Saturday, February 21, 2009
World War II Map Mashup
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This map mashup could be used with a variety of different age levels by adjusting the amount of information and detail provided about the events. However, for the age level I have planned this map mashup would be used with students in either 5th or 6th grade. This map would be used in a social studies class during a unit on World War II.
I think the main idea that students could gain from using this map is the location of each of the major events during World War II to where they live. When I first learned about World War II, especially the attach on Pearl Harbor, I never realized how close Hawaii was to Japan. I think this map will help students see the the proximity of Hawaii to Japan, and Hawaii's distance from the United States main land made the island a prime target. I also think this map helps to show students that the war really was a world war. Too often I feel that students assume the war only took place in Germany because of the emphasis on the Holocaust. In fact, there were many battles in many different countries and there were a lot of countries left damaged and hurting after the war. The links to pictures help to bring the map and ideas to life to give students an idea of the affects the war had on those involved. I also love the link to GoogleEarth because it shows students what the areas where battles took place look like today. Some students may not realize how populated places like Hiroshima, Japan are until they look at the map of the buildings and roads on GoogleEarth. Although there are probably more people in Hiroshima today than there were in 1944, it still helps students to understanding when the dropping of the atomic bombs claimed so many lives. I would use this map to let my students explore where different events took place. It is one thing to talk about different countries across the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, but once they have a chance to see these places it will help them to connect the information that they are learning.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Organizing the Internet
I have always enjoyed the use of technology for classroom lessons. Students are always excited to do something different from the traditional day to day lesson. As I explored some online resources that would help me get students excited about the information, I chose to focus my lesson unit on plate tectonics. I found several very good interactive sites that would enhance the students' understanding of the concepts. This lesson unit would be completed with a sixth grade class and I hope to have the opportunity to carry it out at some point in my career.
The GLEC's and METS targeted for this unit include:
E.SE.06.51 - Explain plate tectonic movement and how the lithosphere plates move centimeters each year.
E.SE.06.52 - Demonstrate how major geological events (earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, mountain building) result from these plate motions.
E.SE.06.53 - Describe layers of the Earth as a lithosphere (crust and upper mantle), convecting mantle, and dense metallic core.
Basic Operations and Concepts #4 - Understand that new technology tools can be developed to do what could not be done without the use of technology.
Technology Productivity Tools #2 - Use a variety of technology resources, including the internet, to increase learning and productivity.
On my delicious site, you can see the resources I have chosen to complete this unit under the tab Plate Tectonics Unit.
This unit will be completed over a week time frame. The calendar below gives a brief overview of what will be covered on each day.
Day 1 of the unit covers the information about the layers of the earth with a heavy focus on the liquid convecting mantle. This layer of the earth is the main source for plate movement on the earth's surface. The website The Restless Earth: A Geologic Primer provides very helpful information about each of the layers of the Earth and what effect they have on plate tectonics. There are cross sections pictures to help students visualize what the Earth's layers look like and how large each layer is in comparison to each other. This site provides students with much of the background knowledge they will need to understand the further instruction of the day's lesson involving the convection cycle of the liquid mantle as well as for the rest of the unit.
Day 2 of the unit covers the different kinds of plates that make up the crust of the Earth. There are continental plates and oceanic plates. The students will use an interactive website to help them visualize the many different plates of the Earth and where the plate boundaries are. The student will also be able to see how these boundaries have changed over time and can also click to see areas of volcanoes and earthquakes to help them identify the types of plate movement taking place in certain areas.
Days 3 and 4 of the lesson will introduce and discuss the three different types of plate movement. The students will use the USGS website to find detailed information about the three types of plate movement as well as visual representations. This site also provides students with maps of where each type of movement usually occurs on the Earth and the types of landforms that are created from each. The students can find where hot spots are and why they are caused. The USGS website will be primarily used on day 3.
On day 4, the students will continue their understanding of the different types of plate movement and the landforms that are formed as a result. For their exploration they will use the interactive website Mountain Maker, Earth Shaker. The students can get on the website and drag arrows to show different types of plate movement. As the students drag the arrow, the diagram moves the earth to show what the plates do as they are moving and how the landforms are created. As they do this, a description of the movement shows up below the diagram and a map comes up of where this type of plate movement occurs. This site can really help students to visualize what is happening above and below ground simultaneously.
On day 5 of the unit the students will use GoogleEarth to identify the locations of the different landforms caused by plate movement around the world. As a group they will work to find an example of each type of plate movement and the resulting landform. They will record the location using latitude and longitude and share their results with the class. After everyone presents the students will use the precise locations from GoogleEarth to see if their landforms are in similar locations. This will help students to see the actual landforms in 3D and will help them to make the connection of why landforms form where they do.
The GLEC's and METS targeted for this unit include:
E.SE.06.51 - Explain plate tectonic movement and how the lithosphere plates move centimeters each year.
E.SE.06.52 - Demonstrate how major geological events (earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, mountain building) result from these plate motions.
E.SE.06.53 - Describe layers of the Earth as a lithosphere (crust and upper mantle), convecting mantle, and dense metallic core.
Basic Operations and Concepts #4 - Understand that new technology tools can be developed to do what could not be done without the use of technology.
Technology Productivity Tools #2 - Use a variety of technology resources, including the internet, to increase learning and productivity.
On my delicious site, you can see the resources I have chosen to complete this unit under the tab Plate Tectonics Unit.
This unit will be completed over a week time frame. The calendar below gives a brief overview of what will be covered on each day.
Day 1 of the unit covers the information about the layers of the earth with a heavy focus on the liquid convecting mantle. This layer of the earth is the main source for plate movement on the earth's surface. The website The Restless Earth: A Geologic Primer provides very helpful information about each of the layers of the Earth and what effect they have on plate tectonics. There are cross sections pictures to help students visualize what the Earth's layers look like and how large each layer is in comparison to each other. This site provides students with much of the background knowledge they will need to understand the further instruction of the day's lesson involving the convection cycle of the liquid mantle as well as for the rest of the unit.
Day 2 of the unit covers the different kinds of plates that make up the crust of the Earth. There are continental plates and oceanic plates. The students will use an interactive website to help them visualize the many different plates of the Earth and where the plate boundaries are. The student will also be able to see how these boundaries have changed over time and can also click to see areas of volcanoes and earthquakes to help them identify the types of plate movement taking place in certain areas.
Days 3 and 4 of the lesson will introduce and discuss the three different types of plate movement. The students will use the USGS website to find detailed information about the three types of plate movement as well as visual representations. This site also provides students with maps of where each type of movement usually occurs on the Earth and the types of landforms that are created from each. The students can find where hot spots are and why they are caused. The USGS website will be primarily used on day 3.
On day 4, the students will continue their understanding of the different types of plate movement and the landforms that are formed as a result. For their exploration they will use the interactive website Mountain Maker, Earth Shaker. The students can get on the website and drag arrows to show different types of plate movement. As the students drag the arrow, the diagram moves the earth to show what the plates do as they are moving and how the landforms are created. As they do this, a description of the movement shows up below the diagram and a map comes up of where this type of plate movement occurs. This site can really help students to visualize what is happening above and below ground simultaneously.
On day 5 of the unit the students will use GoogleEarth to identify the locations of the different landforms caused by plate movement around the world. As a group they will work to find an example of each type of plate movement and the resulting landform. They will record the location using latitude and longitude and share their results with the class. After everyone presents the students will use the precise locations from GoogleEarth to see if their landforms are in similar locations. This will help students to see the actual landforms in 3D and will help them to make the connection of why landforms form where they do.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Why the Science Links?
I have been interested in new and exciting ways to get students motivated about science, which is why I chose to search for science related websites and blogs. It seems that too often students dread science related activities and science classes and I wanted to find ways to change this for my students. Also, it seems as though science would be a great avenue to integrate some of the new technologies that are available for the classroom. Check out the complete list of links I have added here!
The links on my blog cover a few different topics. The Eureka! Science News site provides articles about new events in the field of science. Not only does this site keep you up to date on what is happening in science, it also has links to how to incorporate these topics into the elementary classroom. The events that are posted provide examples of curriculum requirements that may be more exciting to students than what the text book has to offer.
Although the Steve Spangler Blog also provides resources for science in the classroom, his blog also talks about the view of science education by today's teachers and students. He has great links to science experiments as well as other lesson plans that would be great to get students excited about science. It seems to me that his main reason for creating this blog is to show other teachers that science can be fun and exciting for students if they make it that way. He blogs about the downward slope of student performance in science and about why he thinks this is happening as well as what we can do to fix it. His blog is not only informational but it is also motivating to see someone so passionate about science education.
The Venier News site is quite different than the other sites I linked to this blog. Although the site does not specifically talk about science education, it is a resource for tools to use in the classroom. It has catalogs for new classroom science technology and articles with reviews of the products. It also gives viewers the opportunity to evaluate labs for use in the classroom. I was attracted to this site because in thinking back to my own science education we only had the basics. With access to these new technologies, who know how much students can accomplish in science education.
In many of our education classes we are encouraged to create tools that we can quickly reference in the classroom. We have been told that these tools will not only help us to create lesson plans quickly but they can also be a resource to refer to when parents and administrators have questions about how we are managing our curriculum. I think that RSS feeds could be a very beneficial tool for the same reasons. RSS feeds are so easily accessed and there is a benefit of having all of the information in one space. With the help of folders, these feeds can be separated depending on topic, that is for lesson plan ideas as well as helpful tools for parents. Also, as a teacher I could encourage the parents of my students to subscribe to a class blog so that they could be easily updated regarding what is taking place in the classroom. With the RSS feed they can see quickly and easily what is going on in the blog without actually having to go through and search the blog site. Also, for elementary students RSS feeds would be beneficial for starter research projects. By giving students access to RSS feeds I would be able to filter the information so they know what type of information to look for while still giving them many different options to choose from. There are many benefits to the use of RSS feeds in and out of the classroom and I look forward to seeing how effectively they can be implemented.
The links on my blog cover a few different topics. The Eureka! Science News site provides articles about new events in the field of science. Not only does this site keep you up to date on what is happening in science, it also has links to how to incorporate these topics into the elementary classroom. The events that are posted provide examples of curriculum requirements that may be more exciting to students than what the text book has to offer.
Although the Steve Spangler Blog also provides resources for science in the classroom, his blog also talks about the view of science education by today's teachers and students. He has great links to science experiments as well as other lesson plans that would be great to get students excited about science. It seems to me that his main reason for creating this blog is to show other teachers that science can be fun and exciting for students if they make it that way. He blogs about the downward slope of student performance in science and about why he thinks this is happening as well as what we can do to fix it. His blog is not only informational but it is also motivating to see someone so passionate about science education.
The Venier News site is quite different than the other sites I linked to this blog. Although the site does not specifically talk about science education, it is a resource for tools to use in the classroom. It has catalogs for new classroom science technology and articles with reviews of the products. It also gives viewers the opportunity to evaluate labs for use in the classroom. I was attracted to this site because in thinking back to my own science education we only had the basics. With access to these new technologies, who know how much students can accomplish in science education.
In many of our education classes we are encouraged to create tools that we can quickly reference in the classroom. We have been told that these tools will not only help us to create lesson plans quickly but they can also be a resource to refer to when parents and administrators have questions about how we are managing our curriculum. I think that RSS feeds could be a very beneficial tool for the same reasons. RSS feeds are so easily accessed and there is a benefit of having all of the information in one space. With the help of folders, these feeds can be separated depending on topic, that is for lesson plan ideas as well as helpful tools for parents. Also, as a teacher I could encourage the parents of my students to subscribe to a class blog so that they could be easily updated regarding what is taking place in the classroom. With the RSS feed they can see quickly and easily what is going on in the blog without actually having to go through and search the blog site. Also, for elementary students RSS feeds would be beneficial for starter research projects. By giving students access to RSS feeds I would be able to filter the information so they know what type of information to look for while still giving them many different options to choose from. There are many benefits to the use of RSS feeds in and out of the classroom and I look forward to seeing how effectively they can be implemented.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
My Digital Footprint
I was actually quite surprised with what I found when I googled my name. Although there were several misses, which is unusually because of my name, most of the first page of hits were related to me. Most of the links were to online newspapers for honors I have received throughout my life so far. There were award notifications from high school sports as well as for my most recent scholarships at Michigan State. I was also surprised to find and article that had me quoted from abc channel 12 news. I was interviewed in early December in front of the Financil Aid office and they did end up running the story and quoting me! I also found links to a research project I conducted at Michigan State. I have left more of a digital footprint than I thought.
I am hoping to use my portfolio to highlight my accomplishments in the field of education to show off to future employers. With the set up of the web page, there is quick and easy access to priliminary information that employers as well as parents of students would like to see. My resume shows my qualificiation and my about me page gives a quick snipet into my interests and personality. I also want to use this portfolio to show that I am interested in technology in the class room and to show the benefits that technology can have for students. I am very excited about my portfolio and am anxious to make it more complete.
I am hoping to use my portfolio to highlight my accomplishments in the field of education to show off to future employers. With the set up of the web page, there is quick and easy access to priliminary information that employers as well as parents of students would like to see. My resume shows my qualificiation and my about me page gives a quick snipet into my interests and personality. I also want to use this portfolio to show that I am interested in technology in the class room and to show the benefits that technology can have for students. I am very excited about my portfolio and am anxious to make it more complete.
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