I came across this interactive lab from the University of Illinois. The Bugscope Project has been around for ten years and has been hugely successful. It allows students access to a real scanning electron microscope through the web.
This is how it works: The teacher signs up, the class collects a few insects and sends them in. Then you have to apply for a session (preferably 6 weeks ahead of time). Once your session is scheduled, all you need is access to a computer. During the session, students will view their specimens under the SEM and they can control the microscope through the computer. The site includes teaching materials to prepare for the session and understand how a SEM works.
Here is an example of a micrograph of a Japanese beetle captured during a session.
Another option is the companion site called Virtual Microscope which is available for free download and includes simulated data for a fluorescence light microscope, an SEM and an atomic force microscope. The image data is preloaded, but the user control the loading of the specimen and navigate around it, change magnification, focus and image brightness and take measurements. There are video tutorials and neat animations to explain how the whole process works.
The Webtools for Teachers class is wrapping up, and people are moving on, it feels kind of lonely out here in the blogosphere today after having spent the last eight weeks constantly receiving email updates from twitter, blogger and wetpaint on classmates' latest activities, questions, excitement (and frustration) about learning new tools... I have that feeling right now of going on a school trip and becoming really close friends with people you wouldn't normally even talk to, then you go back to school and everyone goes back to their regular friends and on with their normal business.
It's strange not to be going back to work for the third year. I miss the stress and excitement everyone described in their last posts that comes with getting ready to go back to school, and I miss having a physical PLN. As I said earlier in the summer, having an online PLN has been invaluable for me to keep in touch with my career now that I'm staying at home to take care of my kids. However these past couple of weeks have also made me realize that a developing a quality online PLN takes as much effort as a physical one, or maybe even more- because it's easier for people to ignore you online! There is so much going on and people are engaged in so many different web venues that I feel you really have to make a strong case and show your worth before people give you the time a day (while in "the outside world" you just chase people down the hallway until eventually they are forced to stop and talk to you). I have started promoting the Science teacher wiki I put together in a few different forums, twitter, etc. but still haven't seen too much action and nobody has joined except for a few (awesome) classmates. I realize now that it's going to take a bit more legwork than I originally thought to get it off the ground, but with so many Science resources out there, why would anyone care? Anyway, I'll keep working on it as my personal project and hopefully people will find it useful.
And here, I will continue my journey exploring Web 2.0 opportunities for Science teachers. Thanks to everyone who has helped me along the way this summer!
I have just changed the title of the my blog from "Marta Toran's Blogging Chit-Chat" to "Web 2.0 Tips for Science Teachers". Since I am going to continue my blog after the MSU Webtools class ends, I wanted a title that would provide visitors with a better idea of the blog's focus.
I tried searching and haven't found any other blogs with this name. If anyone who stumbles across this knows of another blog with a similar title, please let me know so I can change it!
N.B. This is a pretty long post, so if you don't really feel like reading it, just read this next sentence: Please join The Science Teacher's Hub wiki so we can continue to share Science and Edtech resources after the class is done. Since we all already have a wetpaint account, its easy just go to the site and click on Join!!Thanks for checking it out.
My main goals for this final project were: centralizing all my web-based initiatives and create a foundation/ scaffolding to use for integrating technology into my teaching in the future. I had to keep looking back at my Guiding Principles to keep myself in check and make sure I was being realistic. I'm pleased with the result (or rather the progress) so far.
1. M.Toran's Hub- The first thing I did was create a hub for all my class websites and "professional development" pages. I did this using the free web builder and host called Yola (per recommendation of the FreeTech4Teachers post on Free Website Builders). I have used Weebly in the past as well and love the simplicity of it, but Yola, which also doesn't come with any ads, allows you to do more. I am very happy with it so far. My hub is made up of: STUDENT PAGES: Intro Biology, AP Biology, Forensics, Biotechnology, Marine Biology & TEACHER PAGES: The Science Teacher Hub wiki (see below) and Marta Toran's Blogging Chit-Chat. Right now, most of my student pages are pretty empty, because since I'm not teaching at the moment, I need to wait unitil I start teaching again and know what subjects that will be, etc. before I can start putting up all the info. For an idea of what a class page will look, check out the Forensics one or the Biotechnology one (more details about class websites below) (In the future, I will also add a personal pages tab to my hub which will include my jewelry business website, translating services I offer and the book club I manage here in my town.) 2. The Science Teacher Hub wiki- This is were most of my work went into this week. I have gotten so much useful information from my classmates that I thought it would be a good idea to create a wiki we could all (or whoever wants) contribute to once the class ends, maybe also past and future students of the WebTools course? The wiki I created is for Science Educators to share teaching ideas and resources. Here is a screencast tour I made of the site:
I created the site using Wetpaint, which I had never used until this class. I had made a haphazard attempt at using wikis with my class before, for example this (not that great) Biotech Class wiki, but I used Wikispaces. Both are free and pretty similar in their use, though Wetpaint sites seem more clean and organized. The only thing I don't like about Wetpaint is that you can't attach files to the body of the page, so it all has to be done through links (eg. via Google Docs) or added at the bottom of each page out of context. Now that the site is up and running, and once it gets promoted (through our PLNs), it will require little maintenance from me, hopefully it will take care of itself and I can contribute as often as I can and give it a spring cleaning once in a while. There are already a bunch of resources I put up, many from material from this class and from classmates who gave me permission (thanks!) I didn't have time to put everyone's stuff up there, but please feel free to contribute with anything you think others will find useful.
3. Class websites- (These as I mentioned above are regular websites, not wikis or blogs) They will serve as repositories for general course information, posting assignments, access to grades, class resources and links. I've tried to do this before, but it was a few years ago and I used Dreamweaver which required sooo much work and I never quite got the hang of. Yola sites are so quick to edit and update that I feel this is would be a much more realistic feat this time around. The class websites will also be a good resources for parents who are interested in knowing what we are covering, as well as check assignments that I set. I haven't done it yet, but I plan on embedding a Google Calendar widget into each class page where I can add assignment reminders, details and deadlines. Any class blogs or wikis I use with my each group will also be accessed through the class pages. What I do with each class in terms of using blogs and wikis will depend on the nature of the group and the school I teach at (eg. hw policy, tech policy, access to computers, etc). -I can envision having a class blog for AP Bio maintained by the students (each blog on Blogger can have up to 100 authors). The way I envision it used is for asking questions and answering each other's by adding comments. They can also post links to review sites and any other resource they find that may be useful to their classmates. AP Bio is usually a fast paced course in which students are required to take ownership of most of their learning and guide themselves through the material with little input from the teacher. Having a blog where they can help each other out would take some of the load off my office hours, give them practice walking through problems together and at the same time allow me to moderate their activity and jump in when more explanations are needed. I would also post discussion questions myself for them to think about. At this level, I wouldn't make posting mandatory or grade it because I am confident they would use the resource without it being mandatory and I would get feedback on what they are learning/ what they don't understand without grading anything formally. I probably wouldn't do a wiki with this class because there simply wouldn't be enough time for them to create and maintain it. -I would use a class blog in a similar way for Intro Bio, but at this level they would need a much greater input and constant encouragement from me. So I would use it more for posting thought-provoking questions they would have to comment on (eg. three brainstorm questions at the beginning of each unit that would also provide me with feedback on prior knowledge they have on the topic). I would probably also use project-specific wikis for them to communicate what they learn to the wider audience like their parents (eg. topics I may do this with are: Nutrition, Evolution, Genetics, Ecology). -For Biotech I envision the students creating a PSA style wiki with information about what it is, how it's used, pros and cons, that kind of thing. Different topics could be featured as individual wiki pages (eg. Genetic Screening, GMOs, Cloning, Stem Cell Research, Tissue Engineering). The subject really lends itself to a wiki because it would hopefully serve to educate the public on something most are somewhat scared of and also very ignorant about. They could create online poll questions/ surveys send them to friends, families and peers, and we could then discuss the results in class. 4. Voicethread- I, like others in the class, was very impressed with this tool and pleased at how easy it is to learn and use. I think I would probably use it quite a bit in an introductory level Biology class: as homework assignments before or after completing a unit (Characteristics of Living Things would be a topic that would lend itself well to this because there is great potential for discussion and different points of view), as well as for student presentations. I liked the idea of having students come up with a question they want to investigate in the lab and creating a voicethread of their "journey" (see my previous Week 7 Reflection post for an example of what I mean). For group projects, asking them to do the comments with audio and/or video is a great way to ensure they all participate (more) equally. Forensics is another course where I could get use out of this tool (eg. create crime scenes and have them comment on potential evidence they see, collaborate with other teachers by having their students create a case mine have to solve and viceversa). For the course's final project I usually have students create a CSI episode video showcasing techniques they learned to solve a case they make up. The filming, editing and converting/ uploading etc. of the movie however, are a huge time commitment from the students during a time they are also studying for exams in other classes. I think a voicethread would work great here in terms of preparation and execution, and would also allow me to give them feedback on the different sections of their presentation. I have made one below as an example of what I have in mind, though theirs would also have to include short video segments showing procedures for analysis of different types of evidence, because accuracy of skills is one of the things I grade them on. (Warning: Content might be upsetting to some viewers)
5. Other tools- Then there are the tools I will be using because they have already become second nature (eg. Google Docs, Google Reader, Picnik, Flickr, Creative Commons, ShareTabs, Animations, Delicious, Screencasting). Something which I will definitely be using a lot are embedded online poll questions and surveys. The best option for surveys I found so far is Google Forms, I was so excited to discover this app. I tried services like SurveyMonkey, which host online surveys for free, but most have a limit to the number of surveys you can create and/ or the number of users then you have to pay. Google Forms (part of Google Docs) is a simple way to create a web-based form which can then be shared by email, URL or embedded into a page. When the subjects submit it, all the results are stored as a spreadsheet and you can then also see a summary/ analysis of the results. I have each of my classes take a mid-term and end-of-term survey to give me feedback on their learning and my teaching. I used to do them on paper, but this would be so much more efficient, and I can save the results and compare them with other classes or terms.
Feedback, comments, constructive criticism always welcome. Thanks to everyone for your contributions to my PLN!
Week 7 has been mainly spent working on my final project for the WebTools course and I have tapped into my PLN continuously to find resources for the project. Some of the new things I have come across:
Voicethread 4 Education wiki- tips and ideas (from the wiki above) EXCELLENT resources and links. Includes Classroom partners- a bulletin board type page where you can ask and offer to collaborate with other teachers/ classrooms using voicethread and other webtools.
Grade 9-12 Examples of Voicethreads in the Classroom. Check out the Biology ones shared by Jeff Utrecht. Great examples of using voicethread for a group project to investigate a question and for the teacher to provide formative assessment directly on it. Here is one...
For the Chemists, here is a link to chem lab voicethreads made by students. Topics include: Displacement Rxns, Chromatography, Enthalpy, Phase changes.
Added Education Innovation blog. I liked the post called New classroom rules and also found a useful ppt in this blog called "25 Webtools for Learning Professionals 2009", here it is.
Most we've already seen, but there are some new ones like: FREE MIND and BUBBL.US for mind mapping DIM DIM- open source web conferencing tool One tool mentioned in the slideshow which I might definitely try is EVERNOTE described as an "external brain" a productivity tool to "capture, clip and share notes on the web". Here is a video about it, check it out, it's pretty cool...
I used many of the links provided by my classmates for the site I'm creating and added to my PLN (from 25 Ed Tech leaders to follow slideshow posted in FreeTech4Teachers) @chrislehmann @mscofino @larryferlazzo @elearningnews @elemenous @mguhlin
I also found this neat little site for creating a widget to show all your "web identities" on your blog or site. It's called Show yourself Widget, check out mine on the side bar.
I just figured this out and I thought it was worth sharing...
Embedding a single podcast into a blog post or website is pretty easy, you just go to the service that hosts it and get the embed code for it (most will have it). Then you copy the code into the Edit Html window, just like you would to embed a video, or anything else.
What I was interested in, is how to embed a Podcast Feed into my blog. So, for example, how to get the newest 60-Second-Science podcast from Scientific American to automatically show up on my blog whenever it's up without me having to do anything.
One easy way to do it is to go to the 60-Second-Science page, click on RSS feed, and copy the URL at the top of the page. Then, for example, if you want it to show up on your blog sidebar, go to the Layout section of the Blog editor, click on add a Gadget. There is one for RSS feeds, just click on that and copy the URL for the podcast page. I did it this way for my blog, see the RED ARROW to the left to see how it would show up. (The screen capture was taken using Aviary)
A better way to display the feed, I think, is by creating a customized widget for it (see BLUE ARROW). Sounds intimidating, but its actually really simple, it took me about seven minutes to figure out how to do this. Once you copy the URL for the desired podcast page (in this case 60-Second-Science again), go to Grazr.com to create a free widget, just paste the URL code into the blue box, customize the widget- ie change the color and size if you want, and copy the embed code from the brown box (you'll have to go there to know what I mean, but it really IS simple). Then in your Blog Layout editor, add an HTML gadget and copy the code into it. And its done!
If you know of other easier/ better ways to do this, please comment below, thanks.
Some ideas for Podcasting assignments for the Science classroom:
Create a radio commercial for a breakthrough invention (eg. the artificial heart)
Record the State of the Union Address section on Science
An interview with a historical Science figure (eg. Mendel, Hooke, Virchov)
An interview with a nobel prize winner dead or alive (eg. Francis Crick)
Featured "cool Science jobs" (eg. they would research careers they may be interested in such as Forensic Scientist)
Review soundbites (see below for my AP Bio example)
A debate between two (or more) students on a particular topic
A song about a Science concept (eg. Osmosis, Displacement reactions)
A spin off "Wait, wait, don't tell me" (from NPR) with Science questions
A "This I Believe" segment (also NPR) about a controversial topic (eg. Cloning)
Now regarding hosting podcasts that your students create...
I found this free website hosting site called called PodBean, stores up to 2.5GB of podcasting material to start off with, after that you get a monthly increase of 500MB.
Here (below) is what your podcast weblog would look like (you can customize it in many ways). The interface is exactly the same as that used by Edublogs, if you're familiar with that. Click on the image to go to my podcast weblog. Gcast.com is another free-podcast creating and hosting service. It's more basic, but not necessarily more straightforward than PodBean's. The interface is also not as attractive or customizable and it takes a while for the podcast to be uploaded and published once you have created it. And from Eric's junk drawer, check out Houndbite for podcasting.
The following podcast was created by one of my students in preparation for their AP Biology exam . Their assignment was to pick a topic from a class list we compiled of "difficult Biology concepts" and create a podcast that their classmates could download onto their iPods and that would help them review for their AP exam while they were working out in the gym or traveling on the bus. The quality of their podcasts varied, some were too long and monotonous, others were silly, others seemed like they were just reading their notes or a textbook. This one is short and sweet, I felt that it accomplished its job well. If I were to do this activity again, I would have a class brainstorming session beforehand where the students would come up with a list of "dos and don'ts" when creating a podcast episode, that would help them get off to a good start.
The podcast was created using Audacity, a very simple and free audio recording and editing tool. It is not a hosting service though, so you'd then need to sign up to one of the free podcast hosting websites and upload the podcasts to it.
By now, with the size of the internet and the number of new and useful sites and tools that are popping up every minute, everyone can appreciate the value of social bookmarking tools to keep track of links. For teachers, there is great potential fir using these tools, eg. from sharing specific links with students that you want them to use for a project to collaborating with other teachers in your discipline around the country to create a rich hub for useful, subject specific, web resources. Here is a list of Top 10 Social Bookmarking Tools for Educators.
I use Delicious to quickly tag everything I come across of interest, but I at this point I need to spend some time organizing it and getting more out of it than a mere repository of links which follow little rhyme or reason at the moment.
I had heard great things about Diigo, so I signed up. The first time I tried to use it, I was so overwhelmed by the number of features it has and options in the toolbar that I haven't touched it since. Some people say there is a place for both Delicious and Diigo. And then there are also all the other tools that I haven't explored yet.
So, what bookmarking tool do you use? Please answer the poll question and comment below if you'd like. Any tips on using either tool or any others would be appreciated. (Eg. How do you categorize your tags? Is it better to have a lot of tags or a select few?) And if you'd like to build on your bookmarking network, include your username so that others participating in this discussion can add you.
Though frustrating at times, I enjoyed exploring Powerpoint, Screencasting and Voicethread this week. See individual posts for reflections on these tools.
I think the most valuable thing I got from my PLN this week is a keynote speech by Chris Lehman by Mr. Byrne.
I also asked for ideas via Twitter regarding a screen capture/ snapshot tool. Got a couple replies back, thanks Susan, Sue and Steve. I wanted a snapshot tool that would also act as an editor so you can add text, arrows etc. to screen shot afterwards. Most tools were not free or were free but had stamps on them. I concluded that the best option for now is probably to use the regular Snipping Tool I use (came with Windows Vista) and then edit in a program like Word, Powerpoint or regular picture editor. Any additional ideas welcome...
Clif's PD for the Holidays blog post was also useful. Clif (Clif's Notes blog) has a huge PLN, I like how he's listed all his resources here so people can connect with him in the different sites... Might be a good exercise for a blog post, at least so you can keep track of your own identities in the different social sites you have signed up for. Here's a related post on building a PLN from EdTrekTech and a poll question, I like this segment from the post:
"Building a PLN is hard work and it requires diligent, active, and participatory excellence. Many times questions may go unanswered. Many times blog posts may receive no commentary. It is one thing to “take” from your PLN. That’s the easy part. It is a totally different thing to have your PLN “give” to - or work for - you. The latter requires a much more significant depth of relationship."
Right now I feel like I'm taking from my PLN and hardly giving. The article leads to the point that meeting people from your PLN in person helps to deepen that online relationship much more. You can tell that a lot of the people who are very involved in Twitter discussions in the edtech field (Stephen Ransom who wrote the blog post above calls them the "super stars"- you all know who this refers to...) have met in person and have all these inside jokes and know each other's families, etc. I guess you could also achieve that level of relationship exclusively through online interactions, but there seems to be great added value in meeting your PLN contacts in person. The poll results thus far showed that 78% of people who replied agreed that "a PLN more responsive when you have met the folks within it face-to-face".
One thing I still don't understand about Twitter is all these # marked comments, sometimes it feels like you're reading a different language the way some people communicate with each other. What does all this mean, when people follow #whatever? I will investigate it this week... I will also start a discussion about Delicious versus Diigo, so that will hopefully provide me with the opportunity to become more involved with my PLN and also hopefully get more out of it.
Screencasting was a lot more frustrating than Voicethread, mainly because every time you mess up, you have to start the whole thing over from the beginning. I figured out after trying it a few times that you can export the screencast at the end and then edit it with Windows Movie Maker, so I could cut some "mess ups" or long silences out, but it was time consuming and though its easy to delete segments, it would be difficult to add things in. It was the first attempt though, and I have to say that the end result is pretty neat.
I can definitely see myself using it to show students how to use a technology feature before we use it in class or to show them something I want them to try for homework (eg. creating a blog, editing the class wiki, using Google Earth, giving them a virtual tour of all of the class' digital resources, etc.) I intend to practice a bit more with it, the Pause button is definitely a time saver, because I was spending too much time during the screencast waiting for different windows to open. Once I discovered the Pause button, I would pause the screencast, then wait for the desired window to open, and resume the screencast. It went much smoother like that!
Had my first go at Voicethread today and I have to admit that, once you get past the initial stage of total awkwardness watching and listening to yourself, it's actually pretty fun! I had to record some of the sound clips so many times, because being foreign sometimes I get the pronunciations totally wrong and my accent comes out funny, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Anyway, great tool, would definitely use it in my class as a more interactive alternative to powerpoint or as a homework assignment to have students answer questions on a specific topic before we are about to start it in order to get feedback on the preconceptions they are coming in with. Any feedback/ comments welcome of course. I think I was looking at the wrong place the whole time I was filming, I guess I should have been looking at the camera instead of the screen, it's hard to do when you're so self-conscious about what you look like when you're speaking... haha. Well, here it is...
I am also posting this powerpoint of ways to use Voicethread in the classroom that I am pretty sure has been posted before, but just in case people missed it. It was created by Tom Barrett- ICT in My Classroom blog.
Browsing through the Science category voicethreads, I found this one on Newton's Third Law of Physics that I thought was well done.
I created my powerpoint presentation for an Introductory Biology high school class learning about Cellular Respiration. It is a basic overview of the process and includes some brainstorming questions. The role play and lab mentioned will be explained further in the screencast I will create and share in the next few days.
When I uploaded my presentation to SlideShare, I realised it does not enable animation effects, animated gifs or video. That messed up a lot of my slides! I searched through all the other presentation sharing tools to come up with one that supported these extras. Slidesix did not show animations either, SlideServe did support slide effects but not video or animated gifs. I finally found SlideBoom, which allowed for everything I needed even with the free basic account. Here is the final product. If you know of other presentation hosts that allow for animations, etc. please comment below. I am very impressed with SlideBoom!
For me, the key to successfully integrating technology into my teaching is to provide my students with a unique experience for learning, taking on challenges, interacting with data and collaborating with a wider audience that would otherwise not have been possible.
I realize that while learning technology skills will be invaluable to my students through out the rest of their academic and professional careers, I am a Science teacher first and I can't lose sight of the learning objectives by getting distracted with the newest educational technology fanfare. I really liked a quote I heard the week on a keynote speech by Chris Lehman: "Technology needs to be like oxygen: ubiquitous, necessary and invisible, we need to not think about it, it just needs to be there."
Guiding Principles for Integrating Technology into My Teaching More Efficiently:
1. RESEARCH: I need to know what's out there, keep up to date with emerging educational technologies and be aware of what tools the students seem comfortable with or are using/ learning in other subjects.
2. NETWORK & COLLABORATE: I will continue to network with other teachers who are already integrating technology into their classrooms successfully to get ideas and recommendations. This will include keeping up with Educational technology blogs and trying to give as much as I take, by replying to people's blogs and comments and asking questions.
3. FOCUS ON THE LEARNING OBJECTIVES FIRST: When planning for teaching a subject unit, I need to start with the learning objectives and then consider whether any could be taught more efficiently (eg. in terms of time, depth, student engagement) using technology, then find the tool that would be best for the job.
4. HAVE A PLAN: I need to make a plan which includes: the time frame needed for the tech-enhanced learning experience, what its execution/management would require from teacher and students, the degree of technology expertise among that specific group of students, any extra requirements to keep in mind: cost/ equipment/ class time, how I will wrap up the project and what form of assessment I will use (it would be important to include in the assessment process an opportunity for students to evaluate their learning- what they got out of the experience, what they would change, etc.)
5. TIME BEST SPENT?: Before embarking in the project I need to ask myself again whether it would be realistic and if its the best use of time, or whether learning objective could be taught achieved best using other more traditional tools that the students are already comfortable with. I also need to be aware of technology overload, I don't need to use every technological tool, every day, for every subject I teach. I need to streamline and aggregate my websites, blogs, wikis etc. so students don't get confused.
7. EVALUATION: I need to take time after the completion of the project to evaluate my own teaching practice critically by asking myself: How successful was the integration of technology in this particular Unit? Would I do use it again? How could it be improved next time? It is important that students reflect on their own learning experience as well.
If at the end of the technology-enhanced learning experience the students are more excited about the Science they learned than the technology they used, I will know that I have integrated the technology into my instruction efficiently.
This is the second part of the post that I set out to write last week for answering my own questions about Copyright issues in education. I want to make a few notes about Creative Commons to basically "think out loud." The first time I heard about Creative Commons (a few weeks ago) I was really confused as to what it referred it, I thought it was somehow part of Copyright Law. Now I understand that Creative Commons is a non-profit organization which has set out to accomplish what Copyright has fallen short of accomplishing: promoting creativity.
Creative Commons enables authors of media works to give up the rights they are granted by copyright law- partially or fully. Anyone can sign up for free Creative Commons licenses through their site or several programs like Flickr.com.
Compfight.com- A search tool which makes it easier to find Creative Commons images hosted on Flickr, also allows you to search for images that can be used for commercial purposes.
This week I explored an area which I hadn't invested much time in before, using real data sets in my teaching. I particularly like the idea of "network projects" where students themselves collaborate in the data reporting such as the CEISE Project for Human Genetics. As it states on page 67 of our textbook, "In these projects, the use of real-time internet resources and using students as information resources for data reporting has the potential to enhance student understandings of scientific phenomena." Being actively involved in the project and being held accountable for the data would give students a sense that what they are doing has a purpose and they would be more likely to take ownership of their learning. I can see how using real data sets in the classroom would take a lot of prep though, I would want to make sure that I am comfortable with the data sets I have the students analyze and that I have thought through what I want them to get from the exercise and how the best way to achieve this goal is (ie. how much teacher guidance they would need, class time versus at home time, group work versus individual, assessment, reporting of results, etc.)
I have compiled everyone's link contributions of real data/ inquiry sites here so that they are easy to copy all at once: http://sharetabs.com/?realdatainquiry
Thanks to Rob for directing me to the WISE (Web-based Science Inquiry Environment) website, it's awesome, most valuable thing I've learned all week! I'd come across it before but never stopped to explore it until I read Rob's blog post. That is exactly what I had in mind when thinking about how important it is to network/ research what's out there before reinventing the wheel (because I'm definitely the type to waste hours making something that is already available- and for free!). There are some great inquiry-based projects like the "Mitosis & Cell Processes" one where students investigate the link between the cell cycle, cancer and potential cures. I also like how you can create and share your own web-based inquiry projects and run projects alongside other teachers so students from different classes can interact.
Other useful tools I learned about from my PLN this week that I could use in my teaching:
Free poll generator (via to 2c worth blog) would be a great tool to use to get a feel for how much students know about a topic before we start it, or to get the class' opinion about a controversial matter we are getting ready to discuss (eg. "Would you pay extra for organic food to avoid GM food?" or when discussing the characteristics of living things... "Would you consider a person in a vegetative state who is kept alive by a heart lung machine to be living?" etc)
IzzyTodo (via Free Tech for Teachers) webtool for building to-do lists, keep multiple lists and add targets. Can be used by students to set goals for themselves. Objectives can be broken down into smaller goals. Also Track Class- online planner for students to keep track of assignments. And I just caught wind of Google Tasks from @jutecht as another to-do list tool, which I have to check out since I love everything Google.
I am really impressed with what Miss Baker continues to do with her blogging. She is redoing her site, now called "Extreme Biology" and there are some recently published posts written by her students. I like how below each one there are discussion/ thought-provoking questions and you can see other students' replies to them.
Thanks to Patti for suggesting Teachers 2.0 social network, for teachers helping teachers learn and teach using digital technologies. The problem I see with these social networks right now is that they are not getting much action during the summer, so although I've signed up to a couple, I can't really tell how active they are on a regular basis or how useful they are going to be for me.
Kind of useless but just plain fun... www.befunky.com- cartoonize yourself! This is me eating a lobster in Boston...
In terms of coping with copyright issues, teachers fall into three categories according to the Media Ed Lab at Temple University: "See no evil", "Close the door", "Hyper-comply". I am definitely the hyper-comply type, always paranoid that I'm using something I shouldn't or in a way that's against some sort of law. Which one are you?
It is ironic that when you think Copyright, the first things that come into mind are… “prohibited, infringement, illegal, fines, stay away from”… when in theory the purpose of copyright according to the US Constitution is “to promote creativity, innovation and the spread of knowledge.”
Copyright law is actually very vague and most of the warnings/ threats that are attached to copyrighted materials (eg. fines, jail time, hell, etc.) are unwarranted and not backed up by the law. The basic principles behind copyright are:
All tangible creative works are protected by copyright right when they are created.
Citing or quoting the source doesn’t necessarily mean you are in the clear when using copyrighted material.
When in doubt, ask for permission to use.
I set off to write a nice, neat, prescriptive post with guidelines to follow concerning use of copyrighted material by teachers and students. However, after reading some of the literature out there, I found that the guidelines available are by no means black and white. Education World has a great series on The Educator's Guide to Copyright and Fair Use, but I found it somewhat stressful to read the information because it seems so specific (only use 1 chapter from a book, 10% from a short essay, 250 words of a short poem, newspaper excerpts of 1000 words...) After listening to a webinar recording on Copyright and Creative Commons and exploring some of the resources on Fair Use made available by the Media Ed Lab at Temple, I was a bit more enlightened.
I see the Fair Use Doctrine as a type of amnesty clause for using copyrighted materials, Fair Use principles applied to media literacy education are...
Teachers can: 1.Make copies of newspaper articles, TV shows and other copyrighted works, use them and keep them for educational purposes.
2. Create curriculum resources which include copyrighted materials.
3. Share, sell and distribute curriculum resources they have created which include the copyrighted materials.
Students can: 4. Use copyrighted works in creating new material.
5. Distribute their works digitally if they meet the transformativeness standard.
That's the theory anyway, the fine print/ factors used by judges when determining whether a copyright infringement is protected under Fair Use are:
purpose and character of your use (eg. personal use more likely to be "forgiven" than commercial)
nature of the copyrighted work (eg. use of factual vs creative, published and out of print works more likely to be considered fair use)
the amount and substaintability of the portion taken (eg. was more taken than was actually needed?)
the effect on the use upon the potential market (eg. does the new material take away from the potential market of the original work?)
After reviewing the literature, the main conclusive/ useful statement I have come accross regarding use of copyrighted materials in education is that they key to Fair Use is TRANSFORMATIVENESS (ie. changing the nature of the copyrighted work from what it was originally created for, creating something new from the original work or adding value to it).
Select resources pertaining to copyright, fair use and teaching (worth checking out):
Unlocking Copyright Confusion wiki- From the Media Ed Lab at Temple University, this collaborative wiki aims to end "copyright confusion" and includes information for teachers, resources for reasoning fair use, discussion forums on the topic, a Q&A space, best practices, case studies...
Great chart detailing Fair Use Guidelines for Teachers: What you CAN do, and the fine print...
To teach students about Copyright issues, you can find lesson plans and materials for discussion here, and copyrightconfusion.wikispaces.com has links to songs and videos to learn about these issues.
A different take on copyright than what we are used to...
"Copyright, What is Copyright?" Musical Video
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