Debby's Doodles

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

A Prezi for my Students!

I can not get my prezi to embed but if you follow the link it seems to work. It took some time to figure it out, but I think the students woould get a kick out of trying it. Some I'm sure will make us dizzy watching it, but many will do a great job with it.

mollusca on Prezi

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Thing 20 and Slideshare

Here is a slideshare that I found about society in 2010.

Digital’s Emerging Role In Unconsumption

View more presentations from Resource Interactive.

I had a hard time finding ones specifically for science from the slideshare site. I have used a wonderful site that I found last year that has PowerPoint slideshows that have been used by teachers. The stie can be found at: http://www.pppst.com/science.html

Thing 19 Podcasts....Going where no man has gone before....so say the guys from the Naked Scientists

I had already downloaded some podcasts for my iTouch and listen to them when ever I find myself in a wifi free site. One of may favorites are the two guys from England who do a podcast for the BBC called the Naked Scientists. Their British humor comes through in every episode. I enjoy listening to them, but my students have a harder time keeping focused when there is nothing to watch. Ted is another one that I like to listen to occasionally. Sometimes I will listen to podcasts when I am driving as there are no other distractions to interfere. I have found that many on iTunes seem to be more entertaining to listen to, but maybe they are just the ones I am downloading.

When thinking of how this could be used in school I have come up with a couple of ideas. Students could use podcasting to explain different concepts possibly to students in other classes or in different sections. Students love to record and hear themselves, so why not use it to learn or educate others. The students could also use podcasting to help themselves learn a concept better, because when you have to teach it to othersyou must really understand the concept yourself.

Thing 18 - Make your own Wiki

Wiki, Wiki, Wiki...I set up a wiki for grade 8 to use on their electricity project. Each project has a page to talk about, but I am not sure how they will use them. I am thinking that a moodle page might work better. So I am going to rethink how I could use a wiki. I wish that we had better access to the computers so that we did not have to reserve them for an hour when we might only need them for ten minutes or so. Some students have their own computers at home, but many share computers with other family members and do not have access all the time. Some have iPod phones or other phones with web access that they could possibly use, but it puts some students at a disadvantage to those who don't have one. Does anyone have an idea of how I can use a wiki with the 8th grade?