Connectivities Lab

Here is what I have in mind and on my mind.... (1) Science Bearings. This is a webpaint wiki to cover all the high school sciences that I teach. I teach all the high school sciences, the wiki currently shows the courses for the upcoming year. I don't know what I would do to a dormant class? Remove physics next year when I add APES? Well the wiki is an experiment in allowing students to do the legwork in finding resources for at topic as well as using all those hours on youtube for good (mine) versus .... It takes me too long to find perfect videos on topics --it is their turn! I have tied to the wiki to a google calendar so I can post test and project dates as well as add all those extracurricular events in that can conflict.I AM FRUSTRATED to the max as I have applied 4 times in 3 weeks to upgraded to an education site (removes adds, but more importantly gives me 250 documents I can attach which is a real value in providing access to handouts online). I've no real idea whe...

Or better babysit it? The assignment this week plus life plus final project stress and frustration has left my PLN undernourished. I have learned to pop up a batch of twitter bites of interest and scan the screens quickly after I have done what I am intending to do. I am hanging in there with twitter. I am still a lurker for the most part, and I still don't believe that folks who post tons of sites are really reading them all and judging their quality. Can there be twitter education paparazzi who just grab and holler look what I found without even processing it? I am getting closer to figuring out who these folks are. I need to find those who are trustworthy and have read and used the sites they rave about. (I still adore Free Technology for Teachers for describing his findings!) My 2.0 frustrations this week involve obtaining educator access on sites (webpaint, animoto, glogster). I want a person to write to and ask questions as the 'response time' promised by these site...

I am not sure where my titles come from at times. This post is to revisit my technology manifesto , but (1) it ain't gonna change much and (2) this video is refreshing. I like the power of slam poetry. Taylor Mali is a master at it and an ex-teacher and the poem is about teaching. It is one of those things that one would really hope the administration would play at the first of the back-from-summer meetings. So enjoy. å I have never been a technophobe; yet as a teacher with few resources and little tech support, it has never been worth it to invest myself in the web. This is something I have tried, but without a PLN it is time-foolish and time-frustrating. (okay it is still time-frustrating--imagine learning all of this during a full school year!) My manifesto about the use of technology stands. If anything I wonder more about the faddishness of things. Yes, glogster and animoto are fun, and I will likely use them, but will they last? Where do they fit in the future of creativity...

Okay, I am really tired after doing this week's work. I will appreciate what it might mean for my classroom wiki and student involvement later. I will present things in the reverse order of creation, and oddly enough, time needed to create each (1) Voicethread Click the ok and then the play --or my tiny head This was cool and rather quick. I WANT to embed video, but no video format I tried would it accept. It is the least friendly site of all I have used as far a leading a novice through the needed steps. SO this might have been quicker to do for having gone through the other assignments. I love the interactivity and the chance for students to pick written or spoken comments. I also just found out I can zoom on the photo. I think this could be a fun wiki component, just to have something out there for kids to think about. Interesting photos and such...teasers for units to come. This is simple as it has just one image that I took this last week. It could be fun to use with the col...

I like data; I like to play with it, arrange it, puzzle out the outliers. Data is fun . BUT students don't, en mass, share my sense of data-as-play. I appreciate that the data is out there, and I do use population statistics with my APES students. The Population Reference Bureau and their World Population Data Sheet are great resources. I generally have students design their won questions and generate their own messy (yes!) data whenever possible. If they don't make the inquiry their own, and find meaning in it, it doesn't matter how cool the data is. They work better when they feel that their work has value and makes a difference. (Okay, they are human.) I do appreciate those sites that appreciate 'citizen scientists' and allow participants to input into a wider database. The Roadkill data project that allows students to input data is something I could use; thanks PLN for finding it! Canada has many more projects that elicit student/citizen input. I was made aw...

Some pruning is needed in Twitterland; I have 3 tweeters who resend each others' tweets, and they are all copious. It is too much overlap. Are they really checking out their PLN's sites or just blindly passing the info downstream...not sure what I think about that. I will let some folks ride until school begins as once folks are teaching their tweets may prove more useful as they are running across ideas more frequently. I am scared of those who are tweeting and working on line while camping, 'being' with their youngsters....I hope they take a week off now and again. Most value is coming out of some of the blogs I've put in my Google Reader such as Free Technology for Teachers, as others have mentioned. Mr. Byrne here gives bites that are just big enough for me to make a decision about checking something out or not. I follow too many nonproductive twitter leads as the descriptions aren't there, and I haven't yet learned whose finds I am most likely to apprec...

This has been a frustrating week, hunting for simulations that may or may not be out there. My personal goal was to find forensic science materials suitable for 10-12 th grade students with decent science backgrounds. Simple 'match the fingerprint' activities won't work with my students. I find that the best sites are often part of a museum exhibit's education outreach (1, 4) 1) CSI : The Experience Web Adventure -- 3 interactive quests with increasing difficulty. 2) Bones and the Badge -- a series of webquests written at the high school level. 3) Forensic Files -- not a simulation, but lets students view short videos concerning techniques employed by various types of forensic investigators . Connected to the tru tv series. 4) Visible Proofs: Forensic Views of the Body -- not interactive as the above sites, but cool photos and video of autopsy procedures. Not for the younger student. All in all I was disappointed that I haven't found good single sites usi...

You can't stay in your corner of the forest waiting for others to come to you. You have to go to them sometimes. --Winnie the Pooh This going to them is not in my comfort zone. But this weekend I have pared a tweeter or two from my list. I do agree with KMP that it would be wisest to have a professional me and a personal me to do all of this 2.0 world with. At the moment, that would require even more time and re-educating part of my PLN to a different moniker. SO it is an idea that must wait for the time being. I added my name to The Synapse and I will putter around in this world of biology teachers; I like the flavor of what I've seen so far. I also subscribed to Forensic magazine as it was free and seems a good resource. A delicious benefit My biggest PLN event so far happened as I was trying to fulfill my assignment to ferret out simulations this week. I decided to hunt out simulations for forensic science as I am teaching this elective in the coming year and hadn't...

Well the learning this week... (1) Added more folks to twitter and appreciate the posts with links, the posts inviting folks to eat etcetera make me want to say 'just phone them', or ask them in person! This makes me wonder about using twitter with students. Yes, I can tell them I am in a good mood and there is no quiz to study for...but then a whole bunch of adults would discover that as well. Can one split one's tweeties into groups like I can with phone IM's ? If not, then all my students would think they had a cancelled quiz versus just my bio class. Worse, if my students are tweeting , then I will see all their inane tweets about their lives. This can't be a good thing. (2) Webcast . Tried an Elluminate session at the end of NECC , it wasn't good. Everyone was likely on their way home and not inclined to be involved in a session given in the hallway. I will try something more formal later on. As with in person sessions, much depends on the presenter, a...

I am throwing out two videos --- Tooter the Turtle is for Randy especially (his post regarding Stephen's original video of Mr. Wizard) and anyone else who remembers "Help me Mr. Wizard!!" These cartoons were post-Mr. Wizard the science guy and before Harry Potter's wizardry. This second video is rather like a teacher's '1984'. I think it shows everything we fear students may become.