Science Project

I commented on Heidi, Karyn, and Heather's blog science activity.

From what I can tell the technology is an incredible tool in the classroom for teaching science. Students don't have to just listen to what the night sky looks like and how the stars are pattern, but they can actually see it. Students aren't just told the temperature of different states of matter of water, but they get to compare the differences from a graph, actually showing the students and giving them a visual. Basically the technology that we had to use was great for students to have a more concrete example. Also doing the video would be great to show parents or students who were absent what they missed or what you are doing in the classroom. It's actually really hard to see many downsides to these different instruments. Technology is unreliable at times however, so it is best not to completely rely on it for your main portion of the lesson. If something goes a rye, as it often does, then you need to have a back up plan.

Technology Enhanced Science Activity

For our activity we will be demonstrating the different matters of water; liquid, solid, and gas. The teacher will describe different characteristics of each matter of water with students help. Teacher will hold up glass of water and ask students what the characteristics of water they notice. Students will also have a 3 way Venn diagram to compare and contrast all three stages. Once the liquid characteristics are described, the teacher will then hold up an ice cube, allowing students to determine the characteristics of water when it is in the state of a solid. Students will collaborate and raise their hands in order to tell the different characteristics they know of. Teacher will be writing these answers on the Venn diagram on the board. The teacher will also provide other any characteristics that were missed. Next if available, teacher will heat up a pot of water until steam appears. Teacher explains that water, when it's hot enough, turns into a gas. Students and teacher will determine the characteristics of gas. At this point the Venn diagram should be completely filled out. Next the teacher will use the thermometer. The temperature will be taken of the water in it's solid, liquid, and gas phase. Before the teacher begins measuring the temperature, students can make predictions of how cold or hot they expect each water matter to be. Add the new information to diagram.

The content that will be taught during this activity is the various characteristics of water at each state of matter, while also determining how they are alike and different.
The pedagogy used during this instruction is a mixture of direct instruction, but mostly guided learning, students are allowed the freedom to discover the different characteristics for themselves and make prediction while the teacher guides their learning. We will be using the thermometers that plug into the computer for the technology for this activity. The thermometers will not only provide the degree of what everything is at, but will shows a visual graph which will make it easier for students to visually see the difference in temperature of each water matter. Basically the thermometers will serve as a more concrete visual aide of a more abstract characteristic of water.

Virtual Tour

This virtual tour takes you on the pilgrims journey from Southampton, England to their first settlement in America. I think that the upsides to having a virtual tour assignment for an elementary class are obvious. Children are able to see and experience places the would never get to see otherwise. It's also good for instruction and watching videos online of erosion, volcanoes, dances, and pilgrims. There is so much you could do with this, especially for geography. Each week, children could have the opportunity to visit a different country or place other than where they live. This way they will develop a better picture of how things are in places other than where they live. It's kind of hard to think of a downside, besides it takes a lot of the teachers time to prepare. One major downside I have thought of is that not kids have access to the technology to to the virtual tour and the assignments connected with it. To solve this problem, I think I would conduct the study in class. using a projector, so all students are able to see the different place, and then do an assignment in class each day until the tour is done. I commented on Whitney's, Heather's, and Heidi's virtual tour.

Core Standards

My Google Earth project will cover the first standard of the 5th grade curriculum in Social Studies. The Standard states: Students will understand how the exploration and colonization of North America transformed human history. it Covers objective one, Describe and explain the growth and development of the early American colonies, A: Using maps -- including pre-1492 maps -- and other geographic tools, locate and analyze the routes used by the explorers, C: Identify explorers who came to the Americas and the nations they represented, and D: Determine reasons for the exploration of North America (e.g., religious, economic, political). I chose this topic because I felt like it would be good for students to see the distance the pilgrims covered in their journey, while also being able to explore where they began and ended their journey as it looks like today. Pilgrims coming to America is a big turning point in history and I believe it is important that the subject is covered well. Students will be able to learn more about the leaders of the the Pilgrims as they read online biographies and explore their lives. They are also able to see first had what life was like on the Mayflower for the Pilgrims through a video reenactment. I think it will help bring the subject to life for them, and they will realize that these were real people who deeply impacted our country and what it is today.

Google Earth Outline

Location	Activity Description	Google Earth Content
1.Southampton, England	Follow the three different links and read the short biographies on three different leaders of the Pilgrims. Research further on these three men. Make a campaign poster for one of the leaders, the one you believe would have made the best leader.	http://www.teachervision.fen.com/biography/resource/3294.html http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/people/A0810662.html http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/people/A0808885.html
2. Cape Cod, Massachusetts	Study the illustration of a small party of pilgrims touching soil for the first time in around 2 months. Read the two paragraphs below. Write a small story about one of the pilgrims in the painting and their experiences and feelings at Cape Cod	http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~fplum/Plumstead/images/The-Pilgrims-Landing,-Novem.jpg&imgrefurl=http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~fplum/Plumstead/Mayflower/The-Pilgrims-Landing-Nov.html&usg=__THnptLAQdgKV2hOeSm3Shfs3YVI=&h=543&w=822&sz=97&hl=en&start=32&um=1&tbnid=HZC5AD2t-cZh-M:&tbnh=95&tbnw=144&prev=/images%3Fq%3DCape%2BCod%2Bin%2BNovember%26ndsp%3D18%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Dactive%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26sa%3DN%26start%3D18%26um%3D1
3. Provincetown Harbor, Massachusetts	Watch the the video. Write about what you think it was about the pilgrims that made them succeed. How did they accomplish such a tremendous feet?	http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8o4PbkwLGs&NR=1
4. Plymouth, Massachusetts	Watch youtube video describing the landing at Plymouth Rock. Write a paragraph describing your the sacrifices the pilgrims made in order to come to America and whether you believe it was worth it and why?	http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6r5qp7Z7w6Y&feature=fvsr

Digital Storytelling in the Classroom

There are a couple of concerns I have about trying to implement this in my classroom. First of all copyright laws are confusing at times, and children might have a hard time really understanding how to get things that aren't copyrighted or how site what is copyrighted, depending on the age group. Also I think that each child is at a different level of knowledge when it comes to technology. Not every child has the same opportunities with the same equipment, so some may be very advanced, but other may not know very much at all. I think it would be hard to show everyone how to do it, and have them remember how to do it and finish it all in class.

TPACK and Storyboard

TPACK is basically the different types of knowledge that can be combined in different ways in order to accomplishes different tasks and objectives, depending on what one wants the end result to be. This concept is important for teachers to recognize and know because it will effect how they both teach and gain more knowledge. Teachers constantly need to keep up to date with information, especially when regarding technology since it is forever changing and evolving. Technology gives us easy access to more and more information, but in order to gain and retain this information, one has to know how to use the technology to find it. It is also helpful for educators to understand how to use technology to teach, because of the growing number of accessible technology for children. These children in this age will respond more favorably towards lessons that deal with technology. It also allows parents to access the course and makes it easier to get involved. When parents are involved with their child's education, than the child will more likely succeed academically. For the storyboard, we are doing a healthy lifestyle. We have pictures of different, stretches, weight lifts, cardio, and activities one can do to develop, maintain, and enjoy a healthy lifestyle. We then explain how to do it and why each of these different exercise routines is important. This is helpful for teaching students, because it is a visual combined with music and audio for children to more fully interact with. You're not just telling them about having an active lifestyle, your showing them. It is also a different way to do things and adds variety. Students will be more engaged and interested in this type of education. Since is shows visual, they will see first hand how such activities should look and can easily mimic them.