This is maybe for my English/history friends. There is a nifty site called Clockbusters (http://www.veer.com/ideas/clockbusters/?cid=Em_411_amr_1_visu_all) which shows you 3 pictures and asks you to figure out the movie based on those three pictures. You have 60 seconds per movie, and if you type in close enough, it usually works for guessing. I think this would be a lot of fun when reading short stories or novels to see if the students could do the three image thing to get you to know what book or a scene in the book they are trying to convey.
Not to say this couldn't be done with math and science as well, but it might take a bit more planning and the development of more shared experiences, but it would be fun to try. As I will be studying for the physics teachers test in a month, I might actually try and put some of these together for physics and will post some if I do.
Would this be something you might want to try in your classes?
Saturday, October 8, 2011
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Dropping Slinkies
So they were talking about this on the news this morning, and while the news casters were doing their best to talk down the science, and how much money was likely 'wasted' on this demo, which makes me angry to no end for so many reasons, I wanted to post the videos because they were just so cool.
The question is, what happens when you are holding a slinky from the top so it dangles down and release the top. Does the whole thing fall at once, does it collapse then fall?
Make your prediction, then watch:
Ok, did it do what you expected? What do you think happened and why?
They do a second video with a tennis ball attached to the bottom of the slinky. How does this change the experiment from the first time? Do you think it will change the outcome?
Make your predictions, then watch:
Did the addition of the tennis ball effect the experiment like you thought it would? Is so, why? and If not, what do you think you should change about your prediction?
I love physics
The question is, what happens when you are holding a slinky from the top so it dangles down and release the top. Does the whole thing fall at once, does it collapse then fall?
Make your prediction, then watch:
Ok, did it do what you expected? What do you think happened and why?
They do a second video with a tennis ball attached to the bottom of the slinky. How does this change the experiment from the first time? Do you think it will change the outcome?
Make your predictions, then watch:
Did the addition of the tennis ball effect the experiment like you thought it would? Is so, why? and If not, what do you think you should change about your prediction?
I love physics
Saturday, September 17, 2011
5 Minute University
This was shown in my Transformative Learning & Teaching with Technology class and I thought it was too funny to pass along. This is old school SNL at its best. Also, it makes me wonder why the focus is so often on what people know in school, but not HOW they learn about stuff so that if they forget it they know how to find it again.
Friday, August 12, 2011
Games for Learning!
Random short post today - have a paper due in less than 24 hours. Just had to post this though. Was looking for the game bananagrams, which is a great word game that even though I HATE word games, even I thought it was fun. Anyways, Amazon has a Spanish language version, which i thought tied in well to our games for learning conversation - check it out here - http://www.amazon.com/BANANAGRAMS-SPBAN002-Spanish-Bananagrams/dp/B001TKZ9LK/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1313156512&sr=8-5
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Last day of summer class
I am amazed and nervous about the class today. As much as technology might be scary, if someone is going to help my students learn, how can I not want to use it? I guess I think of technology as a method or a tool. Something in my brain box that I can pull out as necessary if I think it will help a situation. I hope that the rest of the class can think about it in the same fashion
I really enjoyed getting to test out video chatting in class today. I can definitely see how it could be useful, esp if you can get a chat going on with classes around the world. To give the subject of a textbook a face makes it more real to people, and just as Lauren did in her class, can make students place themselves in different situations and become aware of the larger world.
I am glad we will be getting to continue this class in the fall, as well as my technology cognate. As most people can tell by now, I am pro technology, mostly because I am pro learning. Just as people must have had doubts about books opposed to oral history, I imagine in the future, technology will be just as tied with education as the textbook is today, but hopefully a bit more exciting.
I really enjoyed getting to test out video chatting in class today. I can definitely see how it could be useful, esp if you can get a chat going on with classes around the world. To give the subject of a textbook a face makes it more real to people, and just as Lauren did in her class, can make students place themselves in different situations and become aware of the larger world.
I am glad we will be getting to continue this class in the fall, as well as my technology cognate. As most people can tell by now, I am pro technology, mostly because I am pro learning. Just as people must have had doubts about books opposed to oral history, I imagine in the future, technology will be just as tied with education as the textbook is today, but hopefully a bit more exciting.
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Generation M and Short Attention Spans
I thought the Generation M reading was really good as a wake up call for some of the class, and a great reminder for me Although many of them have grown up around this time, I am not sure how many are aware of just how different this age group is. One of the most interesting differences to me is the concept of 'privacy' With so much discussion about sexting in the media surrounding adult politicians in particular, I wonder what people of Gen M think about it. Will it even be an issue for them when they get old enough to be politicians? Will the private and public merge so much that there will not that sense of shock or scandal when possibly inappropriate photos or texts emerge?
I also wonder what role we should be having as educators? As much as we want to protect our student, and I do feel we should, are they creating a new normal for themselves? Will they think we are as prudish in our ideals as those who wore layers of petticoats would imagine us to be today?
When it comes to searching behavior, I actually got caught in a search loop while doing this blog post. I was listening to a song on iTunes -> where can I see some Zydeco bands and learn to two step -> finding RiverFolk (which I now want to go to, anyone want to learn to two step?) -> switching songs on iTunes -> remembering my friend who is due in 2 weeks who I wanted to make a baby cd for -> looking at songs in iTunes that I want to use and making a new playlist-> remembering that I was supposed to be doing this blog post -> coming back here just as a new Zydeco song comes on. Yes, I didn't get the task at hand done quickly, but I did make mini progress on a bunch of tasks that needed to be done. I think with all the searching we do, what we see differently is that it seems that we never really get done with one task without also working on 50 other tasks at the same time, and how long it takes us to get that full list done opposed to the one thing that we started with. Is that approach good or bad? I would love feedback!
I also wonder what role we should be having as educators? As much as we want to protect our student, and I do feel we should, are they creating a new normal for themselves? Will they think we are as prudish in our ideals as those who wore layers of petticoats would imagine us to be today?
When it comes to searching behavior, I actually got caught in a search loop while doing this blog post. I was listening to a song on iTunes -> where can I see some Zydeco bands and learn to two step -> finding RiverFolk (which I now want to go to, anyone want to learn to two step?) -> switching songs on iTunes -> remembering my friend who is due in 2 weeks who I wanted to make a baby cd for -> looking at songs in iTunes that I want to use and making a new playlist-> remembering that I was supposed to be doing this blog post -> coming back here just as a new Zydeco song comes on. Yes, I didn't get the task at hand done quickly, but I did make mini progress on a bunch of tasks that needed to be done. I think with all the searching we do, what we see differently is that it seems that we never really get done with one task without also working on 50 other tasks at the same time, and how long it takes us to get that full list done opposed to the one thing that we started with. Is that approach good or bad? I would love feedback!
Friday, July 22, 2011
Podcasting and Iconography
I loved this class (as usually, I don't think there is a technology topic I don't like to talk about). We talked about quite a few things this class that I wanted to speak to.
The class was split today, with half of us working on podcasting first, and then iconography next, and the other half vis versa.
Podcasting
I am an avid consumer of podcast, so it was pretty awesome to see just how easy it was to make your own. I can definitely see how this could be useful in a classroom - if you could post a copy of the class notes and then have one verbalization of the lesson, how much easier would that be for students who, like Kristin said, can't sit still long. I could also see this as being a pretty awesome way to prep for classes, with mini explanations of things that will be covered - esp if you can prep a few days in advance, so that if you need a Sub, they will still have something to cover in class, even if they are not subject specific subbing.
Iconography
The iconography lesson was way way fun. I am not sure why, but it just made senses to me, even though I know it was not everyone's cup of tea. I liked that we got to talk with partners to develop/discover shared meanings before going to the larger group. I got to work with B and it was fun, but I felt a little bad cause I seemed to get it a bit faster than her, and I didn't take that into account when I was making a joke of it before checking in. I think it is a bad habit of mine that I sometimes assume that everyone gets something without that mini check in, which I think makes me less approachable to questions, something I definitely want to work on as I develop as a teacher.
We didn't get to talk TOOO much directly about the readings, esp some of the notions that the video brought up, but I hope that people will at least keep an open mind about the use of games, both video or otherwise in the classroom and in learning. Not so say that I think they will be a cure-all, but I think in thinking about the structure of games and what motivates us to play them and want to play them, we can definitely find some takeaways that we should use in our lessons and classrooms as well.
The class was split today, with half of us working on podcasting first, and then iconography next, and the other half vis versa.
Podcasting
I am an avid consumer of podcast, so it was pretty awesome to see just how easy it was to make your own. I can definitely see how this could be useful in a classroom - if you could post a copy of the class notes and then have one verbalization of the lesson, how much easier would that be for students who, like Kristin said, can't sit still long. I could also see this as being a pretty awesome way to prep for classes, with mini explanations of things that will be covered - esp if you can prep a few days in advance, so that if you need a Sub, they will still have something to cover in class, even if they are not subject specific subbing.
Iconography
The iconography lesson was way way fun. I am not sure why, but it just made senses to me, even though I know it was not everyone's cup of tea. I liked that we got to talk with partners to develop/discover shared meanings before going to the larger group. I got to work with B and it was fun, but I felt a little bad cause I seemed to get it a bit faster than her, and I didn't take that into account when I was making a joke of it before checking in. I think it is a bad habit of mine that I sometimes assume that everyone gets something without that mini check in, which I think makes me less approachable to questions, something I definitely want to work on as I develop as a teacher.
We didn't get to talk TOOO much directly about the readings, esp some of the notions that the video brought up, but I hope that people will at least keep an open mind about the use of games, both video or otherwise in the classroom and in learning. Not so say that I think they will be a cure-all, but I think in thinking about the structure of games and what motivates us to play them and want to play them, we can definitely find some takeaways that we should use in our lessons and classrooms as well.
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