Is it worth it?

Today we began a new unit on perimeter and area in grade6 math. I did a little survey to see wo could tell me what perimeter was and how to find the perimeter of a shape. 1 hand then 2 hands. okay. So they didn't really recall, at least in the short time I alotted. So I took out 6 brand spanking new digital cameras and told them to unpackage and get ready for use. They had no trouble with that! Their assignment was to choose and object inside or outside the school, measure the dimensions, photograph it, upload the photo on their laptops, copy photo into smartnotebook, annote the dimensions, calculate the perimeter (with units of measure), then finally convert the notebook file into a jpeg and upload to a class voicethread. They did it in the 60 minutes or so and seemed to enjoy every minute of it and were engaged in the process. Take laptop out vs. take your notebook seems to be heard the first time rather than the 2nd or third time.

I really do think it was worth it at this point. But i do wonder tomorrow when I ask someone to tell me the meaning of perimeter and how to find it, will there be more hands?

From Steve Hargadon's blog, creator of Classroom 2.0.

Does this video remind you of anyone? The cycle of dependency is hard to break...

Feed Me: Wikispaces and Delicious Tags

Find more videos like this on Classroom 2.0


I did a tutorial (if I do more I'll script/edit it better :))on how to use delicious tags to embed directly on a specific wiki page in wikispaces. There is great potential here to easily share sites specific to a unit. Also I use it to update a games page. When I come across something "good", I will tag the site with games and it shows up on my wikispace page dedicated to interactive science and math games for students.

Here are a few examples:

Cells

Science / Math games

Mass Extinctions: Who cares??

Image From: http://www.well.com/user/davidu/extinction.html












Species are disappearing at an alarming rate.
Humans are the cause. (not of extinctions, but of the rapid rate)
Most people are aware.
We do little.
Business goes on as usual.
Populations grow.
Wants and needs grow.





"Only when the last tree is cut; only when the last river is polluted; only when the last fish is caught; only then will they realize that you cannot eat money."
Indian, Proverb-Cree

Isn't it a shame if this prophetic proverb turns out to be true?

Does anyone care enough to change their lives, government and way of doing business?

World Wide Telescope

For all the science teachers out there, there is a a new download from Microsoft that allows you to pan and zoom the universe. I'm not sure how it is different from GoogleEarth's Skyview, but still looks worth checking out and passing on to students so they can explore. The site opens this spring at http://www.worldwidetelescope.org/. I found out about it at TED Talks, an amazing site with videos of speakers doing presentations on very cool and cutting edge topics. TED TALKS

Live Feeds

This live feed traffic widget is really cool! Hello Toronto and Leicester!

Wanderings......

Well, It's been a long time since I used this blog. I don't know if blogging is really for me. I just seem be a consumer rather than a creator. But it did feel compelled to write today, so maybe there is hope for me!
I don't know if anyone will read this or not, but it is a good way for me to reflect at this point in time.
What's been going on.....

Using voicethread, google earth, and smartnotebook to make student-generated word problems. Very cool potential to collaborate and increase student interest! My example:

My grade 6 science students have been using charge sensors (PASCO) to explore static electricity and use the scientific method. High interest and involvement!









I found a tool to download youtube/teachertube videos. It helps not to have to freeze the screen to avoid the randomness of related videos. converttube.com I came across it while scrolling through my delicious network's bookmarks.

Building interactive-media rich smartnotebook files for students to explore independantly on their laptops.


I have students working on science fair projects during their activity period at the end of the day. One measuring the heating rate of different colours of water. And another measuring the effect of wind speed and voltage output of a home-made wind turbine that they built.

My daughter who is in grade 2 is doing a project on the effect of salt on the boiling temperature of water.


I had one class sign up for google reader and subscribe to some feeds. I haven't had them do any reading yet in class, but plan to. I wonder if they are using them at home. I know one student has subscribed to a kiiji feed for snowmobiles for sale!

Our school has a subscription to brainpop. Students love to watch Tim and Moby. Note to self: I need a better way to assess what they are learning from the videos.

At the end of last week, my grade 8 cience classes did a DNA extraction, and really not difficult at all to set up and perform.

Students made science safety videos. It took over a month from start to finish, I'll need to find a way to do this better next year. A 40 min time frame every other day, just doesn't do it when set-up takes so long. Maybe organize some blocks of time.

I want to get my student blog up and running again and also teach my students how to comment on other blogs. I came across a great one that could potentially result in some interesting dialogue. Mr. Biche's Science Blog

Wow, that was a lot to get out and I'm really not finished, but maybe I'll feel compelled to write again soon. I will flesh some of these out later. Especially if anyone asks about them.