Webquest

I made a web quest for my students to use during our unit on Plate Tectonics. Once they go through this web quest and become familiar with the format, they will create their own web quests later in the year when we study ethical issues in genetics. I will divide the class into four groups and have each group choose an issue such as genetically modified foods, cloning, gene testing, or genetic information privacy/genetic discrimination. Each group will have to create an objective and balanced web quest that demonstrates multiple viewpoints on the issue. Student web quests will also include a personal position statement based on evidence and logical reasoning.   I would like to see students create surveys and discussion forums to link to their web quests as well.

WEB 2.0

Each seventh grade student chooses a topic for her science journal and deepens her understanding of this topic throughout the year. An entry includes an article, summary, new words defined, new learning, three questions and a creative response. All I had to do was mention Glogster and Go Animate and my students were all over it. Right now I have two students who have ongoing Glogs filled with experiments and videos. I have also created a wikiprojects section on my grade 7 science homework page where students can upload videos, Glogs and other multimedia. The following is an example of a Student Glog.  Another student used Go Animate to create a cartoon about whale evolution. The content was great but she was completely focused on those bouncing rabbits.

Archaeology Quiz Grade 7

I do not generally give multiple choice assessments, but students enjoy taking them as part of a review session or game. I can see using this tool as a way to review for tests and quizzes but I would ask my students to create the questions and the quiz. This activity would fit nicely into our unit on Plate Tectonics. I would organize the class into three or four groups and ask each group to create a quiz on one of the following: Plate Boundaries, Characteristics of the Earth's Interior Layers, Convection Currents in the Mantle, Earthquakes and Volcanoes. Each group could give a quiz to the rest of the class and in turn, take the quizzes made by the other groups. I am also using online quizzes to help students internalize concepts in science reading. Instead of answering end of chapter/section questions (boring!) I had my students work in small groups to create several challenging quiz questions. Each group added their questions to the class quiz. When complete, the class took the quiz together. Each group is guaranteed to get their own questions correct.

Update: I had my students read a section of their science book on convection currents in the mantle and make a class quiz. They loved doing this and trying to stump their classmates. Check it out

Personal Learning Network

Google Docs Lesson 2

I teach a STEM class and one of our activities is to build a shelter while stranded on a tropical island. All three groups will use the same materials (12 three-meter long logs; one plane wing fragment 2.5 m x 5m; a six-meter length of rope and a bucket of mud approximately .5 cubic meter). I want the students to view and give constructive feedback on each others' design plans. Once the groups have completed their sketches, they will take a picture of their design and upload the image to GoogleDocs in the document files I have created for them. Students will preview, and constructively comment on all designs. Here is a sample

In reality this did not work at all, probably due to the fact that I did not prepare well from a technological standpoint. I invited the students to googledocs and many had to register (all were 13). Several students ran into issues registering. I labeled the googledocs files in a way that was confusing for the students so when a few did get to google docs they did not know where to go. I had one camera but the pictures were not very clear and the directions for downloading their photos was not helpful. Then the internet went down in the school. I stopped the process after 30 minutes of frustration. Next time I would send explicit directions along with the invite to googledocs. There were too many steps not to have each one clearly labeled in at least on place, like the invitation.

Online Photo Album and Slideshow

I am experimenting with Animoto and it seems very easy. I played with some pictures of students doing a Mentos-Diet Coke experiment and used those to create a sample for my students. Check out this link  and the photos in Picasa. I could have my students record their experiments, field trips etc. this way. I do an activity with Skittles candy to model the process of radioactive decay in rocks during our unit on geologic time. Each trial shows the parent atoms (red Skittles)decreasing, while the daughter atoms (yellow Skittles)increase. Students could take digital photos of each trial and create a slide presentation that captures the change from parent atoms to daughter atoms. Girls could embed their slide shows on our homework page as I have done below.



Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

Google Docs Lesson #1

Each year at Laurel School, seventh grade students participate in a mock archaeological excavation. The unit is completely integrated (English, ethics, math, dance, art, science) and students collect, record, measure and analyze artifacts just as professional archaeologists do. This year I want to incorporate technology, so I made a Google Docs spreadsheet to record the artifact types and frequencies in each excavation unit. Students will be able to enter their own data and see the data collected by others in the class. I will also have students use the graphing feature to display artifact type and frequency across the site. I will get to this project during the third week in September.

The students entered their artifact counts in the googledocs Excel page I created. Then I asked each group to make a chart of their artifact concentrations. Not every group ended up doing this as we ran short on time. Next year I will set this up way in advance. Next year I will invite every student to my googledocs page during the first week of school so I don't have to worry about it. The Excel toolbar looks very different in Excel Googledocs and the Chart feature is buried in "Insert."

Here is an example of a student chart.