Power Points

            Power points have changed the way teachers lecture.  Now they can add pictures, models and diagrams without taking the time to draw them out or wasting time writing their notes on the board.  Their thoughts can be more organized by having everything in place and the lecture can run smoothly. 

Power points also benefit the student since they can access the power points if the teacher posts them online or has them printed.  This will help students study since the teacher’s notes are basically a condensed version of the textbook.  They can refer to the important aspects of the lesson in an easy way that is clear to them and saves time.

Power points also are valuable since they make the lecture more student based.  Without having to write all the notes at the time of a lecture the teacher has more time to engage the students actively.  He or she can present a slide and ask the students a specific question pertaining to the material presented.  This can engage a conversation that the students can lead themselves. 

Having pictures presented is also very important.  Pictures can get a point across better than words.  It can stimulate the students’ feelings of the lesson, which should be a main goal of every lesson.  Without the student being involved in the subject matter they will never fully grasp the main idea.  Overall, power points are an effective tool to use in the classroom.    

Movies in the classroom

We have all watched movies in class, some that we have enjoyed and others not so much. The real question to be asked is if it was beneficial in any way. I can recall watching movies in English class to compare it to the novel. This was educational and fun. 

However as a science teacher I am skeptical about videos in class.  I remember in my 12th grade biology class a video meant nap time to most my classmates. This is unfortunate since a video can show many things that is impossible to illustrate in the class. For example a video in science can be a witnessing of a volcano or earthquake,  or exploring oceans depths and outer space.  

I think the problem is that most educational videos are out dated.  A student is more inclined to watch a video with actors in current clothing or updated quality. The student will concentrate less on the ancient look of the actor and more on what he or she is saying. 

However teachers today are lucky to have the internet as a resource. Instead of showing a VCR tape we can YouTube a video on any content. Instead of having a movie waste time while students have a midday nap, we can show a shorter video that gets right to the point and that will grab our students attention. 

Remixed Canvas

For my remixed canvas I chose a canvas on a unit plan of French traveling. This original unit plan is based on the student's skill of the French language to travel through France and produce a French brochure.  I used this idea of the French culture to produce a unit plan on the earth's weather and climate system pertaining specifically to the climate of France. This unit would normally be applied to the student's current climate so that they could follow the weather as they see it.  However, this unit broadens the student's knowledge of the earth's entire climate system.
As I remixed the canvas I noticed how most of the original content was erased.  I thought this was odd since it took away from the idea of remixing a canvas.  It was more like creating an entire new canvas.  It would have been more beneficial if the content was transferred to the new canvas.  If anything, the major templates, like the main idea of the canvas, the photo gallery, and the video, should have been carried over.  You can find my remixed canvas here.

Unit Plan Canvas

This unit explains how and why earthquakes happen by following the path of earthquakes along plate tectonic boundaries. It explains that plate tectonics are moving and are a cause of earthquakes, tsunamis, and the formation of mountain ranges and oceans.  Creating a map of earthquakes presents evidence of plate tectonic motion.

An introduction to this unit is found on my canvas (URL below).  The canvas was made through playground canvases and includes images and videos that will help illustrate the main idea of the unit.  The canvas also includes additional resources that are helpful in creating a map of current, active earthquakes, and in understanding the concepts of plate tectonics.  

http://www.play.annenberginnovationlab.org/play2.0/challenge.php?idChallenge=2514&mode=view#network6

Technology and Pedagogy

This lesson is titled "Earthquakes" and is published on ScienceNetLinks.com.  It teaches middleschool students about plate tectonics and how they affect our earth's development over time.  This is an important and fundamental concept that every middle school student should learn, which is why I chose this lesson to explore.  Also this lesson incorporates authentic situations where students are required to collect data on occuring earthquakes and create a map.   
This lesson incorporates most of the New Jersey earth system standards under the strand of tectonics.  It covers the topics of plate tectonics, lithospheric plates, erosion and deposition, geologic events and the Ring of Fire through both teacher- centered and student-centered strategies.  The teacher-centered strategies include lectures on these specific topics and demonstrations on how to collect the data.  This lesson is mostly student-centered with their own research on earthquakes and the collection of earthquake citings and map creating. Most of the research uses electronic sources and the internet to complete the data collecting. 
Two standards that this lesson does not incorporate is the earth's magnetic field and the layers of Earth.  This could be adapted to the lesson by the teacher's explanation of earth's magnetic field and its play on earthquakes and a model of the layers of the earth and where earthquakes take place.


https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AlEPB9e5Uod9dF9WNnhPSFNMSUF4Y1BSZE9zcmdjb1E&usp=sharing

Electronic Sources

Writing research papers is the hardest assessment for students.  I think about this as I procrastinate on writing my own research paper on paleontology, or fossils.  I’ll admit fossils are not as exciting as you would think.  Therefore it makes it even harder to get excited about writing a term paper on them.  However, thanks to the internet it has become easier to accomplish this task. 

Finding sources for a research paper is the hardest part since it is the starting point.  Over the years the process for this has changed dramatically.  The library used to be the place for this.  You would use the card catalogue to look up the book you need. Once you find it the hunt begins in the maze of books.  I visited the library with this intention but quickly failed when I could not even find the book in the system.  My failure is the result of always using internet sources throughout my education.  

Instead of going through this headache we have the convenience of electronic sources.  We are able to access journals, articles and even books with the convenience of our own computers at home. 

The tricky part is to recognize reliable sources.  With websites like Wikipedia and other Google searches, anyone can post material and publish it as a source.  As teachers we need to show students how to recognize these false sources compared with reliable ones.  Most libraries have links to electronic sources that are reliable.  This is a tool that we need to show our students and even give them websites that they should visit.   

History of Technology in Science

There is so much more to discover that the naked eye can't see.