Have Fun With Science!

“Digital Science Video Library”, by Camillia Gagliolo, is a brilliant article about the use of an iPod as a learning tool.

Visual Learning Company has recently launched a digital video library for integrated use of science videos in elementary and middle school classrooms. The new Digital Science Videos are formatted for use with iPods and other portable video players.

This wonderful technology lets students download more than one thousand video clips available in the H.264 digital format (a video compression technology that provides high quality video in small file format). The collection of science videos clearly explains basic scientific concepts while presenting vocabulary study with interactive learning activities, such as video quizzes.

The use of this technology in a classroom brings learning to life in a portable multi-media format. This technology tool would be great to use as a teaching device because the combination of video and graphics with extensive teacher guides and interactive learning activities presents a learning toolkit that reaches out to many different learning styles and preferences. The portability of the media makes it ideal for individualized instruction and small group reinforcement.

Got TPACK??

“You can have your hot tools and teach with them, too” is a tremendous article written by Punya Mishra and Matthew Koehler.

In their article, Mishra and Koehler highlight the fact that we are now living in an age of cool technological tools. These tools include iphones, google earth, blogs, myspace, twitter, these are just a few technologies that are all around us. It is a privilege to have access to these wonderful tools, however, along with these tools come responsibility. How can we use these cool tools to teach our students? Repurposing these tools for educational purposes is not simple. According to Mishra and Koehler, if educators are to repurpose these tools and integrate them into their teaching, they require a certain king of knowledge called Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowledge or (TPACK).

Teaching isn’t a process of learning a couple of instructional techniques and applying them, according to Mishra, “It emerges from thinking deeply about the nature of a discipline in conjunction with strategies for helping students learn that discipline over time”. Teaching requires the transformation of content in ways that make learning and understanding the content easily accessible to students. The idea of creative repurposing technology is of great importance because most technologies that teachers use are not designed for educational purposes. In their article, Mishra and Koehler provide us with three examples of technology that can be repurposed for educational needs- Mircroblogging, visual search engines, and music Dj software. Mircroblogging allows students to share ideas using short messages of 140 words or less. However, it is up to the teacher to use (TPACK) and set up the Mircoblogging web site in a way that engages students and leads them to success!

I want to be the best teacher ever! After reading the article by Mishra and Koehler, I understand that technology will play a huge role in my ability to affectively teach my students. “Teachers need to develop a willingness to play with technologies and openness to building new experiences for students so that fun, cool tools can be educational.”

Technology in the class room

"Chatting it up online", by Pamela Livingston, is an intriguing article! The article spot lights one of the many ways computer technology reaches beyond the four walls of the classroom and gives students a unique chance to learn. As technology changes, so does the way one teaches. In her article, Livingston tells about the benefits of using technology to teach her 3rd grade class. Livingston used a technique called "Author chat". Author Chat is an exciting way of learning through a chat room on the internet. The idea of Author Chat is to give students the opportunity to ask questions directly to the author of a book via a chat room. In the past, Livingston's class wrote letters to an author and would have to wait weeks or months for a response. With the creative invention of Author Chat, and the use of technology, response to students questions are instantaneous. After asking direct questions to the author, students feel more connected to the book, and obtain greater understanding of the material read.
The ideas presented in "Chatting it up online" are exiting! The idea of being able to ask questions directly to the author of a book one has read is a great idea. One may take this idea and apply it to a science class. After teaching a class about fossils or animals, The students can link to a live video chat with a zoo keeper. A camera placed in front of the class will give the zoo keeper a chance to see the students, and vice versa. Speaking to a zoo keeper through online video gives students a fun interactive way of learning. Before the use of this technology, a class would have to take a field trip if they wanted to learn from a zoo keeper. The use of this technology brings many fun possible ways of learning into a classroom.
Standards: NETS 4. ISTE vol. 27 no.1 Sep 1999