Tech4Teachers.info

While blogging offers science teachers a way to offer a platform for discussion for students, it is also a way to stimulate the minds of your students by providing related topics and links intended for future classroom discussion. Of course, the occasional extra credit assignment can be offered in exchange for a worthy post or reaction.

This first example highlights an upper level high school biology teacher’s use of blogging. Her name is Miss Baker and she now teaches at a private school in the northeast. She really seems to utilize her students’ interest in video games to deliver her message.

Take a look at her blog HERE.

This next teacher, Mr. Bird, utilizes blogging more as a way to supplement the content given in class or perhaps as another means of delivering content. Students are able to comment on posts and additional resources or articles are also offered via his blog. One thing worth mentioning is his utilization of the capabilities of the iPod Touch & iPhone. Steve Jobs would be proud.

To view Mr. Bird’s blog, click HERE.

Finally, I’ll leave you with a video that spotlights Brian Crosby with his elementary school science class. He has his students keep blogs to reinforce what he teaches. The video also shows him in action with a whiteboard.

To view the video, click HERE.

To check out Brian’s class blog, click HERE.

One of the best ways I’ve seen for using clickers is to utilize them in conjunction with a PowerPoint presentation. It really keeps students engaged and encourages them to anticipate when they’ll need to use the clickers. To give you an example, let’s say that you have a few slides of notes that describe a particular process like what happens with earthquakes. To make sure that students are not just writing down notes without much comprehension, it’s good to slip in a slide that has a multiple choice question to assess their understanding.

The first example I’m providing here is a PowerPoint presentation that was created with clickers in mind. You’ll see how the multiple choice slides are sparse yet effective in keeping students engaged. This is brought to you by Dr. Cameron, a geoscience teacher at the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee. It is a PowerPoint file that requires either PowerPoint or PowerPoint viewer.

To download and install Microsoft’s PowerPoint viewer, click HERE.

To view the presentation, click HERE.

Most teachers have traditionally administered tests via the standard format: paper and pencil. Clickers can make this approach a thing of the past. In addition, students can see the results without their name appearing almost immediately after the test. This next example shows us just how this can be done. It was a feature on Goodmorning American that showcases a science teacher at Ardsley Middle School. It’s also a great example of how an interactive whiteboard can be used with a clicker.

This last video is a spotlight on how interactive technologies are being used at Hawkeye Community College in their biology classes. You’ll see how clickers can be used with multiple choice questions to keep students engaged. You’ll also see a student provide her comments on why she likes using the clickers. Not only do they help her learn, they tell her what she knows and also what she might have to focus more on.

When it comes to science, I think digital video has a great use when it comes to demonstrations. Not only do students enjoy knowing that they are being filmed, their creations can be shown to future classes. If repeating the same project for a few years, it can evolve and you can incorporate new ideas every year. It can be simple film without any editing or you can bring your kids down to the computer lab to give their work some extra pizazz.

In this first video, students demonstrate how they created a simple motor. Very simple, yet I’m sure the students enjoyed the experience.

I think Marc Prensky, author of Digital Game Based Learning, would appreciate this next example. Students teach about the basic parts of the cell using a video game called Halo 3. The audio gets a bit loud at times, but you can hear the enthusiasm for the project in the student’s voice. Take a look…

Finally, this last video showcases a couple of students in an experiment to see of cold air really sinks. It looks like it was done at home, in which case you would either have the student use his or her own video camera or you would need to have them sign out a school camera. If you are doing a project like this with a class, it can be tricky. If students are using their own video camera and you plan on editing the video, make sure you take a good look at the camera. From my experience with Macs, the cameras should have a firewire connection (most do). There’s always that chance that you run into one of those cameras that just won’t work for what you need. What’s the saying…an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

This example of how podcasts can be used in science class comes from the Annie E. Vinton Elementary School in Mansfield Center Connecticut. Mr. Sokoloski and his students touch upon inventions. When you’re ready, click HERE.

I’ll start this post by saying my 8 year old son Noah (he did all my video taping) just finished third grade at an elementary school in the Buffalo area. I can recall just a couple months ago helping him study for a science test that had some things on it related to food chains. After checking this next video out, I immediately had flashbacks of our study sessions. I don’t think his teachers used a Whiteboard, but if they see this video, I’m sure they’ll want one.

This next video showcases how the Smartboard brand of whiteboards can be used in a more advanced capacity within the sciences. The video takes a little time to download, but it will definitely give a slightly different spin on how this tool can be used.

To view the video in a Windows Media Player format, click HERE (please be patient). For QuickTime, click HERE.

Finally, Jane Chalmers does an incredible job of teaching about the planets using her whiteboard. She even uses it to play a video that gives the students a better sense of the distance between planets. An additional lesson is provided in the same video by Ally Goff about electricity.

Click HERE when your’e ready to view the video.