Blogs and wikis

I've looked at some of the blog and wikis. I'm not there yet. Not there isn't value, I'm just trying to prioritize. My school uses moodle as an official platform and I haven't fully used all its aspects yet. There are other technology pieces I want to incorporate before I think about adding any more to my plate. Three teachers teaching regular chem with me did class blogs last year and it didn't work out for them. I need to digest some of this other tech stuff first.

Flipped Classroom

Eric put me on to this. I love it. It is exactly what I've been thinking about. My idea for more digital labs is a perfect start.

http://mast.unco.edu/programs/vodcasting/





http://vodcasting.ning.com/video/the-flipped-classroom

Some additional digital resources

Some of this I've used in other formats and some I just found.

Old School: You can't go wrong with Don Schowalter. World of Chemistry. I still have the VHS tapes. Timeless. Here is the link you can stream and a link for worksheets that I found.
http://www.learner.org/resources/series61.html?pop=yes&pid=793#

http://www.hschem.org/Resources/worldofchemistry/worldofchemistry.htm

Here are some sims from Iowa State. I've never used these but I tried and couple and they look good.

Chemistry Experiment Simulations and Conceptual Computer Animations
http://www.chem.iastate.edu/group/Greenbowe/sections/projectfolder/simDownload/index4.html#thermoChem

I have the disc for Chemistry Comes Alive! It's a good series of video and stills from ACS. You can download it for free from itunes. I don't if it's the entire series or pieces.
http://itunes.apple.com/us/itunes-u/chemistry-comes-alive-videos/id391599380

Online simulations that I currently use.

I've made good use of a number of online simulations. These are in no particular order and I use all of the regularly.

A former teacher at my school made these simulations in a program called ChemThink. They are mostly tutorials that students work through and then answer questions. I think you'll like it.
http://www.chemthink.com/chemthink.htm

I also use PhET. There are simulations for all disciplines. The gas simulation is very good. I found an excellent activity this year that has students use the sim to generate their own data and use the data to develop the gas laws relationships. It is a word doc and I have idea how to post it in this blog. A colleague of mine found it on the web it need to tweaked a little still.
http://phet.colorado.edu/en/simulations/category/chemistry


I also use the dynamic periodic table. I really works well because of the various ways you can display different data.
http://www.ptable.com/

Generating an Argument

I haven't really made use of the process describe in this week's reading. Typically what I've done is what is described by the same auther in "Argument-Driven Inquiry," NSTA Nov. 10. I have my students conduct an inquiry and generate there own data. We do quite a bit of this at my school. In regualr chemistry we have an enitre three week unit at the end of the year where they are using all the chemistry they have learned in solve various problems. I also have my students do an extend gravitemric analysis project in my accelerated honors class.

What I don't do a lot of is having students present their arguments. For the last three years I've had my acclerated honors students do a project in which each group researched a general category of generating electricity, prepare an argument, present and defend their position. Other groups could question/challenge their position. We concluded with a whole class discussion. I didn't do that project anymore and don't think I will in the future. It was very time comsuming and I don't think the students got that much out of it.

I'm going to look and see it I can find some high school level data sets that I could use in a generate an argument project. Data on the periodic table is not going to do it.

Where I'm at and where I'm going

So I know we still have a lot to look at ahead of us but I've gotten a sens of the direction I'd like to start working. This isn't new but I'd like to start making some digital pre/post-labs for my chemistry classes as well as developing some templates for digital lab reports.

So you stand in front of a class and hold a beaker, "This is a beaker." "This is how you titrate," etc. I'm thinking about about making a short powerpoint with embedded images/movies/audio that walks student through the lab process. Instead of a simple verbal explanation they would see and hear everything as they we went along. The same thing could be done with the post-lab. I don't spend nearly enough time on the post-lab. I want to create media that shows positive outcomes so that they can compare that to what they did and discuss any discrepencies. I would also like a template for digital lab rports. We have digital cameras with good mvie capability and I would like to have students start using them to capture data/outcomes. I've looked a glogster. I don't know if that is going to work.

I also want to start making some screencasts but that is secondary.

Gaining ground

Ok. So I haven't been dealing that well with this stuff this week. There is a lot of information overload and I'm not compartmentalizing well.
I've tried to go through the digital storytelling/image stuff. Every link is pandora's box of another links. But Ihave got a better grasp on things now because I have a clearer sense of what I want to at least rry to do with this stuff. More and that later.

I found the Digital Images chapter very helpful especiaaly the idea of meaningful interaction.

I've gone through a lot of different resources and have tried to figure out if/how I would like to integrate them into my classess.

I really like the concept of screencasting. I have a colleague how makes good use of audio hints for problems and the students love them. I'm thinking of "how to work through a stoich problem" screencast. I think students would find that very helpful as a resource. I looked briegly at both Jing and screencast-o-matic. This is going to be a pretty sharp learning curve for me and I think this will be the second tech piece I try to integrate.

Glogster doesn't work for me.

Slideshare. We use moodle at our school and my students can access stuff through that.

Prezi looks super interesting but I have no idea were to start. That is going to be much down the line.

I've started going through the Creative Commons/copyright. Going to have to tighten things up a little.

Found some really useful stuff on how to improve powerpoint in the classroom. I'm not even sure how I got there. This is going to be very helpful. My powerpoints, conceptual and practical, needs some work.