Reflection 4 Week 5

Group 3

These are my attempts at the Group 3 materials. I've gone for a more generic science-y feel for my examples this week, just to shake it up.

• 3D Power Point Click Here

• Click on the computer, light bulb, painting and the rock line.

• Prezi - Soil Formation Click here

• Glogster - Chemical Experiment Click here 

 

Reflection

My major focus for the Group 3 Reflection will be on Glogster but in brief I'll address the 3D PowerPoint and Prezi. I like PowerPoint as a fall back option for lesson presentation, its something familiar and easy to use, but I have never really thought of it as more than a linear tool. Generating the 3D room was fun to do but difficult initially to organise, particularly to get the right mental image of each shape needed to create the effect. I think this could be used in junior high but may not be sophisticated enough for seniors.

Prezi is an interesting tool. I need more practice with this one as I was a tad put off by all the zooming and jumping around. I can see that it is more dynmic than say a Bubbl.us so I'll try to get a bit more time with this one.

I found Glogster to be a good tool to use in place of a static written report. In science classes experiments are always super interesting, they are hands-on and engage the majority of students. The report writing at the end of the experiment is the borrrrring part.

The abilities of the students to perform the practicals can often be overshadowed by poor supplementary reporting.  I know when I was undertaking practical experiments throughout my uni degree, I was always keen for the hands-on experience but dreaded the dry write-up, not to mention the facts never seemed as dynamic when written on paper as they are when you see them live. A glogster write-up could really change the tide on experimental reporting as its a fun and organised way to have students express their hypothesis, methods, results and conclusions using images and or videos they may have take during the experiment. I really think this has transformative potential in the science class. This being said I have created a SAMR reflection and a PMI to support this.

SAMR model

• Substitution: Use a Glogster to write up an experiment as opposed to a written report.
• Augmentation: Use a Glogster to enhance an experimental write up by including images and videos of your experiment.
• Modification: Use a Glogster template to create your own experiment.
• Redefinition: Use a Glogster experiment template as a group to design a theoretical experiment from start to finish (predicting your conclusions) based on your chemistry readings. Use information, videos and photos from the internet to complete your Glogster. Once the teacher approves the experimental design you can go ahead and perform it.

 PMI

PLUS	MINUS	INTERESTING
Visually appealing and interactive	Have to pay for more than a 7 day trial version	Image credits and copyrights could pose issues for students
Organises information	Single user only
Many templates available
Multi-modal learning

 

 

Group 4

• Bubbl.us of plant evolution

 

 

• Scribble Maps - What a great tool! Click here

Reflection

I'm a firm believer in the cognitive power of concept mapping. It helps us organise our thoughts, find links in already known knowledge and to notice gaps between our knowledge. This knowledge linking is a well defined feature of many pedagogies, one such being described in the Dimensions of Learning by Marzano and Pickering 1997.

Scientific principles can seem like a new language and in fact it does have its own metalanguage as discussed by Henderson 2012. An easy to use concept mapping tool could be a good group exercise to do at the beggining of a new topic to share and organise all of the students existing knowledge in a KWL scenario. So, if the concept was photosythesis, I would ask the students to call out some terms, or facts about it then organise it into a Bubbl.us map. This could also generate questions, such as:

 'Ok, now why did I put carbon dioxide in a box next to sunlight as opposed to oxygen? They are both gases so you would think they go together, but in this case carbon dioxide is an ingredient or input (same as sunlight) in photosynthesis and oxygen is the product or output. So I've grouped them in terms of inputs and outputs so we can generate the chemical equation'

The other Group 4 ICT tool I played around with was Scribble maps. I used this to mark out features on a local power station and coal mine which are the dominant employers in the region I will be completing my EPL. I think this is a fantastic tool! I really like how this takes abstract pieces of knowledge such as energy generation and can conceptualise it into a local and very relevant framework which when annotated really frames the subject matter. If I get the chance to look at energy management during my EPL I hope to use this as an example. I've competed a SWOT analysis for such a mapping program and a SAMR model.

SAMR model

• Substitution: Use a Scribble map to placemark energy generators in QLD (include local power stations, coal mines, hydroelectric dams, LNG processing facilities, LPG facilities, wind farms).
• Augmentation: Use a Scribble map to colour co-ordinate all renewable energy production places and the energy sources generating green house gases.
• Modification: Use the pins, circles and text box functions in Scribble maps to describe the different power generators in QLD in brief.
• Redefinition: As a project choose one energy generator you have found in your research and zoom in close on the area on your Scribble map. Describe each part of the plant or mine in detail and using arrows link each part to the next part of the power generation process i.e. link the smoke stacks to the benched areas.

Similarly, you could use this for ecology explorations. Say you were researching sea snail subpopulations along the Capricorn Coast, you could indicate with markers and text where the populations where highest, lowest and other interesting findings. I've packed this all together in a SWOT analysis.

SWOT Analysis

STRENGTHS	WEAKNESS	OPPORTUNITIES	THREATS
Multi-modal learning tool.	Icon overlapping if placed to close once zoomed out.	Ecology studies, looking at habitat fractures, corridors, niches etc.	Need to ensure students still reference information in text boxes.
Incorporates spatial knowledge with subject knowledge.	Can’t click on an object and press the ‘delete’ button. You must use the eraser function which is clunky.	Geography studies, tectonic links e.g. ring of fire (you could actually draw and annotate the ring).	It’s a publicly available document, so it must be presented accurately.
Interactive media.	The map really can only be presented on screen live.	Political geography, city size, population, resources etc, then compare with another in a different country.	Landscapes change over time, the images on Scribble maps may not be the most up-to-date.
Broad applications over my subject areas (biology & geography).		Landscape evaluation, look at places close to the equator and further away, what is dominant? Why?
Creates links and highlights missing information.		I could go on…
Can be local, international, small or large scale.

References:

Henderson, R. (2012). Teaching Literacies: Pedagogies and Diversity in the Middle Years. South Melbourne, Vic: Oxford University Press
Marzano, R. & Pickering, D. J. (1997). Dimensions of Learning: Teachers Manual. 2nd edn. Alexandria, Virginia USA. Mid-continent Regional Educational Library.