M6 Reflection

My particular subject of teaching is science.  Technology supports science and science is what makes new technology (Robyler & Doering, p. 308).  According to the text “America’s economy and environment progress depends on the character and quality of the science education that the nation’s schools provide" (Robyler & Doering , p.308).  Professional development plays such an important role in teaching science considering it’s a discipline continually evolving. 

Advantages

Distance-education PD programs

Science teachers are in a unique position of teaching a subject that is continually advancing on a daily basis.  One critical advantage technology offers to science teacher is Professional Development programs.  Online Professional development programs offer a collection of materials that can be used to address teacher’s needs for “accurate, timely science information and teaching materials” (Roblyer and Doering, p. 318).  

Involving Students in Scientific Inquiry Through Authentic Online Projects

Advantages

 

Authentic Science involves having student’s “do” science and online projects connect science to student’s lives and life experiences. (Robyler and Doering, p.319).  Such projects are Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE), Project Feeder Watch, and Journey North.  The GLOBE program is an amazing kind of all-purpose project.  Here’s a brief video demonstrating the capabilities of what students can investigate and also collaborate on in real scientific situations.

 

Journey North projects also does a wonderful job in connecting students and scientists in real-life research (Roblyer and Doering, p.319). 

http://www.learner.org/jnorth

These internet projects provide environments that support all phases of an authentic science experience (Robyler and Doering, p.319).

 

Teachers don’t always have time to commit to long-term projects that show entire scientific process

Advantages

As a science teacher and student time is always of the essence in performing experiments, collecting data, testing hypotheses, etc.  Websites such as the National Science Digital Library (NSDL) and Phet Independent Simulations assist students by helping them obtain and locate information to support scientific experiments.  This makes data collection and analysis more manageable, and the experiments can be visualized and understood in a timely fashion.

 

http://phet.colorado.edu

Technology Integration in Science

Disadvantages

As a science teacher and student, I simply don’t see any disadvantage in incorporating technology in the classroom.  In an era of constant internet reference and tools teachers have fingertip access to science information.  These resources provide educators with a plethora of sources, lesson plans, information and lesson plans (Roblyer and Doering, p.320).  They way science and technology are so intertwined we must utilize these resources to keep students engaged and update with modern day scientific studies.

 

M6R1 http://t.co/2uSvhHpdbd National Science Digital Library A science library for K-12 excellent resource #ED527UM

— David Iradji (@DavidIradji) November 18, 2013

WikiSpace Resubmission

Based on the feedback from my classmates, I made some significant changes to my wikispace. I've included a more user friendly widget comment board. I've also made it a requirement for my students to choose a major or narrow it down to at least 3 choices. This suggestion made perfect sense because it gives high school mentors a place to start. Along with the weekly article postings about choosing a college major for high school students, I've also added a weekly video posting to assist my students in choosing a major for college. Since most high school students will hit play on a video a lot faster than opening up and reading an article. http://youthprojectdi.wikispaces.com/

Module 5 Reflection

Module 5 Reflection

The Interactive Classroom

The ICT framework is based on teachers providing technology literacy, knowledge deepening, and knowledge creation (Roblyer and Doering, 2012, p.21). Teachers must incorporate the interactive classroom to achieve such goals. In an interactive classroom equipped with an interactive whiteboard and various flip charts continually demonstrates new technology and keeps the student engaged. While the student is learning the subject matter their also becoming more technology literate and have more opportunities to display their creativity. It’s a fundamental approach to allow students to “illustrate real- world relevance through highly visual presentations” (Roblyer and Doering, 2012, p.25).

Constructivist vs. Objectivist

A Constructivist teaching strategies implements directed teacher centered instruction that allows students to show what they learn in different ways not just written tests (Roblyer and Doering, 2012, p.36). The interactive classroom with flipcharts and other technology resources is more closely aligned with a constructivist teaching approach. The simple fact that students can develop and create new and innovative activities that help them show and generate their own knowledge is the foundation of constructivism (Roblyer and Doering, 2012, p.36). I think both views should always be analyzed and compared in teaching but the constructivist approach is much more relevant in an interactive classroom.

Flipchart

The Promethean Planet website provides an ample amount of flip charts. I could see myself utilizing many of them in the classroom. I chose a vocab review type flip chart with a football theme that motivates students to keep reviewing their vocab terms.

http://www.prometheanplanet.com/en-us/Download.aspx?ContentId=53750

This type of flip chart is another resource that allows teachers to be futurists and use their skills to keep students “learning to learn” (Roblyer and Doering, 2012, p.6). This type of flip chart is a simple form of technology integration in the classroom that would allow students to retain this knowledge in a unique mechanism of retaining vocabulary words (Robyler and Doering, 2012 p.37). The concept is fun and could be implemented in the classroom in several ways. For example the teacher could divide the class into teams and simply review vocab words while simulating a football game.

M5 http://t.co/aWqlMBUYUV review vocab in the classroom while simulating football very creative #flipchart #ED527UM

— David Iradji (@DavidIradji) November 1, 2013

Wiki The Science Classroom

https://thescienceclassroom.wikispaces.com/The+Science+Classroom

This particular wiki encourages collaboration and communication of natural science topics (Robyler, 258). This particular project appeals to my ultimate goal in teaching of preparing students for their post high school experience in today’s technology heavy educational climate and work place. It allows students to develop a personal ownership to their comprehensive knowledge in Natural science and also physics.

EARTHWEEK-A Diary of the Planet Widget

http://www.earthweek.com

This widget provides daily up to date current events and news in Science and Nature. The widget provides an automated information experience on your browser with current science content (Robyler, 224). This widget would allow me to let students choose their own current scientific event from the constantly streaming widget. Since the events are current, students could further research and then present their results on the topic.

Albert Einstein Quotes Widget

This would be a “no brainer widget” to have in a high school science classroom. To have access on a daily basis to such content would encourage my students and their interest in science (Roblyer, 225). The man is arguably the most influential scientist of all time and is also a personal hero of mine. His quotes are insightful, encouraging, and of course brilliant. For my students to see a new quote of perhaps the greatest scientist of all time on a daily basis with this gadget would contribute so much to their knowledge and perhaps their lives (Roblyer,258).

Web Based Lesson National Museum of Natural History Web Based Student Activities

http://www.mnh.si.edu/education/studentactivities.html

M4 stellar Web Based Lessons from the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History one example http://t.co/ETwTswc6aX #ED527UM

— David Iradji (@DavidIradji) October 18, 2013

As an educator, my students engaging in distant collaborations will be a necessity (Robyler, 258). These web based student lessons and activities are created by the mecca collection of Smithsonian Science. These activities would continually encourage the development of scientific inquiry and critical thinking skills. These are the foundation of web based lessons according to Roblyer and Doering (pg.225). I would incorporate these activities into my classroom lessons and units.

Module 3

Module 3

Urls:
Uniform Resource locators are internet addresses (Roblyer, 2013, p.216). The most essential part of an URL is who the server belongs to and its domain designator. The domain name tells you who the server belongs. The designator allows an educator to determine what kind of group owns the server such as .org, .gov, or .edu (Robyler, 2013 p.216). This is the basic foundation of a website and provides the essential knowledge of its content to an educator/student.

Search Engine:
The Search Engine is the revolutionary tool that allows us to locate information on the Internet. It’s a vital part in most people’s lives especially educators and students. An educator and student must master the art of using search engines by being familiar with all major search engines and also Metacrawlers. Metacrawlers are programs the use more than one search engine at the same time to locate information (Robyler, 2013 p.219). Search Strategies must be developed and taught based on subject and keywords. This will ensure efficient and adequate information retrieval from the Internet.

Internet Tools:
A Podcast is a very versatile Internet tool that can be very useful in the classroom. In an era where virtually every student has access to an audio file and headphones all day every day, for an educator to supply a podcast of a study guide, keywords, basic lectures, etc. could be very beneficial. This allows the student access to material and review all the time. There are many studies that show if you’re studying in the evening as soon as you wake up review that same material it will better retain in your memory. I used this technique throughout college and it became an essential tool especially in upper division science courses. If students have podcasts of information at their fingertip then they can constantly be reviewing material.

Favorite Websites:
Two websites that I feel are personally my favorite especially for education is Merriam-webster.com and google.com.
www.google.com
Google.com is most peoples major search engine of choice. Google is a very simple keyword search site and displays an instant list of websites with URLs that contain the word or phrase searched (Robyler, 2013 p.219). It also includes images, various advanced search tools, maps, and many other search capabilities. It’s my personal and also the greater population go to website and search engine.
 www.merriam-webster.com
 Merriam-Webster.com allows students to have a dictionary and thesaurus at their fingertips. It also contains an audio feature which pronounces the word as well. I personally use it constantly and believe it’s a vital website in expanding ones vocabulary and knowledge. Everyone should have this on their browser based list or bookmark file in order to utilize this site on a regular basis (Roblyer, 2013 p.218).

M3 http://t.co/zxNPF5B3Dg check out Merriam-Websters website geared for student/educator word power #ED527UM
— David Iradji (@DavidIradji) October 3, 2013

Through The Black Hole (u-ventures) (Book)

M2edtech #ED527UM @Hmason36 see Top 10 Web tools from a teacher including mobile learning very informative

— David Iradji (@DavidIradji) September 24, 2013

Hypermedia and Audio/Video Production

Hypermedia increases motivation and interest when presenting information. It’s an essential evolving tool in the classroom. One particular commercial hypermedia product that I took great interest to was an interactive storybook. The software is called U-ventures and the website is www.u-ventures.net.

Classic way to keep children engaged in reading and now digitally interactive #chooseyourownadventure #ED527UM

— David Iradji (@DavidIradji) September 19, 2013

This product is an interactive storybook. It has very special place in my heart as a lifetime avid reader. This electronic storybook is adapted from the the Choose Your Own Adventure book series, that I myself fell in love with at a very young age. Its use in the classroom is phenomenal and was for me as well on a personal level. It’s interactive and you choose the character’s next move. Now that the paperbacks have become digitally interactive that popularity has continued to grow. It keeps students on their toes. It’s a way to make reading versatile and interaction is available as the student requests it. In an era of handheld 24 television programs and movies, I feel this is an ideal competition for students to read than rather watch something on a screen. A multimedia authoring tool that also can keep students engaged and motivated is audio and video production and editing systems (Roblyer & Doering, pg.186). Students have access to video cameras, editing programs, and all types of technology via cell phones and lap tops. We must incorporate these tools in the classroom. Develop assignments where students can create podcasts or videos to submit the material. Students can utilized lesson reviews and study guides via video and audio streams (Robyler & Doering, pg.189) . We live in an era where people have headphones on all day and are usually attached to a screen. Educators must incorporate lessons and school work to these types of media and students can access material virtually all the time at their finger tips.

References

Johnson, Amy. (August,2013.)Through the Black hole. Retrieved September, 2013:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUQtWUabWVI.