Social justice ed and diversity and equity in science education

I recently ran across a very useful volume in the Multicultural Education Series (Teachers College Press) - "Is everyone really equal?: An introduction to key concepts in social justice education", Sensoy, Ozlem and Robin DiAngelo, 2012.

The appendix alone is worth the price of the volume.  The appendix is entitled "How to Engage Constructively in Courses that Take a Critical Social Justice Approach" and it stresses the importance of developing a perspective informed by the research (and not just personal opinions, personal experience, and anectdote).  This is a lesson it behooves all of us to remember as we progress in our teaching careers; we really need to consult and use and incorporate the research on learning and teaching science - and not just rely on summaries of that research as found in introductory textbooks.

There is a telling vignette that uses the example of Pluto being reclassified down from its former planetary status - a vignette that will resonate with science teachers, and may be useful for consideration by those of us who may teach Biology and someday have to deal with such issues as teaching evolution, or those of us who teach Earth Science and have to deal with related issues (age of Earth, evolution of life through time as evidenced by the fossil record, etc.).

Another volume in that series (which I have not obtained, but can be accessed in part by "Look Inside" on Amazon)) is "Diversity and equity in science education: Research, Policy and Practice by Lee, Okhee and Cory A. Buxton (2010).

When Teachers are Bullys

I recentlly read this article about the bullying of students by teachers. While this doesn't involve cyberbullying, I do think this is alarming and goes hand-in-hand with bullying in other mediums.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/23/stuart-chaifetz-father-wire-son-records-teacher-abuse_n_1447330.html

Bully (2011)

Since this weeks topic has seemed to create quite a bit of discussion I'd like to recommend a movie that released just over a month ago.

The IMDB page: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1682181/
The movie trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LzhVdc7aQv8

As a small independent documentary, I believe that it's already out of theaters, but I recommend looking for it when it comes to DVD. It's incredibly heart-wrenching and reminds you how serious bullying can be.

There was initially given an R rating in a controversial decision by the MPAA, it is now rated PG-13 allowing for it to be accessed by the kids who will probably benefit and relate to it most. Hopefully some schools will be able to show it and use it as a resource.

From the comments on the trailer:

"I remember not wanting to go to school. Throwing up in the bathroom because they were waiting outside for me. Just because I was held back a grade that made stupid. I will never forget the girls names who hit me, who called me names. Even some teachers said I would make nothing of myself."

Title IX and cyberbullying

Wendy J. Murphy, in "Federal Law Requires Schools to Protect Children from Cyberbullying" ,
(in Cyberbullying, Louise I Gerdes, ed., p. 67-70) argues that Title IX can be used in cases where the cyberbullying is of a sexual nature:  "...the more compelling purpose of Title IX is the prevention of gender discrimination, including sexual harrassment, sexual violence and bullying "based on" gender."

"Title IX applies so long as there is a "nexus" between the harassment and the school environment.  Thus, even if the harmful conduct occurs in a cyber-venue such as Facebook, school officials must step in.  The test is not where did the speech originate, but rather, where did the harmful effects land?  If one students' off campus harassment interferes with another student's on-campus education, schools have the right and the DUTY to do something "effective" about it.

Whether this will work, or not is anyone's guess.  But it may be one way around the free speech issue.

The governing Supreme Court case that has apparently led to students succeeding on free-speech grounds is Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community District (1969).  "Under Tinker, school officials can restrict or respond to student speech if that speech has caused or foreseebly will cause a substantial disruption at school or interference with the rights of students to be secure." (p. 72, Nancy Willard, Schools Have the Right to Punish Cyberbullies, p. 72-78 in Cyberbullying, cited above).

For the bullies...

A lot of our discussion has centered on protecting students from bullies. But how can we help the bullies themselves? I would like to know more about successful interventions for students that exhibit this behavior. I haven't seen much that goes beyond the standards outlined in a basic Ed Psychology textbook.

Movie On Bullying

I had seen the trailer for this documentary a while back and it looks very good. Here is the link to the trailer: http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/weinstein/bully/

I currently help out at Blacksburg High School, and the teacher I assist with has shown a movie in the past about bullying to her students. I can't remember the movie's name on top of my head, however I remember it being a successful adult talking to a group of students about his troubled past with bullying. It was definitely interesting, but I'm not sure if the students in the BHS class really took much from it. I was wondering what your guys opinions were on how effective showing movies on bullying and having class discussions could be?

cyberbullying on personal sites

Just as Lagrange88 brought up the legal issues with cyberbullying, I am thinking of cyberbullying cases happening at places outside of class blog or class blackboard. For example, individual students can set up their own blog or group blog with bullying content; individual students can send personal emails to attack other students; students can post mean comments on Facebook, twitter, or other social network. It will be difficult for teachers to monitor these online behaviors if the blogs are not for class use purpose. As Lagrange88 has pointed out in the article, schools can be sued for violating students’ free speech right if schools try to discipline the students. 

Therefore teachers need to model for students how to respect and tolerate each other, stop bullying immediately when spotting any bullying behavior. Most importantly, teachers need to lecture and discuss openly about bullying/ cyberbullying behaviors, as well as creating a contract with students regarding the responsible use of technology.

Check this out!

This one middle school developed a curriculum on cyberbullying! You can find a "virtual" book on this site with lessons pertaining to cyberbullying.

http://district.seattleschools.org/modules/cms/pages.phtml?pageid=216981

Legal Issues with Cyberbullying

I found it really interesting when I read this page:

http://www.stopcyberbullying.org/prevention/schools_role.html

Schools have been sued (and have lost these suits) based on disciplinary action taken regarding cyberbullying that has taken place off campus. The website recommends reserving the right to discipline cyberbullies in your school's AUP. This seems like a really good idea...if one of my students comes to me as a victim of cyberbullying and is seeking my help, I don't want to feel like I can't legally do anything about it. Even though state laws and policies exist against cyberbullying (see http://www.stopbullying.gov/laws/virginia.html for info on Virginia's laws), it's strange that schools can get in trouble for this.

I also took issue with how few groups are identified in the Virginia state law:

Race
Gender
Religion
Physical abilities

To me, this is a grossly incomplete list of factors that can lead to cyberbullying. Thoughts?

Resources for Combating Cyberbullying

In working with teachers and parents, I've used resources from Wired Safety, http://www.wiredsafety.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=59&Itemid=89. WiredSafety.org is a US charity operating through its volunteers worldwide. It is the largest and oldest online safety, education, and help group in the world. Originating in 1995 as a group of volunteers rating websites, it now provides one-to-one help, extensive information, and education to cyberspace users of all ages on a myriad of Internet and interactive technology safety, privacy and security issues. These services are offered through a worldwide organization comprised entirely of unpaid volunteers who administer specialized websites, resources and programs. Wired Safety has more than fifty flash animations (many converted to QuickTime for Apple users), computer games (including Alex Wonder Kid Cyberdetective Cyberbullying Game), posters, banners, pledges, coloring and activity sheets for all ages, as well as printable guides, handouts, presentation materials, videos and interactive learning tools, lesson plans and community outreach materials. Hopefully, you will find these resources as valuable as I have.

Adults can't be cyberbullies?

So I was reading about what cyberbulling is at http://www.stopcyberbullying.org/what_is_cyberbullying_exactly.html. It says that when adults are involved it is not called cyberbullying, rather it is called cyber-harassment or cyberstalking. I don't really agree that adults can't be involved in cyberbullying. This may just be semantics, but I think cyber-harassment and cyberstalking should be (are) categories of cyberbullying. Does anyone else feel this way?

Cyberbulling and Blogs

Cyberbulling can take place on blogs. Kids can post mean and degrading things about others in their blog (which can be made public). It can be hurtful when the victim reads it, but it can also be hurtful when others read it (could embarrass the victim or the readers may even lash out at the victim).

I could actually see cyberbulling happening on scholastic blogs. I think the best strategies to overcome this as an instructor is to have all students use pseudonyms on the blog. Another precaution to protect one's students from outside cyber bullies would be to make the blog private so that only the class has access and posting abilities on the blog. I think it is also important for the teacher to monitor interactions on the class blog for any sort of cyberbulling. If it is occurring, the teacher could take away a student's blog posting ability and hopefully discipline the cyberbully.

Prezi the easy and fun presentation maker

I feel like Prezi draws connection between each slide. It is also very easy to see the overall idea of a presentation and how each part contributes to the main idea. Comparing to PowerPoint slides, I like the way Prezi help organize closely bonded concepts rather than letting them loosely scattered.

 Prezi also made online videos easier to be watched. Instead of opening the videos in the browser, they are embedded in Prezi itself, which helps presentation become smoother.  I think Prezi is a quick and fun presentation maker!

Prezi

Someone in my College Teaching Class gave a presentation this week using Prezi. Prezi made a good impression on me!

Prezi looks really cool and easy to use, but I had a small issue. I kept getting frustrated because while I was working, stuff kept moving when I didn't want it to! I think once I have more experience with the program, Prezi will be an awesome tool for me! The Prezi assignment that we did would be powerful learning tools (I am thinking specifically in online courses). I also think that having students making Prezi presentations may be just as powerful as concept mapping!

Using Prezi

I found that Prezi is a very user-friendly tool for the classroom.  The tutorial video was very useful, and anything it didn't cover was relatively easy to figure out.  I think these are much more visually appealing than a regular powerpoint.  Although Prezi wouldn't be very useful for many physics topics, I would definitely consider using it for those topics in which it would be useful.  It seems to me that these would be much more interesting for the students to watch and learn from than a powerpoint, overheads, or writing on the chalkboard.

Prezi and Concept Mapping

I found this short article about using Prezi in a college course, but I think the ideas relate well to any grade level. The author states that Prezi enables educators to escape the confines of linear presentations and encourage knowledge construction via higher order thinking skills in a manner that uses both visual and auditory channels. Unlike the linear model that moves from concept to concept, Prezi encourages learners to identify patterns, comparisons, relationships, and differences between information. Like a concept map, Prezi’s hierarchical style moves between concepts, topics, and subtopics while still retaining its relation to the foundational idea visually and, through the instructor’s voice, auditory.

This could be the basis for a great research study!

Read the full article here:

Prezi: Trading Linear Presentations for Conceptual Learning Experiences in Counselor Education

Amanda J. Rockinson-Szapkiw, Liberty University

January 2011

http://works.bepress.com/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1017&context=amanda_rockinson_szapkiw&sei-redir=1&referer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bing.com%2Fsearch%3Fq%3DUsing%2BPrezi%2Bfor%2Bconcept%2Bmapping%26src%3DIE-SearchBox%26first%3D111%26FORM%3DPORE#search=%22Using%20Prezi%20concept%20mapping%22

More on the Novak Article

For me, the part that really stood out for me was using concept mapping to plan for instruction (pg. 28). A teacher could create a macro concept map of what will be covered in the course. The macro concept map could then be divided into micro concept maps that would comprise of a lesson. I had always used concept mapping for review and seeing how topics fit together. The authors also suggest that concept mapping can be used as an evaluation (by itself or supplementing another assessment form like a multiple choice test).

Concept mapping can serve as an outline to students. Students are not always able to detect the major points in lessons. A concept map defines the main points and help students to see how all of the material that is being thrown at them fits together.

Concept Map Making?

I just wanted to gauge how much experience others have with concept mapping and whether or not they have a positive or negative attitude towards them. I have had a lot of exposure to concept maps in my earth and space science class in high school and my science methods course as an undergraduate. I like how they can keep what you learned organized and can show relationships between concepts.

However, this was only my second time attempting to make a concept map on a computer. The first computerized one I made I used PowerPoint. I found that to be somewhat cumbersome and preferred making concept maps the old fashion way with pen and paper. This time I tried a new software Inspiration 9. I found it to be pretty user friendly. I am highly considering purchasing the software for my own personal use and studying.

Anyone find another software for concept mapping that they liked?

Novak Article on Concept Maps

I am just now beginning to read through the Novak article and I just wanted to say that I absolutely love Figure 1. It is a concept map of concept maps. It may be nerdy, but I like it! It does a wonderful job capturing the essence of concept maps.

More on Edmodo and Pinterest & Social Media

In a class that I am in (College Teaching) we were discussing social media. Edmodo and Pinterest both came up in our discussion. Edmodo seemed to be a hot topic as almost everybody had heard of it and knew someone who used it. One of my peers said that her son's teacher uses it to e-mail assignment deadlines to both the student and the parents (this is the Blacksburg Middle School). She also e-mails parents tips for helping their students with specific assignments as well as study tips. She also uses Edmodo to contact parents to schedule parent/teacher conferences. The parents also get a courtesy e-mail reminder the day before the scheduled meeting. I guess what I found interesting about this discussion was how Edmodo was used to foster parent involvement in their child's education.

The Pinterest portion of the discussion was rather disappointing. Most of my colleagues acknowledged that Pinterest could be useful, but most are using it in an unscholarly way.

We also talked about Facebook & Linked In. Most of my colleagues believed it was okay to have a Facebook account as long as one is thoughtful about posts (pictures and verbal). We were discussing how to keep it professional so that potential employees don't get the wrong idea about you when they are considering you for a position (most employers google potential candidates and look at their Facebook & Linked In accounts). We also talked about linking both Facebook and Linked In accounts together (although I don't know how to do this) and keeping both consistent and honest. Sometimes potential employers look to verify your education or experience and if your Linked In and Facebook are not consistent (or consistent with what you put on your resume) it raises a red flag.

We also discussed whether or not we should friend our students. Everyone pretty much were in agreement that it would be inappropriate. I agree as well, but I do have a slightly different approach. Since I am a teaching assistant in chemistry, my students are of college age (I am a young graduate student) so we are close in age. I only accept friend requests from my students after they have completed my lab and it is certain that I will not have them as a student again. Does anyone have any opinions on this?

Edmodo at a local middle school

My son uses Edmodo at a local middle school.  His teachers and classmates are using Edmodo, but not to the full extent which is available, and which has been documented in the posts thus far.

(I won't repeat that documentation here, and I necessairly should not identify the school or teacher names below.)

In any case, there is an attempt at making a community, especially by a few of the teachers.

One teacher uses it quite extensively, posting assignments with worksheet pages so that students have less of an excuse for not having completed their homework.  If they have a computer at home, they can access the worksheet if it was not taken home.  Of course, not all students actually have a computer at home.

If I were using Edmodo in this fashion (which I would), I would want, for reasons of equity and fairness, to find ways to deterine (without embarassing the kids) who did and who did not have access to a computer and printer at home.  A teacher might well need to make extra effort to accommodate such students, so that they were not disadvantaged compared to others----particularly if the teacher were actively integrating many of the other Edmodo features into the curriculum.

One teacher does not use Edmodo at all, as far as I can determine.  Three teachers use Edmodo to provide additional information on assignments on an occasional to regular basis.  One teacher has apparently told her students that she will check Edmodo every night before a school day up until  a certain time (8:00), and she regularly answers student questions.  She also has after school help sessions once a week, and has occasional extra after-school academic activites.

Judging by the number of questions asked by students, overall there is an under-use of Edmodo by students for direct academic use, other that to find out what the homework was. (Exception: the one teacher who clearly has incorporated the use of Edmodo as an active tool.  There is more discussion of academic content on that part of the Edmodo site.)

There is a fair bit of use of Edmodo to chat between students about peripherally school-related stuff.   There is some posting of computer-created games by students who have learned how to make games.

The site is password protected, but I do have concerns about the lack of consistent use of a policy on identification of names.  My son was actually using his real first and last name.  I talked to him about this issue.  Some students are using first name and last initial, which is probably the minimum anonymity I would like to see.

Grading appears on another school system site called the Portal, so that feature in Edmodo does not appear to be of use.  There is no way that teachers are going to put grades in both places.  I note that the grades section does seem to have a graphing capability so that grades can be graphed over time.  That might be a useful feature, one which is not found in the Portal system.

Pinterest again with code to prevent pinning

For those interested in continuing the discussion/debate on Pinterest:

1. There has been some use of Pinterest in scamming, to make money off Pinterest:

http://www.hlntv.com/article/2012/03/20/how-spot-pinterest-scam


2. There are issues with copyright:

http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/symbiartic/2012/03/16/the-promise-and-perils-of-pinterest/

The post at the Scientific American website links to other website (and Washington Post and Wall Street Journal articles and discussions).

The discussion in the comments section is of some interest, and brings up various aspects of copyright law and the Orphan Works legislation.




3.  Finally, if you have a website and do not want images of your creation to be pinned, then you should read the following, which alerts you to code (pasted farther below) to add at the head of any page on your website:

http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/symbiartic/2012/03/19/pinterests-terms-of-service-word-by-terrifying-word/

code:

<meta name="pinterest" content="nopin" />

I have not tested this, so I can't vouch for its utility.

Edmodo is a time saver and organizer

I'll admit I had my doubts. I'm not a huge fan of social networks to begin with, and when I saw a layout nearly identical to facebook, I assumed it to be another rehash of the same old thing. After about 20 minutes of playing around though my opinion had been almost completely changed. I really hope Edmodo catches on, because I think it's a tool that get stronger as more teacher in a school use it. I think it does the job of a blackboard or scholar type site, except it is free, ad-free, includes additional features, and much more intuitive and interconnected and user friendly.

Assignments can be created from one main page and sent to groups (classes) rather than having to sift through several different page sites. The same can be done with the grade-book, calender, notes, and quizzes. In a scenario where an entire school body is using the site, a student would have the ability to log on, see all test and assignment due dates, simultaneously on one calendar, check his or her grades, download notes, and interact with other students and teachers. Scholar for example, does these things in some capacity, but its lacks the same intuitive site design and freedom. Scholar also feels like a one-way street from teacher to student, but Emodo seems to offer an easy means for students to communicate back to teachers. There is even an option to sort posts by students.

There are also things that can be done on Edmodo that can't be done on a Scholar like site. School wide polls could be created by administrators or student goverments to give students a voice. School administration, athletic teams, and extracurricular clubs could also benefit from the calendar and announcement features. Additionally students in group projects can easily could create a group to make schedules and stay organized, privately and separately from the main class groups.

But it is not just the ideal scenario of a school-wide setting that I see Edmodo being useful though. It can be used  on the level of a department, for a single class, or as Dirac pointed out, by an individual teacher as an organizational tool or means of communicating with other teachers. I personally see myself using Edmodo, infact, I've already claimed a profile name, "/merrillphysics," something I have yet to do on facebook. Edmodo has the potential to be big if other educators are willing to give it a chance.

Edmodo reflections

I feel like Edmodo is similar to the VT Scholar site for students in elementary and high school students with enhanced features.

Teachers can post assignments on edmodo everyday, which is a good way to facilitate Universal Design for Learners: students with special needs or English language issues can efficiently access homework assignments.

Students can openly post discussions with the rest of the class and with the teacher, which helps to build a community of learners. When students encounter difficulties in homework, they don’t need to leave the question unanswered or spend hours fretting over it since they can get assistance outside of school.

During class teachers are always pressed by the tight curriculum schedules and have little time to share personal emotions with students. Through edmodo, teachers can connect with their students, share interesting events and ideas.

The Polls feature promotes student-oriented learning. Teachers can take students’ opinions into accounts when planning events or arranging events, since polls readily collect votes from every student.

I agree with the motto of edmodo “Make your classroom a community”. I think by efficiently using of edmodo, students will feel the sense of being connected, being helped, being respected, and being well-informed. I am really glad to see the widely integration of software such as edmodo into regular schooling.

The Potentials of Edmodo...

I really like this site and I completely understand why " the young teachers attending would not stop talking about it." I think that we could use this several ways:

• The Poll Feature. We could have students take polls to see what they are most interested in studying. We could also use polls as an evaluation tool by having students rate whether or not they liked an activity or lesson that we tried out in class.
• The Quiz Feature. Like Blackboard and Scholar, we can administer quizzes. I think that the interface for creating the quizzes is nicer and more user-friendly than Blackboard or Scholar.
• RS Feeds Feature. We could add news feeds that are relevant for our classes so that students can follow them. We can also use this feature to connect to a class blog.
• Assignments Feature. We can use this to post assignments and their due dates...sort of like a bulletin board or planner.
• Badges. I like how we can award students badges for their contributions on Edmodo. I think though that this may be geared more towards the younger students. (good citizen, good question, hard worker, homework helper, participant, perfect attendance, star performer, student of the month). We can also create our own badges for students.
• Profile url. I just claimed my own profile url...http://edmodo.com/tiffanyannbumbarger I will play with this more later.
• Calendar Feature. We can use this as a timetable for topics indicated on the syllabus as well as due dates.
  

Thoughts on Edmodo

My first impression of this website is that it is very similar, in its basic idea and setup/appearance, to facebook.  Considering how popular we all know facebook has become, I think it is safe to say that it would be a very good tool to use.

Throughout the first few minutes I spent poking around Edmodo, I was able to see a lot of cool features.  This seems like a very good way to organize all of the classes you have from grades, to documents, to quizzes and tests.  Mr. Chris Martin and I became "connected" on Edmodo.  This also has the potential to be very useful.  You can "connect" with any other teachers you'd like, assuming they accept your "connection request," and from there, you can share different ideas, documents, or strategies for the classroom.  There is even a link to use google docs.

The best part about this is that you don't need to have your students sign up.  This website can be solely for your personal benefit.  It can keep your classes organized and neat (never having to worry about a physical book for grades!).  I would seriously consider using this website as a teacher after I graduate from this program.  I personally think this is the most useful website/activity we have come across all semester.

Idea for next semsester

Dirac32 and I were talking outside of class yesterday about last week's virtual labs. We agreed that actually programming a virtual lab, especially one that was "outstanding" would likely be far outside the scope of the class. Dirac suggested that laying out an idea for the design of one without actually programming it could be just as informative. Dr. P mentioned an "unfortunate disconnects between scientists, educators and the technology specialists when it comes to building (virtual labs) when she responded to Karst's post. Maybe somewhere down the line this class could work with a programming class at tech to take our designs as educators and have them built by students with a better knowledge of programming. Just thought I'd share.

Edmodo Impression

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-KBwriCO-Q&feature=fvst

^^A video on edmodo.

Edmodo looks very promising and pretty simple to use.  As a teacher, I like the feature of using polls and posting assignment due dates. As a student, I like the feature of having all my assignment listed on a calendar already there for me. Also, getting parents to sign up for edmodo could be very beneficial.  Parents can see exactly what is going on in the classroom and help their kid stay on track.  However, I think for edmodo to truly reach its potential, it needs to be used school wide in all classes and even after school activities.  As a student, I wouldn't want to have to sign up for some website, spend time learning how it works, and only ever use it for one course.  If a student uses it for multiple classes and is truly able to use the calendar feature with assignments from all classes (and even sporting events for athletes) then it could be a really handy tool.  As a teacher, Edmodo could be helpful for seeing what our students have due in other classes.  Also, seeing what other classes are doing, we could create assignments that incorporate in different disciplines and assure that they don't conflict with other class assignments or even major sporting events.  By helping create a more balanced schedule for our students, we assure we're going to get the highest quality work from them with the least amount of excuses.  Though, in the end, is it realistic to think that a whole school would jump on the edmodo bandwagon?

Engaged exploration in simulations, games and virtual labs

One of our tasks this week was to identify an outstanding virtual lab.  Did we really do that?  What counts as an outstanding virtual lab?  Can simulations count as virtual labs? Can games count as virtual labs?

I spent hours looking at supposed virtual labs and came to the conclusion that there are many groups building simulations, games, and virtual labs, but there is very little consistency in the use of the terms.

I looked at many different fields including biology, physics, chemistry, geology, meteorology, Earth science, and from engineering hydrology and materials science, hunting for something that might fit the idea of “virtual” and “outstanding.”  What struck me is that the vast majority were not really labs that would be usefully described as inquiry, and that would allow the students to vary parameters and truly discover relationships. Many seem to teach a narrow set of concepts in a relatively didactic way.

I was especially disappointed with most of the labs I found for Earth Science (my field).  To give just one example, virtual earthquake at:

http://www.sciencecourseware.org/virtualearthquake/VQuakeExecute.html

taught the bare basics of seismological use of seismograms, but seemed little more than a standard lab manual type of exercise.  It used S-P times to determine epicentral distances and locate quake epicenters, with an additional part using a nomograph to determine Richter magnitude.   The student selects an area in the world to simulate an earthquake; the program simulates a quake without precisely locating it, and the student is given three seismograms which can then be used to determine epicentral distances using travel time curves of P and S waves.  From epicentral distances and the plotted locations of seismographs, the program draws three circles whose radii are the epicentral distances, and where they all intersect gives the location of the epicenter.

All of this was done in a dry, matter of fact fashion which could not possibly create any real motivation or interest.  It lacks what the developers of PhET describe as a potential for “engaged exploration” (p. 28 of our readings, also p. 28 of the original Adams et al., 2008 paper available on the PhET research website).

Adams et al. (2008a) identify students as being in “engaged exploration” when students pose questions and seek “answers by observing the results of their own interactions with the simulation and making sense of what they see.’  Students are described as being “more easily engaged in the exploration of topics that include relatively unfamiliar science.”

What happens when students are not engaged in the simulations?  What reasons are there for students to not become engaged?  Some reasons related directly to the design and content of the simulations include:  Insufficient time for interacting with the simulation; inability to figure out how to use the simulation; being overwhelmedby the simulation; not knowing where to start; and familiarity with the concepts, such that students then try to use the simulation as a demonstration tool instead of using it as a learning tool.

Adams et al. (2008a and b; see reference list p. 129 of our reading, and various parts of our readings) used extensive interviews and interactions with students actively using simulations to attempt to determine how to best design simulations to promote engagement and to promote actual learning.

Obviously, the results of these, and other researcher’s work on simulations and games are essential to consider when selecting such materials for use in secondary classrooms.  We really want to avoid using such putative “virtual labs” as the virtual earthquake lab I referenced above (to their credit, they apparently have a newer version that purports to be designed in a more inquiry type of way, but so far I have been unable to get it to work properly).

Besides “engaged exploration” (active exploration of information in the simulation, to make sense of it; and exploration of relatively unfamiliar science content), Adams et al. (2008a) invoke the coherence principle and a consistency principle as concerns for the details of the design process.  Clark and Mayer’s (2003) coherence principle  can be paraphrased as:  Don’t add unnecessary material to simulations, even if interesting, because it can inhibit the learning process.  Inhibition can be by distraction (guiding attention away), disruption (preventing linkage of concepts because of irrelevant information intruding), or seduction (activating pre-exixting knowledge that may mislead).

In their second paper, Adams et al. (2008b) investigate the design elements of successful simulations.  Some of that is relatively technical but straightforward aspects of how learners most easily use computer simulations---aspects of clicking, dragging, grabbing objects, sliders, buttons, and checkboxes.  Those are all important, because inefficient use of those design elements can greatly affect learners’ ability to use and remain engaged in the simulation.

Three different levels of usability are distinguished: (1) Non-intuitive, requiring much instruction to use; (2) Semi-intuitive, usable after instruction and demonstration; and (3) intuitive, which is characterized as most desirable, being “easy to use with no instruction”.

The goal is to create fully intuitive simulations.

Given the high degree of diversity in ability, attention, and interest in science in secondary science students, it seems most important to strive for use of virtual labs, simulations, and games that are as intuitive as possible.  Of course thay also need to be engaging and have a readily recognizable science learning content and realizable goals.

There is one more aspect that I want to highlight here, from general learning theory, which is applied in these simulation discussions by Adams et al. (2008b):

Learners who have little or no knowledge of new content tend to be unable to quickly determine which information is important (when multiple pieces of info are provided) or the relationships between those pieces of information.

Applied to representations in simulations, they put this as:

“Visual representations must be created with care because we observe that when students are learning about the phenomena they will apply equal importance to every feature….care must be taken not to overwhelm the students with too much new informatin at once.” (p. 14).

Also:

“ “Students look at all visual clues equally, if they do not understand a concept.  It is important to emphasize items that are pedagogicallly important and eliminate all potential distractions.” (p. 20).

Learning science through computer games and simulations

Simulations and games are useful implementations in teaching because they promote students’ conceptual understanding, science process skills and motivations based on the researches described in the book. Using simulations and games is an interest boost during regular teaching.

Simulations and games are also good implementations of Universal Design for Learning.

Students can explore the games or simulations based on their own learning pace and try multiple times. Students with learning disabilities or language issues can gain cognitive understanding straight from animations rather than profound words. Research found out those students with lesser prior knowledge made more progress than students with more prior knowledge. There are differences of students’ progress from simulations and games based on different gender, race, and English language ability.

Simulations and games are time-consuming to make. Therefore, only important concepts and ideas are selected and developed among a lot of other topics, which engages students to think deeply about certain important concepts.

Virtual labs and games reading

A couple of things really stood out to me throughout the reading. The first is strand 4 in the learning goals section: “Reflect on science as a way of knowing.” I definitely agree with this sentiment. Through studying physics, I’ve come across a different way of thinking, and essentially a different way of “knowing” information.

While I agree with the findings of the Adams group in 2008 (page 28), I’m curious as to how they reached their conclusion that “the study participants’ level of conceptual understanding (was) much greater than the level typically reached by students taught about these concepts in a physics course.” Sure, it seems reasonable to me that a hands-on approach can enhance the understanding of a concept, but without a control group, I don’t see how the study can make that claim.

I was interested when, on page 63, the report states, “when the teacher evaluated students’ learning in the curriculum as part of the course grade, some students became less engaged and interested, while others took the game more seriously.” This helps to solidify my belief that there’s no “magic wand” of learning. Certain methods work well for some students, while others require a different approach. The best classroom environment is definitely a multifaceted one.

I could definitely see myself using virtual labs or games in my classroom as a means of motivating and interesting students in the course material. I’d probably use it as a supplement of information already learned, or as an introductory unit that I’ll follow up with further discussion. This way, I’ll be able to hook some students immediately while not leaving others behind. 

Narrated PowerPoint....Help!

I thought I uploaded my PowerPoint several days ago....and now I can't find. Can anyone see it? It is labeled EDCI ppt? I am really struggling figuring out how the Wiki works. I appreciate any help!

My Adobe Presenter Nightmare

I had some terrible luck when it came to making my lesson in Adobe Presenter. Everything was going fine initially. The actual slide construction was exactly the same as ppt and after just a little work I was able to embed the videos I wanted. I came to the point where I was ready to do the audio tracks for my presentation when I realized that I had done all the previous steps on my desktop computer, which unlike most laptops, does not have a microphone built in. I borrowed a friends laptop and assumed it would be easier to make the recordings with his computer and transfer them over to mine, rather than install adobe presenter and transfer all the slides and videos to the laptop. I was probably wrong.

I made the recordings and transferred them to the desktop, but I couldn't find the files when I tried to import them into the presentation. After some poking I realized it was because the audio files were saved as .wma. Adobe presenter can only use .mp3 or .wav. The recordings took a fairly long time so I really didn't want to have to do them all again. I found an online converter to change them to .mp3. Still no luck. So I found an even more suspicious converter to change them to .wav files. Finally I was able to add the files to the presenter and everything seemed to be working correctly.

But... When I tried to publish the presentation and create a SWF file the progress bar reached nearly half way before "Adobe Presenter cannot publish this presentation. Unknown error." Awesome. I figured it might be an compatibility issue with one of the image or video file types. In an attempt to find the culprit I tried publish after deleting all videos clips. Same error. I then deleted all the images. Same error. I then deleted everything but the slide backgrounds.... same error. I checked Adobe's website to make sure I was clicking the right things. I was. At this point I knew it was probably the adobe presenter. I re-installed the presenter, imported all the old slides, audio, and video, then tried to publish. Same error.

After smashing my face against the keyboard, I accepted defeat and moved on to trying to make a video of the presentation instead. I found a simple to use cloud based video editor partnered with Youtube called "WeVideo." It took around 45 minutes to match all the audio files to the slides, but I was eventually able to preview my presentation. It was ready to put on Youtube so I hit publish: "Error: Publishing time remaining for this month 15:00. Video length 17:39"

(╯°_°）╯︵ ┻━┻ <== me flipping over my computer desk

I didn't want to have to stitch together the audio files again, and I couldn't think of any easy way of cutting 2 minutes of material to get below the limit. Even if I broke it into two separate videos I would still have the overall 15 minutes per month cap if I used "WeVideo" for both parts.

I deleted a video clip within the middle of the presentation trimming the length to 13 minutes and saved the video. Next I downloaded Windows Live Movie Maker so I would be free to upload more than 15 minutes of video in two parts. I took my 13 minute chunk, spliced in the video clip restoring it to it's original length, then re-cut the full length presentation into two parts. I was then finally able to upload them to YouTube. Then I had a beer.


If you're interested here are the fruits of my labor
Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yA6v8eur3_o
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfabXsFD2lY


If you read all of that I hope you understand why I felt the need to vent with this post haha. I think as a teach I will probably forgo Adobe presenter, too much hassle. Instead I'll add what I plan on saying with each slide in the "notes" section so students can use that as a means of reviewing the lesson outside of class, or possibly record the audio of my lecture during each class. Anyway, if anyone can tell me what I may have been doing wrong with adobe presenter, please let me know.

Two potential uses of narrated PowerPoints

1. It strikes me that Narrated PowerPoints would be very useful for lessons on days when a substitute teacher was in the classroom.  One could build up a library over time of short lessons that could be used by the substitute, in addition to other materials accompanying the Narrated PowerPoints.

2. I am also a firm believer in sharing learning objectives with parents and students---or at least making them available.

One way might be to created Narrated PowerPoints for each unit, and post them on the class website.

One could list learning objectives and show their alignment with state standards (and even national science standards or benchmarks), and with the assessments that are used to determine grades.  One could list activities, readings, labs, experiments, worksheets, and available Narrated PowerPoints for each unit.

By doing this, one is better able to communicate precisely what is being taught and what is supposed to be learned.  I know from monitoring my own kids' science classes, that there have been times when I certainly have wished that teachers were doing these kinds of things, so that I could better monitor what was going on in their science classes.

Having such materials available would go a long way toward establishing effective teacher/parent communication, and allow better support by parents.

Being open, up front, and very transparent about science and what happens in science has the potential to increase support of science in the wider society.  Even more important, developing better communication with parents and the public generally is necessary given the current climate of high-stakes testing, where teachers are being fired if their value-added assessment scores are not good enough. (I'll ignore, for the moment, the fact that value added assessment has been improperly used in places such as D.C. and New York.)

In any case, there is widespread teacher bashing in our society.  If we are to counteract teacher bashing and combat inappropriate assessment of teachers, then we need to do everything we can as teachers to show and document what students knew before instruction, what they are being taught, and what they have succeeded in learning through instruction.

Difficulties with Narrated PowerPoints

A bunch of us seem to have difficulties getting Adobe Presenter to work correctly on the wiki, or getting the correct files to be downloaded to the wiki, so that we can view the Narrated PowerPoints.

I played round with folders and files and found that my PowerPoint does work as a pptx file, but only if a bunch of accompanying files were in the same folder.   The version as a pdf file works, but only if a bunch of accompanying files were in the same folder.

I put it on the wiki as a pptx file, and it does not work, apparently because all the accompanying files are not there. I found that it works on my computer in some files if I click on index, so I put index on the wiki.  That also alone does not work.

I tried to upload the entire folder with the pptx file and accompanying file, but it refuses to take the files in a single folder.  I thought about uploading each file individually---but did not, because that obviously is no solution (it would create dozens of files and make a total mess).

I don't want to upload anything else here until we figure out the solution.

Any ideas?

PowerPoints

I really enjoyed working on PowerPoint! While I was looking for Videos to imbed, I found this one Science Teacher, Mr. Parr, puts together lyrics describing a scientific concept and puts it to popular music. Everyone should check this out...there is one for almost every science topic!

Narrated Powerpoints

I really liked using powerpoint, for teaching science especially, because it allows you to present and discuss diagrams from the text that student may have struggled with. Narrating it felt funny though, I feel like I read off the slides way more than I do when speaking to an audience. Normally I glance at the slides to remind myself of my points, but with nothing to do but stare at the slides it was hard not to read them!

Foster a Pinterest Spirit

Inspired by Dr. Parlo, I realized that Pinterest can be an excellent website for students’ leisure time. With its eyes-appealing pictures, Pinterest can make students more enthusiastic about science and nature, which can motivate them to explore them. Pinterest also encourages the Do It Yourself (DIY) spirit through its artistic uniquely pictures, which often times include instructions. Pinterest advocate the positive lifestyle with healthy diet pictures.

 Pinterest becomes a potent competitor for students’ leisure time, along with Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and etc. When students are dazzled with so many website choices, it is teachers’ time to guide students’ interests towards a more beneficial one, such as Pinterest. To foster students’ habits in Pinterest, teachers can set up and manage pinboards on which students can pin or repin on a group basis; Teachers can assign students to find their favorite Pinterest pictures to share with classmates in class; Teachers can arrange some crafts-making homework, where students need to follow instructions on Pinterest in order to accomplish the desired crafts.

Pinterest Alternatives

I have to say the layout and novelty of Pinterest could generate a lot excitement for students, but I think it does pose a lot of problems. Dirac and others have brought up the problem of integrating a social network, making the students share personal information over the web is problematic. A simple permission form may resolve the issue, but the idea still sits uncomfortably with me. I can see it implemented as a presentation tool more so than a collaboration tool.

 Langrange had a nice example with this page. There's a lot of cool resources on the internet that you come across, I feel like as a teacher I can use Pinterest as a hub for resources. Students could explore and browse the page without requiring them to create an account or log in.

As an alternative to Pinterest, there is a website Imgur.com (Pronounced Image-er). It doesn't have quite as nice of a layout as Pinterest does, but it does have offer some options. It allows you to create an account while still keeping anonymity. In this way you could implement some of the ideas of collages, portfolios, and others could all be implemented and actively discussed in the comments. I still have some reservations about having students participate in an open forum (there's no restrictions from non-students from commenting), but I can envision myself using both resources to some degree.

What's the Point?

I have really enjoyed reading all the posts about Pinterest this week. As you continue your thoughts about possible applications for this sort of technology, I encourage you to think about what your goals might be in using it. Namely, I read a lot about students getting distracted or addicted to Pinterest type applications - but if it were science based, would it be a bad thing? (not true addiction per se) If your students are spending their leisure time poking around on science based topics, do you really care how focused it is? Is it more important that they learn specific content or that they are getting excited about science? What are your thoughts on this?

Pinterest for students or not?

Pinterest is the website with best graphic designs and photos I have ever seen. It is also full of sparkling ideas, some of which are good for classroom use. However, I will not encourage my students to explore this site. As I am looking at the Science & Nature page, most of them are fantastic good-looking pictures with little description of what they are. Without interpretation, students are more likely to focus the aesthetic aspect of the pictures rather than exploring them. Furthermore, there are too many good pictures for students to concentrate and research on some specific ones. Students are going to be easily distracted in this beautiful land.

As a teacher, I prefer to use Pinterest as a resource website. I would select pictures and videos to aid my curriculum. These pictures can engage students and illustrate concepts vividly.

Pinterest as a resource for teachers

So far it seems we've had some great discussions on the possible applications of Pinterest as it pertains to students in your classroom, but I also noticed a lot of people (including myself) are uncomfortable getting students to sign up for a website that requires them to link it to a social network site. However, I realized teachers can use Pinterest to share ideas and resources about materials they're using in the classroom. I found this Pinterest board while searching around:

http://pinterest.com/rdooly3/classroom-ideas/

This page is clearly geared toward elementary classes, but there are also materials out there for high schools. For example, I just searched for "Pinterest physics class" and found this one:

http://pinterest.com/missnirvana/physics/

It's full of material that I can pick and choose from to present to my class. I think that I may use Pinterest as a resource-finder rather than a classroom activity.

Is Pinterest addictive? so says Lydia Dishman

Lydia Dishman claims Pinterest is addictive, at

http://digitallife.today.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/02/28/10532317-this-is-what-makes-pinterest-so-addictive

"If you are still among the uninitiated, the social platform for collecting, sharing, and commenting on of photos of personal passions is uniquely engaging, absorbing and addictive."

So, is Pinterest addictive?

According to Dr. Christopher Long, teaching consumer psychology:

Pinterest boards are:

1. "Personal happiness collages" - represent what I like, desire, "express who I am"
2. "A refuge from relationship status"
3. A sharing of the real self - what I would be doing and consuming if only...

This article also comments on the graphic design of Pinterest from Ken Carbone.

Pinterest and science cartoons

One way of developing interest in science is through funny or thought-provoking cartoons.  Ignore the copyright issue for a moment.  Pinterest could be used to assemble a collection of science cartoons.  There certainly are enough such cartoons out there.  Many are editorial in nature, but often they appear in magazines such as the New Yorker.  Think of Sidney Harris, who has published such books as "There Goes the Neighborhood: Cartoons on the Environment", and "Einstein Simplified: Cartoons on Science".

Here is another use of cartoons, which could be tied to Pinterest:  Have students create their own science cartoons.  They could illustrate a concept, editorialize about a science-related political issue, etc.  Then collect the cartoons and put them on Pinterest.

One useful way to approach the use of science cartoons is to develop a short unit on existing science cartoons, teaching kids about the various kinds of cartoons (there are whole categories of gags to motivate cartoons), and then let them make their own.  Students can do this individually or in groups, and criteria can easily be developed for illustrative and editorial cartoons using science.

This also can be a useful end of the semester or end of year activity that can be done to productively use what might otherwise be dead instructional time.  (Think week before Christmas, or last week of the school year.  Or do it both times.)

Pinterest-Ideas for the classroom

Pinterest allows users to create their own virtual bulletin boards with "Pins." Pins can be photos, videos, or discussions. Here are a few ideas that I can think of for use in the classroom.

1) Students can create a bulletin board of their interests to share with their classmates, perhaps as some form of an introduction or icebreaker type of activity. Classmates can follow each other (and their social networking friends).

2) Students can create themed bulletin boards pertaining to a given topic that is being studied. This of course could be used for an array of content areas and topics.

3) If students add a pin, say from a topic from a science class, students can create a discussion on the pin.

Weebly vs. Zunal

I made a quest about microevolution and evoluntionary "arms races" on Zunal, because I saw that no one else had used that site yet. After playing around on Zunal and comparing what I made to the webquests the rest of you made on Weebly I can see why. I would have to say Weebly seems to be much more user friendly and visually appealing.

Did anyone else try Zunal? It's only advantage to me is that it links to lot of possibly useful webquests that are already made and sorted by subject and grade level. I think I'm going to switch gears and just find five webquests to reflect on instead, the rest of you did such a great job!

To Pinterest or to not?

I will be the first to say, that I have yet to join Pinterest.  After looking at the site and seeing what it is all about, I am seeing a theme that is geared toward women.  This doesn't mean it can't be an excellent resource in the classroom, however if I want to full commitment from the students, I really think it needs to be more gender neutral.  Maybe with time and as it's popularity grows it will become more guy friendly? I'm interested to hear if anyone has similar opinions on the site....

GoAnimate Closing Thoughts

Excellent job giving critical thought to this particular software. I'm not sure if any of you visited the webinar I sent out regarding animations - but you have plenty of options out there to investigate. I agree that there are limitations to GoAnimate (as there typically are with any of the free versions of anything...) and I personally would not use it to make my own animations. However, I might allow students to use it at home to create projects (especially in the middle school grades) that we could post and share.
You will find in your schools that you will be asked to use technology - sometimes just for technology's sake. It will be up to you to find a way to incorporate cutting edge/new technologies in ways that best suit your goals, resources and time. I can't wait to review what you developed.

On an aside- there is another opportunty for those of you furthering your work with UDI. Here is an opportunity for the visually impaired:
Techbridge Guide for the Visually Impaired Explore It After School: Technology and Science for the Visually Impaired is a free resource guide that includes lesson plans for technology and science projects and career exploration resources designed to broaden the academic and career options for students with visual impairments.
http://www.techbridgegirls.org/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=rozq7S3V1aU%3D&tabid=65

Ruminations on GoAnimate

GoAnimate has a great deal of potential for use in the secondary science classroom. It can be a fabulous teaching tool to present concepts or present alternatives in a fun and novel fashion. It can be used as an advance organizer and it can be used to create dialogs that explore disparate aspects of science concepts.  It can be used by students as a motivational tool.  It also can be used by students as a presentation tool to present and illustrate the results of projects and experiments.  Used in this latter capacity, teachers will have to carefully construct rubrics to incorporate this and other technological innovations into the curriculum.*


However, at present GoAnimate is still in its infancy as a tool for educators (or so it seems to me). It suffers some serious shortcomings.  One of those is the apparent lack of an online guide explaining its intricacies.  Yes, I know that much of the learning of GoAnimate must be done by trial and error experimentation.  Nonetheless, I was very disappointed by the lack of documentation.  There were tutorials available, and I viewed and took notes on three of them. I viewed four or five Utube videos as well.  Yet it seemed to me that a lot of straightforward explanation could be given by the creators of GoAnimate to ease the life and flatten the learning curve of animator novices such as myself.


Perhaps I am being unfair---I was raised long before personal computers and simply did not grow up, Ipod in hand, as my daughter is doing now.  It may be that the creators of GoAnimate honestly believe that they can presume much more electronic sophistication than I and many others possess.  Or perhaps they really believe that their product is so intuitively obvious that they don’t need to provide documentation to nonetheless attract a large body of users and make a return on their investment.


All of which brings me to a second shortcoming.  This is the fact that attempts to create actual educational animations after using the available tutorials are bound to lead to much frustration, unless one gives in and buys the Plus version from the beginning.  Unfortunately, the web site provides relatively little information about making the animations or the rules under which the animations operate.  A full list would be greatly appreciated, and would include explicit statements about the two minute limit, and a host of other issues.  (To give an example:  is it possible to readily copy the style of an animation into another animation, so that one can make a part 1 and a part 2?  Or does one have to create a part 1, then start a new video and go through the whole process of remembering and re-creating all of the settings?)


Because the website does not provide such information in a straightforward fashion, there is a tendency to look at the limited information comparing the Basic and Plus versions, and wonder just how trustworthy this company is.  Will creation of animations really get any easier by buying Plus?  Will more information be forthcoming after buying Plus?


Many educational users are liable to balk and use the free version, get frustrated, and then seek out other options.  Presumably there are other options for animation, or for simulation out there.


I decided it was worth getting Plus for three months to give it a real try.  I was able to create a much better animation than I thought I would be able to create on a first try.  Yes, it has a lot of rough spots, and I have much to learn.  For this assignment, there is a real balance to be made among the constraints: the urge to be creative, the urge to try out the multiplicity of possibilities, the urge to keep it short, the urge to cover the science in an interesting way, the urge to not be perfectionistic, and the realization that figuring out how it all really works is far beyond the limited time available, especially given the limited documentation provided.

Final comments:  I would certainly encourage secondary students to learn and use GoAnimate, or other animation programs, especially if better documentation were available.  I would use it to introduce concepts, create interest, break up lessons into manageable chunks,  summarize previous instruction, etc.  But first I would have to become a competent practioner of animation.

*For those interested:  an example research-based rubric assessing the incorporation of technology into science presentations is given by Mott et al., 2011, Assessing student scientific expression using media: the media-enhanced science presentation rubric (MESPR), Journal of STEM Education, vol. 12, p. 33-41.

GoAnimate Ideas

I legitimately enjoyed playing around with the features, but it was very time consuming. A 3 minute video required several hours of work. The process may take less time with more practice though. I think if I wanted to make more videos to actually use in a classroom I would probably need purchase the "Plus" account. It allows you to import your own images, which opens up a huge number of possibilities and eliminates a lot of frustration. You may have noticed in my videos about rainbows, there was not a single picture of a rainbow. There are work-arounds, but they are very time consuming. I feel that this "necessity" to buy an account makes it impractical to assign students to work with the program. I can see myself using an animation to explain certain concepts, such as the flow of electrons in a circuit or Kepler's laws of planetary motion, which can be difficult to visualize.

Pros
-Easy to pick up
-Entertaining
-Helps visualize topics

Cons
-The most useful feature (importing images) costs money
-Time consuming

Thoughts about GoAnimate

My first experience with GoAnimate was pretty smooth. The website includes detailed tutorial to guide me through the processing part. The layout for designing is very user-friendly. I picked up a few skills pretty quickly. Even students can make simple videos through GoAnimate. I will definitely incorporate the use of videos into the classroom in the future. The followings are some pros and cons regarding GoAnimate:

Pros:

•        It arouses students’ interest to understand the material being taught in the video
•          It can simulate the situations of teaching material through animations
•          It introduces a different teaching method in addition to traditional classroom teaching
•          It can act as a reinforcement for students’ grasp of knowledge through visual imagery
•          It encourages innovative and divergent thinking among students

Cons:

•          It can distract students’ focus onto the cuteness of animation
•          It can be time-consuming in teachers’ perspective
•          It may not be able to address issues deeply  

pinterest issues of concern

After signing up for pinterest, I checked the Wikipedia article on it at

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinterest

and found a few issues of concern:

1. "Copyright concerns have been raised due to the fact that
"Pinterest?s business is based almost entirely on using images without
permission". [15] Pinterest said in February 2012 that it was
developing an improved method for copyright holders to report
infringing content on Pinterest. Getty Images said in February 2012
that it was discussing copyright problems with Pinterest [16]"

2. "In an article on The New York times website it was noted that
Pinterest modifies users' links to items that they have found, and
adds an affiliate tracking code without advising the user.[17]"

3. "To register for Pinterest, new users must receive an invitation
from a friend already registered on Pinterest or request an invitation
directly from the Pinterest website. The registration process
currently requires users to link their Pinterest account to their
Facebook or Twitter account. Users choosing to log in via Facebook
must currently be using (or opt in to) Facebook's "timeline"
format.[18][19]"

These may or may not be of particular concern to any of us.

I do not have a twitter account, nor am I on Facebook.
And I know nothing about Facebook or its "timeline" format.

Live and learn.....

Online Animations

The only pro that I see for the animations is that it is fun and different for the students.  It is easy to switch up the methods of discussing different concepts when you can animation.  However, I feel like these animations could also be very distracting to the students, and force them to focus more on the characters and animations instead of the actual content and science concepts.  It also seems very time consuming to me, and not worth it.  I feel it would be easier and more effective to make a creative lecture using the students as props, in order to get them involved, rather than having them watch a short video. 

Go Animate in the classroom

My first experience with Go Animate was really neat...by just opening it up and poking around a bit, I could understand how to effectively make the video. This technology could be used to reiterate information presented in the science classroom, either through a viewing or through the students making their own projects.

Pros:

• Direct student involvement in their learning
• Website easy to learn and use
• Creative option in a science class where creativity may be difficult to foster
• Group work encourages students to become teachers
• Students will be able to have fun while learning the material: attention grabber! 

Cons:

• Students may get wrapped up in the animations and not focus on content
• Students must have access to a computer to use this website
• Could become very time-intensive

Go Animate! Technology

Go Animate! would be very useful in engaging students with the Big Ideas of Science. These videos could be used to set the stage for introducing specific science concepts. Students could use this animation technology to create their own videos for presentations. It also might be a good way for students to show prior knowledge. The animation could become a rich source of direction for the teacher if the students are given enough time to fully demonstrate what they know about the topic and concept.

Pros:

• Visually engaging
• Great alternative for presenting facts (i.e., text, lecture)
• Good medium for collaboration
• Appeals to the “video” generation
• Free tool
• Can be closed captioned for ELL and hearing impaired students

Cons:

·         Learning curve for using this animation tool may be too steep for some and age-limited

·         Many options within the tool requires subscription

·         Concept being discussed may be lost in the slick production

·         Can be a “black hole of time” for those who are perfectionists or lack the skill level

Go Animate!

Go Animate!, like anything else that we use in the classroom has its advantages and disadvantages. I was very frustrated at first, but once I got a grasp on it, Go Animate! seems fun.

Pro's:

• Engaging...its not a dull monotone lecture.
  
• Could be fun in a group activity
• If students design a clip using Go Animate (project), it would be a creative and fun way to asses what material the students have learned
• Exposes students to technology
• It can be captioned for the hearing-impaired students or verbalized for the seeing-impaired students
• Could be assigned as either a group or individual project given that students have access to computers
  

Con's:

• Might be difficult for the un-tech-savy
• Not very many free options out there
• The glamor of the project may take away from the content
• If being shown in a classroom, it may be paced to fast and not interactive. To counter this, the teacher can of course pause the video and take questions though as needed.
  

How to Assess Students with Reading Difficulty

As a science teacher, my primary goal is to arouse students’ interest in science and teach them as much science as I can. Test is a tool to help teachers know how much knowledge students have grasped. Test is good tool if it reflects students’ real understanding of the material. If test fail to reflect, it will be the time to redesign the test. Because teachers are measuring students’ science abilities, and test is just a tool to serve this purpose.

Reading is the media conveying the material to assess students; thus if students have difficulty reading, I will seek out another effective media to convey the test ideas. I can conduct oral tests, or performance-based tests, which can involve students in the laboratory work. After all, reading should not be an obstacle in the way of students’ science learning.

If my student physically has difficulty reading, I will help find out the most appropriate assistive technologies for him/her. For example, if the student is visually impaired, I will give him/her a PDF copy of the reading material, so that the computer can read out the material to the student using certain text-to-speech software. Furthermore, I will strictly follow the 9 principles of Universal Design for Instruction in my teaching plans and tests, in order to ensure instructions are readily accessible to every student.

GoAnimate Opinion

I really enjoyed using the GoAnimate website for making an instructional video.  Using a video, instead of straight lecturing notes would be more enjoyable for the students. However, it would be crucial to ensure the animation doesn't over shine the topic being lectured. Also, the video can go fast and slowing it down may help the students take better notes.

An alternative use for the animation technology, would be assigning groups of students throughout the year to make a video for the current ongoing topic. This supplement to my lectures can help reinstate the import facts, but also help the class members work together in group settings.  Plus, working on the computer is an excellent way for the students to work with technology and improve there computer skills.

Overall, there are some pro's and con's to using this feature.

Pro's include:
- Fun for the teacher and students.
- Great way to use technology in the classroom.
- An alternative way to present the material.
- An opportunity for students to work in groups and have presentations.
- Students maybe more involved with the lecture process.
- GoAnimate is a free web service.

Con's Include:
- Possibility over shining the material.
- Too fast for students to learn the material extensively.
- Need of a computer.
- Video production can be time consuming.

Reading in Physics

I mostly agree with the other posts this week in regards to a student that is physically incapable of reading. Accommodations should be made for the student. Simple things like providing notes online for text-to-speech software to read and providing universally meaningful explanations, and providing equivalent oral exams can easily facilitate inclusion.

In the case of students with dyslexia or other reading disabilities or deficiencies I think there is still many steps that could and should be taken. Thankfully physics as a subject can be presented largely outside the constrains of a written explanation. Ideally it is something shown, experienced, and explained almost completely with the language of mathematics. Of course even with this in mind, reading is some part of almost any instruction or explanation. I think the text-to-speech software that benefits the visually impaired can equally benefit those with dyslexia or other reading disabilities. By simply providing an electronic source for the notes and texts, students could take the time they need on their own to adsorb the material.

I don't think it is my place as a physics teacher to penalize any student for his or her deficiencies in reading. I would try to make sure each student has the access to resources that would make it possible to learn the material.

Vision impaired students should obviously be given appropriate tools to overcome their disabilities. iI think the posts below have done a good job addressing this.

If a student struggles with reading, due to either a learning disability or a lack of instruction in reading, I think it is important for a teacher to make sure he or she is getting adequate instruction in reading. If the science teacher cannot provide the help needed, many schools offer reading specialists and other programs for struggling students. I agree with other posters that school should prepare a student for a future career, and leaving reading based activities out of the science curriculum is doing the child a disservice.

Within a science classroom I think teachers should provide audio and video aids for students. For example, a quick google search turns up many videos illustrating many topics. An animation of the process of transcription and translation could help to clarify a concept that is difficult for students to comprehend from text alone. Embedding such animations in class notes or posting them to a class website will help all students, regardless o their reading ability.

Evaluating the learning of these students is a challenge. Traditional tests may be hard for students, so they must be given adequate time and encouraged to ask for clarification of questions if they do not understand. students may be allowed to answer essay questions with speech recognition technology typing for them, or evaluated using projects or portfolios instead of tests.

I think it is important to include practice in reading during instruction, but it is unfair to the student if their ability to communicate their understanding of the subject matter is hampered by a disability. They must be evaluated in a way that measures their gains in knowledge of science, not their ability to transmit it on paper.