Science Challenge Video

I made comments on Karyn, Heather, and Heidi's constellation activity using stellarium. Just from the activity my group did and the other groups activity with stellarium, it was clear that implementing different types of programs and technology with science makes understanding the information much more clear and engaging. I think it makes talking about concepts that sometimes feel abstract like stars and temperature, but more real. It is also easier to make connections, and see how the concepts actually work. It provides much greater understanding when you can actually see what the constellations look like, and/or watch the temperature rapidly increase or decrease with the temperature probe. The downsides may be that the technology can be slightly distracting. It's always exciting to use new things, but students might get so involved in experimenting with the pieces of technology that they struggle to focus on the content intended to be taught.When using new technology, you also have to be careful what grade level you allow to use the equipment because temperature probes and other instruments are probably expensive and slightly fragile.

Science Challenge

In our science challenge activity, we chose to have the students test and record the different temperatures of water in its different states. This activity covers the content area for fourth grade science in the first objective, standard 1, part d. This core standard states that students will "investigate and record temperature data to show the effects of heat energy on changing the states of water." Th teacher will begin by talking about the different properties of water. She will also introduce how to use the thermometer and show how large of a temperature range different materials can have. We will have the students use a thermometer as their technology device as they measure and record the temperature for freezing water, room temperature water, and freezing water. Students can also experiment with checking the temperature of the water as it is melting and/or as the boiling water starts to cool. This will simply help the students gain more opportunities to practice with the new technology and understand better the extreme temperature range of water in its different states. The teacher will provide the students with all the necessary materials, including the different water states (frozen, room temperature, and boiling), the thermometer, and a graphing chart to record the information they gather.
I think this activity is a great way for students to understand the different properties and states of water. This is a beneficial way for students to see first hand what water looks like as it is boiling, freezing, melting etc, and measure the temperature as it is actually happening. Without doing this activity, the only way to really teach the properties of water would be to relate it to snow for freezing water, or a pot of boiling water in the kitchen which is not really applicable for all students. This activity helps teach the goal of the objective better because students are able to actually see and test with the thermometer how water can be represented in multiple different forms/states.

Google Tour

He is the link to my classes virtual google tour:
Dances Around the World
I made brief comments on Heidi, Kindy, and Heather's virtual tours. I thought it was very interesting to see how this activity can be useful for so many different activities and subject areas. This is a beneficial technology skill to have because it is a great way to get students interested and active in their learning. Using a virtual tour in an elementary classroom is also a good things because it allows students to gain more experience with technology and multi-cultural activities. Some of the downsides to using a google earth tour is that there might not be enough computers for all the students to participate in the activity, and it would be quite difficult to follow the map and activities just by looking at it. This type of activity also makes it hard to see the world as a big picture. Depending on how close or far out you are from the specific place you are looking at, it's sometimes difficult to compare where you are in relation to the United States. I liked being able to see exactly what the specific places looked like, but it was confusing to make connections geographically with where we are in the US.

The lesson I chose to do came from the fourth standard of the sixth grade fine arts curriculum. The first objective is to perform and understand dances from different time periods, and cultures; specifically, in objective 2 to compare traditional folk or ethnic dances from around the world. I chose to do this lesson because I knew it would be fun and interactive as they get to travel the world and watch different dances, listen to various music, and create their own dance costume. I also thought it would be interesting for the students to see how different dancing is compared to their own style. Dancing is also seen as a masculine performance, so it would be a way for even the boys in the class to make a connection to the fine arts/dance. This tour is much more beneficial for the students then just reading books and articles about the dances, because they can see first hand what the dances look like, what types of music they use and how it is produces, and how the different dances relate to the countries culture. Instead of just reading that the ladies are graceful, and the men are masculine and powerful, they can interpret that knowledge through critical thinking on their own while watching the videos and looking at the pictures.