Science March

     Washington D.C., along with a variety of other locations, has been the recent site for two marches about Science. April 22nd (Earth Day) and April 29th were the dates for these activities. Climate change, education, and science based policies were some of the concerns people were advocating for throughout the marches. These have recently become issues due to the attitude of the current President Donald Trump. 

        Trump has famously stated that he believes climate change is a hoax. The science world feels threatened and compromised since there is scientific evidence that shows global warming is a real threat to our wold. If our current presidents doesn't take global warming seriously, what other topics may get overlooked? The marches are a way to demonstrate concern of the current presidents views and also express the importance of scientific evidence. Hopefully, the voices of all the marchers will be heard and listened to. 

Finale: Good Bye & Good Luck

     The focus of this class was teaching science and using  technology. I certainly was intimidated at the thought of using new apps or tools to create projects. Fortunately my colleagues are working to become future educators and they expressed patience and kindness while I often asked ridiculous amounts of questions. 
     The two programs I enjoyed learning about was Animoto and Kahoot. Animoto was simple to use and the steps were easy to follow in creating a short 'film' which was my book trailer. Uploading images without my daughter's assistance was a new challenge but easily accomplished using this program. Animoto would be great to use in class while introducing a new science or social studies chapter. This is an engaging tool that will get children interested in learning. I have already taught my son how to use Animoto and plan to have my children create book reviews of their summer reading books. 
     Kahoot is such a fun, engaging quiz to involve students in learning. We have used them throughout this semester in class and they are always engaging. Varying questions allows the quiz to be a better learning tool while promoting cognitive thinking. I would Kahoot as a review before a quiz or test. I created one for my daughter the other day before her science test. She not only enjoyed it but is looking forward to me making her more Kahoot quizzes. 
     Thanks for allowing me to be exposed to different technological learning tools that can facilitate my future students learning. Good Bye and Good Luck!

   

Inquiry + the 5 E's

   
     Science is all about asking questions while exploring the world around us. As I've read in the articles featured in this class, people are 'doing' science when they are born. We touch objects, explore objects by putting them in our mouth and of course ask plenty of questions. But when do we learn to ask questions the right way? Through exploration and inquiry, we learn how to build on prior knowledge while extending our own comprehension. 
     Inquiry involves hands-on and multifaceted activities which involve making observations. These observations aid in learning about our world while also solving real-world problems. As future teachers, we want to enable our students to not only better understand the world around them but to contribute by creating solutions to issues.  Inquiry allows students to learn the proper cycle of questioning while uncovering true answers and solutions.
     Teaching students the 5 E's in the inquiry process illustrates to them how to conduct proper questioning to discover answers to a variety of questions. Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate/Extend, and Evaluate (ongoing). Modeling this process and keeping it visually accessible on a classroom poster reminds students the important steps to follow when executing science experiments. 

ScinN

     

When I was younger, my favorite subject was history. Watching the news and choosing an article of the week from the local newspapers was one of my favorite assignments. I still read the newspaper but usually online. I try to stay current and watch the news as well. Paying attention to the world around me has always been enjoyable plus it makes me aware of what is happening in the world while helping me to be continually educated. Although I haven’t had to read science articles for an assignment before, I think this would beneficial for students to find articles based on current or past subjects that have been discussed in class. I chose two articles to read this week which were on very different scientific topics and interesting to read. Both articles came from the same website which is scienceinthe news.org.

     The first article was about the fate of Ozti the iceman whose mummified remains were discovered in the Italian Alps in 1991. Scientists have been trying to uncover the cause of death of this 5,300 year old Tyrolean hunter-gatherer. After long hours of research, scientists have ruled out that he died from an arrow injury but rather he froze to death. I chose this article because my sixth-grade daughter had learned about Ozti in school after watching a short video on the subject. She enjoyed discussing this topic and using this type of current discovery to discuss in class not only makes this time period relateable to students but the technology the scientists use is also relevant to classroom learning. By making correlations between topical subjects and the classroom, students learn to make deeper connections among the world around them. 

     Vaping would be a timely topic for teenage students especially since 12 and 13 year olds are more likely to vape while being mislead that there is no harm. Mouth sores, gum disease and cancer causing chemicals are some of the side effects caused by vaping that are unveiled in this article. Articles about health-related discoveries are important for students to be exposed to so they may make educated decisions about what products they use or consume. 
     Science articles allow students to view current issues plus read about discoveries. They can be integrated into class lessons plus it will expand on students current knowledge. 

Book Trailer

     Creating a book trailer with an animation tool is not something I've done before. Typically when encountering using new technology, I run to my children. This time was different. None of my children had experience using Animoto previously. After visiting the Animoto site, I thought "I can do this!" The site made it simple and basically 'walked' me through the steps of creating the film.  Surprising myself, I was able to easily create a book trailer. I also realized what a valuable classroom asset that Animoto could be for such activities from book reports to "All About Me" presentations at the start of the school year.
     After creating an account for Animoto, choosing a template was next. I chose the template called 'safari' since my books theme was about ways to save the Earth. Using pictures of  animals, tied in with the theme of the story. Adding music and pictures also was simple to accomplish. I chose to use online photos which was easily incorporated into the slideshow 'film' and saved me the trouble of taking pictures of the book myself. There was a large selection of music that can also be easily selected and added to the slideshow. After listening to a few choices, I selected my favorite, and the music would later play once the film was complete. The whole process was simple yet enjoyable to use.
     Once the pictures were completely uploaded, in order, the film could be published. After  viewing the film, I could see changes that needed to be made. Editing the finished process was easy and once again the film was complete. Animoto certainly has the potential to bring books to life. Using this to make a short film about a new science chapter would be engaging to students.  I think fifth grade students could use Animoto for book reports. It would also be a great tool for  'All About Me' projects. Social Studies projects could also use Animototo. Students or Teachers could create a film that contains information about a specific country. I have seen teachers  assign country or state projects. Creating a film to display the information that students have researched would be a fantastic, engaging project.  Animoto is a resource I plan to incorporate into my future classroom. I actually gave my son a quick lesson on how to create a film so he could complete a project for school. I certainly am learning how to embrace technology.

Life Science: Kingdoms

     This week in class we read about life science in our books and then completed a project in class which focused on the Five Kingdoms of life. After breaking into groups, each member was assigned one of the five (six) kingdoms to research, create a power point and then teach a lesson to our colleagues. This power point would be created with members from other groups who chose to research the same topic. My Kingdom to research was  Monera which is broken into two smaller groups Eubacteria and Archaebacteria. Cassandra and I were the only members of our group but she was very knowledgeable on the topic. 

     Cassandra and I researched the topic and stumbled across a Venn Diagram that was created by another student on Prezi. I find that other students projects are often and knowledge are useful in aiding my own learning. We used the Venn Diagram to help with filling information in our Power Point slides. It was also used as our review of the information. Along with using the Prezi information, we also incorporated images from a Google Image search. Our information was also researched on such sites as www.differencebetween.net/science. By reaserching our topic, it would be easier to present information on the topic. We also made sure to know the pronunciations of the vocabulary featured in our slides. A Kahoot was also created as a review of our Power Point. One thing I learned is to vary the type of questions when creating the Kahoot. By varying the types of questions, it would allow a more open-ended type of questioning. 

Personal Digital Me

     Science has always been a subject in which I struggle with. The funny thing is, my oldest daughters favorite subject is science. She actually plans on attending college next fall for environmental sciences. So just because I flounder in science, isn't it ironic my daughter may be a future scientist? Although science may not be my preference, I have always supported my children in their interests.
     Each person in our class created Digital Me Projects. In the classrooms I have worked in, introductions and getting to know your students can be very important. Typically in the earlier grades, students complete an All About Me poster at home and then share the poster with the class. These posters remind me of the Digital Me Projects. Instead, each person chose a digital tool in which they would display information about themselves. This would be a great idea, especially if I presented to my students on the first day of school. Letting them learn about me helps build my rapport with my students.
     Glogster, ThingLink, and Word Cloud were some of the digital tools my classmates used. The idea of Word Cloud is great. Some people chose really interesting shapes in which their words were displayed, such as apples since their goal is to become a teacher. I also enjoyed the Glogster displays. Since using these digital tools are new to me, I enjoy listening to my classmates describe the process. By listening to others, hopefully I will learn the technology myself. I will also practice more!