Reflection 7

This reflection is about the information used from the National Geographic website. When I taught a lesson about squid last week, I needed some information for them to dive into and be very interested in. What I found was an article about giant squid that were found off the coast of Antarctica. The article was very good, and the students seemed to like it, but I need to be a little better in incorporating technology into this lesson as well as making it more constructivist. I feel that I just let them read the article and we discussed it, I did not utilized what I am learning in class to have them take that information and build off if it. I think that the next time I use articles form NG I will be a little more creative on having the students do more with it in order to build off of that information.

Resource Log 20

http://dsc.discovery.com/

Again, not much of a site designated to constructivism or technology, but this site allows me to stay current with science information in order to be able to create lessons utilizing constructivism and technology. It is also a very interesting site that the students enjoy having access to.

Resource Log 19

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/

This does not deal with constructivism or really technology, but I find it to be a very valuable resource in my teachings. I teach ecology and zoology, and National Geographic has so many articles, pictures, and resources that are very interesting and educational and useful to me in the classroom. It also allows students to take the lessons ever further and research topics of interest.

Resource Log 18

http://www.edzone.net/~mwestern/

This is another site with tips and information for teachers to use in the classroom. Topics range from simple tips, to articles, to powerpoints, to information on how to incorporate technology found at workshops into the classroom.

Resource Log 17

http://www.education-world.com/a_tech/

This is a pretty interesting site for integrating technology into the classroom. I was able to find a number of lesson plans as well as blogs and articles on how to use technology effectively in the classroom. I have only scratched the surface and plan to dig a little deeper.

Resource Log 16

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Piaget

I needed a little refresher on Piaget so I looked him up and read over the Wikipedia page about him. It was good to refresh on his ideas and to be able to rethink on how to use them in the classroom. I found some nice information that will allow me to restructure some lessons that I have planned for the future.

Reflection 6

Last week in Ecology I used Google Earth. We are talking about wetlands, and were focusing on the Chesapeake Bay . Most of the students had heard about Chesapeake Bay, but most of them also did not know where it was. I was able to use Google Earth on my Smartboard to show them exactly where it was and what river flowed into it, creating the estuary. Usually I'll just pull up a map showing the students the locations of various places in the lesson, but I tried this out and it was great. I was able to start on STL and move to the bay. They were a little more interested in doing it this way and it offered a little variety tot eh classroom. I think that I'll use this more often instead of maps or pictures. This was also nice in that it allowed the students to go out and explore more areas of interest. I mentioned the Mississippi river delta in another section of the lesson and they were able to build off of theri experiences and research into the delta as well as other areas we covered.