Water you waiting for?

One more post about Thinkgeek!  I found one more set that I think could help students understand the idea of hydraulics.  Alongside the idea of the Engineering Process and cause/effect, the Hydrodynamic Building Set can allow students to develop their own projects to better understand the ideas of gravity, liquids, and other scientific laws.  While better in lower level grade,s this method could work as well in the high school range.  I personally think this is a great way to allow students to become involved in toll usage, as well as testing theories and principles.  Overall, students are able to freely express themselves with this technology.

http://www.thinkgeek.com/geektoys/cubegoodies/91e4/

TO WAR....for physics...

One of my favorite websites is Thinkgeek.com.  I love looking at all of the cool gadgets they have for sale.  I recently found a fun catapult toy which will help teach physics lessons.  The direct link to the toy will be at the bottom of this post.  I find this idea fun because it can help teach students the Engineering Process, as well as how to judge and evaluate trajectory.  Overall, small, fun lessons like these can use both computer technology and mesh it together with old world technology to provide for a great lesson!

http://www.thinkgeek.com/geektoys/science/e250/

Live Animals...?

While not cutting edge technology, having live animals in the classroom is an important part of learning for biology.  One of the science standards involves teaching students how to properly care for living specimens.  One method to do this is to have young children raise animals within the classroom.  This website, http://www.naturenorth.com/spring/classrm/wfclass/Fclaswf.html provides information on how to raise wood frogs.  I personally believe that learning how to raise animals is an important part of any person's education.  Not only does it teach responsibility, but it also achieves the needs of the standard.  I would love to have my students raise frogs, which are generally low maintenance.  How do you feel about animals in the classroom?

Online experiments!

I know I posted prior about computerized dissections, but I recently found something even more interesting.  SimBio offers an entire line of online experiments.  These computerized experiments can cover grades k-12, as well as college level.  While I still cannot agree with the idea of completely virtual experiments, I feel that this method of learning could be viable in some instances.  For students who just wish to complete the assignment and do not wish to further their learning in the sciences, this is an efficient method of ensures the student can clearly see the outcome.  However, for those who wish to pursue a career in science it is important to handle the experiments hands on.  How does everyone else feel about computerized experiments in the classroom?

http://simbio.com/

Online News Articles

As a science major it is important to keep up to date with developing technology.  I think some websites can really help people keep on top of things like this.  One website I found that is really interesting is Futurity.org.  This site compiles data from colleges across the nation.  I think as a teacher I would definitely have my students follow this site.  I have found tons of interesting material on this site to supplement research projects in the past.

http://www.futurity.org/

Final Project

               The “Atlantic Sea Scallop Design Challenge” unit plan touches on a few points which hit close to home.  Designed for ninth and tenth graders, this week long lesson plan focuses on human pollution, its effect on the oceanic environment, the importance of scallops as a part of American industry, and the engineering process as a whole.  In practice, the lesson itself calls for two days of lecture, one day of model demonstration, one day of student planning/construction, and a final day of experimental assessment.  Each session will be shortened to forty-five minutes instead of the proposed fifty minutes.  By the end of the week students should be able to correctly carry out the steps involved in the engineering design process, as well as test their designs.  This knowledge is accompanied by the understanding of how dredging changes the environment and its resulting casual effects on the ecosystem as a whole.

                The first standard addressed in this lesson plan involves the construction of evidence-based models in order to pose theories and interpretation of data.  This section of the lesson will revolve around lecture which will be supplemented with both videos discussing dredging as a process as well as how pollution affects the ecosystem.  In order to properly discuss these videos and their implications classroom discussion will be used to construct a diagram of key points witnessed in both the videos and lecture on a smartboard.  By the end of this session, students should be able to construct their own charts on pollution and the effects of dredging.

                The next standard tackled in the lesson plan focuses on data analysis and dissecting cause and effect relationships.  In order to accomplish this, a lecture on the effects of pollution on the ecosystem as a whole, and on scallops, will be held.  Like the standard above, these steps will be met through the use of videos, diagrams/models, and graphic organizers created through group discussion on the smartboard.  It is important that students understand the effects of pollution and dredging before the lesson continues.  Therefore, I chose these methods of visual depictions for a shock value factor.  Seeing the actual effects will hopefully aid in student comprehension.

                In order to understand the third standard in this unit plan it is essential that students have completed the components of the prior standard.  In this instance, students must represent ideas through literal interpretations.  In order to approach the dredging challenge, this session will focus on the sources of pollutants, the importance of scallops in American economics, and the engineering process.  A group discussion will be held on possible sources of pollution which will be compiled into a graphic organizer.  This will then be compared to the data collected from internet based research groups for oceanic conservation.  A supplementary demonstration of how pollutants spread will be completed through the use of an oceanic model.  In this instance, food coloring will be introduced to a fish tank which represents an ocean ecosystem.  Students will visually see how pollutants permeate the ecosystem.  Finally, the importance of scallops in industry, as well as the process of developmental engineering will be touched upon.  Students should understand the basics of designing tools with the engineering process by the end of this lesson.

                The fourth standard involves peer interaction in order to understand topics.  After a brief dredging demonstration using the ecosystem model from the prior session, students will be divided into groups to design their own dredges.  By using the engineering process students must work together in an effort to create a less environmentally damaging method of dredging.  By the end of the session students will have a sketch of their design, as well as time to build their dredge with the supplied materials listed within the lesson plan.

                The final standard addressed in this lesson plan includes proper tool use demonstration and ethical handling of animal specimens.  During this session students will complete construction of their dredges so that their implementation can be assessed.  Students will physically dredge the model ecosystem for scallops.  In this experiment the scallops will not be living scallops, but should still be treated as if they were as they are animal specimens.  After the dredges are tested a group discussion will focus on what aspects of the dredges worked, and which didn’t, in order to create an ideal dredge. 

                The majority of this lesson plan revolves around video depictions and tool usage in order to understand the relationships between ecosystems and pollution.  By the end of this unit students should be able to appropriately design, construct, and test tools.  Furthermore, students should understand how their actions affect the environment around them, supporting an effort for more eco-friendly processed to be developed.

Link to Spreadsheet

Link to Lesson Plan

Montessori Method

On a completely different note from my last post, I'm curious as to how people feel about this.  Montessori schools focus on allowing students to learn their own way, allowing the child to find their own path to the objective.  While not exactly a technological application to the classroom currently, this could change with the increased reliance on gadgets in today's world.  How do you feel about this teaching method?

Here is a video explaining some of the ideas of the Montessori Method:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2NjD65HrBA