Alternate Energy Project

Using my course's wiki on blackboard my students will work in interdisciplinary groups of 4 to first find online data related to an alternate energy source for a foreign country of their choice. They will then create a presentation that includes some audio feed. These presentations will be loaded onto the wiki and students will be required to post comments on at least three of their classmates' presentations.

Below is a sample of a presentation. I used Jing to go through the presentation and capture my own audio commentary.

Revision of my Guiding Principles for Technology Use

Here were my original principles and my revisions:

It is obvious from reading what wrote 5 weeks ago that I was completely uninformed about web 2.0. What I now would like to include in my guiding principles are:

1) I should not feel that I have to assign a grade to everything that my students produce. I might be surprised that in some cases that the learning for the sake of learning might be motivation enough. For instance if I ask students to comment on a blog and I don't award grades to the comments...that's ok.

2) Give more web 2.0 choices to my students especially for creative projects. For instance, instead of giving students a choice of a PowerPoint, a poster or a trifold, I can also suggest a glogster, screencasting or some other cool new media.

3) Encourage use of Google Docs (and use it myself) to give students constant access to their documents.

Guiding Principles for Using Technology

The physical teachnology (Was that a typo or a flash of brilliance?) that I have in my classroom includes:

1. My laptop computer with heavily filtered connection to the internet

2. An LCD projector

3. A mimio interactive white board tool

4. A laptop cart with 12 student computers for up to 30 students

5. An array of probes that interface with the computers for data collection

After some reading and reflection I will try to live by the following principles of technology use:

1) Using a laptop computer ¹ learning from technology.

2) Since students have to share the computers, assign their groups so that they have experience “adapting to different personalities and communication styles.”

3) The epitome of a computer experience for the students results in the students producing something or participating in something that results in stimulating lifelong learning.

4) Evaluate the merit of using a high tech probe vs. a low teach measuring tool for data collection. Greater precision and accuracy do not outweigh the value of the students “feeling” the data, as with force probes and spring scales.

5) Incorporate the LCD projector and mimio tool for student use vs. instructor use to provide the students the opportunity to share what they have produced.

Reflection on new web tool

I spent most of this morning reading the new National Science Framework. I took three pages of notes with some sort of professional development for my department in mind. After I typed it up I read it out loud and noticed that it took 8 minutes; too long for a voice thread. Oh,that reminds me of the new web tool that I used this week. My Web Tools instructor used Voice Thread to record his thought on the new National Science Framework, so when I went on to record my comments, I had to create another account :-) and explore yet another web tool. This one asked for permission to access my computer's camera and microphone before I could record. Cool! In the end it was easy to use and not too different from the screen casting experience that I had last month.

I recorded at least 4 different threads. I retrospect it would have been better to make my comments match the slides that my instructor had prepared, but I'm working against a vacation deadline here!

I plan to send my 2-pages of highlights to the science specialist for my county, she might be interested.

Reflection on D2L discussions

It is only Tuesday so there is more discussion to come, but I think I can safely say that I got some good feedback on the discussion board.

1) I am not alone in feeling that I could be more advanced in my use of technology and that I need to practice with it to improve my skills.

2) My classmates have some great ideas on how to include more relevant web 2.0 tools in their classrooms.

3) The web tools that I have selected to incorporate into my teaching will not just be for the sake of using them. They will improve students' learning.

Ideas for class project

I teach at an International Baccalaureate (IB) high school. IB stresses an interdisciplinary approach to teaching and to that end they require that our students do an interdisciplinary project. In the past we have given the students Energy as the theme of their project, had them organize themselves into mixed science groups of 4 students and they have looked to data that would defend the development of an alternate energy source in a country other than where we live. There is a lot of room for improvement here that would incorporate what I have learned in this course.

First, the students will each have a wiki to contribute their ideas to, and they will watch the In Plain English video as a tutorial first.

Next, the six teachers who teach these 9 classes of students will find some sample "stimulative" data sets. We will each use the sets of data to practice looking at trends and drawing conclusions. The students will also learn what types of agencies and organizations provide data for analysis for this project.

After the students create their data-based research project on Power Point, they will post it on their wikis and other students will view them and comment on at least 3 of them.

Those are my ideas so far. I'd love suggestions for how I could improve the project or use more web tools.

Reflection on exploring blogs and wikis

The most interesting sentence that I read while doing this week's assignments was in the D2L article on blogging, "Blogging can give reticent students and English language learners (ELLs) a safe space to participate confidently." Getting those students to participate more fully in their learning experience has been a desire of mine since I started teaching at a very diverse school. I have already seen the unexpected contributions of some of the quieter students when they used wikis. Collaborative projects work so much better when the group of students has a wiki than when they had to try to meet after school or in a public library.

One of my concerns , however involves the commenting process. Right now the students create and post a Power Point using their wikis. The next step is that I want students to review each other's projects and comment on them on a hard copy of a comment form that I collect later; in other words, they don't see each other's comments yet. I am concerned that when I make the commenting an online, published thing, I will see a lot of, "I agree with what the previous commenter said." Has it been your experience that telling the students that their comments should be unique is enough? Also, any good ideas of how to keep track of these comments besides a simple tally sheet?

Comment about my Create an Argument Assignment

First of all here is my Create an Argument assignment on being fast! I am hopeful that the students will benefit in the following ways:

1) They will learn about HOW speeds of people and things are measured.

2) They will see real examples of average and instantaneous speeds.

3) They will be engaged in the activity because of the authenticity of the data.

4) They will become curious about the conversion between mph and m/s.

The Fastest Things on Earth

People and things are moving from place to place all the time. Sometimes the very purpose of moving is to determine who or what moves the fastest. Running events in track, NASCAR races, many Olympic competitions are just a few of the examples of when being fastest is important.

Consider some of the data on the following site: http://hypertextbook.com/facts/index-topics.shtml

Is fast about the time it takes to go a certain distance?

Is fast about speed, velocity or acceleration?

Is fast an average thing or an instantaneous thing?

You’ll have to answer these questions with your group before you tackle the big question:

What are the fastest things on Earth?**Excluding light

With your group, develop an explanation that can be used to answer this simple, but important, question. Make sure you have good evidence and reasoning to support your explanation. You can record any observations or notes you make as you work in the space below.

Interactive poster session

Once your group has developed an explanation that answers this question, prepare a Glogster that you can use to share and justify your ideas. Your Glogster should include all the information shown in the diagram. (OK the diagram didn't copy over, but you've all seen it in the article.)

Remember, as you critique the work of others, you have to decide whether their conclusions are valid or acceptable based quality of their explanation and how well they are able to support their ideas. In other words, you need to determine if their argument is persuasive and convincing. To do this, ask yourself the following questions:

• Is their explanation sufficient (i.e., it explains everything it needs to) and coherent (i.e., it is free from contradictions)?

• Did they use genuine evidence (i.e., They organized their data in a way that shows a trend over time, a relationship between variables, or a difference between groups)?

• Did they use enough evidence to support their ideas (i.e., They used more than one piece of evidence and all their ideas are supported by evidence)?

• Is there any counterevidence that does not support their explanation?

• How well does their explanation fit with other theories and laws that are used in science to explain or describe how the world works?

• Is their rationale adequate (i.e., They explain why the evidence was used and why it supports the explanation)?

• Is their reasoning appropriate (rational and sound)?

Taken from Generate and Argument by Sampson and Grooms in The Science Teacher, summer 2010.

Relevant information about this problem

Average speed is defined as distance traveled divided by the time to travel.

Average velocity is defined as displacement (change in position) divided by the time to change position.

Acceleration is defined as change in velocity divided by the time to change velocity.

Instantaneous speed and velocity relate how fast something is going at one instant in time. For example: As I constantly accelerate my car from 0 to 60 mph it passes through 50mph for a split second. At that moment in time my instantaneous speed was 50. If I was able to accelerate constantly my average speed would have been 30 mph for the entire acceleration period.

Units

In the metric system the fundamental unit for time is the second, s.

The fundamental unit for distances and displacements is the meter, m.

The derived unit for speed and velocity is the meter per second, m/s.

The derived unit for acceleration is the meter per second squared, m/s².

Reflection on Online data

Some thoughts regarding online data:

1. There is A LOT of data online. That could probably be my first comment about anything online. :-) So, data collection can be time-consuming.
2. A good way to start online data collection is to limit yourself or your students to government agencies, global corporations, colleges and universities. I think that for future projects I will create a small collection of "great sites to check first" for my students so they see what valuable data looks like.
3. Provide examples for the students. Just showing them the tables or graphs of data is probably not enough for all students. They need to be a part of the process where the investigative question is developed, then the data is analysed and finally how to draw conclusions.

Having visited and added to my Delicious account the Physics Factbook as well as the Road Test Data from Car and Driver Magazine, I really appreciate the value of motivating students with authentic data and an engaging question: how do we know who the fastest human is?

Reflection on New Tools

Ok; some of you may not be impressed by my accomplishments, but remember, I am not as adept at using all of these tools and you younger teachers are. I still look at my fingers when I type! That being said I have a few ideas on using these new tools in my classroom:

1) Glogster - My physics 1 students usually make a poster titled, The Physics of...(name your activity). Now we will be able to save paper and wall space by having the posters made virtually on Glogster. The students will also be able to view each other's work from any internet connected computer outside of class time.

2) Screencasting - First as a teaching tool I would like to record instructional videos to post on blackboard or my blog for my students to access throughout the year. Some students need more than one lesson on how to:use a new program or to measure something with Vernier callipers. Finally I would love have to students record some of their own accomplishments, like explaining conservation of momentum, to share with their classmates.

3) Finally, we have a large interdisciplinary project for all of our senior IB students. Right now they work in small groups with students from the other disciplines. Each group has to explore a possible alternate energy source in a foreign country. They create a Power Point presentation and post them on Blackboard for viewing by other groups. Although we already have to students working together on wikis, I feel that we could use some of these other tools to make the project more multimedia or more effective. However, I will not force them to use the new technology for the sake of the technology alone.

Reflections on Week 3 readings

I was pleased to read another confirmation of the importance of images and video in learning. With a large ESOL population, my school has been using images and video to close the achievement gap. Many of our teachers start each unit with a game of "concentration" in which the students match pictures and background vocabulary terms. We also provide graphic organizers that provide a place for students to draw an image that will help students understand the new vocabulary. I feel that the reading gave me another idea to enhance what we are already doing and that is to make sure that all of these practices are guided and structured. We will probably need to share some of the best images that the students create to make sure that they haven't drawn incorrect use useless images.

I also liked that the author distinguished between useful images and decorative distractions. A boarder around your worksheet is NOT a useful image; it's a waste of toner!

I was also struck by the instruction to use questioning as opposed to telling about an image/video. When I teach about entropy I show a commercial (by State Farm) that shows some accidents in reverse. I need to simply ask my students, "Why did I show you this video? How does this video relate to today's lesson?" Soooooo, much more effective when the students have to use their own brains to make the connections.

Finally, I need to put more effort into getting permission for the videos I use. I'll probably have to figure out how to record my own accident and play it in reverse. I need to model appopriate use.

Graphing Tutorial and Table Cloth Trick

"Below is a quick tutorial on using Vernier's Graphical Analysis. It's not perfect, but I am pleased and excited!!!!!!!!!!!

It took me a while to learn how to embed the video from Jing and Screencast so as a bonus here is my favorite educational video from David Zanthor on how to pull a table cloth from beneath a dinner service:

Party Tricks:
How To Pull A Tablecloth From Under A Dinner Service

Reflection on Science & Literacy

I found the Science & literacy reading to be stimulating. One of the questions that I had while reading the end of the first paragraph was, "What is meaningful science?" I think I know what it is, but I would really like to post that question to the rest of the teachers in my department. I fear that between NCLB and preparing the students for the state test at the end of the year, many of them have forgotten to make science meaningful and fun!

In the first strategy about performance expectations the author mentions that some teachers tell their students to "do better", but fail to take the next step which is to show the students what "better" looks like. Luckily more an more teachers are using exemplars and samples of student work in the learning process.

In the second strategy about explicit teaching strategies the author describes a Write as You Read Science strategy which sounded better than nothing but might not be as useful as the SQ3R method where the students first Survery the reading assignment to stimulate prior knowledge, then write a Question for each major heading or section, next the students Read the passages looking for the answers to the questions they wrote. The second R is for Recording the answers to the questions. The final R is Reviewing the notes in preparation for an assessment. This technique might not be as colourful as the other method, but I think it is a valid alternative.

Finally I was truck by the "storyteller in your head" for the metagcognition strategy. I am not certain that it fits all learning styles, but I know that it works for me and some of my students.

Week 2 tools

This week I was able to create my first glogster. I titled it ,Why you should take physics and although I learned the hard way not to "arrow back", I am pretty pleased with the results.

http://mrsfyzix.edu.glogster.com/mrsfyzix-glog1/

I am still concerned about copyright issues. I need to cite the pictures that I got from the ancillary materials for my textbook as well as the ten statements in the "bubbles" that I got from an online site by googling "top ten reasons to take physics". My next goal is to add some music to it, She Blinded Me with Science ought to be appropriate. Also a little animation; maybe a cartoon Einstein zooming around.

All in all, I am having more fun with these tools than I thought I might. I still look at my fingers when I type, but when I do look at the screen I am happier about what I see.

Glogster

Week 2 reflection on PLNs

I liked the way the reading started by going back to those first days at a new school when we had to "learn" the technology to which we would have access: the phone, copy machine, overhead maybe? The technology training must be the same everywhere; we all crowd around the new copy machine while a "trainer" talks us through all of the do's and don't's of running it. After a few weeks and multiple repairs the secretary puts a note on the machine, "If you need help, see me or one of the physics teachers". Now, more than a decade later all of the overhead projectors are replaced by LCD projectors. All of our precious transparencies have been replaced by digital images. We use computers for email, attendance, grades, lesson plans, testing, EVERYTHING. I showed my parents my flash drive and revealed all of its contents; as former teachers they marvelled in disbelief.

I'm not sure if I can keep up with the pace of changing technology. I know that I am excited by all that I see in web 2.0. As department chair I am tempted to delegate. We all have too many demands on our time to become experts at all of it. If we each select a few tools, master them and then do turn around training, maybe we would all benefit. I just have to figure out how to do that better than the old copy machine trainer.

Guiding Principles for Using Technology

The physical teachnology (Was that a typo or a flash of brilliance?) that I have in my classroom includes:

1. My laptop computer with heavily filtered connection to the internet

2. An LCD projector

3. A mimio interactive white board tool

4. A laptop cart with 12 student computers for up to 30 students

5. An array of probes that interface with the computers for data collection

After some reading and reflection I will try to live by the following principles of technology use:

1) Using a laptop computer ¹ learning from technology.

2) Since students have to share the computers, assign their groups so that they have experience “adapting to different personalities and communication styles.”

3) The epitome of a computer experience for the students results in the students producing something or participating in something that results in stimulating lifelong learning.

4) Evaluate the merit of using a high tech probe vs. a low teach measuring tool for data collection. Greater precision and accuracy do not outweigh the value of the students “feeling” the data, as with force probes and spring scales.

5) Incorporate the LCD projector and mimio tool for student use vs. instructor use to provide the students the opportunity to share what they have produced.

Setting the Stage Reflection

Setting the Stage Reflection

While completing the 5 readings that were in the Setting the Stage assignment I started seeing the various benefits and challenges that we as educators will face in the era of web 2.0. If I feel overwhelmed by the “tidal wave of information” I am sure that at least some of my students will feel the same way. I already use wikis for some of my students’ group assignments and discussions so I have seen the value of incorporating them into the learning process as well as the downside: not every student has the same level/quality of access at home, what happens to the project when the wiki doesn’t work, my parents won’t let me have the computer on during a thunderstorm, etc. One thing that I have noticed in just the past three years of using wikis is that I have to give fewer students instruction on how to use the wiki. Even some students who have never used a wiki before figure out how to use it intuitively.

One of the other things that spoke to me was the description of lurking. I clearly need to do a lot of lurking to feel more comfortable with the blogging stuff. Heck, I still look at my fingers when I type; typing takes a long time for me. I’ll just read for a while, thank you very much.

Finally, I plan to pull my students further into web 2.0 by keeping a quote from “It’s a Flat World, After All” in my mind: “Finish your homework—people in China and India are starving for your job.”

My intro

Educated as a mechanical engineer, I found my passion for physics teaching after raising two sons (now 26 and 23) and being a pastry cook. I have been teaching for 13 years, the last 10 have been in the suburbs of our nation's capital.

The biggest challenge that I have dealt with in my career has been adjusting to the International Baccalaureate curriculum from the Advanced Placement curriculum. The most challenging experience that I have had is mentoring a difficult intern and the most rewarding experience that I have had is awakening the love of physics in young women (and men) who feared it initially.

I like to spend my free time working out so I'm not looking forward to the extra time that I am going to have to spend sitting in front of the computer. Grrr.

Finally, this is my 6th online course from MSU as I am working toward my MSSE degree. The only way that I can get a raise from my school district in the past 3 years is to add grad credits to my degree.