodic table about that element. The media could be a power point slide show, a report, or anything else that the student can think of that allows them to communicate what they've learned about the element.
Another problem I encountered was with the curriculum standards for physical sciences. Looking at other fields, I can see how the standard was broken down into further subsections while the physical science was left fairly broad and sometimes branched off into different directions rather then building directly on a previous base. An example of this the 5.2.12.A.4 standard (Explain how the properties of isotopes, including half-lives, decay modes, and nuclear resonances, lead to useful applications of isotopes.) and most other standards in that level. At best this is branch of the 5.2.12.A3 standard, but unrelated to standards that proceed it. The end result of this problem is that within the matrix the same standard is used multiple times. During further explanation of the sections within the matrix I will break down the standard further. Now onto providing my rationale of the matrix
The first row of the matrix is the access. Within this part of the matrix, students will be introduced to the atomic models through lectures. The way technology will be used in this method could be through several methods depending on what is available at an appropriate level for the students. The most basic and easiest to find would be computer animations for the various atomic models with myself explaining what is happening in the animation with the subatomic particles. The NETS-S standard is incorporated fairly naturally in this standard since the current atomic model picture is generated through complex computer calculations from solving the Schrodinger equation. Also within the access row, the periodic table will be introduced. Students with a computer will be able to visit a website like, http://www.webelements.com/ and have easy access to wide array of information about the elements when I point out important information about how the periodic table is organized. This information includes things like the importance of the chemical symbol, the atomic number, and the atomic mass.
The next row of the matrix is analyze. Here the students will be analyze the atomic models and then produce to combine that information to that found in the periodic table. The first part will consist of me lecturing putting together the two standards. Students will then break into small groups and formulate how the electron configuration for an element will change the atomic model for an individual elements, and also begin group work with sample problems derived from the information in the periodic table. With the technology listed, it will help facilitate the learning process since they will be able to see how the atoms nucleus grow in size as the atomic number gets large, how orbitals begin to take shape. While something like that could be shown on a blackboard, computer modeling would make it much easier since it happens in three dimensions.
For evaluate. I would take the group work that the students did in the previous section and have them present it to other students. Since this work would be done on a computer, it would be easier to share with others. Any problems that arise could be easily corrected and feedback given
For the production row, students will take corrected work from the group exercise and begin individual work on the lesson. Students will be given problems related to information on the periodic table similar to those that were given in the group work and asked to solve the problems and submitted through email or googledocs. Any more corrective feedback will be given to the students, but the assignment will contain some aspect of formal assessment
In the communicative row, students will be given an element and will create some form of media to demonstrate the information that they learned from the periodic table about that element. The media could be a power point slide show, a report, or anything else that the student can think of that allows them to communicate what they've learned about the element.
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Using games for a lesson plan
In a previous post I mentioned linking to a flash game to help reinforce the point for a lesson on projectile motion. Here is the game i was referencing (warning, stick figure violence and minor blood consisting of red dots). http://www.gamingdelight.com/games/bowman.php
On the surface the game is pretty easy to play, you pull back on the mouse at an angle and distance and release in an attempt to hit the target. But what this game also illustrates is several principals of projectile motion. That the projectiles velocity is split into two different parts in this game. The horizontal velocity doesn't change (assuming wind is turned off) but the vertical velocity. It also illustrates how the initial angle of release is important in the projectiles flight. Now will playing this game help a student get an A when tested? Probably not, but what it does do is provide a reference that a student can look back upon to help them. It's a nice way of illustrating some trigonometry in 2dimensions.
I know when i was studying for the first quiz in biochemistry, i found myself preferring to play games when memorizing the amino acid structures/sidechains and abbreviations rather than go over the flash cards i made. http://www.wiley.com/college/boyer/0470003790/animations/acideroids/acideroids.htm http://www.purposegames.com/game/d66b1c96
On the surface the game is pretty easy to play, you pull back on the mouse at an angle and distance and release in an attempt to hit the target. But what this game also illustrates is several principals of projectile motion. That the projectiles velocity is split into two different parts in this game. The horizontal velocity doesn't change (assuming wind is turned off) but the vertical velocity. It also illustrates how the initial angle of release is important in the projectiles flight. Now will playing this game help a student get an A when tested? Probably not, but what it does do is provide a reference that a student can look back upon to help them. It's a nice way of illustrating some trigonometry in 2dimensions.
I know when i was studying for the first quiz in biochemistry, i found myself preferring to play games when memorizing the amino acid structures/sidechains and abbreviations rather than go over the flash cards i made. http://www.wiley.com/college/boyer/0470003790/animations/acideroids/acideroids.htm http://www.purposegames.com/game/d66b1c96
Wednesday, December 5, 2012
Interactivity 5
I interviewed a friend that's a teacher that I've met through the internet (In keeping their identity secret, I'm going to refer to them in gender neutral terms so it will sound somewhat awkward.). They are a general science/physics teacher at a private school in Humboldt County California.
They weren't particularly aware of the existence of NETS standards. They saw the standards as a mixed bag. They agreed that the standards were important, but cautioned about over doing it and becoming over dependent on technology and taking focus away from other ways of learning (specifically they mentioned 3a. in the NETS-A standards pdf)
The school they worked at hasn't made any attempts at integrating standards like those found in the NETS standards. They personally try to incorporate the use of technology in the classroom and seek various sources of information on the internet to help lessons. For example they used a few flash games to illustrate a physics lesson on projectile motion. As a younger teacher, they don't have much pull in the school, and have to avoid possible conflicts with other teachers and superiors so even if they wanted to put forth an effort to adopt some of the NETS standards, it would be risking their job.
None of the answers from the interview really surprised me. I've known this teacher for a few years, so a few issues regarding technology have come up in conversations. They've mentioned how the school administrators were more resistant to change, so they resist the adopting technology until it's forced on them by outside forces. However I was more taken back with the sort of infighting that existed between the teachers at the school.
I'm not too sure how I would speak to others about NETS. I would really like to be more familiar with teaching before giving my definitive few. I know the importance of technology in today's world, but effectively incorporating it into a teaching when I have little experience is difficult for me to say. Then there is the issue of incorporating it in effective means across the curriculum fields.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AjKIDFq9eQlidEt3TGhrSWx3bC1ObXdKM2N6UDBNbGc
They weren't particularly aware of the existence of NETS standards. They saw the standards as a mixed bag. They agreed that the standards were important, but cautioned about over doing it and becoming over dependent on technology and taking focus away from other ways of learning (specifically they mentioned 3a. in the NETS-A standards pdf)
The school they worked at hasn't made any attempts at integrating standards like those found in the NETS standards. They personally try to incorporate the use of technology in the classroom and seek various sources of information on the internet to help lessons. For example they used a few flash games to illustrate a physics lesson on projectile motion. As a younger teacher, they don't have much pull in the school, and have to avoid possible conflicts with other teachers and superiors so even if they wanted to put forth an effort to adopt some of the NETS standards, it would be risking their job.
None of the answers from the interview really surprised me. I've known this teacher for a few years, so a few issues regarding technology have come up in conversations. They've mentioned how the school administrators were more resistant to change, so they resist the adopting technology until it's forced on them by outside forces. However I was more taken back with the sort of infighting that existed between the teachers at the school.
I'm not too sure how I would speak to others about NETS. I would really like to be more familiar with teaching before giving my definitive few. I know the importance of technology in today's world, but effectively incorporating it into a teaching when I have little experience is difficult for me to say. Then there is the issue of incorporating it in effective means across the curriculum fields.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AjKIDFq9eQlidEt3TGhrSWx3bC1ObXdKM2N6UDBNbGc
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