I feel as though I need to share that all the tools I have worked with/"discovered" for this blog have come entirely from Sandy Kennedy's blog and wiki, which are an endless supply of interactive, educational tools that can be used with children of all ages in a variety of settings. If you have somehow stumbled upon my blog without navigating through hers, be sure to check her out!
After playing with some very cool web 2.0 tools for audio/visual use in the classroom, it was fun to also take a look at those that are most useful in a science classroom. Since science is such an interactive class by nature, it has been an interesting thing to play with applications that take the literal "getting your hands dirty" of most science lessons to a meaningful way of interacting online.
A few of the fun tools I explored include:
Anatomy Arcade: This was so much fun I got caught up in playing for 30 minutes! It is a great way for students to review basic anatomy by system. There are standard crossword puzzles, jigsaws, and word searches, but the real fun comes from games like "Poke-a-Muscle" and "Whack-a-Bone" which have levels that must be unlocked in order to progress. They are fun, and require students to pay attention to what they are doing to do well!
One Ocean: I had high hopes for this interactive website when I first started playing with it. It had sections of video, beautiful photo galleries, and an interactive game where students can play to protect their own 3D ocean environment from various threats, all based on a great documentary series with David Suzuki. It asks you to download a web player to play the games though, and even after I downloaded it, I couldn't seem to get the games to play. Also, in exploring the video extras, the three videos I tried to play were all unavailable for some reason. As this series just came out, I am hoping they will improve their website to get it working the way they describe, because this looks like it could be really cool.
PhET: While I have no idea what the name of this site means, it was created by the University of Colorado at Boulder and provides all kinds of simulations that explain a HUGE variety of science concepts. It is also organized by level and area of science, which makes it easy to find what you are looking for, or simulations that are appropriate for students at each level. A few of the middle school ones that I love are "States of Matter" and "Eating and Exercise." There are also a lot of great physics simulations that help students interact with what can be complicated concepts. Definitely a site worth checking out!
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
Thursday, August 2, 2012
Visual Learning
Word Clouds: Coincidentally, I was in a workshop today that used word clouds in a couple of different ways. The presenters organized groups by having 5 different wordles that they passed out randomly. We were to find the other members of the group that had the same wordle to form our cooperative groups. At the end of the day, they asked us for three words that described our time at the workshop. They copied and pasted them all into a word cloud and made it available for us all to see the common themes that we had picked up during the class. For me, that was a really neat way to reflect on my learning and how it fits with everyone else.
The word cloud below is just a cool one I found online that compares Obama's Inaugural Address (top) with Bush's Farewell Address from the same day. I thought it was a great way for kids to examine themes in any context, and in this case, to see many of the commonalities of those themes despite the conflicting nature of our political parties these days.
Word Clouds:
Image from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/thomashawk/3212478515/sizes/m/in/photostream/
Graphic Organizers: I have a book of graphic organizer black outlines that can be photocopied,but that is a little old school now that most of my students are doing all of their work on their computer. Education Place also has reproducible graphic organizers as PDFs, so they can be provided for students to use as well. The same is true for Recipes4Success and Think Technology, although they also offer them in Word and HTML formats.
The tool I really loved for use in the classroom was Popplet. It allows for customization of graphic organizers that was both fun and easy. It allows users to upload pictures, and share on facebook, twitter, or other social media sites. Here is a quick one I made just to try it out.
The word cloud below is just a cool one I found online that compares Obama's Inaugural Address (top) with Bush's Farewell Address from the same day. I thought it was a great way for kids to examine themes in any context, and in this case, to see many of the commonalities of those themes despite the conflicting nature of our political parties these days.
Word Clouds:
Image from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/thomashawk/3212478515/sizes/m/in/photostream/
Graphic Organizers: I have a book of graphic organizer black outlines that can be photocopied,but that is a little old school now that most of my students are doing all of their work on their computer. Education Place also has reproducible graphic organizers as PDFs, so they can be provided for students to use as well. The same is true for Recipes4Success and Think Technology, although they also offer them in Word and HTML formats.
The tool I really loved for use in the classroom was Popplet. It allows for customization of graphic organizers that was both fun and easy. It allows users to upload pictures, and share on facebook, twitter, or other social media sites. Here is a quick one I made just to try it out.
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
Audio Tools
I have to admit, when I saw this assignment, I was a bit unsure about how to use audio tools in a Science class. It just seemed to me that foreign language or language arts would be better able to use audio Web 2.0 tools, as there is a very clear oral component to these classes. I have tried to use Voicethread in the classroom before and found it very limited. Not so with the Knovio, a great tool for creating presentations that include visuals, audio, and video!
Knovio: I love this tool! It allows users to upload a PowerPoint, then add video or audio to the presentation to make a video. I love that it includes the video piece, because to me that is far more dynamic than just having the audio capabilities. I have been examining the idea of the "flipped classroom" recently, and this would be a great way for me to give students background information to review before coming to class for an activity or lab. It could also be used by students who could create their presentations based on what they learned, then post their knovio videos to a private space to share with their classmates. This was definitely my favorite of the audio tools.
Fotobabble: This site seems to offer a cool way to add an audio piece to any picture file by incorporating it with social media. Since my students are avid facebookers, I can see them creating all kinds of photo subtitles, party invitations, and silly commentary on their own pictures and those of others. It seems to have more of a business focus than educational, so I would have to be creative as to how I can utilize it in the classroom, but I am certainly open to suggestions!
Knovio: I love this tool! It allows users to upload a PowerPoint, then add video or audio to the presentation to make a video. I love that it includes the video piece, because to me that is far more dynamic than just having the audio capabilities. I have been examining the idea of the "flipped classroom" recently, and this would be a great way for me to give students background information to review before coming to class for an activity or lab. It could also be used by students who could create their presentations based on what they learned, then post their knovio videos to a private space to share with their classmates. This was definitely my favorite of the audio tools.
Fotobabble: This site seems to offer a cool way to add an audio piece to any picture file by incorporating it with social media. Since my students are avid facebookers, I can see them creating all kinds of photo subtitles, party invitations, and silly commentary on their own pictures and those of others. It seems to have more of a business focus than educational, so I would have to be creative as to how I can utilize it in the classroom, but I am certainly open to suggestions!
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Digital Storytelling
Digital Storytelling in the science classroom can be used for organizing concepts or steps of a scientific process in a creative and connected way. I have used it in the past, this year through tikatok.com, which was hosted by Barnes and Noble, but the free service has since been disabled. I had a good time exploring some of these tools, and found a few good things to use with my students in the future.
Here are a few of the digital storytelling tools I explored today:
FlipSnack: What a fabulous way to turn a basic PowerPoint presentation into an online book! This tool will be great for use with my middle school students because most of them are already very familiar with PowerPoint and can make very creative and informative presentations. Using FlipSnack, they can turn these PowerPoints into a book format that looks absolutely fabulous. I would love to use this site to have my students create stories about some scientific process or concept that could be used to teach elementary school students.
We Tell Stories: While this is not going to be the most useful classroom tool for my science class, I had so much fun playing with it! It would be a great tool for a language arts teacher or elementary school teacher, particularly in teaching about fairy tales, but would work with any lesson on story structure, plot or character development, tone, or voice.
Jux: This is a fantastic site that I plan on using both professionally and personally! It has a variety of ways to present photos and video in an artistic and creative way, and the ability to share them. Here is a quick slideshow I made of this year's Future City team. I am often looking for summative assessment choices for students to show me what they have learned in a different or creative way. This would be a great tool for students who like working with photos and video. It also has a way of making a creative "Top Ten" list, which could be used to have students list characteristics of biomes or ecosystems, or any other scientific topic. The only issue I had with this site was that it had errors in uploading some of my photos.
National Film Board of Canada (NFB): I clicked on this link to explore making storyboards, which can be a great tool for students to demonstrate some scientific phenomenon, such as cell division or tidal changes. I had a bit of a hard time navigating it though. While I found some pretty cool videos on a variety of topics, I was unable to find a way to create storyboards on this site.
Here are a few of the digital storytelling tools I explored today:
FlipSnack: What a fabulous way to turn a basic PowerPoint presentation into an online book! This tool will be great for use with my middle school students because most of them are already very familiar with PowerPoint and can make very creative and informative presentations. Using FlipSnack, they can turn these PowerPoints into a book format that looks absolutely fabulous. I would love to use this site to have my students create stories about some scientific process or concept that could be used to teach elementary school students.
We Tell Stories: While this is not going to be the most useful classroom tool for my science class, I had so much fun playing with it! It would be a great tool for a language arts teacher or elementary school teacher, particularly in teaching about fairy tales, but would work with any lesson on story structure, plot or character development, tone, or voice.
Jux: This is a fantastic site that I plan on using both professionally and personally! It has a variety of ways to present photos and video in an artistic and creative way, and the ability to share them. Here is a quick slideshow I made of this year's Future City team. I am often looking for summative assessment choices for students to show me what they have learned in a different or creative way. This would be a great tool for students who like working with photos and video. It also has a way of making a creative "Top Ten" list, which could be used to have students list characteristics of biomes or ecosystems, or any other scientific topic. The only issue I had with this site was that it had errors in uploading some of my photos.
National Film Board of Canada (NFB): I clicked on this link to explore making storyboards, which can be a great tool for students to demonstrate some scientific phenomenon, such as cell division or tidal changes. I had a bit of a hard time navigating it though. While I found some pretty cool videos on a variety of topics, I was unable to find a way to create storyboards on this site.
Thursday, June 21, 2012
Brain Research
Good morning!
It has taken me a little while find the opportunity to sit down and reflect on what it means to live in a digital world. The implications for society, but more specifically for myself, both personally and as and educator, are significant. Since I was born in 1981, I feel a bit like a child who moves to a new country and has to learn a new language in elementary school. I am a little too old to be a true digital native, but the online world has been a part of my life since my family's first dial-up connection when I was 12. Many aspects of technology have incorporated into my life seamlessly, and my sisters and I were able to teach our parents and grandmother everything from checking email to using Siri.
That said, things are changing so quickly that I do occasionally have a hard time keeping up. The students I teach now were born when I was in college, getting my first cellphone. Their world is not one of immersion, as mine was, but of personal culture and native language. While I can remember a world with actual payphones and watches, they cannot understand a need for either of these things.
While all of this is interesting, as a science teacher and bio-geek, I am fascinated by the changes in brain development in people based on this technology. For some time, I have been following research from the Mind and Life Institute, which examines the changes in brainwaves based on various meditation practices. They have found that neuronal connections, despite long-held beliefs to the contrary, can be rewired. In the case of meditation, it is often used to reduce stress and anxiety, or simply to foster more mindfulness and compassion in an increasingly complicated world. In this vein, it does not surprise me at all that the intrusion (and I mean that in the most positive way!) of technology on our lives would cause a similar rewiring to occur. A sleep specialist being interviewed on NPR last week mentioned the importance of "powering down" about two hours before we go to bed; turning off all electronic devices so that the stimulation to our brains can begin to calm and allow us quality sleep. This is just one example of many ways that I believe our neurology has begun to change because of our ever-present digital world.
Links for further reading:
Access the Mind and Life Institute here.
Some interesting videos explaining digital natives can be found here.
It has taken me a little while find the opportunity to sit down and reflect on what it means to live in a digital world. The implications for society, but more specifically for myself, both personally and as and educator, are significant. Since I was born in 1981, I feel a bit like a child who moves to a new country and has to learn a new language in elementary school. I am a little too old to be a true digital native, but the online world has been a part of my life since my family's first dial-up connection when I was 12. Many aspects of technology have incorporated into my life seamlessly, and my sisters and I were able to teach our parents and grandmother everything from checking email to using Siri.
That said, things are changing so quickly that I do occasionally have a hard time keeping up. The students I teach now were born when I was in college, getting my first cellphone. Their world is not one of immersion, as mine was, but of personal culture and native language. While I can remember a world with actual payphones and watches, they cannot understand a need for either of these things.
While all of this is interesting, as a science teacher and bio-geek, I am fascinated by the changes in brain development in people based on this technology. For some time, I have been following research from the Mind and Life Institute, which examines the changes in brainwaves based on various meditation practices. They have found that neuronal connections, despite long-held beliefs to the contrary, can be rewired. In the case of meditation, it is often used to reduce stress and anxiety, or simply to foster more mindfulness and compassion in an increasingly complicated world. In this vein, it does not surprise me at all that the intrusion (and I mean that in the most positive way!) of technology on our lives would cause a similar rewiring to occur. A sleep specialist being interviewed on NPR last week mentioned the importance of "powering down" about two hours before we go to bed; turning off all electronic devices so that the stimulation to our brains can begin to calm and allow us quality sleep. This is just one example of many ways that I believe our neurology has begun to change because of our ever-present digital world.
Links for further reading:
Access the Mind and Life Institute here.
Some interesting videos explaining digital natives can be found here.
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)