Final Blog Posting: February 23, 2010
This course has forced a modification of my personal theory of learning in that I realize my own learning is identical to my students. I have needed to learn to use new technology and understand how it will help my learning and understanding of a topic. I have had to step out of my comfort zone with new technology that I was not comfortable using, such as the VoiceThread assignment. But now I am determined to have my students use the site to present their topics for their science fair projects, a major assessment in the last nine weeks of the year.
It is my hope the concept mapping site will help the students become more organized with their project planning. I have a timeline they will follow, but the technology use of the concept mapping site Bubbl.us and their organization hopefully will improve this year. These technology tools will be integrated into the lesson plan and will also give the students experiences to help their understanding of the technology itself and future uses of the technology applied in future units. With such artifacts being constructed, the Constructivist Theory is heavily involved with this unit of study. I think the technology being used by the students will enhance their learning and increase their involvement in a topic, Science Fair, which has been lacking for many years.
My long term goals will be to integrate more technology that is student-oriented, such as the Bubbl.us site for students and the VoiceThread. I use the Inspiration software now, but the Bubbl.us site helps students to use the technology tool at home as well as school. I don’t want the students to only use the presentation skills, but also learn new software such as these new tools. I also will have a long term goal of using my technology in the classroom in a more student-friendly way, not reading the presentations and installing more images to enhance student learning. With these two goals, student-oriented technology and changing my own presentation and usage, I hope to have an engaging classroom. These two goals are long term, but with each addition of technology experiences in my teacher toolbox, they should not be difficult to achieve.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Saturday, February 6, 2010
voicethread url
http://voicethread.com/share/896718/
This is my voicethread url, be sure to check it out.
I talked about science fair projects and the problem of making sure students do a project that they are interested in.
This is my voicethread url, be sure to check it out.
I talked about science fair projects and the problem of making sure students do a project that they are interested in.
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Feb. 2: Connectivism and Social Learning in Practice
There has been a definite push for the Connectivism strategy to be present in classrooms at the middle school level in our classes. This theory is not new, but there are many exciting applications of it with the new technology available in our classrooms every day. I do like the More Knowledgeable Other term, whether it is applied to a computer available with a great web site for data, or an individual who knows about the topic.
One of the best activities I have used in the past is the Jigsaw, which is just what it sounds like. You assign groups (I always use a variety of skill levels in my groupings) and assign a topic or vocabulary to each of the different groups. They are then charged with the responsibility to learn about the topic and choose a way to present and teach to the rest of the class. Each group has a piece of the puzzle to bring back and teach. Then the groups present and a class can learn together. But this definitely needs to be modeled for the students, making sure that they are aware of the expectations for each of their own jobs, their group’s responsibility, and product expectations. I do find that once a class has experienced this strategy, they will ask to do it again in another topic or content later in the year.
This is another area where the middle school teacher has advantages as we are teams in my county. We meet within our curriculum areas and share ideas. I have never liked the concept of reinventing the wheel every year, so when a colleague has a great idea for a collaborative activity we all share the good (and warn each other of the problems) activities that we are doing in our classrooms.
One of the best activities I have used in the past is the Jigsaw, which is just what it sounds like. You assign groups (I always use a variety of skill levels in my groupings) and assign a topic or vocabulary to each of the different groups. They are then charged with the responsibility to learn about the topic and choose a way to present and teach to the rest of the class. Each group has a piece of the puzzle to bring back and teach. Then the groups present and a class can learn together. But this definitely needs to be modeled for the students, making sure that they are aware of the expectations for each of their own jobs, their group’s responsibility, and product expectations. I do find that once a class has experienced this strategy, they will ask to do it again in another topic or content later in the year.
This is another area where the middle school teacher has advantages as we are teams in my county. We meet within our curriculum areas and share ideas. I have never liked the concept of reinventing the wheel every year, so when a colleague has a great idea for a collaborative activity we all share the good (and warn each other of the problems) activities that we are doing in our classrooms.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
1-27-2010 Constructivism in Practice
Now this approach is the best one that lends itself to my content of seventh grade science. From the yearly science fair projects to the summarizing tools we use, Constructivism is an approach that is easily adjusted to the technology we have available in our classrooms.
I often do organizational maps to help with summarizing topics for the tests. Students will do much more when technology than if we have a paper copy. Thursday of this week we will be doing a technology edition of the organizer they did for meiosis, the process of producing sex cells. If you can imagine, I get lots of giggles in class every time I say sex, but they do like to giggle. The concept map they build is a summarizing tool for meiosis, which they have already done a draft copy in their notebooks. The end product is one that they can elect to display in the hall as a technology example.
I also did an inquiry-based project right before the winter break. My students cut out paper dolls(we called them human body systems) and used the connecting body between the number 1,3,5 doll to do a comparison of how the systems work together. It was two sided, so all the systems were used and compared, relating how the systems share organs and work together.
As far as hypotheses, science classes work on them yearly. We start the year every year making sure all students know how to write a correct hypothesis, using only one topic and a testable question. We do many activities on this, then we put it into practice with the science fair project. But each of the lab activities or demonstrations lend themselves for reviewing this skill, which science students begin in elementary school science classes and continue to improve in middle and high school classes.
I do have resources approved for student use, with research help from the media specialist and our school system's intranet research tools. But the website from the project-based websites Internet Tools that Support On-line Project-Based Learning is one that I will add to my school toolbox. I would highly recommend it to middle and elementary teachers as the subjects are well-developed with a variety of topics and tools for teachers.
http://www.teach-nology.com/subjects/science/
I often do organizational maps to help with summarizing topics for the tests. Students will do much more when technology than if we have a paper copy. Thursday of this week we will be doing a technology edition of the organizer they did for meiosis, the process of producing sex cells. If you can imagine, I get lots of giggles in class every time I say sex, but they do like to giggle. The concept map they build is a summarizing tool for meiosis, which they have already done a draft copy in their notebooks. The end product is one that they can elect to display in the hall as a technology example.
I also did an inquiry-based project right before the winter break. My students cut out paper dolls(we called them human body systems) and used the connecting body between the number 1,3,5 doll to do a comparison of how the systems work together. It was two sided, so all the systems were used and compared, relating how the systems share organs and work together.
As far as hypotheses, science classes work on them yearly. We start the year every year making sure all students know how to write a correct hypothesis, using only one topic and a testable question. We do many activities on this, then we put it into practice with the science fair project. But each of the lab activities or demonstrations lend themselves for reviewing this skill, which science students begin in elementary school science classes and continue to improve in middle and high school classes.
I do have resources approved for student use, with research help from the media specialist and our school system's intranet research tools. But the website from the project-based websites Internet Tools that Support On-line Project-Based Learning is one that I will add to my school toolbox. I would highly recommend it to middle and elementary teachers as the subjects are well-developed with a variety of topics and tools for teachers.
http://www.teach-nology.com/subjects/science/
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
1-20-10 Cognitivism in Practice
Cognitive Learning is described by Dr. Orey as the way information is processed, with three stages. The sensory registering, short term and long term memory (Orey, 2009), which is where we as educators wish to end up. Most educators use the visual presentations coupled with auditory presentations to teach our class topics, but with the use of technology we can enhance and enrich the experiences our students crave and increase their understanding and reach that long term memory goal.
We do need to understand, as educators, that there is a limit to how much information can be processed, so the chunking is highly recommended. With my gifted classes I use this strategy more often, making time for more application activities, though now the activities are more technology oriented.
The concept mapping strategy we are currently working on is especially great for cognitive learning as it helps the students make the needed connections of the ideas we are covering in our classes. The visual imaging and the labeling used in concept mapping are examples of the Dual Coding Hypothesis (Orey, 2009) which help the students make the connection between the concept and the image. But Dr. Orey did warn that the images need to be connected to the topic and text, not just a cute picture to make the students laugh or the page interesting or colorful. In science classes this is easily done, as my topic of life science is rich with imagery to use and high interest to seventh grade students. The hands-on of laboratory activities also helps with the coding, to have the student experience the content, smell the lab, and put the content into every day context that will lead to the long term memory. Everyone remembers what they dissected and when!
In science classes I also do Elaborations (Orey, 2009), connecting or associating information to help recall the original. My students now know that the DNA nitrogen bases are paired with the A to T, as straight letters, and C to G, as curvy letters. Even the gender determining chromosome pairs are easy for the students to remember, if you have a y, you are a guy! If I can make the learning fun, more information is likely to make it to the long term memory bank. I do love it when they come back to me for a visit and tell me that they were thinking of me and what we had learned in the seventh grade while in their 9th or 10th grade biology class.
Orey, D. M. (2009, March). Instructional theory vs. learning theory. Bridging learning theory, instruction, and technology . Baltimore, MD: Laureate Education, Inc.
We do need to understand, as educators, that there is a limit to how much information can be processed, so the chunking is highly recommended. With my gifted classes I use this strategy more often, making time for more application activities, though now the activities are more technology oriented.
The concept mapping strategy we are currently working on is especially great for cognitive learning as it helps the students make the needed connections of the ideas we are covering in our classes. The visual imaging and the labeling used in concept mapping are examples of the Dual Coding Hypothesis (Orey, 2009) which help the students make the connection between the concept and the image. But Dr. Orey did warn that the images need to be connected to the topic and text, not just a cute picture to make the students laugh or the page interesting or colorful. In science classes this is easily done, as my topic of life science is rich with imagery to use and high interest to seventh grade students. The hands-on of laboratory activities also helps with the coding, to have the student experience the content, smell the lab, and put the content into every day context that will lead to the long term memory. Everyone remembers what they dissected and when!
In science classes I also do Elaborations (Orey, 2009), connecting or associating information to help recall the original. My students now know that the DNA nitrogen bases are paired with the A to T, as straight letters, and C to G, as curvy letters. Even the gender determining chromosome pairs are easy for the students to remember, if you have a y, you are a guy! If I can make the learning fun, more information is likely to make it to the long term memory bank. I do love it when they come back to me for a visit and tell me that they were thinking of me and what we had learned in the seventh grade while in their 9th or 10th grade biology class.
Orey, D. M. (2009, March). Instructional theory vs. learning theory. Bridging learning theory, instruction, and technology . Baltimore, MD: Laureate Education, Inc.
Sunday, January 10, 2010
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