Forest Farewell

It's hard to think that next week the forest rendezvous will be over - what a phenomenal climb! I'll leave this class enriched by my classmates, more well-versed in Web tools and feeling more confident to tackle future technology adventures.

What I liked...

• -Getting my feet wet into the different Web tools.
• -Creating a blog and screencast.
• -Learning from colleagues.
• -The selected How To videos.

What I didn't...

1. Feeling like a bug, buzzing around to collect all the information on a weekly topic. It was difficult to be in a self-guided course as an absolute beginner.


2. Receiving little to no feedback from the course on work products. Because I'd like to do more Web-related projects professionally, I would like to know what's good and how the work can improve, along with see best-practice examples.


3. Timing on topics. I wish there were less time spent on the more familiar topics (Google Earth) and more time spent on the less familiar topics (casting). I wanted more on podcasting, which was in the course objectives.

What I recommend for improvement...

1. Create a weekly lecture on each Web tool. What is it? How is it being used in the classroom? Some of the problems with it? Best practice examples.


2. Comments of student work projects. What's good about the project? What are the areas that need improvement?


3. More depth on some topics. Splitting the weeks, giving you half a week on a less involved Web tool and a week and a half on something more involved to improve learning exploration time.

What I'll use...

• The VideoThread and Screencast Web tools for science classroom work.
• Aggregators for professional development.
• Blog for personal science education initiatives.

Ultimately, I enjoyed my climb and am more familiar with my climbing gear. But, I am still feeling like a beginner and know I have a lot of climbing practice hours to put in to improve my techniques. My guiding principles are helping me keep a focused path though. And upon review, I couldn't agree with my principles more...

And so, forest friends, I thank for all your wonderful climbing suggestions. I have learned so much from you and hope to stay in "the woods" with you going forward.

But for now, from my tree to yours, farewell...

Science Girls

Final Project Plan No. 3

Note: This is the one I'm most excited about and wanted to start for years. Now that I have the tool knowledge, I can't wait to get started!

Goal: Create a Web site for young girls that teaches about science in fun and engaging ways and gets them excited about becoming a scientist.

Program One: Science Girls Web site, ages 4-9

Plan: Create a Web site for young girls that features science videos, scientist expert videos, science facts, amazing things about science, experiment how-tos and related videos for families, social justice projects, and data-collecting databases that they can participate in, along with science products to purchase and recycle to other future scientists.

Action Items:

• Look for and select a Web site development tool.
• Develop Web strategic framework.
• Start building Web site content outline.
• Design and produce products.
• Gather, write and add Web site content.
• Get copyrights.
• Launch.
• Market.

Geyser Puzzles

Final Project Plan No. 2

Goal: Create a water cycle program that incorporates Web-based and hands-on activities.

Program One: Water Cycle, grades 2-3, science inquiry

Plan: Merge How Water Got Me to School screencasting story, VoiceThread water cycle explanation, data-gathering virtual tour, classroom experiment and hands-on engagement activity into one fluid unit.

Action Items:

• Write Geyser Puzzles lesson. Done.
• Create How Water Got Me to School screencast. Done.
• Develop water cycle VoiceThread. Finished lecture, but only started VoiceThread.
• Design a virtual data-gathering tour. Completed PowerPoint. Need to move to Slideshare.
• Create an in-classroom water experiment. Done.
• Design Geyser Puzzles. Construction and design concept complete. Need to pick photos and create puzzles.
• Put all pieces together.

eTraveling Science Programs

Final Project Plan No. 1

Goal: Convert two in-class programs to Web-based programs to educate more students across our service territory on energy fundamentals.

Program One: Energy Lab, grades 3-5, electricity and magnetism

Plan: Create a video of an Energy Lab program. Upload a series of video segments based on various topics, such as: What is electricity? How does electricity travel? How do you make electricity using magnets? What is a conductor? How do you make a circuit? I'd also like to have an area that discusses the scientific method and how to use it to conduct circuit experiments.

Action Items:

• Develop program - lecture and instructional aides. Done.
• Videotape program. Done.
• Select video feed and organize for an online format. Upload.

Program Two: Building Electricity, grades 1-2, energy

Plan: Create a VoiceThread that discusses different energy sources, uses of electrical power, and how electricity is made and sent to homes and schools.

Action Items:

• Create screen graphics. This is what I've developed so far...

• Develop lecture materials. Done.
• Record VoiceThread and upload.

Developing Social Media Strategy

"To develop a meaningful, engaging social media program, you need a methodology. You need to know why you’re active in social media, for whom you are active, and how success will be identified." (A quote from marketingprofs.com for my Webinar: Putting Why Before How: Seven Steps for Focusing Your Social Media Strategy, Presenter: Jason Baer.)

I enjoyed the Webinar format for a learning platform, because of the comment capability and exchange, instant gratification for getting your questions answered, and current ideas. The presentation shared some great insights on social media ("It's not a conversation. It's where the conversation takes place.") and provided some unique perspectives on designing a business case for social media. Here's my take on what was shared along with a few questions of wonder...

First Perspective: Reason first. Use tools last.

Interesting because didn't we do this in reverse? Although I mostly agree with this general idea, you do also have to be aware of what tools are out there, so that you do know how to accomplish your goals. Provided in the Webinar was a link to the Conversation Prism, which shows a wheel of current Web tools by categories, such as wikis, livecasting, video, social networks and more!

Second Perspective: Learn how your audience uses social media.

Fascinating because I don't recall us spending any time talking about how students use social media. Do you? We did receive statistics that students are using social media. We also received information on how social media is being used in the class. But did we discuss how students use social media? Are they creating social media, or just listening to conversations, or participating in it by chatting, or are they critiquing others' work, or are they a mixed user? I am very interested in learning more about this, and that's why I found this profiling tool from Forrester Research, Inc. to be intriguing. It's set up for companies, and has an 18-24 age group, which is fairly close to high school. In it the females are mostly spectators and joiners, whereas the male, although high in spectators as well, increase in the areas of creators and collectors. Fascinating! I wonder what our Web tools' class profile would be?



Third Perspective: Take your social media offline.

We continued to push our content online this course. But this brought out another important point, which our text referred to, what are you doing around your Web technology to ensure effective learning?

The course, although valuable, added even more questions...Plus, I think I'd like to try creating a Webinar.

My Heart is in the Pines

It's the beginning of August, and school is right around the corner. Students are collecting crayons, pencils and glue, and I can't help but feel the buzz of excitement for another school year. And as we all scurry about to get ready, I couldn't help but enjoy the activity on my street.

Where I live, there's a school, one public school teacher, one religious school teacher, one homeschool teacher and one special education teacher, plus many houses filled with young children. And it was one of these children that caught my eye this week. Carrying a bag filled with rasberries, this particular boy was speeding home, running as fast as he could across the street, with his red superman cape streaming in the wind. I had to stop and revel in this great moment, for I realized the most important part of my personal learning network is not the expert or tool, but the child.

If I am going to teach young children, I must learn to wonder and play and be like them. They are ready to discover and explore, whereas I'm ready to pull my hair out with stress. They are overjoyed by their findings and want to share them with others, whereas I want to vent. They want to run to their future, whereas I mostly want to hide under the covers. And where's the joy of learning with bed bugs?!

The hero with the cape taught me a lot this week. He reminded me to listen and learn from children. What questions do they have? How do they learn best? What are they most interested in? He further made me wonder if any of us have a single student in our network? I know I don't (yet), and that's what I'm going to focus on, starting with my street. This week, in talking with my neighbors, I invited them to collect fire fly data and enter it on my blog. If students get excited about learning stuff and talk to other students, wouldn't that build our network too? Think of all the value they would bring with their inquisitive nature!

And so even though my goal for this course is to climb to the treetops, I realize that my heart is in the pines. I love children, and therefore, need to remember never to climb too far from them. For if I'm at the treetop, how can I see the little trees below? And if the little trees don't grow, how will the forest be sustained?

Forest Fires and Grasshoppers

My husband and I are truly blessed. With a lot of help, the flames of July are finally dying down. But up until two days ago, the stress of the fire (losing two grandparents, selling his home - yeah!, moving, getting an offer on my house, looking for a place to live - still looking, wrecking a vehicle, going through the concern with my mom's accident and head injury, learning my friend totaled her moped and was rushed to the hospital, finishing another graduate class, working and just plain 'ol living) nearly overcame us...What saved me from the smoke? Here's the story...

I pulled in the driveway from work at 7:18 p.m. on Wednesday night. And there to greet me were three adorable neighbor kids. With my car door open, all three were scrunched in between my car and my husband's truck, with me still sitting in my front seat. What did we talk about? Teeth. And of course, I had to ask where the tooth went, and if it was going to grow back, and if a tooth was a bone, and if all bones grow the same. It was wonderful to wonder with these children. While still chatting science, I finally escaped my car seat. Then, out of nowhere, the littlest one came running out with his very own insect box. He set it down proudly before my husband and me, and announced that a grasshopper was inside. After he pointed out the grasshopper in the box, we had to ask, "What does a grasshopper do?" And without hesitation, he put his body in full motion and exclaimed, "Jump!"

And this, young grasshoppers, is exactly what we need to remind ourselves to continually do as science educators with web technology and tools. We must jump, not for ourselves, but for the kids. We must remember that even small jumps are important to take in the midst of a forest fire. And we must keep in mind that some of the best jumpers are kids. And therefore, we must learn to jump from them and with them.

So besides jumping in the fire, what did I learn? To me this week was about two things: 1) the power of the story and 2) tying that powerful story to the students. What I'm wondering about is if personal ties to the story will increase students' science understanding? I noticed in a lot of the great stories out there, the presenter often used personal pronouns, such as "her group," "I," or "what we found." Is there research available on this? Secondly, if the story creates a sense of unbelievable imagination will that increase students' science understanding? With no further ado, I hope you enjoy my opening twist on the Water Cycle: How Water Got Me to School...

Soon to be featured in my water cycle stories are the original driveway jumpers (aka neighbor kids).

Watering My Tree

Have you ever put so much effort into something in hopes of getting something in return? As part of my work, I invested my heart and soul into developing and designing a new interactive education exhibit for children. After the Grand Opening event last weekend, I was invited to present my results. The meeting wasn't a cent short of exciting. (Left: A sneak peek of the exhibit)

So, what does my day job have to do with this class or my tree climb? Well, after weeks of building my personal learning network, it wasn't until this week that I realized a fundamental, yet missing, way to expand my professional development. To really advance my network into desired contact groups (and become one of the gang), I need to not only gather, but also produce. In other words, from time to time, I need water my tree.

For this entire class time, I've been reaching out to search for more knowledge, to gain more contacts, to learn more technology applications. The fact is that I've been looking only to others to network with me. This technique alone will not continually grow or sustain my network. I need to also find ways to network with "them."

So what I'm wondering is what if we all took the time to actually develop science education work products (i.e. our plans coming up next week) in a strategic way so that others would be interested... Would we create more opportunities for our students? Would we create positive recognition for our schools? And most significantly, would we engage students in science in a more effective and lasting way?

This networking twist isn't really new, but I had to re-learn it this week; and it was refreshing. It made me consider how many things I learned when I was little about networking. Growing up, thanks to my mother the master gardener, my sister and I spent the summer watering, weeding and growing the most beautiful vegetables and flowers. (Proof: we have 4-H Best of Show ribbons in both categories.) What's the network translation to now? We need to tend our network like a garden. Plant strategically. Water diligently. Tend often. Share the fruits of our labor. Connect with master gardeners. Bottom line, it is better to give than receive. And it is when we give of ourselves with creativity and ingenuity that our tree will shoot up to new heights.

And so, I must re-fill my water can.

Need Input

Have you ever seen the movie Short Circuit? The robot (no. 5) malfunctions, comes "alive," and then, spends all its time trying to satisfy its cravings for input. No. 5's favorite saying was, "need input."

To understand any scientific problem, you need data. To discuss potential solutions to scientific problems, you need data. And ultimately, to solve any scientific problems, you need data.



Data may not be fun as solo numbers and information with units, but what the data can do is where the real fun begins. And when students can work to solve real problems with data, or collect their own data in the field, or participate with scientists in collecting data, that's when they'll start to see science come alive too!

In my Thermal Biology course, I developed a water cycle program for elementary students that utilized temperature data in a virtual field trip activity. In the summer edition of Science & Children, a project involving collecting data is featured for grades 4-6, called "Designing Payloads." The students worked with a local university to create a payload that collects temperature, relative humidity, and/or light intensity data in the atmosphere. Prior to coming up with their own design, the teacher worked with students to teach them how to use a data logger. When the construction of the payload was complete, the students with university scientists launched the payload, tracking it with a GPS unit. Wow!

As seen with this project, data collection, explanation and analysis can be a time-consuming project in the classroom with students. But because it can be very worthwhile if done in creative ways, I'm wondering how often data is used in the classroom to conduct science investigations vs. being reviewed by students online to only see science data?

Networking Advice from Ants

I love fireflies. To me, they are nature's fireworks. And I've been waiting for them to appear since June. Last night, in a beautiful symphony of patterns, they lit up the night sky. My heart was aflutter; my friends had returned.

And isn't this what our personal learning network should be like too? People who light up our lives with exciting, new information that's helpful? This week, I finally got in touch with a technology-guru family member. And you know what? I now can download my video from my camera to my computer!

Ant Advice No. 1: To build the best ant hill, network with the entire ant family.

Upon reflection of my network activities this week, I realized an important methodology: build your network simultaneously in two directions, focusing on two main areas: people and information. For information this week, I learned that twitter is being used as a tool to notify customers of product sales. Thinking this was a good application, I tried to see if any science education stores were utilizing this Web application for informing clients of promotional science products. Acorn Naturalist, one of my favorites, Steve Spangler Science and eNasco did not utilize twitter; however, Steve Spangler does have a blog. As I continued to gather ways to network, I reached out to science educators and individuals in childhood learning, and reviewed the Science Channel and How Stuff Works to see what I could learn or follow. Ultimately, the best way for me to build myself professionally is to keep all potential learning avenues open to enhance my knowledge level (i.e. science abilities) and people contacts.

Ant Advice No. 2: Because the Queen is hungry, leverage all ant workers to carry the carbon-rich leaf food.

At times though there are some avenues for networking that must be avoided because they waste my most valuable resource: time. Therefore, I not only think that guiding principles are important for utilizing technology in the classroom, but also managing the use of my time spent with technology. In other words, I'm not willing to veg out in front of the computer reviewing hundreds of emails, without responding, or perusing many tweets that add no value to my professional development. Therefore, this week, I also was working on honing my management of technology tools so that I could use technology to my benefit, setting up rules or scheduling posts. Technology on automatic is effective and efficient.

Ant Advice No. 3: Nothing or no one is let into the ant hill, except what the ants allow.

Nearing the Tree Tops

My virtual plane was fueled, ready for me to fly across the ocean to the great Vatican City this week. And as my tour continued around the world, I saw The Great Wall of China, the Grand Canyon, Mt. Rainier and my childhood home. And the best part: I didn't use a single vomit bag!

The journey through Google Earth was interesting, because it gave me a new way of looking at the world around us. And although the tool was cool, it wasn't as focused as I hoped it would be as I zoomed in. My husband prefers another tool called Flash Earth. This one seemed to provide clearer views at closer ranges.

What I hope is that in conjuction with applications like Google Earth students continue to go outside and explore the outdoors. For Google Earth doesn't provide sounds or smells or a connection to nature. Have you read Last Child in the Woods? If not, I encourage it.

Me at an absolutely secret blueberry-picking spot.

What I'm also wondering is if there are any ethic violation cases regarding the use/misuse of this application. Because not only could Google Earth be used in the classroom to explore the use of technology to benefit scientific study, but also to debate issues with technology. (A discussion scientists are having right now concerns data collection on a database. Idea: scientists share their data on a database to get to solutions quicker. Concern: Scientists collect data differently, so how do you sort and calibrate it? Therefore, a potential classroom debate could be: What are the pros and cons of using technology to advance science discovery.)

Simulations are booming! I immensely enjoy the educational benefit of simulations. They clarify science concepts through magnification. Brilliant. A new one I came across through my search was Gamequarium. Check it out on the class simulation wiki. (The one through my PLN on viruses is there too!)

So, to conclude, my flight pattern was varied this week, and as usual, I am in awe of the volume of resources available on the Web. But what I am also realizing is that I am nearing my tree top.

And I can't wait to reach the top and fly!

Branch to Branch

From age to age, branch to branch, wisdom is passed down from generation to generation. Some of it sticks with you, and other pieces slip away. What has stuck with me is the wisdom of my high school chemistry teacher. Over and over he would say, "you're the best of the best, but you're not that good." A phrase that has come to personally mean: never stop learning and exploring the world of science.

This wisdom couldn't be more appropriate in this day and age when the opportunities to learn science seem endless. But what should you learn? How should you learn? And who should learn from? All fundamental questions in building a personal learning network.

And that's why I've chosen to build my network to focus on science (research and findings) from an academic institutes (Penn State through Twitter) with real people (Mr. Wanek, a fantastic teacher of 35 years, corporate education directors and science education program coordinators). With these types of connections, I will find valuable, wise and cutting-edge information.

(Pictured left) Mr. Wanek, best chemistry teacher ever, and scientist Jacquelyn pointing to her 100% qualitative analysis score on a chemistry lab cabinet door. The cabinet door was rescued by Mr. Wanek recently as the old high school will soon be torn down.

In fact, while staying in my fort up north, I had some very wise visitors. Mr. Wanek, best high school chemistry teacher of all time, and I visited about science education in the fort. First, we walked down memory lane and talked about the Qualitative Analysis project - best high school Honors Chemistry project ever! (Mr. Wanek made up mixtures with different elements and put them in the vials. Our job was to figure out what was in the vial. It was self-guided, but we could ask the opinion of our peers. Mr. Wanek knew it was a formidable project, but truly saw the value in allowing us to do science in a hands-on way.) And then, we analyzed the current state of science education (some teachers have gone to doing only demonstrations because of room spacing in the classroom). And what were great Mr. Wanek's thoughts on this? Basically, how are you to learn science, if you're not allowed to do science? Scientists are scientists because they experiment and try things. And furthermore, in his great words, "are given the opportunity to do things wrong."

It's this kind of wisdom that I want to branch out to, even though it's not the normal horizontal branch-to-branch network. We must remember in networking to not only look around, but also up and down. Vertical branching is key to passing down meaningful science education knowledge.

I will never be able to thank Mr. Wanek enough for inspiring me to become a chemist, and for always making sure I got the chance to get my hands on science.

He will always be the strongest branch on my science-learning tree.

Building a Tree Fort

It's week three. I've been busily climbing my tree, exploring new tools, reaching out to others through blogs, twitter and online resources. But this week, I'm putting the climb on hold and setting up fort. It's time to enjoy the view. ("No. 6: Enjoy the view. Evaluate tool-use effectiveness and level of scientific engagement.")

As I look out at my forest, I see many trees that were caught up in a burning flame (eg. firefox is coming on at 3:50 p.m.!), and I don't want to immersed in that kind of fire. In busily following tweets (glad people are eating), reviewing new applications (what's out there, how does it work), and text about technology (what to do, what technology is available to use, how it can be used effectively), I want to take time to thoroughly investigate this last bit more. What is the why and how behind Internet-based technology and instruction? In other words, what is the business case for using technology in the classroom? Where is the data that shows using Web technology increases science understanding?

And that's why it's time to build a fort.

My personal learning network needs to find new branches that are focusing on the rationale for using Internet-based technology during instruction, along with a few old branches (my family) that can help me with some of my technology questions.

Stay tuned. I look forward to sharing my family fort chats.

Video: Denied

This is the week I've been waiting for! Finally, I'd be able to learn how to put videos from my digital camera on my computer, edit them, create movies and share them.

But, that's not going to happen this week. Disappointingly, although I expanded my abilities in the image realm, there was little to no expansion in my video learning. Here's the rundown. Maybe you can help.

Experience
I have learned that my imported videos are in the jpg format in my Movie Maker software. I've spent quite a bit of time playing with Movie Maker, but it seems that I need to convert the jpg into a different file type to watch the video I took with my camera on Movie Maker. Does anyone know how to do this? When I went into Zamzar, I noticed that these jpgs were listed as mov. What I keep bumping into is the url. I don't have a url, because the videos are on my computer. Any ideas of how I get computer files back online? I don't have html to link them. Hmm...

My image experience was completely different though. Every image tool was new and exciting to me. I see many classroom possibilities with images and considered all tools easy-to-use. With that said however, I still have a lot to learn with images. I need to spend more time investigating copyright issues and look forward to similar answers as Marta.

Classroom
Images and videos have the power to teach and expand in ways that published textbooks cannot - the current science, the latest videos, the newest nature pictures. And what's more? There isn't a limit to the number of pictures you can share. You don't have to downsize the number of photos you share, because you have to fit everything on one textbook page. To me, images and videos are definitely learning enhancers and can help students "better understand complex scientific concepts when they see the phenomoenon they are studying" (Technology in the Secondary Science Classroom, Chpt. 2, pg. 9).

However, I also learned that what image and video you choose does make a difference in science interest. For example, many videos out there are too long, not dynamic in their pictorial element, or unclear - what is this again? So, I think selecting material is an important step in quality lesson development. Choosing a video to just have a video probably won't add value. To help with my decisions, I've designed the following video-selection criteria: relevant content from start to finish, appropriate length, clear images, reinforces scientific material, increases student interest, inquiry and understanding.

One last thing, I've realized that image-editing software and online video stores (youtube) are the tools to apply different science teaching methods, such as teaching in opposites, comparing/contrasting, constructivist. So maybe most importantly, videos and images are not used alone to achieve instructional goals, but as part of an overall lesson with teacher-guidance.

Application
So how would I concretely construct something using the image and video tools we explored this week? I would use images and videos to build scientific method skills. After students put together their picture puzzles (observe/research - p.s. in previous blog post), they would report what they think they see (hypothesis). Then, I would ask questions about the pictures (infer and question) and have students ask other questions. Then, we would take a field exploration with real photos and videos (experiment - hopefully soon) to analyze (data) and make (conculsions). For instance, I'm working on developing a water cycle program. To show water gets hot, I could show photos of water temperature readings. We could then calculate and analyze the temperature data found in the field and draw conclusions about what hot water does. Then, I could show a video of geysers, mud volcanoes and steam vents.


Check out the steam surrounding the geyser eruption.

Something I'm wondering is how much of a difference does it make to students' learning if the pictures are of you or from you, or if the videos were taken by you in an actual science research setting? Will their science understanding increase more? Or will any random, applicable, exciting video/photo work equally as well?

Remembering Grandpa

He taught me how to fish. He made my first reptile box. He showed me how to milk a cow. He played the harmonica so that I could dance. He took me blackberry and blueberry picking.

He had the greatest laugh and best work ethic. He told me that "the reward for hard work is more hard work." And I've never forgotten these words.

He was always fun to be around. He made wine (giving me my first science lesson in fermentation), had his own ice shanty and snowshoed. Plus, instead of snowmen, Grandpa made snow chickens with us. I still make them to this day.

He was a man of the land. He raised cattle, pigs and chickens. He gardened, trapped, fished and hunted. And forever, I will have an image etched in my memory of him in his solid denim overalls, red plaid shirt, red mesh hat, standing in the middle of his garden, leaning gingerly on his hoe, resting and taking in the day, living it to the fullest, giving it everything he had.

And so, it is to this memory that I give this photo. A photo that I took last week in Yellowstone National Park. It's been cropped, resized, sharpened, saturated and given a special halo effect. And especially for my Grandpa, I added his favorite animal, a cow. I hope that when he's lifted up on Eagle's wings this week, he will find his green pastures once again.

Love you, Grandpa!

P.S. This photo was enhanced using my new favorite tool, Picnik. I'm excited to use Picnik's puzzle effect to help develop my second grade science inquiry lesson plan on picture puzzles for my Thermal Biology course! But, if I have to pay for the premium puzzle feature, then I'll use a free puzzle maker.

Rockin' Robin

Have you ever seen a fallen Robin's egg?

Twice in my life I've seen the beautiful, baby blue colored eggs. Once was this spring, and the egg was clearly broken. The other time was when I was a little girl. The Robin's egg was intact with light-brown speckles. Not wanting any animal to eat the baby Robin egg, I gloved up (with my mother's plastic sandwich bags) to not leave any scent. Once properly concealed, I began to search for the right spot to put the egg, which was the most difficult task yet. Looking all around the yard for a safe location, I noticed a nice clump of grass with an area underneath, which looked like the perfect incubator. Carefully (and with the hands of a six-year-old), I laid the Robin's egg in its new nest. Not wanting to disturb the egg or potentially add more scent, I did not visit the egg for a few weeks. When I returned to the check on the egg, what do you think I found?

Nothing.

I was sick to my stomach, thinking a fox must have eaten the egg.

But, now that I'm an adult, I realize the error in my childish ways. Isn't it obvious? The baby Robin bird hatched and flew away to start Twitter.

So here's to all my baby Rockin' Robins that are part of my personal learning network. This week, I networked (in person) with MSSE birds from Oregon, Texas, New England, Pennsylvania and Washington D.C. as part of my Thermal Biology course. I asked them the old fashion way to be park of my network, and they agreed. (Yeah, I'm not an empty nester!) Although none of them are twittering, I am going to try and connect with them electronically once I have their emails. Virtually, I started following five people on Twitter, and sent out my very first brown-speckled, baby Robin egg tweet.

What I learned was that there are lots of people to network with and learn from in a variety of ways, and that a social network is a communication vehicle that helps develop my personal learning network. I also learned that those I consider part of my current personal learning network are not plugged in, so I'll have to see if I can invite them by email. However, what I have not learned is how to easily search for people. What is the best way to search, seasoned tweeters? If I am @jcpeck, how would you search for me?

Tweet...tweet...tweet...without the willingness to fly, there can be no new discovery.

Bird song and call descriptions copyright 1998 by NatureSound Studio, from the book Common Birds and Their Songs (Lang Elliott, 1998: Houghton Mifflin Company). Copyright 2006 Lang Elliott and Mighty Pods, LLC. All rights reserved. Site sponsored by birdJam and Nature Sound Studio. birdJam: the ultimate way to learn bird songs!

>Input >Output

"The one who puts the most into it is the one who gets the most out of it," said one of the teachers I met this week during my Thermal Biology course at MSU. And this is exactly how I would summarize my learning for the week with every tool we've explored.

Google Reader, for example, is an amazing collection tool that provides links in an efficient manner, but was I expecting 50 links from one place to immediately pop up? No. I can see how the influx of information can be overwhelming; but I can also see how aggregators will serve as a great science education resource for me to find the latest, cutting-edge topics, videos and news for my programs. I've already applied this tool by pulling one of the articles and linking it to my blog. Also, I can see using this tool to find out the latest information quickly and sharing that with teachers through my biannual newsletter and other communication pieces. But my Google Reader needs work. (It's like cleaning my bedroom - yuck!) I need to put more input into organizing items so that I can get the output I want in the way I want it.

Classroom 2.0 is intriguing because of its offering on web tool professional development and discussion, but the verdict on this one is still out for me. I combed through a lot of information, but saw very little content on science. Once I take my professional development course, I will better be able to determine if the input I'm receiving from this site is improving my personal output.

Twitter annoys me. There, I said it. I can barely remember what I did yesterday. So keeping tabs when someone crosses the state lines or reports in on the latest sport scores is not something I want to find room for in my brain, nor is it what I consider value-added content (guiding principle no. one). But let me also say this: Twitter holds real value for my education position. When I need to let teachers know something, this is the perfect tool. For instance, if I am holding a professional development event, I can send out a tweet to let teachers know and provide information on where to sign up. If I'm offering science programs for the school year, I can send a tweet reminding teachers it's time to schedule their programs. And when those programs fill up (withing two and a half business days like last year), I can send another tweet saying programs are booked and provide other alternatives. Twitter also holds real value with students. This tool could increase science inquiry skills, with promoting open questioning and communication - and even data collection. Can you imagine a student scientist's tweet? Look what I found in the field here...data...data...data. This tool could serve as a quick way to report world-wide data. What I'm reluctant to do though is build my twitter network at a high-speed rate. Here again, I want to be thoughtful about who I network with in a strategic, selective way (better input) so that I can achieve greater output (what I need to hear to increase science interest, opportunities and learning).

So what I'm wondering is how to build a reliable network, as one of our resources stressed as an important component or stage. And if we network with someone, can we un-network later? Or is that connection always out there?

My Worst Day as a Scientist

In the seventh grade, I did a report on the yellow-dotted salamander that I collected from our church's windowsill. Properly watered and fed, the yellow-dotted salamander was transported to school in my grandfather-constructed reptile box. Not wanting the salamander to dry out in my locker, I continued to water my little yellow-dotted friend, making sure only to provide the very best care. When the time for my big report came, I proudly presented my reptile box to my fellow students. When I went to show them what a yellow-spotted salamander looks like, I realized that I had drown my salamander. I was devastated. I cried, felt horrible and realized that my scientific calling was not with animals. But I still love them; they're amazing creatures. So, here's a video on some of their astounding capabilities, featuring a salamander.

Blogged by a Fourth-Grade Scientist

It happened. This past school year, I got blogged...as a scientist by a fourth grader. It was eye-opening and providing unique insight into using technology in the classroom.

For this week's blog and wiki review, I'm going to start by how I've seen K-12 blogs and teacher wikis used in the classroom firsthand. Then, I'll provide examples of my online research.

Assessment Blogs

As part of my job (responsible for a corporation's Education Outreach Program), I present Traveling Science Programs at K-12 schools across Wisconsin. In one of my programs, for their assessment, the students created blogs on what they learned in the science program - from the review of the scientific method to the discussion of key vocabulary to how key concepts worked.

How did they develop content for their blogs? The students loaded their program photographs to help explain their points and identified their experimentation results, analyzing trends, data and areas for improvement.

How did they get involved in higher-level learning? The 10-year-old scientists peer-reviewed each other's blogs, and open communication was encouraged to simulate real-world science discussions in a science community. Results were questioned, and scientists needed to provide evidence-based proof in defense of their results.

What was the interactivity of this blog? The blog started as an assessment/report, then turned into a Science Journal with data analysis, and finally, a Science Symposium with students embracing science by acting like real scientists with conclusions to articulate to the class...and me, the scientist.

This example meets my first guiding principle of using technology to increase science understanding, and supports what we've learned in Chpt. 1 of Educational Technology in the Science Classroom: technology is used to address worthwhile science in ways that are pedagogically appropriate. K-12 blogs were used as an assessment tool that verified and enhanced student understanding, and helped build important science skills: communication, data relevance and inquiry.

I believe good science is based on doubt (inquiry or questioning). These students questioned each other, raising the level of critical thinking required to defend experiment results with scientific reasoning.

So what am I still wondering? Was a blog the best Web tool for this work, or would a wiki would have been better?

Teacher Wikis

In having the opportunity to teach in numerous classroom settings, I've seen many teachers having their own site that catalogs their best-found lessons and activities (which isn't necessarily a wiki). In a Science Methods course that I just finished co-teaching, my co-teacher had pre-service teachers form a wiki to begin cataloging activities, lessons and more to prepare for and use during future classroom instruction.

How was wiki content developed and organized? For each science academic standards, teachers found on activity or lesson and added it to the site. Their lessons and activities were evaluated based on the relevance to the academic standard, among other criteria.

How did teachers respond to the tool? Using pbwiki was a mess. There were editing glitches when we were all online together, and many teachers were frustrated. The second time around google docs were used by my co-teacher to develop the collaborative page. This seemed better.

What am I still wondering...is how effective was the incorporation of this tool in a post-secondary setting to prepare teachers to teach science? My thinking (and huge assumption) is because it isn't their own classroom site, they won't use it (going off what I've seen teachers using in the classrooms). I'm not sure if they reviewed other activities and lessons added, so if they do return to the site, they may simply pull a link to their individual Web page.

This example does not meet my guiding principles. It was using a Web tool to do old things in more time-consuming, frustrating ways. Although it did create exposure to Web tools, it did not explain and utilize the tools in a way that promoted interactive learning. Furthermore, it didn't stick. Teachers did it (for their assignment), but no one said they were actually going to use it.

And now, what I found online.

After finally finding a way to search for K-12 blogs (Google > Search > K-12 Science Blogs) that resulted in what I was trying to research, I found the following:

Blogs

• http://scienceblogs.com/ From this blog (collection of a variety of blogs), I was able to find cutting-edge content and relevant examples to use in the classroom. Here are two of my favorite examples because they promote inquiry and examples of science in action.
• http://scienceblogs.com/terrasig/2008/03/public_high_school_student_tak.php
• http://scienceblogs.com/grrlscientist/2009/06/todays_mystery_bird_for_you_to_280.php

Wikis

• http://k12wiki.wikispaces.com/ This wiki seems to be a collaboration of learning between many states. Here are the two examples I enjoyed (Can a coke can be blended?):
• http://k12wiki.wikispaces.com/Simulated+Laboratory+Resources+for+K-12+science
• http://k12wiki.wikispaces.com/speters

These meet my guiding principles of value-added content because the selected tools provide the latest information (even up to the last 24 hours!) on a variety of science topics and aspects of science. However, I had a lot of difficulty finding any student-generated sites. And the ones I did find were more teacher resources to use in various ways in the K-12 classroom. Does this support student-centered, guided discovery models? More learning and research is definitely necessary.

In general, I'm wondering how ethical Web tools are when they are used in the classroom? Is there more cheating? Are the students actually iterating what they know or copying what someone else knows, opposing the goals of increasing science understanding and bridging science-achievement gaps?

Final thought: Now that I've been exposed to a couple of Web tools, I realize there's more available on the Web then my mind imagined.

A Framework for Technology Use in the Classroom

“Science teaches us to be neglectful of nothing, not to despise the small beginnings for the small often contains the great in principle, as the great does the small.” –Faraday

And so to begin my guiding principle draft, I will start with the small: the fundamental principles that I believe trigger learning successfully using Web technology. And hopefully at the end of this course, these small beginnings will be transformed into a framework great in principle.

Guiding Principle 1: The use of Web content and tools in the classroom increases science understanding.

True or False? Large scale studies of science achievement agree on one central finding: schools do not help most students learn science with understanding. Answer: True. According to Technology's Greatest Value, the "major challenge of science instruction is that many scientific ideas are complex, abstract, and contrary to everyday experience, making them difficult for students to understand" (Teaching in the Secondary Science Classroom, p. 94).

Changing this statistic is important to me not only as a scientist, but also as a science teacher and global citizen. To be able to solve the problems of today and the ones yet to come, we must find ways to focus on this core principle, move students' misconception to science-reasoned conception, and answer the underlying question that ties the science topic together: "Why?" Therefore, to increase science understanding using technology, the Web tool content must meet the following parameters:

Value-added: provides experiences beyond the textbook in credible, cutting-edge and 21st century relevant ways, such as imagery and modeling.

Inquiry-based: generates questions and open communication by engaging the learner in dynamic and interactive ways with opportunities to explore, be curious and discover. The National Science Education Standards place inquiry "at the heart of science and science learning" (NRC 1996, p. 15; Technology in the Secondary Science Classroom, p. 93).

Positively promotes science: emphasizes the joy of science to invigorate the learning environment in an interesting, age-appropriate way.

As students build their store of science skills, it's important to use technology to help them dream and prepare for their lives in the workforce, which brings me to my second principle.

Guiding Principle 2: The leveraging of Web connectivity broadens learning scope and provides enriching problem-solving opportunities.

The connectivity effectiveness depends on the following parameters:

Wider accessibility: Takes advantage of information from laboratories and businesses to identify with science in a new way, such as simulations and current data or problems.

Expert-related: Utilizes and connects students to scientists and their work to offer unique perspectives on what's currently happening in areas of science. Provides insight into modern-day research.

Imagine if you could have learned from Einstein online. Would you have remembered that lesson? It would give a whole new level of meaning (i.e. understanding) to E=mc2.

Einstein's office or a potential classroom?

Student-inventor-based: To create the next generation of scientists, students will participate in projects that solve problems collaboratively and begin contributing to solutions, doing their own research, rather than solely reading about other students' achievements.

But these guiding principles would not be effective, if the lesson design doesn't have clear learning expectations, relevant activities or assessments. So, this brings me to my third principle: educator responsibility and guidance of instruction.

Guiding Principle 3: Web technology and tools trigger learning by employing strategic, high-level learning and teaching methodologies.

In our reading assignment, our online text said, "technology in the hands of creative teachers can expand the range of ways students see and experience firsthand the joy of discovery and the creative thinking that goes into planning investigations," which is fundamental to these principle's parameters:

Course design: Teacher develops course with multiple learning modalities and student-centered and teacher-centered approaches to enhance critical thinking abilities and enhance learning pathways, encouraging student-student and teacher-student interactions inside and outside classroom setting.

Accountability: Teacher determines ways to assess student understanding of concepts and advance science knowledge.

Bottom line: using technology in the science classroom must lead to students doing and understanding science in an exciting, guided-discovery way that proves results.

From the trees to the web

My goal for this class is simple: to climb the Web-tree branches of learning, so that when I get to the top branch, I can look out and see a forest.

So what are my proposed steps to this virtual tree climb?

No. 1: Survey the tree. Practice breathing techniques to release fear as a trunk-level beginner.

No. 2: Put on climbing gear. Immerse myself in learning from text, instructor and others.

No. 3: Start the ascent. Explore each branching Web tool and how it's used.

Me at trunk-level with students at Lamanai in Belize, 2005.

No. 4: Practice secure footing. Make mistakes. Try again. Make more mistakes.

No. 5: Reach up for the next branch. Investigate and apply science methods using technology.

No. 6: Enjoy the view. Evaluate tool-use effectiveness and level of scientific engagement.

No. 7: Remember forest birds are not caged. Fly with what I've learned.

And with your help, this budding blogger looks forward to reaching the top of her tree and seeing the Webbed Science Forest.

EcoKids: Seeing the Forest and the Trees