Reflections for Week 3

Science in Plain English

This method of video production is a great guideline for teaching any concept. I like the fact that no high tech video editing capabilities are required. It is important when using a tool like video production to learn a concept, that the point of the task to learn target concepts is not lost in the complexity of making the project. I look forward to trying to make one of my own. I think my students will like doing this too. However, I do worry about having a quiet place for recording and time to rehearse will be needed, sometimes space in the classroom isn’t ideal for this. I’m curious to know how these other teachers handled this aspect.

Creative Commons
Wikipedia and other similar commons for image resources are great. I use these resources regularly, but still require my students to cite information and get permission to use images that permission isn't explicitly granted on the site. I check out the Creative Commons and found it to be a little confusing. By placing these images in the commons is the owner/creater granting permission to use. I realize all images created are automatically copyrighted but some people don't want their images being used for ANY purpose. Anyway I don't really sea a difference between a Google image search and the creative commons other than the ability to search solely for commons images. Here are some images that are from yesterday here in Fairbanks. We had a crane that was working on a bridge topple over into the river. My husband happened to be driving by right after it happened. Amazingly, no one was injured, even though when my husband first drove by they'd had a guy dangling from the crane in a basket welding the bridge supports only 30 minutes earlier. Later in the afternoon as I was driving by again taking my kid to soccer I snapped some pictures with my cell phone. However, I can't figure out how to get these images off my phone onto my computer (I don't have a data plan)... anyway, I digress, that's a whole other issue. SO... I went to the creative commons and found someone else had posted pictures of the accident. Here is a link.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/fairbanksmike/4747229440/

Chap 2 – Digital Images ad Video in Science Teaching

The research has proven that pictures, i.e. visualization tools, can increase student comprehension. I guess I’ve always known this since this is what works best for my own learning. Therefore my teaching style has been focused on incorporated this facet to keep students engaged, increase comprehension, and improve the student’s ability to recall the information. Levie and Lentz likened imagery as a type of advanced organizer. Further research on the effects of video showed that videos in combination with other instructional tools were better for student learning than either the video or the other learning tool on its own. It is important to note that the studies showed that interactive video produced better achievement when the use of the interactive video was guided and structured rather than left to the sole control of the learner.

Here is a summation of the guidelines for best practices in using digital imagery:

1. The photos or video must specifically illustrate the targeted content and address the instructional goal.

a. These have the greatest effect when the imagery interprets what has already been read, connects or organizes the ideas of the text or verifies the reader’s comprehension.

b. Digital imagery is particularly effective in conveying information that might otherwise be intangible such as for microscopic specimens, astronomical objects, etc.

2. There must be meaningful interaction with the imagery.

a. This is achieved through careful questioning strategies that allow students to make observations, draw conclusions, make connections, and note relevance.

3. The imagery must supplement not replace the teacher instruction.

a. It shouldn’t be used as a “filler” but should be used to exemplify concepts that would otherwise be inaccessible such as comparing various ecosystems. Images can also more easily demonstrate small, finite concepts such as precise measuring skills, elaborate diagrams, or microscopic structures.

4. Respect copyrights under the Educational Multimedia Fair Use Guidelines.

a. An interesting point made in this chapter was that of digital quality. The suggested picture resolution for a slideshow in 72 ppi, and to have an image the size of a screen it needs to be 800-1000 pixel wide at 72 ppi. In my experience, this has proven to be a really important concept to convey to students since they will often try to use thumbnail images that have been enlarged in a presentation resulting in a blurred picture that detracts from the presentation. Conversely, if their images have too high of a resolution, the project can become very slow to load on a web page and uses up valuable file space.

Using Jing to Screencast a video

In Chapter 2 of the Tech in the Secondary Science Classroom there are a listing of good web resources for using Digital Video. I tried out this one on Chemistry, it's called Chemistry Comes Alive. They have great videos for some of the more hazardous or intangible chemistry concepts. This was a cool one that shows a phenomenon I'd never heard about wherein a mercury droplet can be made to pulsate like a beating heart. Too cool. Anyway, most of the videos have a text explanation of the chemical concept being demonstrated. This particular video also had targeting questions to get the students thinking and to convey their understanding about what they observed.
http://jchemed.chem.wisc.edu/jcesoft/cca/pirelli/pages/cca3heart.html

P.S. I tried to screencast this video, but the resulting video was too large (75 mb). Not sure why. So I aborted that attempt.

Embedding a YouTube video

YouTube actually has a lot of great science videos that can be used to instruct both teachers and kids. However, many schools block it to prevent kids from accessing inappropriate content. However, my principal had given permission to show YouTube videos that can be used as a learning tool. To do this if I opened the video at home and then brought my lap top to school with the video open, it would play, however you couldn't go to another video and open it. Now they've actually created a log in window that allows the teacher to bypass these blocked sites. One way I have used YouTube for Chemistry is to show lab demonstrations that are not feasible in the high school classroom due to lack of the proper chemicals or the chemicals are not safely handled in a class environment. For example, when we were learning about the properties of the halogen gases I found a good YouTube video that showed the properties of the halogens and their behavior when reacting with hydrogen to produce acids and other metals. There are tons of videos like this.


I also get ideas for Chemistry demos from YouTube. Here is one that I actually did in class when we were studying exothermic reactions. The kids went wild. It was nice to see the result of the chemical reaction and noting safety precautions before trying these out for yourself.

Embedding Glogster attempt #1

After reading a post by knodelscience on difficulties getting a Glogster poster embedded, I decided to see if I could get it to work. At the bottom of the Glogster poster there are a couple of choices listed (see here: http://screencast.com/t/NmE1NTAw)... (posted using Screencast), aha!
Anyway, I simply clicked "embed to webpage" then clicked the copy button and then pasted it here in my blog. Hopefully this works and you can now see my Glogster poster in this post.

VoiceThread

I first used Voicethread last year with my own children when the volcano in Cook Inlet was threatening to erupt. It was on the news everday since the volcano was threatening to shut down air travel in and out of Anchorage since the volcano lies in the pathway of major airline traffic. My kids had a ball using it in the privacy of our home but were a little uncomfortable when they listened to the playback of themselves. So I tried it with my earth science class this past year for two different projects. The first was on clouds and the second was on the solar system. For the cloud project, they had to take digital photos of at least 3 types of clouds post them on our class voicethread and the record the information regarding each photo. This project seemed simple and pretty doable, however, these are the problems I encountered.
1. The Voicethread site can be a little slow to load and record info and sometimes the info is not save.
2. Others can delete your info unless important precautions as taken to backup the voicethread.
3. My high school kids had trouble getting a clear recording in a class environment and most couldn't do this at home unless they happened to have a laptap w/ built in mics or they had an external mic attached to a desktop computer.
4. The sound volume on the recording was really difficult to get just right so as not to blast the listener or be too quiet to where it couldn't be understood.
5. Even with all the kids these days having cell phones, I still had trouble getting kids to be able to upload their photos to our site. The most common problem was not have a cord to transfer from the phone, or kids not having the ability to email or send the image from their digital camera source.
I still think it was a worthwhile project however, but took twice as long as I anticipated and I spend way more time on technical issues than actually learning/discussing clouds.

In our second attempt at a Voicethread, this time on the Solar System, there was a little more success but we still had problems with slow upload/opening of our Voicethread when all students were logged in and trying to access the project, even though the kids were in teams and each group had a separate login account.
There wasn't the issue of upload pics because we used images from online. The kids were a little more comfortable this go around since they already knew how to use the site and what to expect for a final outcome. They seem to like using this tool for projects and I was able to get kids producing and collaborating and sharing their information.
The final requirement for this project was to do a scavenger hunt of solar system facts (I made a list of questions to find answers to using fill in the blank or short answer) that had to be obtained by review the posts made by the contributers to the project.
Our voicethread had to be kept private due to privacy issues since the students had their names on their identities. But here is a link to the project I made at home with my kids.
http://voicethread.com/#u357661.b456651.i2428402

Screencast.

Here is my first attempt at a Screencast. We are planning to take a horse camping trip this weekend to the White mountains recreation area northeast of Fairbanks. This is a place we like to go in the winter to go xc skiing, skijoring and snowmachining.
Check it out: http://screencast.com/t/OWM5ODY1M

Using my PLN! - After reading nrsfyzix site and seeing the embedded screencast of Vernier's Graphical analysis, I looked into to how to do this on the Jing help menu. So I was able to find out how to add a button for sharing using an embed code. I will later try to make a Voicethread on how to do this!

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TEDx

I've watched several of the TEDx videos today. It's pretty much a collection of various scientific lectures on video. Kinda like YouTube for education. Some of the videos, like the undersea creatures camoflauging tricks had video footage that is on YouTube that I used in my bio classes. Interesting resource. The videos are fairly short and seem to be professionally done. I don't know if I would actually show one of them for my classes, but they are a good resource for me as the teacher. I was also able to finally add TEDx as an RSS feed.

Love the Glogster

Very cool little tool. I made my first glog for my equestrian camp that we put on in the summer. Granted our camp was this past week! But I will definitely use it next summer to advertise my equestrian camp. I can see my students l-o-v-i-n-g this! The ability to print is the best part. Great for making school flyers and then they can post to school website. Awesome, awesome, awesome.
Here is a link to my simple little equestrian camp poster... took me about 20 minutes and I was learning on the fly.
http://gspice.glogster.com/AspenRidgeHorseCamp/

My need to organize!

I am a completely type A personality... therefore it drives me crazy if my bookmarks, folders, house, classroom, anything really, is unorganized. As a result, I wasn't completely happy with using Google Reader. After watching the videos on how to organize Google Reader, I now am much happier with using it. I have now organized all of the blogs and news feeds into tidy folders based on their subject matter. So far I have made folders titled: Science, News, Horse Stuff, Thinking Education, & World Cup Soccer. This has made it much easier to manage the clutter. I do have a question though, can Twitter be part of this on Google Reader too?

Science & Literacy

After reading the Science & Literacy article and the Common Core Literacy standards, I feel pretty confident that I already teach to these standards and have always had these types of guidelines in place for my students. Students whine occasionally "this isn't English class! Why do I have to write so much!" My joking reply is, "the only reason you have English class, is so you can do science!" Ha! Anyway, one of the ways I support literacy is through the requirement of "Pre-labs" I call them tickets into the fun park because they're not allowed to do the "fun stuff" (the actual lab) with out them. These require that the students demonstrate that they have read the lab through completely (and comprehend it) and can articulate the purpose, the procedures they will use and any safety precautions that need to be taken. One way I have adapted this idea for my complex AP Bio labs, is to have the students draw or diagram the procedures with little numbered diagrams of each major step in the procedures. This is a quick way for me as the teacher to assess if they truly have read and understand the procedures for the lab.

As for the Common Core Literacy standards, I'm confident that my district will adopt these (if if our state does not) as we are already moving in this direction anyway with standards for literacy in all content areas. Once important reason for having these standards is to hold teachers accountable, as well as the students. Without a clear set of literacy standards, the type of educational experience a student has is simply luck of the draw, usually depending on the teacher they get. As a result, some teachers who have no idea how or what they should be doing simply flounder and just try this or that hoping that the students come away with something. Too often these teachers don't require any form of demonstration of the student's ability to process, analyze, and share information. They are simply taught at, through lecture, notes, videos, etc. and then required to take a multiple choice test on the information. Don't get me wrong, I use multiple choice questions and they definitely have a purpose, but it shouldn't be the sole form of assessing student learning or understanding. Students should be creating and communicating about their understanding of what they are learning about, not just regurgitating information. By having a clear set of guidelines based on career and college expectations, the students will have clear expectations to strive for and will develop a deeper understanding of the content using communication skills necessary for working and living in the 21st century.

Guiding Principles for Utilizing Technology in the Classroom

My guiding principles for technology have always been to give students access to information and tools for doing science. I also want them to be able to develop skills in using technology tools for the workplace. I view my role as their teacher to inspire them to pursue their interests, to nurture their natural curiosity, to guide them in achieving their educational goals, and to act as a mentor in developing science skills and knowledge. Technology is an avenue for achieving these goals. I also use technology to give my students more immediate feedback by providing instantaneous test results, online discussions, access to information regarding my class via my class wiki. Finally, I want to encourage my students to be able to collaborate without them having to leave their home, and to interact with each other as well as others in the global classroom to create, discuss, and share information.

Okay, so the more I read about Twitter, the more I find that I am not the only one who is not interested in reading random information about people's personal lives. I use Facebook for that to connect with people I know and have real relationships with.... I can see possible a use for it with a network of science teachers if the postings were about specific topics and kept to just those topics... not random postings that are personal.

Twitter makes me nuts!

Still having trouble getting Twitter figured out. I have tried to add the people listed in the links Eric gave us but for some reason I am not doing something right and they are not showing up in the search. I'll try again.

I hate to say it, but after the first week in this web 2.0 class, I'm a little irritated by the format of this class. I was very excited about taking this class and getting the opportunity to build my tech repertoire. I thought I was a pretty tech savvy person and on the forefront of utilization of technology in the classroom, however, the random, unconnected assignments has me feeling rather frustrated and like this may not get me the results I wanted. I was hoping to get some real guidance on specific ways to utilize these various technologies for teaching science. I know its only the first week but still, trying to learn about and implement so many things at once with no specificity has me wondering how it will come into play in my classroom. To quote the first chapter from our book, ."...the technology cannot be discussed in isolation—it must be combined
with a description of the teaching strategy. A description of the manner in
which a pedagogical strategy is combined with technology to teach specific content is
crucial." So I guess I'm hoping that at some point, specific ways in which I can these technology tools to better teach my students that content and get them to share and learn from others will be revealed.

Still getting all this figured out. I've been doing a lot of reading and just trying to absorb and evaluate how this could all be used in my classroom. I would like to see more specifics on some of these science blogs and on Twitter on how these can be used in the classroom without worry of inappropiate sites or irrelevant/inaccurate "stuff" that is just opinions rather that real science. For my ap bio, I will be looking for sites that deal with the required labs and get some feedback on tips, tricks, and alternative materials. Also, it might be interesting to network with these other teachers and possibly do labs jointly and share data for greater sampling numbers.

Introduction

Welcome to Ms. Hamlin's Science blog for Lathrop Malemute students! After teaching at NPH for the last 13 years I am really happy to be able to call myself a Malemute through and through since I am not not only a Lathrop parent but a staff member as well! I look forward to working with and getting to know each of you... although I already know many of you quite well! We are going to have a great year learning about and doing science!