My PLN yields a timesaver!

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 seen anything else out there under this topic. After 3+ hours of frustration, saving a just a few paltry items to delicious, I saw that I could search others' lists!!! Huzzah, others have already found and tagged things for me! I could have saved HOURS of personal searching: happiness, in retrospect. But there is MORE! I noticed the people tag, leading to my network. I don't have a network, but I typed in mtoran, you queen of cool sites, and now I have access to everything tagged here by someone whose judgement I trust and appreciate! I would add all of you out there too....all I need is your delicious tag. You may have mine..berrendsci. I warn you I am not as organized as Marta is, sigh. It is so cool to have others' bestest sites already saved. It now does give me a reason to actually go back and describe some sites as I have always ignored this part of the filing. Should we all post our delicious account names on the wiki? I believe it could have value.

Comments

  1. Marta ToranJuly 7, 2009 at 10:15 PM

    Oh no, you found me on delicious! Just a word of caution though that I just started using it recently and have yet to organize my stuff there, I'm just kind of shoving things into my bookmarks as I go along in this class... Also, thanks for pointing out the sharing lists feature, I hadn't explored it yet!

    By the way Susan, have you taught Forensics before? I taught it as a Senior Science elective for a term a couple of years ago and I absolutely loved it. I started the course in my school and would be happy to share any activities, etc. with you. Let me know what your plan is and if you need anything on particular topics. I can send you my course outline if you want. My email address is martatoran@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  2. Tom WellnitzJuly 8, 2009 at 2:10 PM

    Susan, the following information showed up in a recent NSTA list serve. There actually may be a NSTA list serve for forensics.

    "I've taught the subject three times so far, and here are some tips:

    1) Get hold of a copy of Forensic Science Fundamentals & Investigations by Anthony J. Bertino. It has lots of lab ideas for each chapter. I use the Saferstein book in class but use activities and labs from this book.

    2) Crime Scene Investigations by Pam Walker and Elaine Wood also has some good lab activities in it.

    3) Join High School Teachers of Forensic Sciences ( http://www.nahstofs.org/). It's $25 annually. For that fee you have access to forums, photos, digital goods (copies of activities, quizzes, etc.), and lots of other resources.

    4) For a sample syllabus, you can view mine here: http://www.mskeever.com/Forensics%20Pages/forensicssyll.htm The book referred to is the Saferstein book.

    5) If you can go to a summer workshop, do so. You will experience techniques for lab activities that will really help you with labs.

    6) Most of all, have fun.

    Joan Keever
    Huntsville, AL"

    ReplyDelete
  3. berrendsciJuly 9, 2009 at 11:34 AM

    I've taught Forensic Scinece for years...but I don't know of/use any computer simulations with this course. Most are games (loosely defined) aimed at elementary/junior high. I am looking for quality high school level materials. So I am hunting as I can find little to nothing to support this class. Thanks for the support form both of you!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Tom WellnitzJuly 10, 2009 at 4:46 PM

    Susan, I used to teach with a person who developed a Forensics class probably at least ten years ago. He taught it to 11 and 12 graders as their third or fourth year science. He might be worth contacting because of the number of years he's been doing it. Can't say if it will help your search for simulations. You can mention my name. His e-mail contact should be goldstein.rick@paideiaschool.org

    ReplyDelete

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