Science/Math Technology Exploration

One of my favorite technological resources that I explored was the Stellarium. It is a software that allows you to see what you would see with your eyes or a telescope when looking at the sky. You can just drag the mouse around to change your view of the stars, you  can zoom in on a particular part of the sky. You can find planets. In fact, it has an entire feature list of observations you can do with this program. What an amazing piece of technology!!! I am a little embarrassed at how excited I got :). Children would have so much fun with this program. This makes learning astrology (etc..) really exciting for kids. 

I also really liked the idea of having kids use digital microscopes when learning about plants and how they grow. I really want to focus my project on the objective of having kids observe and learn what happens as a plant grows. I think we could use digital microscopes so the children can see what a plant is made up of and watch the different stages it goes through to become a plant. Anytime children get to use something like a microscope they become completely engaged. This is a great hands on tool. Some of the digital microscopes that i saw online  can take pictures of what you are looking at so we could post our plant development.

TPACK

As our society and world continues to change and develop with new advancements in technology, it is important for us as teachers to be aware of these changes. The students that we will be teaching will have a lot more background and knowledge about technology than we will, which can be frightening, but we can keep up with them if we do a little research. Students today will get a lot more out of lessons if we incorporate technology into them.  TPACK stands for Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowledge. The most effective way to t each is to fulfill the needs of each knowledge. As a teacher, you cannot just come into the classroom with the ability to teach, but know nothing about what you are teaching. Also, you cannot expect to walk into a classroom with a lot of content knowledge and expect to gain the interest of the students with out new technology for them to use. These knowledges need to be used interchangeably throughout your teaching.

I learned that there are many different technological tools that teachers can use in order to accomplish the  TPACK goal that involve both pedagogy and content knowledge, such as concept mapping (kidsperation), desktop publishing software, etc. There are many wonderful tools that will help teachers reach all students on all levels.

Week 2: RSS and Web 2.0 Tools

Adding RSS feeds to my blog was difficult! It gave me a headache. But now that I have figured it out I think it is awesome. I have feed from Education Week (Diversity) and the Learning Now Journal as well as Daily Scriptures! I had to stop myself from adding more. I am so glad that we learned how to get RSS feeds. I never would have figured that one out on my own. I especially never would have figured out all of the gadgets I can attach to my blog.

Web 2.0 tools have been wonderful! I especially love Goodreads. I have spent a lot of the day on there because I cannot stop adding books. I know that I will use this particular tool forever. Even if I stop teaching I can use it to find good books for my own children. Goodreads is so easy to use and I love being to share recommendations with others and receive them as well.

Del.icio.us was so simple and exciting! I love how I can access these bookmarks from any computer. The URL's that I chose are going to be so helpful in my classroom. I can use Google Earth for geography and other subjects. I am especially excited about TeacherTube where I can find fun video clips for the kids. I remember always liking video clips in junior high and elementary school.

Web 2.0 tools are very effective and I will keep practicing so that I become more efficient in each one! Thanks technology..you rock.

Technology Ain't My Thing

Here it is! Ok I know nothing about technology. I had the option of getting a really cool blackberry phone but i declined because it would just frustrate me. You could say I am simplistic. I think the only way I will be able to complete these assignments is if there are word for word directions! I will say I am excited for this class and my new blogging mates. We are gonna learn so much, though i'm not sure what that is yet. My goal... like technology by the end of this.