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.

VIrtual Tour Planning Table

Location	Activity Description	Google Earth Content
1. Philippines	watch video and create dance	http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vi_ymNIVMNU
2. Africa	Look at pictures of costumes used in African Dances, and create your own costume.	http://image04.webshots.com/4/2/80/87/70728087ilClsD_fs.jpg http://www.friendsofbrockportdance.org/images/sankofa2009.jpg http://www.ukgameshows.com/page/images/f/f4/Strictly_african_dancing_cast.jpg
3. Israel	Watch video of Japanese and Israel Dance-compare and contrast the dance, costumes, music, style, etc.	http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://i3.ytimg.com/vi/rWakhiw4JHY/default.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3D-VTAuUZQM4w%26feature%3Drelated&usg=__kRfWpm1wP8Q3V3xOC-1aCThHCi0=&h=90&w=120&sz=3&hl=en&start=9&sig2=7JKI6cLikdi2R83l3BviQA&um=1&tbnid=9vPHQbOreDH7KM:&tbnh=66&tbnw=88&prev=/images%3Fq%3DMayim,%2BMayim%2Bdance%2Bfrom%2Bisrael%26gbv%3D2%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26um%3D1&ei=VujDSoSlAonytQPkoYWrCg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gsdYS1DTkI
4. England	Analyze and compare the costume styles used for English Country dancing and Women Chinese dancing	http://dancewithjaneausten.com/images/jane-austen-emma-1.jpg http://www.friendlyplanet.com/images/tang-dynasty-show-dancers.jpg

Using Digital Stories in the Classroom

Digital story telling is a great way to add variety and fun into classroom instruction. It is easy for teachers to stick to assigning reading from students' textbooks and then doing a typical worksheet to go along with it, but that isn't always engaging or beneficial for the students that are actually trying to learn. I think the biggest challenge will simply be finding the time to make the video and be sure that it is presented in an interesting and creative way. It wouldn't be beneficial to have pictures and narrate in a tone that sounded like they were reading from a textbook. If a teacher is going to use digital story telling, they need to make sure it is engaging and informative. Also, they need to make sure that the video is easy to understand, clear, and not too long. It seemed simple enough to create the video, and it wouldn't be hard to set it up so the students could watch it, it would just be a matter of taking the time as the teacher to make the video and put the effort in to making it engaging.

StoryBoard

Importance of TPACK in a Classroom

TPACK outlines the necessary knowledge that every teacher needs to be truly successful. The three areas that it encompasses are content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, and technological knowledge. Content knowledge is knowing facts and information about different subject areas, pedagogical knowledge means having the necessary teaching management knowledge, and technological knowledge means that the teacher is competent in using various different technologies as a helpful tool. The three areas can be combined between two of the areas, or all of the areas. Teachers need to be able to acquire all three of those areas so that they can become a teacher that has the knowledge to manage a class, and then incorporate technology in lessons over specific content. We learned that not all students learn in the same way, and it is important to teach in a variety of ways so that each students learning needs can be met, and the teacher can keep all of the students engaged. Technology can be used for instruction which will be more interesting to students that just reading textbooks or completing worksheets every day. It is also important that teachers have all the skill incorporated in TPACK because our society has becoming very dependent on technology, and it is constantly being upgraded, so its crucial that teachers can help educate the students in this area. As the standard in society increases, teachers competence level in content, pedagogy, and technology must also improve so the students in every class have an equal opportunity to learn the necessary information to succeed in this life.