Sunday, October 17, 2010
PE3_DoInk test---Food Chain
I can definitely use DoInk in my science class. I just have to figure out how do draw better with the mouse. It is a bit cumbersome. Next step is to get the kids going on their own science lesson DoInks.
Saturday, October 16, 2010
PE2_One More DoInk Test
Decided to experiment with photosynthesis by doing an animation in color. Not happy with this one. I think some of the visual aesthetic is lost when you do it in color. Still getting the hang of drawing with the mouse.
W3_Reading
Using iMovie to Enhance Learning
This is a non peer reviewed web article that describes how the use of iMovie can help children learn a subject. While the article focuses on using iMovie to create video book reports, it holds significance as having applicable principles to my middle school science video production project. Dietrich gets into the benefits of script writing. Dietrich also discussed others uses for iMovie including documentaries and video taping science experiments. A simple, straight forward article that gives encouragement for using iMovie as part of the classroom experience.
Dietrich, P. (nd). Using iMovie to enhance learning. Retrieved August 12, 2010 from http://corinastechspot.wikispaces.com/file/view/imovie%2Bproject.pdf
Science Via Photography: Using Digital Media to Enhance Animal Adaptation and Diversity Lessons
The author describes how he uses digital photographs to teach science. Photographs allow for discussions across a vast range of science concepts and terms. This method also teaches the children to take visual cues from the photographs to identify science ideas. The next phase it to allow children to shot their own images and then identify the science concepts in their photos. The children are no authoring their own digital science media. This creates an excellent learning environment. These and other principles are exactly what I am trying to establish in my own science/media experiment.
Jones, A. (2010). Science via photography. Science & Children, 47(5), 26-30. Retrieved from Education Research Complete database.
Using Digital Video Assignments as a Tool for Active Learning
Discusses how the creation of digital video holds untapped pedagogical potential for the classroom. While the author addresses the college classroom, the principles are easily adaptable to the middle school classroom. Those principles included how to clearly implement an idea into a visual production. The article stressed the idea of visual literacy and the need to have some mastery of media technology to be competitive in the job market. It provided some forward thinking ideas.
Dumova, T. (2008). Using digital video assignments as a tool for active learning. International Journal of Learning, 14(12), 63-71. Retrieved from Education Research Complete database.
Say Cheese! Digital Collections in the Classroom
Discussed ho students can use digital photography to create virtual collections. Involved going out, locating, shooting, and identifying various leaves. The student photos were used to create digital collections. The article discussed how children like using technology gadgets. Also discussed the editing process and how to find the lest expensive means to print out photos. The principles in the article mesh perfectly with the goals of my AR project of using digital image media to enhance science learning.
Carter, L., Sumrall, W., & Curry, K. (2006). Say cheese! Digital collections in the classroom. Science &Children, 43(8), 19-23. Retrieved from Education Research Complete database.
This is a non peer reviewed web article that describes how the use of iMovie can help children learn a subject. While the article focuses on using iMovie to create video book reports, it holds significance as having applicable principles to my middle school science video production project. Dietrich gets into the benefits of script writing. Dietrich also discussed others uses for iMovie including documentaries and video taping science experiments. A simple, straight forward article that gives encouragement for using iMovie as part of the classroom experience.
Dietrich, P. (nd). Using iMovie to enhance learning. Retrieved August 12, 2010 from http://corinastechspot.wikispaces.com/file/view/imovie%2Bproject.pdf
Science Via Photography: Using Digital Media to Enhance Animal Adaptation and Diversity Lessons
The author describes how he uses digital photographs to teach science. Photographs allow for discussions across a vast range of science concepts and terms. This method also teaches the children to take visual cues from the photographs to identify science ideas. The next phase it to allow children to shot their own images and then identify the science concepts in their photos. The children are no authoring their own digital science media. This creates an excellent learning environment. These and other principles are exactly what I am trying to establish in my own science/media experiment.
Jones, A. (2010). Science via photography. Science & Children, 47(5), 26-30. Retrieved from Education Research Complete database.
Using Digital Video Assignments as a Tool for Active Learning
Discusses how the creation of digital video holds untapped pedagogical potential for the classroom. While the author addresses the college classroom, the principles are easily adaptable to the middle school classroom. Those principles included how to clearly implement an idea into a visual production. The article stressed the idea of visual literacy and the need to have some mastery of media technology to be competitive in the job market. It provided some forward thinking ideas.
Dumova, T. (2008). Using digital video assignments as a tool for active learning. International Journal of Learning, 14(12), 63-71. Retrieved from Education Research Complete database.
Say Cheese! Digital Collections in the Classroom
Discussed ho students can use digital photography to create virtual collections. Involved going out, locating, shooting, and identifying various leaves. The student photos were used to create digital collections. The article discussed how children like using technology gadgets. Also discussed the editing process and how to find the lest expensive means to print out photos. The principles in the article mesh perfectly with the goals of my AR project of using digital image media to enhance science learning.
Carter, L., Sumrall, W., & Curry, K. (2006). Say cheese! Digital collections in the classroom. Science &Children, 43(8), 19-23. Retrieved from Education Research Complete database.
Thursday, October 14, 2010
PE1_Learning DoInk for Middle School LIfe Science---Cell Division
In the life science video project the students are shooting I want them to incorporate 2-3 quick animations to help convey some of the more complex concepts such as cell division, cellular respiration, photosynthesis, etc. This will also help add to personalizing the design of their video project.
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
BP9_Web 2.0 Tool Review: Dropbox.com
My 7th grade life science students are shooting a nature documentary about the fields and wooded areas on our school’s property. Not a very exciting place. No massive vistas, no deep forests, and not real scenery. Until one looks closer. Then a whole world begins to emerge. My students have shot plants, insects, mammals, birds, and trees. The point of this project is to completely immerse them into this natural landscape and see our local ecosystem up close and detailed. I am using this method to teach the science curriculum. This project demands careful observation, research, and comparison.
The digital video footage and photographs they are beginning to create are quite good. Many of the students seem to have the ‘eye’ for composition. This is a very good thing. The flip side of this is that the students are beginning to amass a large amount of digital footage. And our school’s network does not have the space to store all this digital information. This was a problem I did not think about when I launched in this direction. But now I need to place the footage some place as their camera cards begin to get full.
Enter Dropbox. This is an online digital storage site that will allow the students to store their raw footage. Opening an account is easy, and the best part is they can also access their footage from home. Drop Box offers 2Gb of free storage. This is not a lot, but it should do the job as far as storing the images my students are capturing. The only alternative was to purchase a couple of external hard drives, but our school is strapped for funds this year. Drop Box seems to solve the problem.
I am new to Drop Box, so I am still on the learning curve. So far it does not seem overly intuitive, and I’m not quite sure of its filing system, yet. I have to work with it some more. Also, I test loaded some of my own footage and it seemed to take a long time. Large image files will require some time to upload. You can read two reviews at PC World Drop Box review and No 1 Reviews DropBox.com.
My next step is to get the parents on board and create Drop Box accounts from home. I will collect user names and passwords so team members always have access to one another’s footage. I’m not quite sure how to navigate this aspect of it with the parents without feeling like privacy issues are being compromised.
My entire approach is so new to my school and to our district, I’m literally writing the curriculum as I go. But I am convinced this technological immersion will pay off. My students will become informed authors of science media rather than passive spectators.
BP10_Comment on Ellen's blog
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