Connectivities Lab

Okay, I am having connectivity difficulties today and ran down to Starbucks for caffeine and access. Picnik is fun and easy! I cropped and sharpened these photos form my travels this last year. The tree frog is from the newly remodeled California Academy of Sciences as is the sea pen below it. The dancing shrew is (dead) from an Earthwatch expedition to Nova Scotia , and the pronghorn is two weeks ago in Bozeman , MT for a biodiversity course. I could see easily having fun with this collage feature to make a 'Sesame Street' one of these things is not like the others activity to get students thinking. I don this with words, but the photos is a novel way to play with visuals. Nice. What are others out there doing with photos ?

Twitter : Well I am nowhere close to 100 folks in my nest; I need to work on that in coming weeks. I have read others ideas about using this platform with students. Still not sure about it. Once class is over, I rather like the idea it is over. I could see using it as an alarm clock to remind them of things, but I have an internet classroom that sends out project reminders. On a personal level, I am still not sure either. I will give it time to develop. Google Reader : This does save time, especially in jumping about to read class members' blogs. Is there a way to know if blog comments are updated? It seems reader is catching new entries, but I am interested in comments as well and am not sure these count in the feed. Classroom 2.0 : I am now a member here and have looked at some of the threads (some are quite old and inactive), but I need to spend more time in here and see if it has value for me. As I teach so many different sciences, it would be nice to find a place that can sup

My personal learning network (PLN) consists of social activities and those that are more solitary. Social Activities (1) List serves. I use several list serves for AP science teachers controlled by APCentral . These work best when they are well controlled by their monitors (else they often turn into diatribes about evolution, the needfulness of chemistry lab experiences, and so forth). They are handy for knowing when a good NOVA program is coming up or an idea for a class activity, but few links are Web 2.0 oriented. (2) Conferences. These aren't a common part of my learning, and as I teach longer and longer, fewer and fewer sessions seem worthwhile. I have presented at conferences, and this focuses me and gives me a good dose of anxiety which helps with empathising with students who give presentations. (3) AP Science Stuff. I read the AP Environmental Sci (APES) exams, and this social week works well for many teachers to connect with each other . I am not so good at this, but

GoAPES The blog is a goldmine for all who teach AP Environmental Science (APES) and need free response question material that is current. Thomas Cooper is an APES teacher and technology guy who has created theis blog which although simple in format, is a great resource for anyone needing topical envionmental questions for their students. It acts like a homework assignment, but his students do chime in on it. If you are interested there is an associated Ning community for APES instructors. Miss Baker's Biology Class Here is a class blog with posts generated by the teacher and her students. Entries are include topics of interest ans well as class activities. For example they show a class shark dissection. This site won an edublog award taking me to my last find to share with you all..... Edublogs Awards So, edublogs is a pricey service that provides safe blog space for educational types. It does have a nice list of good blogs in a variety of categories: best teacher blog, best use

Okay, I don't always have to be able to do technology to support it. I had a TA two years back who appreciated my caring about his passion to do animation. For one entire semester my 5' by 8' office was taken over for the making of this video which he uploaded to youtube. I offered advice, the strange stabbing photoholders, and ideas for the drowning effect. There was dirt everywhere for half of a school year. But Kevin made this with just a digital camera and some software...nothing special. We both discovered what a grueling process an entire animated music video is. I am proud of him. (And I have always like the band Madness.)

I am open to new technologies in my science classrooms that can do one of three things: (1) Enhance learning Yes to promoting creativity, improving student engagement and understanding, providing deeper, richer content, hooking students with their novelty. (2) Do something that can’t be done without them Yes to gel electrophoresis equipment, a spectrophotometer, water quality test kits, all sorts of lab tools that allow students to investigate science in more authentic paths than are available with out them. (3) Encourage communication Yes to communication where opinions and ideas are heard and thoughtfully questioned and built upon. I am NOT open to using technologies (1) To be faddish I feel, and my students concur, that some aspects of PowerPoint presentations are quite faddish. Why invest time and/or money into something that is done for flash only. (2) Just because we own them Why would I use a temperature probe over a ther

Who would have thought that the hardest thing would be to come up with a name for this blog! This is my my fourth blog, and I hope to get over some of the frustrations I have with creating and formating good entries. I have never created one just for myself; they have been assignments of one sort or another. I am getting somewhat quicker, but they still take longer than I have patience for. I have used internet classrooms with my students, and am interested in how their use compares to a class blog.