Hello, Hamline: 

 Here is our Urban Education Project on Asian American Women. Thanks for taking your time to look at our presentation. 

 Maggie, Martha, and Vee

The Revisitation

The past seven weeks of web tool exploration and the pedagogical interaction with my classmates have changed my perception of approaching a science lesson. Although I will still be using some of the existing technologies at my present school, such as the SMART Board and Notebook software, I now understand the power of integration of web tools. I have experienced first-hand how a wiki is more flexible than a blog in terms of reaching out to my students. I have learned about how Edmodo could maximize my students’ collaboration both inside and outside the classroom. My students’ future projects will be a good mix of podcasts, screencasts, and glogs, thanks to this course! Also, I have just realized how ‘ShoutOmatic’ could make my tweets audible to my students. This course was truly an eye-opener in the sense that it made me see opportunities to diversify my lesson plan, above and beyond web tools. I now feel a renewed sense of confidence and self-belief that I can handle the rigors of navigating through technological waters. As I mentioned earlier, my pedagogical goal for this course is to integrate the said tools as deemed fit over the next few months and years. And most of all, this course will have true meaning only when I help my students become capable users of some of these tools, and I am quite confident about delivering a five-star curricular service. Nevertheless, I can assure you all that this will not be my last post on this blog, and I would like to thank Professor Brunsell and all of my classmates out there. You have truly enriched my summer!

P.S. If you want to listen to some good science podcasts, please click on the links at the top of the side bar.

......ffff.... Final Project !!

I have created a wiki for my Senior Chemistry class as part of the Web Tools final project. Using this wiki, my seniors will interact to create an audio Podcast to share their experimental results to explain whether aspirin is a better analgesic than Tylenol. I have also created an assessment rubric on this page to evaluate their Podcasts. The said page also contains links to my students' Edmodo pages, Chemistry simulations, drawing software, and a data booklet. I want this wiki to provide 'one stop service' to all my students, where they could interact with convenience and access a variety of learning resources under one roof. The link is posted right below my blog followers on the side bar. Please take a look and your comments will be truly appreciated. Thank you, everyone!

Hate to say this on a blog

I have just decided to use a wiki with all my students instead of a blog, and I hate to post this on my own blog. I have just discovered that a wiki is more organized in terms of structure and navigation. I could organize the resources for each of my classes with no worry about them being pushed into a visual oblivion after a few months. (As you all know, a blog organizes postings in a chronological order.) I also feel that a wiki is a lot more flexible in terms of embedding audio and video files. Over the next few weeks and months, 'interaction' is going to be the buzz word for my students. I would ask them to edit lab report exemplars on their class wiki, and I would strongly encourage student-led discussions on Edmodo. They would discuss the different aspects of writing a comprehensive lab report on Edmodo. I would also like to use Twitter with my junior and senior chemistry students as they have greater liberty than the rest of my students to use internet in their homes. For all classroom presentations, they would rather use Glogster and Screencast instead of PowerPoint and Keynote.

Calorific Value of Foods: An Argument Activity for Grade 8 Combined Science

Description: Argument-driven inquiry can be a powerful tool to develop a concrete conceptual understanding among my students. This is a well-rounded tool in the sense that it not only enhances positive collaboration in the science laboratory, but also improves my students’ manipulative, written, and verbal communication skills. But, how could we eliminate personal biases and increase objectivity during this process?

Introduction: Calorific value is the amount of heat (in calories) released when one unit of a substance is burned. Our diet contains food from different groups, such as carbohydrates, proteins, and fats. So if you take a fixed mass of each of these food groups, and combust them, how would you determine which of these foods would release the most energy? How does this information help you in everyday life?

The Problem: Which food gives you the most energy?

The goal of your investigation: You will work in groups of four and write a sharply focused research question. It is very important for you to specify the independent and the dependent variables (and their units) as you write this question.

Hypothesis (needs to be explained with sufficient details):



Variables: Specify the correct units for each of these variables.
Independent:

Dependent:

Controlled:
1.
2.
3.

Materials:
A Calorimeter
Bread crumbs (6)
Dried mushrooms (6)
Dried almonds (6)
A Bunsen burner
A gas match
A boiling tube
A retort stand
A clamp
Test tube clamp
Safety goggles

Safety: Wear safety goggles and use a test tube clamp to handle the hot boiling tube.

Method: Explain how you would change and control the variables. How many trials will be conducted to increase the reliability of your data?

Generation and Analysis of data:
Data Collection: Record your data in an appropriate table.

Data Processing: Plot a graph to explain the relationship between the type of food combusted and its calorific value.

The Tentative Argument:

Claims, Evidence, and Reasoning: Explain if your data is compatible with your hypothesis. Explain with correct scientific reasoning. Identify the sources of your information.

Identify the possible limitations to your experimental method. Suggest realistic improvements, and also similar experiments that could further justify your data.

Reviewing the first draft of the lab report

A peer review of these reports will be conducted in the classroom using the following rubric:

Tick mark the appropriate blank and write your comments below.

Goals:
1. Did the author identify a focused research question?

Yes: ………………… Partial: ………………….. No: ………………..

Comments:

2. Did the author specify the variables and their units?

Yes: ………………… Partial: ………………….. No: ………………..

Comments:

3. Did the author describe how and why he/she would change and control the variables?

Yes: ………………… Partial: ………………….. No: ………………..

Comments:

Investigation:
4. Does the author’s method contain implementation details?

Yes: ………………… Partial: ………………….. No: ………………..

Comments:

5. Did the author’s method include repeat trials?

Yes: ………………… Partial: ………………….. No: ………………..

Comments:

Argument:
6. Did the author record his/her data with appropriate units?

Yes: ………………… Partial: ………………….. No: ………………..

Comments:

7. Does the author’s graph represent their data accurately?

Yes: ………………… Partial: ………………….. No: ………………..

Comments:

8. Did the author write a valid conclusion by interpreting his/her data correctly?

Yes: ………………… Partial: ………………….. No: ………………..

Comments:

9. Did the author include background research to justify his/her data?

Yes: ………………… Partial: ………………….. No: ………………..

Comments:

10. Did the author focus on the limitations in the design and apparatus?

Yes: ………………… Partial: ………………….. No: ………………..

Comments:

11. Did the author suggest detailed and realistic improvements to his/her experimental limitations?

Yes: ………………… Partial: ………………….. No: ………………..

Comments:

Writing
12. Content: Did the author use appropriate scientific vocabulary in his/her report?

Yes: ………………… Partial: ………………….. No: ………………..

Comments:

13. Organization: Did the author’s report reflect coherence of ideas and detail?

Yes: ………………… Partial: ………………….. No: ………………..

Comments:

14. Voice: Did the author’s write-up reflect genuine concern for his/her work?

Yes: ………………… Partial: ………………….. No: ………………..

Comments:

References:
Samson, V., Grooms, J., and Walker, J. 2009. Argument-Driven Inquiry: A way to promote learning during laboratory activities.

Cook, J. Spectrum Science: Cambridge University Press, 2005.

Professor Brunsell's Feedback

MythBuster using Glogster

I have just explored Glogster, and as many of you have blogged, it could be an excellent tool to make virtual posters, thus saving paper, and thereby trees. As a science teacher, I could use a Glog to make some of my lessons interactive. For example, a lesson could be introduced innovatively using a Glog. Having lived in Japan for several years, many of my students are quite familiar with the seismic phenomena. So, a dry lecture or a PowerPoint about the same may not be very pleasing to their eyes and ears. So, I thought a Glog could fire up their imagination. Here is my first Glog.

A lesson plan for my substitute (Thank you, 'Jing'!)

 Assuming I am sick, I have used 'Jing' to record an audio message to my students, and this could be used not only by the substitute teacher but also I could tweet the link, posted below, to all my students. For example, one could also capture a video and add one's voice to it. Screencast lessons, using Jing, could be a great resource for students who have missed classes, and even teachers could use 'video capture' to explain the working of a new gadget or an abstract concept.

http://www.screencast.com/users/Vee1117/folders/Jing/media/600839f4-cf2a-45a4-8722-87eadc7d9459
(This may take a while to load.)