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.
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Friday, June 19, 2009
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?
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:
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
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
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