Phase 5 of EDU 6120 project

Group project: Presentation to give new teachers

What worked well?

I thought that this project would have worked better if we had figured out a way for all members to attend our group discussion sessions. I liked the group discussion times, and they were helpful in keeping me on track to finish my individual portion, and then help with the group collaborative portion.

What were the challenges?

The challenges were our entirely different schedules. We have one member on the East coast, one member who is coaching two sports, I believe, at her school and one member who is just finishing up the year for student teaching and taking a full load of classes. We are on very different time schedules as well. Some people go to bed early, while others get home late. It was difficult to work out times when we could all “meet” online.

Are you satisfied with the quality of the charter, essay or presentation (whichever is appropriate for the phase you are on)?

Yes, somewhat. One group member did not include enough citations, nor did they include notes on their slides. I tried to alert her to the oversight, but she did not respond.

Are you satisfied with the individual and collaborative work of your team?

Yes, somewhat. Pretty much the same reason as the last question, because it is hard when group members do not follow given instructions and then are not around to fix the issue. I gave her about 8 or so hours to fix it, and it was hard to not get any response, even the next day.

Describe how you personally did, in terms of following the charter?

I thought I did well. I kep ton top of everyone for the power point, and made sure that everyone had all the parts they needed. I added my information to the outline before the deadline and I looked over the final essay to make sure it was high quality.

How did the team do?

As a team, I thought we did well. We completed every part of the whole project and I liked all the final products. I learned a lot from my group members and I hope they learned a lot from me.

Were there technical challenges?

none. I figured out how to post everything to google docs, which allowed us to post everything on the blackboard site easily.

Learning centers modified for High School Classrooms

In the reading this week, I was very intrigued by the idea of learning centers. When reading the story about Ms Matthews and Antonio, I envisioned my fourth grade class, which had a reading corner, and thought about one corner of the classroom being dedicated to resources. I could not imagine what it would be like in a junior high or high school classroom. Especially with the classrooms I’m in this year, it would be hard to set something like that up. I am in three classrooms (only because I have two mentors, each of them is in two rooms) and in each of those classrooms, there are at least two teachers.  Sharing rooms make things much more complicated than they would be in an elementary school, especially because the classrooms are crowded enough as it is. The reading suggests that these centers contain references that apply to the lessons so that students can go back and help themselves if they are confused and extra practice or independent research to help the student understand the material (Curtin, 2009, p. 109). My mentor puts up extra practice on his website, but it might be good to start an extra spot on the site for those who need extra help. Maybe have an alternate explanation, from the book or another resource. I could also include some sort of discussion board, so that the students could ask questions, and even help each other at night, or when I am not available to help. Because it is the website, I could add links to good resource websites that have extra practice, or games to help the students when they do not understand. I could use this in chemistry right now because my students are having a lot of trouble with limiting reactants, and my explanations are not reaching all of the students. I could add some alternate explanations and resources onto the website, which may help the students understand the material much better than they are in class.

Reference:

Curtin, E. M. (2009). Practical strategies for teaching English language learners. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson.

Philosophy of Teaching

1. What education is

I believe that education is teaches children about the world around them. Parents can teach their children the basics, but eventually children need to be taught by those who are experts in those subjects to be learned. Not everyone is an expert in the subjects we have deemed important for students to understand, which is why we have teachers for specific subjects in secondary school. Our goal in education is to give the next generation enough knowledge so that they can be competent citizens, who understand how the world works and why we live the way we do. Especially right now, with the debate about climate change in the government, students must be able to understand the science behind the theories so that they can make an informed decision about what they believe.

I believe that education can excite students about the world around them. Engaging student curiosity is important because students will be more willing to learn, and may learn more completely. The more young people we can engage with the world around them, the more involved those students will be in the world as the mature and move in to their later careers. The more involved people are, the more they participate in important events, such as elections. According to the U.S. Census Bureau (2009), in 2008, of the total population 18 and over, only 71.0 percent registered to vote and 58.2 percent actually voted. It is important that all citizens have a say in how our government is run, as it is our right to do so. 63.6 percent is a far cry from all citizens, and I think the more we engage students in the classroom, the higher this number will go. The number of people who actually voted is five percent higher than the number of people who voted in the 2004 election (U.S. Census Bureau, 2009). Educating students about the election and the bills to be passed helps these numbers to keep rising.

I believe that education fosters skills in group work and collaboration in students. In their later skills, students will most likely need to be able to work with other people, whether in a single partnership or in a large group. Education is one way to help the students gain the ability to successfully work with their peers, whether at the same achievement level or not.  When working in a group or pair with a peer (or peers) at the same achievement level, a student can learn how to effectively bounce ideas off someone else, or look at a problem from a different perspective. When working in a group or pair with a peer (or peers) with different strengths and weaknesses, a student could learn how to improve their weaknesses by seeing another student’s example, or help another student with their weaknesses. In some cases, this strategy helps both (all) students with their weaknesses, and they learn much more than they would have on their own (Toward Inclusive Classrooms, 1994, p. 47).

I believe that education teaches students how to be leaders. Leadership skills are important for most careers, and the classroom is a safe place that students can use to gain these essential skills. Education can provide a model for leadership skills as well, giving many examples of leaders both in history and in present day. Leadership skills include those necessary to manage group tasks, to take initiative and plan out an agenda, to collaborate with others on a single project, and many others. All of these tasks are inherently tasks that require one to solve a problem, and students will need to have many strategies at hand when asked to solve any problem in their later careers (Sue Law, 2000, p. 175).

I believe that education teaches students about diversity. In our society, we tend to focus on how people are alike, and we cling to those things that make us the same, or that help us fit in with the crowd. Education can help students realize that differences should be celebrated, and can help our society grow. Education can show students that everyone can reach their goals when motivated enough, even if the student is reaching for the sky. Especially for marginalized and “at-risk” youth, it is important to show that everyone can be successful, no matter what their background is (Sheri C. Hardee, 2009, p. 38).

I believe education can teach students about morality and ethics, to help them see right and wrong. Morality is something that affects students daily lives on a constant basis, and education should teach them how to deal with the issues. Students are faced with issues as small as copying homework, to as big as stealing and education should give them the tools to make good decisions. I think education provides an environment in which moral issues can be discussed, and moral issues can be experienced and viewed. Although it is difficult to tell students what is right and what is wrong in all cases, there are issues that can be discussed, and examples given, but students have to gain their own sense of right and wrong for their own beliefs (Standish, 1997, p. 96-97).

1. How teaching supports

I believe that teaching supports student learning about the world because teacher can use his or her own enthusiasm for the subject material to excite the students. Teachers can be the key to student engagement. If a teacher is excited about the subject material, it is more likely to be interesting to the student (Medina, 2008, p. 76).

I believe that teachers can support collaborative learning by modeling collaboration with other teachers. Teachers can do collaborative projects with other classes, or talk about other teachers in their classes. In addition, teachers can encourage group collaboration on certain assignments or projects, even encourage the higher achieving students to help the lower achieving students understand the concepts. As students work with others more often, they will improve their collaborative skills very quickly.

I believe that teachers can model good leadership skills in the classroom, showing students a good example of a wide variety of skills. Teachers can encourage development of leadership skills by putting students in the position to use those skills often, giving them a chance to try, fail and try again. Practice will help students hone these skills, and if each student is given an equal opportunity to plan a project, or mediate discussion in a group, or give a presentation on a particular concept or idea, they will be able to fully develop problem solving and communication skills needed by leaders.

I believe that teachers can show students how differences can enhance our society rather than devastate it. Teachers can provide a model by making a point to notice students’ strengths, individually or in front of the class, whether by complimenting their work, or going to an event. Small reminders to students in class, such as, “nice job in the game on Saturday, Suzanne!” will help the students see that a teacher cares about each student enough to notice each students’ strengths and celebrate the different activities that each student excels in. Students will see this, and begin to celebrate their own differences from their peers, and maybe start to celebrate the differences in others (Noddings, 2005, 18).

 I believe that teachers can show students the difference between right and wrong through example and discussion. Using real examples will give students real situations to think about, and will force them to think about situations they could be in. Teachers can give their students good class discussions, and complex situations to think about so that students can develop their own sense of morality. Teachers should not tell students what to think, but give them time and issues to think about. Teachers can get students to develop a great sense of right and wrong if they simply give the students time to think and reflect.

I believe that teaching adds the personal connection between educational content and student learning. The teacher can be the spark that gets the students excited about the material and engaged in the school community. When teachers take in to account the situations their students are in, the environment they grew up in, and the state their brains are in, as teenagers, they can alter the way they teach to accommodate for the issues most teenagers have. We can use research on the brain and knowledge of our students to coordinate our lesson plans to help them learn the best they can. We can help the students by previewing material, priming the students for the material, and repeating the material with the students, because this is the way their brains learn best (Jensen, 2005, p. 39). As teachers, we are trying to educate our students, and help them succeed in school. The more we can do to help them succeed, the better teacher each of us will be.

References

Dalheim, M. (1994). Toward inclusive classrooms. National Education Association of the United States.

Jensen, E. (2005). Teaching with the brain in mind (2nd ed.). Alexandria, Virginia: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Medina, J. (2008). Brain Rules. Seattle: Pear Press.

Noddings, N. (2005). The challenge to care in schools: an alternative approach to education. New York: Teachers College Press.

Sheri C. Hardee, A. R. (2009). Women’s well-being initiative: creating, practicing, and sharing a border pedagogy for youth. Perspectives on Urban Education , 6 (2), 29-40.

Standish, R. S. (1997). Teaching right and wrong: moral education in the balance. Staffordshire: Trentham Books Limited.

Sue Law, D. G. (2000). Educational leadership and learning: practice, policy and research. Buckingham: Open University Press.

U.S. Census Bureau. (2009, October 20). Voting and Registration. Retrieved February 21, 2010, from U.S. Census Bureau: http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/socdemo/voting/publications/p20/2004/tables.html

Welcome to the Future… In Educational Technology

When making my digital narrative, I felt that what I was discussing was a good summary of everything I had learned over the quarter in this class. I had a lot of fun taking pictures of my students actually using technology in the classroom, but I noticed some interesting things. I saw that students were very familiar with using some aspects of technology in the classroom, while other technologies are not so wide spread. For example, most high school students are fluent in most Microsoft office programs, including Word, Power Point and Excel. Students can surf the internet with ease, though have trouble with determining whether a site is reliable or not. I also did not see a wide use of blogging in the classroom. Although students are familiar with social networking with facebook, myspace and twitter, they do not really use blogging. Blogging can be used for student collaboration; students can teach each other by explaining a concept in their own words. As blogs are public, the students’ work is being published. Students will work much harder if they know their work is being read and scrutinized by their peers, and the rest of the online community (November, 2006). If I were to have students begin a blog for the creative stories we write about science concepts, they may work harder to make sure it is their best work, and we could even talk about other ways of publishing their stories. Incorporating these kind of projects for students fulfills EALR 1 component 1.1 and EALR 2, component 2.4 of The Educational Technology Learning Standards.

I feel that are doing a pretty good job of preparing our students for their future careers, but we can do more. I think introducing them to technologies such as wikispaces, videoconferencing, or even website building would benefit their preparation immensely. Technology classes in schools may do this, but I think all students should be given sufficient practice with these programs. I think if we keep working to incorporate problem solving and creativity, such as incorporating computer games (http://medmyst.rice.edu/) or real life simulations (http://www.youdagames.com/online-simulation-games/) into our teaching, we will have prepared our students very well for their future careers. This incorporation will fulfill EALR 1, component 1.3 and EALR 2, component 2.4 of The Educational Technology Learning Standards.

I think we do a good job of talking about multiculturalism in the classroom, but the only way our students learn first-hand is if a student in our class has traveled, or if a student has moved to the US from another country. Using services like global-leap.org, we could connect our classrooms across the globe. Students could work with students from another country to compare ecosystems surrounding their schools. For example, my mentor just did a lab with her IB Environmental Systems and Societies class where they studied the numbers of three types of trees in the environment surrounding Skyline High School, as well as looking at what other organisms and biotic factors are present. We could connect with a classroom in other country (for example, somewhere in England or Australia) and run the same experiment, comparing the ecosystems and making conclusions about why the ecosystems are similar or different. This project could be used to fulfill all components of EALR 1 of The Educational Technology Learning Standards.

Students are excited about using all the modern technologies available today, but they do not necessarily know the safest practices for using them. Our students need to know how to protect themselves and their identities against predators, especially those online because it may not be apparent that they are present. We can use interactive means, such as the PBS Official Web License. We can also help counteract cyber bullying by reminding students to report any name calling or mean commenting they encounter. These interactive means fulfill EALR 2, components 2.1 and 2.2 of The Educational Technology Learning Standards.

Often times, students respond more strongly to their peers than they do to authority figures, even if both are relaying the same message. If students can discuss legal, ethical and moral issues associated with modern technologies with each other, their thoughts may have a greater impact on each other than my own thoughts. This is probably one of the reasons the commercials countering pirated music now star children and teens. If we can have a serious class discussion about what students consider appropriate actions when it comes to using modern technology, such as creative content posted online, the students may consider looking at creative content differently than they have in the past. We want to see a change in their behavior and perceptions towards content posted online (Microsoft, 2008). These discussions would fulfill EALR 2, components 2.1 and 2.2 of The Educational Technology Learning Standards.

References:

Freedman, Terry. (2006). Coming of age: An introduction to the new world wide web. Great Britain: Terry Freedman Ltd.

Global Leap. (2006). Videoconferencing in the Classroom. Retrieved from: http://www.global-leap.org/about/.

Microsoft. (2008). Digital citizenship and creative content curriculum. Retrieved from: http://www.digitalcitizenshiped.com/Curriculum.aspx.

Public Broadcasting Company. (2007). Get your official web license. Retrieved from: http://pbskids.org/license/result.html?a1=n&a2=n&a3=n&a4=n&a5=n&a6=n&a7=n&a8=n&a9=n&a0=n&name=Kirstin&x=125&y=36.

Innovation in the classroom

In the readings of this week, there was much information concerning introduction of new technologies into the classroom. There are many different ways to use innovative ideas and technologies in our classrooms. Many of them were very simple ideas while incorporating different technologies. I especially liked the project, scenario E, described on the NETS Implementation website. For this project, students are required to simulate an election, creating a campaign complete with pamphlets, stickers/buttons and flyers to handout, a speech containing a slogan, as well as a commercial made, in this case, with Photo Story 3. For this class, the project was a big success. Fortunately, each student had a laptop for their own use for the entire school year. This resource is not available to every school. Skyline High School, for example, does not have this kind of technology available to their students. I had students create a commercial for a specific organelle (small structure within the cell). I gave the students the option of using technology. Only one group (out of approximately 30 groups) chose to try to use technology, and then the commercial was messed up in editing, because all sound was lost. Although we have a very wealthy clientele at Skyline, we cannot assume that every student had access to all technology, especially specific software such as Microsoft Office, Photo Story 3, and Quark. Schools would need to have all technology that students would require for any project, and that is not always possible, especially in the current economy.

One thing we can do to incorporate technology that the school has access to in the classrooms is to give students class time to use the technologies required while brainstorming, collaborating and planning using free technologies at home, such as webinspiration and wridea. These technologies can allow students to do all their brainstorming and planning at home, while using their class time to actually work on the assignment, allowing more productive use of the time that students have with the technologies required for the assigned project. This would require students to have a computer and web access at home. At Skyline, this is not a problem. However, I could foresee issues with this at other schools.

It is very difficult to incorporate innovative technologies when schools have few resources. I think that there would need to be much in-class work planned in order to fulfill the technology standards. This would take much planning, especially to incorporate all subject material we must, according to the Washington state standards. This may be difficult, and I do not know whether it can be done, unless there are very few projects that incorporate technology. I would think that it is possible, but it would require a lot of planning, possibly including tutorials for each piece of software or technology we use. I think technology can be implemented if a teacher tries hard enough.

Resources:

Technology Operations and Concepts. (2009). Retrieved from ISTE Wikispace: http://nets-implementation.iste.wikispaces.net/Technology+Operations+and+Concepts.

Podcasts: a new perspective on content

When we think about ways to use podcasts in our classrooms, many teachers immediately jump to the idea that students can still listen to lectures even if they are absent. Pair that with a power point, the students can easily make up missed classes. This is a beneficial technique, especially when teachers use power points as visuals rather than drawing on the white board (there would be no way for students to see that material first hand). However, there are other ways of using podcasts in the classroom.

I thought of a few other ways podcasts can be used, aside from recording our own lectures. The first idea I have is to have students listen to podcasts from other teachers. This way they can gain a new perspective on the material. Sometimes, despite our best efforts, students do not understand our way of explaining the concepts. If we have our students listen to a way someone else explains the concept, the students may understand more readily. New viewpoints can also give a fresh perspective, to help students apply the knowledge they understand to alternate situations. Podcasts are available at sites such as, http://www.learnoutloud.com/contents/LearnOutLoud.com-Podcasts/9/21, http://education.podcast.com/, and http://epnweb.org/index.php?openpod=18#18.

Another way to use podcasts in the classroom is to have students create their own for specific topics. Often, the most effective way to learn is to teach the material to someone else. Through podcasts, students can teach others about the material, and then refer back their recorded podcasts for revision. By the end of the year, there will be a full curriculum of podcasts, and they may be used to help give the following year of classes a new perspective. I think podcasts would be very beneficial when used in education because it gives students a new way to teach other students about a specific concept as well as giving them a different teaching strategy to learn through, rather than reading out of a textbook for a different perspective on the content.

Of course, the biggest issue with podcasts would be getting the students access to them. As the reading discussed, one easy way is to create a blog at wordpress.com and install PodPress plugin (Ovadia 2008). This will allow you to link podcasts to your blog, and allow students to subscribe to the blog so that they can receive notifications when a new podcast is added. I do not think that students will have a rough time with this as they live immersed in technology every day. The biggest problem would probably be gaining access to technology to record lectures. Either a teacher would have to re-do the lectures by the computer with a microphone or find some way of recording effectively in the classroom. Having students record podcasts may be difficult as well, because all students (or most students) would need to have access to a computer with a microphone.

References:

Ovadia, Micah. (2007-2008). PoducateMe. Retrieved from http://www.poducateme.com/.

New technologies, new issues to worry about…

This week’s readings revolved around new ideas that we must consider in light of new technologies that are now used in today’s world. Most teenagers today (this includes most junior high and all high school students) surf the web on a daily basis. Many of these teenagers are participating in social networking sites, such as facebook.com, twitter.com and myspace.com, and various chat rooms. The internet opens up a whole new way for teenagers to communicate, aside from their constant text messaging. The fear is that if they do not know how to be safe on the internet, they could put themselves into very dangerous situations. Most teenagers do not see the real consequences of giving out personal information on the internet, nor do they see a problem with meeting someone on a social networking site or in a chat room and then proceed to meet them in person. We need to make sure that our students understand that information is not safe on the internet, and the potential dangers of not knowing who one is interacting with online.

One thing I have learned from previous experience was reiterated in one of the article assigned for reading this week. Parents (and teachers) should help students stay safe online, but not overreact when a teen has been exposed to inappropriate content or has not been following the rules (Internet Education Foundation 2008). Teens do not usually respond well to authority figures trying to control what they believe to be something completely safe. I know I got really upset when my dad took away my e-mail in junior high because my friend was sending me inappropriate chain letters. I had already tried asking my friend to stop sending the messages and deleting them as they came into my inbox. My dad blamed me for the e-mails, even though I had tried to get out of the uncomfortable situation. I should have asked for help in preventing the e-mails, but the sender was my friend, so I was not sure what to do. I think I would have responded much more positively to my parents (or teachers) trying to help me deal with the problem rather than get mad at me for something I felt that I could not control.

I think teens have heard many internet safety talks over the course of their childhood, so another information session would probably not do very much. Students could review the FEMA Online Safety Rules, discuss why certain safety precautions might be important on the internet and then give a few examples of what might happen if students are not careful (real-life examples, not fabricated examples). Students could also go through the PBS Web License site, which is formatted much like an online quiz through ten categories of web access. Another activity could be showing students how easy it is to create a fake profile on a social networking site. It would be easy to incorporate lessons about technological safety into the classroom, especially if the class will be using the internet frequently in the class. By requiring students to use the technologies listed above, including academic research on the internet, it is also a teacher’s responsibility to teach students how to safely and effectively use these technologies. It would be silly to allow a child to play with fire before teaching him, or her, the dangers and safety precautions to use around fire. This is essentially what we would be doing if we asked students to use the technologies provided through the internet without first teaching the students how to use the technologies safely.

References:

Federal Emergency Management Association. (2009). Online Safety Rules for Kids. Retrieved from http://www.fema.gov/kids/on_safety.htm.

Internet Education Foundation. (2008). Online Safety Guide. Retrieved from http://kids.getnetwise.org/safetyguide/.

Public Broadcasting Services. (2007). Get your web license. Retrieved from http://pbskids.org/license/result.html?a1=n&a2=n&a3=n&a4=n&a5=n&a6=n&a7=n&a8=n&a9=n&a0=n&name=Steven&x=0&y=0.

Implementing 21st Century Technology into the Classroom

As I browsed through the readings and the delicious posts of this week, there were many different ideas about 21st century skills and how to implement them in the classroom. There are many skills that the articles deemed “21st century.” One of the skills the articles discuss is the different forms of technology that are used in the world today. Students need to be familiar with them when they graduate so they will be marketable employees. 21st Century Skills, Education and Competency Guide discusses how other countries are teaching their children the technologies required, which mean children of other countries will be more marketable for 21st century jobs than American children. If our children are not marketable once they graduate, then our country will slowly fall behind in the global market and economy, which is something no one wants (21st century skills 2008).

The job market today requires their employees to have a different skill set than past generations. Today, employers want their workers to be able to work out complex problems, both individually and in groups, communicate with others effectively, both locally and over long distances, and be able to efficiently manage information. All of these skills could require some type of recent technology, such as Skype, facebook.com, blogging tools (i.e. wordpress.com) or wikispaces (Nielson 2009). We need to prepare students for this essential skill set for their future.

In order to help students learn how to use these tools appropriately and effectively, we should work on incorporating these technologies into our lessons. For example, we could have students record a phone call on Skype at home, where they are using all the elements, including vocal communication, instant chatting, and sending documents, pictures or videos. They could collaborate on a project, each doing one part and then sending those parts to each other. They could keep a log of their collaboration (chat does this automatically) and record their vocal communication. In another project, students could collaborate on a wiki or blog to present a concept for their peers. The project could involve students creating their own website, viewing and commenting on their peers’ sites.

This idea has huge implications for education. If we want to ensure that the next generation of Americans is on par with the rest of the world, we may need to create laws and policies to guarantee that every classroom provides the technology training for the students. If policy dictates that we must provide this technology training, we must be provided with the resources to give students experience with these technologies. This will probably require a lot of money, and may not even be possible in the current economy. If we do not have the support money however, it will be very difficult to ensure that are students will graduate with the skills to operate some of these technologies. We need to do the best we can to introduce, and possibly demonstrate these technologies, even if we cannot provide students the opportunity to individually experience them.

References:

Nielsen, Lisa. (2009, August 14). Ten Ideas for Getting Started with 21^st Century Teaching and Learning. Message posted to http://www.techlearning.com/

(2008). 21^st century skills, education and competitiveness. Retrieved from http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/index.php

Collaborating with Classrooms across the Globe

This week, we read a few articles about different ways that we can collaborate with classrooms across the country and around the world. I was particularly interested in the information presented about sites that connect classrooms to each other, allowing them to work together on projects. One of the tools these sites talked about was video conferencing between classrooms. Another article talked about wikis, a website that can be updated periodically by many different people (Freedman 2006). I also thought classrooms could set up a blog or website where they could communicate without the necessity of being in the classroom at the same point in time across different time zones. I think if all of these communication tools are combined, the experience in the classroom will be very beneficial to the students.

I especially liked this idea in terms of science classes. I have been observing an environmental studies class and the readings this week gave me a great idea for a project in this class. This site, Center for Interactive Learning and Collaboration, has done a project in the past in which students from all over northern Indiana studied the environmental problems surrounding Lake Michigan. I think this is a great idea, especially if students are exchanging data, and building conclusions based on data from multiple classrooms. I think this project would be even more valuable extended beyond the United States. If the project could be made in to a study of, for example, different environments surrounding lake bodies in different countries, students could learn about different environments while learning about different cultures. Students could set up a blog or a website to exchange data and discuss their findings. They could even upload pictures of the sites they are using and background information on each of the sites. The students would be able to see how students from other countries explore the world, maybe see the different ways they approach a problem. In the same way that student to student interaction gives students a new perception on their way of thinking, working with students from other countries can give our students a new perspective on a problem.

I think this idea of student collaboration across countries is very valuable. It gives students a new way of completing projects as well as new perspectives on material they have been studying. They can get a multicultural perspective as well, and even learn about different cultures and their way of looking at problems. Students will learn about different environments through studying the environments familiar to other students while teaching other students about environments familiar to them. I would love to be able to implement this project in a classroom. I think students would love to participate in this project and I think they would learn a lot from it without even realizing it. I think this project would make learning fun for students, and give them the opportunity to learn outside the classroom.

References

1. Freedman, Terry. (2006). Coming of age: An introduction to the new world wide web. Great Britain: Terry Freedman Ltd.

2. Center for Interactive Learning and Collaboration. Lake Coastal Waters: Students Engaged in Community-Centered Science Inquiry. Retrieved October 18, 2009, from http://cilc.org/c/education/Lake_Coastal_Waters.aspx.

Reflection on Class 8/19

First day of 20 minute lessons! Today was very fun, and I really liked seeing what everyone came up with for their lesson. I especially connected with Kaia’s acids and bases lesson, because it was so relevant to what I am going to be teaching. I thought the activity was great and very visually stimulating. I think students really like it when things change color, or react in some obvious way. One addition I would have made would have been to show a reaction between an acid and a base (we all know what happens when vinegar and baking soda are mixed). As long as you prepare for the overflow of the reaction, I think the students would really enjoy seeing it. Then maybe ask the students to go home and ask their parents if they can do the same reaction with baking soda and both lemon juice and orange juice, to see more examples of reactions. Then, you would be getting the students to perform experiments outside of class, and think about what science they can do at home, just for fun.