Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Chapter 15: Assessing and Evaluating, Including Porfolios
What role can rubrics play in lesson assessment?
Rubrics are a great way to grade students on a point system instead of a single letter grade. With a rubric students can see beforehand what is exactly expected of them for the assignment. This is also helpful for students once they've been graded because they have a better understanding of why they lost points and the areas where they can improve. I personally really like the use of rubrics for lesson assessment but they shouldn't be over used and need to be used at appropriate times. A great website to find rubric examples are at http://school.discovery.com/schrockguide/assess.html. This website shows different ways to create a rubric without being too general but not too specific.
Rubrics are a great way to grade students on a point system instead of a single letter grade. With a rubric students can see beforehand what is exactly expected of them for the assignment. This is also helpful for students once they've been graded because they have a better understanding of why they lost points and the areas where they can improve. I personally really like the use of rubrics for lesson assessment but they shouldn't be over used and need to be used at appropriate times. A great website to find rubric examples are at http://school.discovery.com/schrockguide/assess.html. This website shows different ways to create a rubric without being too general but not too specific.
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Chapter 11: Mathematical Modeling?
What is a microworld?
A microworld is a tiny world, literally, inside which students can explore alternatives, test hypotheses, and discover facts that are true about the world. The term was coined at the MIT Media Lab Learning and Common Sense Group (http://www.media.mit.edu/). It is different from simulations because students are encouraged to look at it as a "real" world rather than another world like the one in which we physically move about in. I'm not really sure how these microworlds would work but I did look at a few websites to find out more information and they are listed below. An interesting concept but I'm just not sure how effective it would be.
http://www.microworlds.com/ -Check out the demo's on the lefthand side
http://www.systemdynamics.org/conferences/2002/proceed/papers/Romme1.pdf -This is a power point explaining the educational value of microworlds
A microworld is a tiny world, literally, inside which students can explore alternatives, test hypotheses, and discover facts that are true about the world. The term was coined at the MIT Media Lab Learning and Common Sense Group (http://www.media.mit.edu/). It is different from simulations because students are encouraged to look at it as a "real" world rather than another world like the one in which we physically move about in. I'm not really sure how these microworlds would work but I did look at a few websites to find out more information and they are listed below. An interesting concept but I'm just not sure how effective it would be.
http://www.microworlds.com/ -Check out the demo's on the lefthand side
http://www.systemdynamics.org/conferences/2002/proceed/papers/Romme1.pdf -This is a power point explaining the educational value of microworlds
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Chapter 10: Games and Virtual Environment
Identify five virtual environments available for classroom use.
Using virtual environments in the classroom are a great way to bring experiences to children that they may never be able to do. Not all students or schools can afford or are able to take field trips like other schools and virtual environments lend itself to do just that but by never leaving the classroom. You can use them for creating the following environments:
1. Real Estate agencies use to show a home through virtual tour
2. Utilized in the recreation industry for having virtual events
3. Creating virtual museums
4. Used extensively in the medical field
5. Visiting places like Fort McHenry in Baltimore
Using virtual environments in the classroom are a great way to bring experiences to children that they may never be able to do. Not all students or schools can afford or are able to take field trips like other schools and virtual environments lend itself to do just that but by never leaving the classroom. You can use them for creating the following environments:
1. Real Estate agencies use to show a home through virtual tour
2. Utilized in the recreation industry for having virtual events
3. Creating virtual museums
4. Used extensively in the medical field
5. Visiting places like Fort McHenry in Baltimore
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Chapter 4: Emerging and Assistive Technologies and the Future
What will the future student computer look like?
It is really hard to say exactly what the future student computer is going to look like but I'm sure it will be much smaller and lighter than even the smallest laptops we have know. The book is predicting that the future student computer will be a palmtop or tablet device much like the Ipad. Each of these computers will carry wireless Internet access, software programs, input devices, and many mathematical capabilities. It also will be able to adapt to the users interests and abilities. I think this is such a great characteristic to offer to make the computer more personalized.
It is really hard to say exactly what the future student computer is going to look like but I'm sure it will be much smaller and lighter than even the smallest laptops we have know. The book is predicting that the future student computer will be a palmtop or tablet device much like the Ipad. Each of these computers will carry wireless Internet access, software programs, input devices, and many mathematical capabilities. It also will be able to adapt to the users interests and abilities. I think this is such a great characteristic to offer to make the computer more personalized.
Monday, March 28, 2011
Chapter 9: Technology Integration in the Content Area, Including Early Childhood, Educationally Challenged, and Multidisciplinary Units
What factors must the teacher consider when planning to integrate technology?
Like in any traditional lesson plan, teachers have to consider many elements when planning out the lesson. When creating learning activities you have to make sure that the lesson is age appropriate, has a clear and present objective, has a purpose, materials that are required, preparation processes and time needed, most effective tasks, assessment and extension tasks. The only difference is when you are integrating technology teachers need to look how they need to change their classroom or adapt it to the lesson. They also need to decide which technology is best suited for meeting the learning purpose. Basically there is not much difference besides that it may take more time to prepare a lesson with technology.
Like in any traditional lesson plan, teachers have to consider many elements when planning out the lesson. When creating learning activities you have to make sure that the lesson is age appropriate, has a clear and present objective, has a purpose, materials that are required, preparation processes and time needed, most effective tasks, assessment and extension tasks. The only difference is when you are integrating technology teachers need to look how they need to change their classroom or adapt it to the lesson. They also need to decide which technology is best suited for meeting the learning purpose. Basically there is not much difference besides that it may take more time to prepare a lesson with technology.
Monday, March 14, 2011
Chapter 8: Selecting and Integrating World Wide Web Resources, Including Designing Online Instruction
What are the differences between teacher resources and student resources on the web?
This perhaps is very self explanatory but to dig a little deeper you can look at the information provided at the teacher resource and student resource websites. Teacher resource sites provide guides, lesson plans, teacher discussion boards, and links to other support materials. These tools provided should be used by teachers to find lesson ideas, connect with other teachers, get advice on classroom management issues, and access professional development. Student resource sites are usually hand picked by teachers so that they know it is a safe and protected website. Students use these websites to do research on a project, look for answers to spontaneous questions, or for fun. A few websites that are great for a student resource are http://www.ajkids.com/ (Ask Jeeves for Kids), http://www.factmonster.com/ (Factmonster), http://www.wordsmyth.net/ (Wordsmyth), and http://www.yahooligans.com/ (Yahoo for Kids).
This perhaps is very self explanatory but to dig a little deeper you can look at the information provided at the teacher resource and student resource websites. Teacher resource sites provide guides, lesson plans, teacher discussion boards, and links to other support materials. These tools provided should be used by teachers to find lesson ideas, connect with other teachers, get advice on classroom management issues, and access professional development. Student resource sites are usually hand picked by teachers so that they know it is a safe and protected website. Students use these websites to do research on a project, look for answers to spontaneous questions, or for fun. A few websites that are great for a student resource are http://www.ajkids.com/ (Ask Jeeves for Kids), http://www.factmonster.com/ (Factmonster), http://www.wordsmyth.net/ (Wordsmyth), and http://www.yahooligans.com/ (Yahoo for Kids).
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