My unit of study for my sophomore Biology class is all about sustainability. In order to understand sustainability, students first need to have knowledge of food webs. By observing food webs in nature and their delicate balance, students can also observe human society and how it impacts these food webs. This will allow students to gauge human interaction with the environment and determine what kinds of human behaviors area sustainable for the environment.
My lesson begins with a Do Now which prompts students to individually what they believe a food web is and provide an example of a food web within their own community. This activity allows students to begin brainstorming about what they already know regarding food webs and relay that information into animals in their own backyards. My lesson then continues on the SMART board where students get out of their seats and put their answers on the board.
This is followed by a mini lesson via power point on the SMART board with an official definition of food web, introduction to trophic levels, and examples of each trophic level. The relationship between trophic levels, energy flow, and population size is also explored as students respond orally to prompts and take notes using the T-chart provided.
Finally, the mini lesson is followed by students breaking up into groups of three for a collaborative group activity. Students will be given lap tops and watch a Youtube TedEd video titled “Rewilding Our World.” This video explores the phenomena of trophic cascades and how human impact have changed how food webs function. Students will then utilize the application CK-12 to choose a food web and research which organisms play crucial roles in the food web. They must then research how human activities have impacted this particular food web. Students will then use the application Lucid Chart to map out the food web in the form of a diagram and pin point human interaction within the food web. The diagram should utilize pictures to enhance the look and support the ideas within the food web. The students will then print two copies of their food web diagram. One will be for their reference and the other they will hand in at the end of class as their exit ticket.
For homework, I will assign a short essay highlighting their food web and how human populations have impacted it in regards to species populations, energy flow and dynamics. Students will also be required to define three vocabulary words in their notebooks for the next class: ecological niche, competition (biology), and population growth.
My assessments for this lesson will reflect student participation during class, active note taking practices, mechanically sound and accurate responses, organization of notes and detail, accuracy, and creativity of food web diagram.
You can access my lesson plan by following the link below:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B6pdTAbc8HVhbnV4T2ItTVJiOEE
Thursday, May 12, 2016
Sunday, May 1, 2016
Digital Citizenship: Super Digital Citizen
The Digital Citizenship video, Super Digital Citizen, deals with the notion that students need to learn to be responsible members of the online community. To address what his means, the teacher in the video asks the class about how we can be safe and responsible online. He receives answers about not sharing information, not bullying, etc from his students. He then shows them an app where they can create their own comic hero who speaks about digital citizenship. I google the app myself and found that he used Comic Life, a pay per use app, though it does come with a free trial. When the students completed their super hero, he then had them place themselves in a comic about to make a mistake online and have their super hero intervene.
I believe this is a great idea, especially at earlier grades. By teaching students that our actions and words online have an impact on our daily lives, we intervene in potential future disasters. For example, by addressing the issue of plagiarism and highlighting the value of our own work, you can teach students how crucial it is to be a responsible online citizen. Not only will they take more pride in their accomplished work but also save themselves from some serious trouble in school and even more serious consequences outside of school if they plagiarize. Another key aspect of online citizenship is not partaking in online bullying. By teaching kids early about its impacts, we save our students from the social pain and isolation that bullying can cause. We also prevent drama from online spouts from coming into the classroom and taking away precious classroom time.
The link for the video can be found below:
I believe this is a great idea, especially at earlier grades. By teaching students that our actions and words online have an impact on our daily lives, we intervene in potential future disasters. For example, by addressing the issue of plagiarism and highlighting the value of our own work, you can teach students how crucial it is to be a responsible online citizen. Not only will they take more pride in their accomplished work but also save themselves from some serious trouble in school and even more serious consequences outside of school if they plagiarize. Another key aspect of online citizenship is not partaking in online bullying. By teaching kids early about its impacts, we save our students from the social pain and isolation that bullying can cause. We also prevent drama from online spouts from coming into the classroom and taking away precious classroom time.
The link for the video can be found below:
Digital Literacy: Using Critical Thinking to Find Trustworthy Websites
This Digital Literacy video showcases a middle school classroom who is speaking about what types of websites are trustworthy for research. To get her students to think about this topic, the teacher first defines what trustworthy and bias mean and then has the students engage in an activity. In the activity, the students must convince their principal that an all year school program is not beneficial by using trustworthy websites to find research on the subject. The students end up finding what they believe to be trustworthy sites and cite that some websites had pop up ads and thus were not trustworthy.
While I think this is a great start to determining what types of websites are trustworthy, I definitely don't believe this is the end all lesson for a sixth grade classroom. The teacher could have guided a students a lot more on the topic. For example, the websites that the students presented used a lot of highlighter colors and looked very unprofessional, a clear indication that the website is not a trustworthy source for research. In the sciences, when students have to perform research for their studies, they are expected to use websites that either end in ".org" or ".edu." Since these websites are linked to organizations and educational institutions which are held accountable for the information that they provide, they are much more trustworthy sources than the common ".com" site that many students run into. By reviewing this very simple concept, the instructor could have easily paved the way for students to differentiate between personal and organizational websites and their value in education.
The link for the video can be found here:
While I think this is a great start to determining what types of websites are trustworthy, I definitely don't believe this is the end all lesson for a sixth grade classroom. The teacher could have guided a students a lot more on the topic. For example, the websites that the students presented used a lot of highlighter colors and looked very unprofessional, a clear indication that the website is not a trustworthy source for research. In the sciences, when students have to perform research for their studies, they are expected to use websites that either end in ".org" or ".edu." Since these websites are linked to organizations and educational institutions which are held accountable for the information that they provide, they are much more trustworthy sources than the common ".com" site that many students run into. By reviewing this very simple concept, the instructor could have easily paved the way for students to differentiate between personal and organizational websites and their value in education.
The link for the video can be found here:
Digital Citizenship: Improving Research Skills with Effective Key Words
In this Digital Citizenship video, a middle school class is showcased who are learning about being more precise with their online searches. The video shows the teacher engage the students in three learning activities to help them achieve this goal. First, they play a game similar to Taboo where the students must precisely describe a word without saying the word itself. Next, they must research a topic beginning with only one key word and then adding more adjectives and nouns to make the search more precise. Finally, they partner up to research a different topic.
I believe this is a great strategy in teaching students the importance of precision in making searches. The sciences are a very research heavy field. Thus, it is imperative that students learn early on how crucial it is for them to be as precise as possible with their research. This will ensure that they spend less time finding the right information and more time extracting the information and using it to achieve their goal. Often times, students will also give up on doing research because they cannot find the information that they seek. This is usually due to their search not being precise enough. However, sometimes it is also the database that they are using that may be inappropriate for the type of research the students are doing. Thus, it is important to teach students about appropriate database use in conjunction with this lesson on precision.
You can access the video here:
I believe this is a great strategy in teaching students the importance of precision in making searches. The sciences are a very research heavy field. Thus, it is imperative that students learn early on how crucial it is for them to be as precise as possible with their research. This will ensure that they spend less time finding the right information and more time extracting the information and using it to achieve their goal. Often times, students will also give up on doing research because they cannot find the information that they seek. This is usually due to their search not being precise enough. However, sometimes it is also the database that they are using that may be inappropriate for the type of research the students are doing. Thus, it is important to teach students about appropriate database use in conjunction with this lesson on precision.
You can access the video here:
Pew Survey Results: Teens, Social Media, and Technology
The Survey performed by the Pew Research Center on teens and their internet usage was a predictable one. By reflecting on what these social media outlets represent, we can easily match the trends in the report with the real life application of social media use by teens. For example, the report shows the highest prevalence of Instagram use by the upper middle class and rich. Instagram is a platform for mostly showcasing places you've been, things you've eaten, and unique videos you've created. All things that are more accessible to families who have money than those who do not. Whereas Facebook, the primary social media outlet for all socioeconomic classes, usually caters more towards postings of family, keeping in touch with friends, and following news and media outlets.
Another predictable aspect of the results were that students from lower socioeconomic communities were online more frequently than their wealthier peers. When wealthy students are actively playing sports, going to clubs, in tutoring, or even running their own small business, students coming from lower socioeconomic families are keeping themselves entertained online because they lack the resources to participate in any of the said activities.
The most striking portion of the results were the percent of females who play video games online or on their phones. I was not expecting the number to be as high as fifty nine percent. Growing up my female classmates were mostly not interested in any sort of video game. Perhaps the spread and variety of games on smartphones has lead this number to increase throughout the recent years. There is also much less stigma in this decade about girls playing video games than there was in the previous ones.
With as many as ninety two percent of teens online, it is imperative as a teacher to reach them in a space where they can relate to and one that they frequent. By interacting with kids through their mediums and incorporating new and fun applications and technologies into their learning, teachers can break through generational barriers and create a space where learning is fun, entertaining, and relatable!
Another predictable aspect of the results were that students from lower socioeconomic communities were online more frequently than their wealthier peers. When wealthy students are actively playing sports, going to clubs, in tutoring, or even running their own small business, students coming from lower socioeconomic families are keeping themselves entertained online because they lack the resources to participate in any of the said activities.
The most striking portion of the results were the percent of females who play video games online or on their phones. I was not expecting the number to be as high as fifty nine percent. Growing up my female classmates were mostly not interested in any sort of video game. Perhaps the spread and variety of games on smartphones has lead this number to increase throughout the recent years. There is also much less stigma in this decade about girls playing video games than there was in the previous ones.
With as many as ninety two percent of teens online, it is imperative as a teacher to reach them in a space where they can relate to and one that they frequent. By interacting with kids through their mediums and incorporating new and fun applications and technologies into their learning, teachers can break through generational barriers and create a space where learning is fun, entertaining, and relatable!
MolView!
Description:
"This is a molecule or molecules or chemical structure view or viewer, sketch or sketcher, draw or drawer, search or searcher, find or finder webapp!
Some features:
- draw structural formulas
- view 3D molecules
- search and view compounds
- search and view proteins
- search and view crystal structures
- view NMR, Mass and IR spectrum
- calculate molecule dipole"
Application:
MolView is perfect for Middle School and High School science classrooms in discovering, viewing, and drawing molecules. The application brings molecules to life for students and allows them to see the building blocks of molecules and their different formation(s). In Middle School, the application might be best used by the teacher in creating 3-D formulas and molecules to exhibit to students what different molecules look like. The teacher may also want the students to take apart the molecule to explore its smaller parts further. In High School the application would better serve student more independently with the students actively building molecules themselves as they have the background knowledge to do so. The biggest drawback to this would be the independent nature of the program in high school. Each student would need his or her own computer or table and if your school is lacking the funds, using the app equitably would prove to be challenging.
Here is a link and some screen shots to MolView!
Pocketlab!
Description:
"PocketLab connects with a single button to your iPhone or
iPad and instantly streams measurement data that you can see and record.
PocketLab measures acceleration, force, angular velocity, magnetic field,
pressure, altitude, and temperature. Using our cloud software, you can easily
analyze your data, create graphs, and integrate your data with other software.
PocketLab has the same features as lab equipment that costs thousands of
dollars but is low cost and intuitive to use."
Application:
What an amazing concept! An app that lets you make scientific measurements and syncs the results to an iPhone or iMac? The possibilities are endless! This app would be most beneficial in studying physics due to the nature of the application. Although my specific content area is Biology, I could use the application in Middle School grades where covering physics concepts is a part of the common core standards. For example, kids love to parachute army men off high objects. How great would it be to attach the app sensor to the army man and record his velocity and acceleration as he falls? Or we could create a race track where the force, velocity and acceleration can be recorded as the car gains momentum.
The biggest drawback of the app is the cost of the sensor. The sensor costs $98 which really is not that expensive given the nature of other science instrument costs. The application itself is free which is an added bonus.
Here is the link and some screen shots to this revolutionary product:
Link:
CK-12
Description:
"CK-12 is an app to help students, and teachers improve K-12
learning globally by providing self-pace learning content & tools.
Learn over 5,000 math and science concepts at your own pace
and in your own style! (videos, assessments, interactive objects, etc)"
Application:
This application is a great resource to use for educators in providing supportive materials to students at home. Biology teachers can utilize this app after reviewing learning materials in class as a supplemental support for their students. They can assign a specific reading or have students search for videos and articles themselves on a given topic at home. The app works on a PC, tablet, or even smartphone so students have multiple outlets to use the resource on. An example of using this application would be to assign students to find one article or video on CK-12 for homework on the plant processes such as photosynthesis. Given the nature of the application, the use of technology outside of the classroom would be an issue. However, you could set aside ten minutes of class time for students to use the application in school if your student body is in a economically disadvantaged area.
Here is a link to CK-12 and some screen shots!
Movenote for Education
Description:
"Add your favorite content from whatever source you want, and record video alongside to it with your computer, tablet or smartphone."
Application:
Move note is a great new tool that brings the power of Google Apps and recorded video together. This app allows users to record themselves with a webcam while uploading and speaking about a document. The document can be from Microsoft Word, Google Drive, or even be a Google Doc. The finished product can be shared through Google Docs or through email.
This app could not make creating a flipped lesson easier. Biology teachers could use this app to record themselves presenting a lesson with the proper supporting materials so that that students may view the lesson and home and come into class ready to engage and use their new found knowledge for application inside the classroom. Obviously, this means that students would have to have computers at home in order for them to reap the benefits of a flipped lesson. Ideally, this app is for those teaching communities with strong technological support at home.
Here's a link to the app and some screen shots!
www.movenote.com
Lucid Chart!
Description:
“Lucidchart is a web-based diagramming tool that makes
drawing diagrams fast and easy. Students can work individually on assignments
or with an unlimited number of other classmates to create and edit diagrams in
real time -- great for group projects.”
Application:
Lucidchart would be a great addition to any curriculum and content area. In a biology class, Lucidchart could be used by the teacher and students in creating flow charts and diagrams for projects and lessons. For example, Lucidchart could be used by the teacher in a lesson about food webs. The instructor could use the program to create a food web and after the lesson introduce the students to the app so that they may collaborate on a food web of their own. Another type of project that Lucidchart could be used with is creating family trees for a specific species. As a Biology teacher, you could have students map out a species' evolutionary family history by collaborating on an intricate flow chart beginning with the original species and spanning to other species, families, phylum, etc.
A problem that a teacher may face in using such a tool is technology accessibility at home. The app is also fairly complex depending on the type of chart the students want to create so tech support and app literacy may also be an issue, especially in younger grades or with students with limited technology skills.
Below you'll find some screen shots of the app and a link to the app itself!
Link:
https://www.lucidchart.com/users/registerOrLogin/free?showLogin=false
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