Science Challenge PLE

I was able to view Melissa's, Kindy's, and Whitney's voice thread video. I thought it was very well done and it was enjoyable to watch and very engaging.

I thought this assignment was quite fun and I enjoyed doing it as well. I also felt like this assignment was not as complicated as ones in the past. I think this is a great way to add to learning in a classroom setting. One of the upsides of an activity like this would be the engaging aspect of being able to experiment with the program being used. It would definitely help kids want to be part of the learning process and they get to use the equipment themselves. A downside of an activity like this might be a loss of control in the classroom. I think it would be slightly difficult to manage students using equipment like this if they are not properly instructed on how to use it. Another upside might be to let older students make their own voicethread presentation on a topic to show to the class, because it was fairly easy to use and I think this would also gets students excited about learning. I thought that using Stellarium was a fun way of viewing the night sky and kids would have a great time experimenting with a program like that.

Science Challenge

Science Challenge

The activity we chose to do was to have students observe the stars at night using stellarium. We will have the students look for constellations that are currently in exitstence where they live. Students will then work on their own to create constellations of their own and compare the brightness of the stars in the constellations they create and the current constellations. In this activity, the teacher will be showing the students the different constellations that can be seen in the area where they live while the students watch and observe. We would then have the students look at the night sky through Stellarium and work to create their own constellations. The teacher would of course model how this is to be done so that the students will know exactly what they should be doing. The students will watch and observe while the teacher shows them how to create a constellation so they will be able to accomplish this task on their own. After the students have had some time to create and explore their own constellations, the teacher should then model how to compare and contrast the brightness of different stars located in their constellations. This can be accomplished by the teacher using the constellations he/she has created by pointing out which stars are light and which stars are dark. The teacher can then go into more detail and discuss with the students on why some stars are light and some are dark. This could be a great classroom discussion. The students would then look at the constellations they have made and compare and contrast the brightness and darkness of the stars in their constellations.

The content we are using for this activity is for 6th grade. The standard we chose is Standard 4: Students will understand the scale of size, distance between objects, movement, and apparent motion (due to Earth's rotation) of objects in the universe and how cultures have understood, related to and used these objects in the night sky. Objective 2: Describe the appearance and apparent motion of groups of stars in the night sky relative to Earth and how various cultures have understood and used them. Locate and identify stars that are grouped in patterns in the night sky.

The pedagogy is allowing the students to observe the stars by finding constellations and describing the relationships between the different stars in the sky, which would really engage students in the learning process. This goes allow great with the content we have chosen to present.

The technology we will be using is the Stellarium program which will be fun and engaging for students while they study about the stars. This will also allow the students to observe the night sky in all places throughout the world.

The representation of the content we have chosen is extremely visual and the students would be able to observe the constellations in the night sky, but alter them in different ways as well. This activity will help us reach the objective in a way that is fun and engaging that might not be possible without this technology.

I viewed Melissa's, Heather's, and Kindy's virtual tours and left a comment on each of their blogs. They were all really good and I enjoyed watching each of them. I found this assignment extremely challenging, as you know and I truly appreciate your help. I don't think I could have completed it without the help. It was a fun to learn how to use google earth and I am glad I had the opportunity to do this assignment. I think that one of the upsides of using this technology in the classroom are one, the students can literally explore the world and all the many places located on the earth. It is a very fun program to use and anyone can use it. I also think it is a great way for students to learn about subjects the study in school and it is a fun way to learn it. One downside of this tours, I think, is how to navigate through the tour. I had difficulties navigating through some of the tours I looked at, but that might not be saying much. Young students might have slight difficulties navigating through them as well.

Earth Surface Tour

I chose to make my google earth tour for fifth graders. I chose to use standard 2: Students will understand that volcanoes, earthquakes, uplift, weathering, and erosion reshape Earth's surface. I chose objective 2: Explain how volcanoes, earthquakes, and uplift affect Earth’s surface; a. Identify specific geological features created by volcanoes, earthquakes, and uplift and b. Give examples of different landforms that are formed by volcanoes, earthquakes, and uplift (e.g., mountains, valleys, new lakes, canyons). I chose to do my tour on the these locations because I thought they are very interesting examples of how these types of incidents reshape the surface of the earth and students need to learn this and this is a fun way to learn about them where they can get involved. I think it is a great way for kids to learn because they actually have the opportunity to see videos or pictures which I think makes learning more meaningful as well as easier to understand. I know that I learn better when I visually see things and I think children learn better that way as well. It gives students a way of becoming engaged in a subject that might not be interesting to some children to begin with.