Science Challenge Videos

I watched the videos of:

Alli,

Nancy,

and Robin.

All were FABULOUS!

----------------------------------------------

I really learned a lot this week. This assignment opened my eyes to the MANY possibilities there are for use of technology in the classroom; especially with science. I think I forget or underestimate the many resources we really do have that we should be taking advantage of and utilizing in the classroom. Science truly is a subject that is meant to be lived; science should be full of hands on activities and experimentation, not simply reading out of text or being lectured. This assignment opened my eyes to the various options we have as teachers as well as the importance of incorporating these technologies into our lessons and our classroom. The students will really benefit from the hands on activity and the opportunity the technology provides for the students to experiment and explore individually as well as collectively in groups.

Science Challenge

Science Challenge

For the Science Challenge I decided I would address from the State Core for Science for 3rd grade:

Standard 1

Students will understand that the shape of Earth and the moon are spherical and that Earth rotates on its axis to produce the appearance of the sun and moon moving through the sky.

Objective 2
Describe the movement of Earth and the moon and the apparent movement of other bodies through the sky.

b. Use a chart to show that the moon orbits Earth approximately every 28 days.

As far as pedagogy, I would make sure that the students understood and met the objective through assessing them in the form of a chart. I would have the students draw the various phases of the moon to depict how when the moon orbits the Earth it appears differently to us here. The students would record what the moon looked like on each day by drawing a picture of the way it looked and recording what the phase was for that day. If the students could successfully do that as well as write how this shows the moon orbits the Earth then they will have showed me that they understand the material.

For my technology, I will have the students use the program Stellarium. This program makes it possible to view the night sky from the earth on any given day, in the future or the past. Using this tool the students can observe the night sky even when the sky is too cloudy to really see from their homes. This technology will allow the students to observe the moon phases regardless of their circumstances or the circumstances of the night. Each student will be able to complete the assignment with the help of this tool. Students will also be able to use World Wind, a program that allows one to be able to explore the surface of the earth, moon, and other planets. The students will be able to enhance their knowledge and understanding of the moon and how it orbits the earth as they learn more about each of these planets. They will also be able to meet 3rd grade Standard 1, objective 1c; List the differences in the physical appearance of Earth and the moon as viewed from space. They will be able to learn make a chart of the attributes of the Earth and the attributes of the moon. Both these technologies will help the students successfully achieve the objectives and enhance their understanding through this experience of virtually looking at the earth and moon and really being able to SEE what is occurring.

Virtual Tours

I watched the google earth tours of:

Alli Whitezell

Julie Chatfield

Nancy Taylor

-------------------------------------------------

Creating this tour has been a really interesting experience. I have really learned a lot about technology as I have worked on it. I can see the benefit it would have in the classroom as it is a really good resource for the students. In upper grades students can easily get on the computer and check out the tour and self-teach, really, as they follow the instructions and guidelines. I can also see how it is a really time consuming project, for the teacher and for the student if they were to make one. Students could make one and use it as a way to present their findings from a report or the research they've done, but it would take a lot of instruction on the teacher's part to show them how to do it. I think it could be really beneficial for the students, but the time to do it would be an issue, as it is with many projects. If the time could be given by both the teacher and the student I think it would be a really great tool and resource in the classroom and a great way for the students to get engaged in what they were learning.

Google Earth Tour: Ecosystems

My google earth tour can be found here!

As well as below:

Cultural Snapshot

EMO KIDS

We all know this kid:

Whether in our high school, our ward, our class, or even our family. The real question is though, how do we treat them? Are they just another face in the crowd? Do we mercilessly mock them? Do we exclude them? Isolate them? Do we go so far as to beat them? Even kill them?

Seems absurd, right? Why would anyone want to kill these kids? Because they are different? But oh, they do. According to a news report emo kids are experiencing quite a bit of prejudice and persecution from many.

This video shows it well, here is a cultural group being persecuted just for being different.

This video says it all; here is the majority culture saying that we don't want this group because they aren't like

us. We want them to assimilate into what we believe is the better culture and if the group doesn't conform to

majority culture's way then they are persecuted. As seen in the video the "emo kids" resort to negative

resistance theory; they are persistently rejected by the majority culture and as such do their best to contrast

with the group and stand on their own, isolating themselves even more. Is this really how we want to treat

people? We really want to force people to feel even more like outsiders?

The Emo world is getting a bad reputation from the media. All over the media articles are being displayed that

tell of emo kids committing suicide or of engaging in risky behaviors or of having suicide pacts. The media says

that this group is bad and that they are influencing teens everywhere to engage in this suicidal behavior.

An article about a 13 year old emo girl committing suicide hit the news a year ago. The uproar began as

concerned parents everywhere began blaming this culture for the suicide. They blamed bands like

My Chemical Romance for the tragedy. But why the obsession? Why in a tragedy we must find someone to

blame? How could one culture, one band, really force this young girl to end her life? The reality is they can't.

Emo culture doesn't promote young 13 year old girls to kill themselves, it doesn't idolize death or pain, it

doesn't promote self mutilation. The sub-culture exists for the same reason so many other sub-cultures exist...

it's a sanctuary, a place where these kids who feel like "outsiders" belong. They like a particular genre of music,

they dress the same, they can relate to one another. No one in the group asks them to assimilate, to deny where

they come from or how they feel in order to fit in. They aren't worried about acculturation or biculturalism,

all they are concerned with is being with people who understand them.

This article puts it well; are these kids just the scapegoats for some of the horrible things that happen in this world?

Should they really be blamed for things they can not control? Should they really be blamed for just wanting to

fit in somewhere?

This person seems to think they shouldn't be. A blogger wrote about their feelings toward this attack on the emo

kid in this blog. Maybe this blogger is on to something...maybe we all need to be a little less judgmental.

So what does this all mean? Clearly, the emo kid is getting a bad rep from the media and people everywhere are

responding. Some with anger and force and others with just sheer hatred. Is this racism? In one form, I would

say; absolutely. Maybe in the school it comes across as passive racism; a comment here or there, from a

classmate, a parent, or maybe even a teacher. But racism is racism, right? Maybe it's our own

experiences that have shaped us into being anti-emo kid, maybe it's that individual racism, but does that excuse

the poor behavior shown toward this cultural group? I say no. So what do we do? As teacher, as parents, as

classmates?

A child who identifies himself or herself with this group will be in our classrooms as teachers, so how do we

treat this child? Do we allow the media to tell us what to think about this child or tell us how to treat this child?

Do we recognize the stewardship we have other these children and use the pygmalion effect properly?

Or do we judge these children? Do we expect less of them and see a self-fulfilling prophecy as these

students live up to our expectations, or lack of expectations, for them? We need to break that deficit theory.

We need to LOVE these children and teach them. These are the micro factors, the things we can control, and

we can control how we treat one another. As a teacher it is our job, our responsibility, and our stewardship to

see to it that all the children in our classroom feel safe, and welcome. No child should come to class feeling

unaccepted. As we foster a classroom of respect and unity, as we show love and understanding to this group

the other students will as well. There are children that identify with this group and as such it is their culture.

We have to accept that, we have to rely on our own opinions of the student and judge them on their own merit,

not base our opinions off of the media. If we do that with EVERY group we will never really know the truth.

Be open minded, think for yourself and love, not judge.

Google Earth

Standard 1

Students will understand how geography influences community location and development.

Objective 2

Describe how various communities have adapted to existing environments and how other communities have modified the environment.

a) Describe the major world ecosystems (i.e. desert, plain, tropic, tundra, grassland, mountain, forest, wetland).

Location	Activity Description	Google Earth content
1. Arctic Tundra	Click on the arctic tundra and answer these questions after reading about it: What type of vegetation grows in the arctic tundra? Along what arctic coasts is the arctic tundra?	terrain tool on.
2. Sahara Desert, Africa	Look at some of the surrounding pictures and information on places in the area. What are some groups of people that live in the desert?	Places tool on.
3.	Look at some of the animals that could live int he everglades. Why do you think they are so well suited for this ecosystem? What adaptations do you think they have made? What adaptations would they need to make if they were to live in the desert?	gigapxl photos
4.	Using the information given and the available tools determine how high the mountain is. What kind of animals might live in this ecosystem? How do they make adaptations to live in this ecosystem? What adaptations would we need to make if we were going to live in a civilization here?	gigapxl photos

I chose this standard for a google earth tour because I thought this would be a really good way to teach this material. It can be a really interactive, fun way to see various examples of these different types of ecosystems. The students have the opportunity to look at these ecosystems and look at the the surrounding areas and see how they differ and really get to gain a knowledge of what the ecosystem looks like and how it affects the nearly communities. Unlike just reading about these different ecosystems the students have a hands on way of exploring and learning more about these places and really seeing where they are located and what they look like.