On www.evalutech.sreb.org/criteria I found a plethora of useful classroom tools. Not only was there disaster preparedness software, but Praxis tests for the teacher to study for a credential test! Education software was available for all ages to purchase. The lastest computer hardware was also available to purchase.
I really enjoyed the math link with free classroom visual aids. "Great Circle Navigation" was fabulous. You can rotate the world around to look at it at all points of view. If you click on one major city and the click on another major city is computes the distance and shortest path from city to city. Now I clearly understand why my husband flies over the North Pole to go to London from San Diego!
This math area also had various interactive geometry problems that could be put up on a projector and run from a computer so the class can watch. For instance the liquid in a cone fills up a cylinder. Before you have the program pour the colorful fluid, you have the students guess how high the liquid will go into the other body. I had a great time with that.
There is also sections for showing various shapes so you can name them. There are areas for drawing various geometric figures, unit conversion areas, showing the difference between chords and inscribed angles.
There were also free lesson plans for various subjects. That's how I found the math links. I can't wait to go back and look what there is for physics. Now that would be a wonderful subject for computer visual aids of the same quality that the math visual aids are.
All in all, I think that I'll remember this website. It was fun, colorful, attention grabbing, and a fabulous tool for teaching.
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Sunday, February 25, 2007
Blog #5: Power Point and Bloom's Taxonomy
I find Microsoft Power Point a necessity. Anyone who does presentations uses Power Point. It conveys topics clearly and can be printed out with three to six slides per page for students to have after the presentation. (If the hard copies are handed out before the presentation then the students will look at the paper and not listen to the expanded remarks during the presentation.) Using the techniques learned in the last class makes the slides more easily understood and effective at conveying ideas. I loved the jeopardy tool. I used to do jeopardy when I taught School of Religion and all the kids had their hands up and were participating. The priest even came to my class to see how I was motivating them to learn religion so well. So I will definitely use that jeopardy Power Point tool!
I didn't know about the notes feature and have now used that in my Power Point presentation to the ASB (Associated Student Body) at San Dieguito High School on Monday Feb. 26th. I only wish that I had time to take digital photos of the Lomas Santa Fe underpass which was built with sidewalks to put into my Power Point. I'm proposing with Power Point slides that the Student Officers get a petition circulated among the high school students to make the City of Encinitas put in side walks on the North and South sides of Santa Fe Road's I-5 underpass, so no more of our students get hit by a car and die like Ryan Hwang just did. Using Power Point I can clearly deliver a proposal for a new project for these students to do that will timelessly benefit their community and provide community service hours to a plethora of students at SDA.
We can use Power Point effectively using the tools that we have learned in class to develop readable, artistic, communicative slides. With this magnificent presentation software we can relay important lessons and ideas and hopefully have the students transcend Bloom's Taxonomy Pyramid: Knowledge, Understanding, Application, Analysis, Synthesis, and Evaluation.
When I read Bloom's Taxonomy I remembered how education failed me at UC Berkeley. I tutored my peers and then they got better grades than I did in the class! The tests that were given did not follow Bloom's Taxonomy. They only tested knowledge, but not understanding, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. Anyone can cram and have knowledge and pass a knowledge test, but can anyone pass a discussion test as presented by Bloom's Taxonomy? No! They must truly learn a subject to pass a Bloom's Taxonomy test.
The realization that UC Berkeley's educational testing practices failed me came during my engineering design class. I flunked all my tests but got an "A" on my design, since I had evaluated all my courses and had truly learned. I would have loved to take a Bloom-like engineering test!
We had to use all our engineering classes to design Dove Library skylight covers to hold the heat in during the winter and reflect the heat during the summer to save on energy. In 1985 I designed a dual layer fabric with a Venitian blind center on motorized tracks to cover the skylights. The outside fabric reflected the sun with a metalic weave. The inside fabric was a light color so it wouldn't absorb the inside heat in the winter or heat from sunlight in the summer. The Venitician blinds blocked out all light when closed. The air space between the two fabrics and blind created a heat layers to prevent heat transfer from the inside to the outdoors or vice versa. Today my design is used as a standard window covering called Silhoutte blinds. My professor must be rich!
So if UC Berkeley had used Bloom's Taxonomy to test their students I would have gotten a much better GPA and my classmate's lack of learning would have been more apparent. I will definitely utilize Bloom's pyramid and his questioning techniques when I become a teacher. Knowledge is easily forgotten, but understanding to the evaluation stage of learning sticks with a student for years and sometimes a lifetime.
I didn't know about the notes feature and have now used that in my Power Point presentation to the ASB (Associated Student Body) at San Dieguito High School on Monday Feb. 26th. I only wish that I had time to take digital photos of the Lomas Santa Fe underpass which was built with sidewalks to put into my Power Point. I'm proposing with Power Point slides that the Student Officers get a petition circulated among the high school students to make the City of Encinitas put in side walks on the North and South sides of Santa Fe Road's I-5 underpass, so no more of our students get hit by a car and die like Ryan Hwang just did. Using Power Point I can clearly deliver a proposal for a new project for these students to do that will timelessly benefit their community and provide community service hours to a plethora of students at SDA.
We can use Power Point effectively using the tools that we have learned in class to develop readable, artistic, communicative slides. With this magnificent presentation software we can relay important lessons and ideas and hopefully have the students transcend Bloom's Taxonomy Pyramid: Knowledge, Understanding, Application, Analysis, Synthesis, and Evaluation.
When I read Bloom's Taxonomy I remembered how education failed me at UC Berkeley. I tutored my peers and then they got better grades than I did in the class! The tests that were given did not follow Bloom's Taxonomy. They only tested knowledge, but not understanding, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. Anyone can cram and have knowledge and pass a knowledge test, but can anyone pass a discussion test as presented by Bloom's Taxonomy? No! They must truly learn a subject to pass a Bloom's Taxonomy test.
The realization that UC Berkeley's educational testing practices failed me came during my engineering design class. I flunked all my tests but got an "A" on my design, since I had evaluated all my courses and had truly learned. I would have loved to take a Bloom-like engineering test!
We had to use all our engineering classes to design Dove Library skylight covers to hold the heat in during the winter and reflect the heat during the summer to save on energy. In 1985 I designed a dual layer fabric with a Venitian blind center on motorized tracks to cover the skylights. The outside fabric reflected the sun with a metalic weave. The inside fabric was a light color so it wouldn't absorb the inside heat in the winter or heat from sunlight in the summer. The Venitician blinds blocked out all light when closed. The air space between the two fabrics and blind created a heat layers to prevent heat transfer from the inside to the outdoors or vice versa. Today my design is used as a standard window covering called Silhoutte blinds. My professor must be rich!
So if UC Berkeley had used Bloom's Taxonomy to test their students I would have gotten a much better GPA and my classmate's lack of learning would have been more apparent. I will definitely utilize Bloom's pyramid and his questioning techniques when I become a teacher. Knowledge is easily forgotten, but understanding to the evaluation stage of learning sticks with a student for years and sometimes a lifetime.
Blog #4: Mapping Student Minds
I found the article, "Mapping Student Minds," by Ariel Owen a fascinating approach to teaching students how to collect, organize, process, and analyze data about nature. In business it is always difficult to determine the root cause of multiple symptoms which decrease profit and increase work loads. This article taught the kids to find the root cause for reduced water quality---deoxygenation of Pine Creek. Chemical fertilizers from farms and manure, for instance, added phosphates which fed algae which sucked up oxygen that the fish and plants needed to survive. I would have liked the students look for crawdads, fish, and frogs in a set area and analyze that data twice a year too. Animal life is essential for healthy creeks. Each animal performs a task in maintaining a healthy creek as well as the native plant life for that watershed. It all has a balance that changes with the seasons.
Data collection is a fabulous way for students to realize that just because it looks like issues are related does not mean that they really are once you analyze the data. The student's mapping of their data showed the extent of their data collection, that they had preconceived ideas of what data that they should collect, and how it related to the issue of water quality by using technology to process the data. Their thought processes were thorough for their age. I was very impressed with that approach.
Data collection is a fabulous way for students to realize that just because it looks like issues are related does not mean that they really are once you analyze the data. The student's mapping of their data showed the extent of their data collection, that they had preconceived ideas of what data that they should collect, and how it related to the issue of water quality by using technology to process the data. Their thought processes were thorough for their age. I was very impressed with that approach.
Blog #3: Oh, the Changes
In the article, "Oh, The Changes" I had to laugh at remembering old 1980 technology and using a Compaq 64 in college. It was one of the first computers. The software was so basic, since there was only 64 bytes of memory. The Compaq 128 was twice as fast at 128 bytes! Oh, boy! That was in the BI (Before Internet and Al Gore lol) time period long ago. Now in 2007 we're at 1.2 Gbytes memory. We have so much opportunity at our finger tips. I can't wait to see what technology will be like in 30 years. In ten years I bet computers will just be a screen and keyboard with ports.
As far as software changes, page 7 of the article "Oh, The Changes" made me really chuckle. It referred to our basic software with questions in green text on a black screen prompting answers like Q-card quizzing and learning. Now with "Roller Coaster Tycoon" people can learn in vibrant graphic art about G-forces during their build/test of their roller coaster design and find out what levels of these forces create nausea or death. My son really liked making his riders have nausea. lol
"Sims City" taught people about city management---a very complex system of requirements to understand. It taught the subject matter in such a nonthreatening way that it was easy to learn. It also taught people how to build thriving cities and make ghost towns if they screwed up. "Sims People" teaches people about life and relationships. "Sims Pets" teaches people about how to do graphic arts and create pets as well as keep them happy and alive. Children can now have pets without the mess. Oh, joy!
Technology certainly has made learning easy. My children have learned so much more than I could at their age. Information is just a key stroke away on the internet now. I look forward to how much my grandchildren will learn.
As far as software changes, page 7 of the article "Oh, The Changes" made me really chuckle. It referred to our basic software with questions in green text on a black screen prompting answers like Q-card quizzing and learning. Now with "Roller Coaster Tycoon" people can learn in vibrant graphic art about G-forces during their build/test of their roller coaster design and find out what levels of these forces create nausea or death. My son really liked making his riders have nausea. lol
"Sims City" taught people about city management---a very complex system of requirements to understand. It taught the subject matter in such a nonthreatening way that it was easy to learn. It also taught people how to build thriving cities and make ghost towns if they screwed up. "Sims People" teaches people about life and relationships. "Sims Pets" teaches people about how to do graphic arts and create pets as well as keep them happy and alive. Children can now have pets without the mess. Oh, joy!
Technology certainly has made learning easy. My children have learned so much more than I could at their age. Information is just a key stroke away on the internet now. I look forward to how much my grandchildren will learn.
Blog #2: Teaching Understanding
This week we learned how to use Apple computers and CSUSM's WebCT6. It was a VERY difficult transition from a PC to an Apple computer. I'm not looking forward to using an Apple Computer when teaching in a classroom. It is not as user friendly as I've always been told. You do have to memorize the commands for an Apple Computer which are not obvious to a broad spectrum learner.
As far as WebCT6, it has been very difficult finding which browsers are compatible with it using an Apple Computer at school and a home PC. It is not written for the broad spectrum learner as well and kicks a user out with fatal errors often. As a former software tester for Applied Materials I would probably frustrate the programmers of WebCT6 who want to design an exceptional software, because I don't think like a normal person. That's why Applied Materials always had me test the software. I was known to blow up most of the new custom network software in the late 1980's. If a program could get by me, it was acceptable for the company.
As far as teaching understanding, I think the new software designers need to understand that "inherently obvious" may pertain to narrow spectrum learners but not all types of learners. The learning software for Microsoft Project Management was fabulously written. I think Microsoft learning software is one of the best. They definitely know how software learners understand at all ages. So far I haven't run into a Microsoft program that I can blow up easily. Schools should definitely look into Microsoft products for teaching while using technology.
As far as WebCT6, it has been very difficult finding which browsers are compatible with it using an Apple Computer at school and a home PC. It is not written for the broad spectrum learner as well and kicks a user out with fatal errors often. As a former software tester for Applied Materials I would probably frustrate the programmers of WebCT6 who want to design an exceptional software, because I don't think like a normal person. That's why Applied Materials always had me test the software. I was known to blow up most of the new custom network software in the late 1980's. If a program could get by me, it was acceptable for the company.
As far as teaching understanding, I think the new software designers need to understand that "inherently obvious" may pertain to narrow spectrum learners but not all types of learners. The learning software for Microsoft Project Management was fabulously written. I think Microsoft learning software is one of the best. They definitely know how software learners understand at all ages. So far I haven't run into a Microsoft program that I can blow up easily. Schools should definitely look into Microsoft products for teaching while using technology.
Hi Class,
When I taught typing to my son's 4th grade class, we used the school's typing programs. I found that the kids enjoyed using the computers and learned rather quickly the basics without much help from me as I was observing and hovering over the students that were having difficulties due to learning disabilities. Each stage of the typing lesson was only available to the student after they had mastered the previous level. The students were so motivated to ascend levels that they learned how to type much more quickly than I learned how to type in 7th grade using typewriters and trying to type 60 words a minuter with few errors!
The program also told the student their error count and speed which spurred them on too! They were so proud of themselves as they learned how to type faster and faster. I even researched the top typing scores at the school and found that this class was doing a fabulous job of learning.
That experience has taught me how valuable a well written children's software program can be to accelerate learning. Every generation to come will learn so much faster than the previous generation as we all ascend to new heights of enlightenment of how to properly write software for learning and using technology.
When I taught typing to my son's 4th grade class, we used the school's typing programs. I found that the kids enjoyed using the computers and learned rather quickly the basics without much help from me as I was observing and hovering over the students that were having difficulties due to learning disabilities. Each stage of the typing lesson was only available to the student after they had mastered the previous level. The students were so motivated to ascend levels that they learned how to type much more quickly than I learned how to type in 7th grade using typewriters and trying to type 60 words a minuter with few errors!
The program also told the student their error count and speed which spurred them on too! They were so proud of themselves as they learned how to type faster and faster. I even researched the top typing scores at the school and found that this class was doing a fabulous job of learning.
That experience has taught me how valuable a well written children's software program can be to accelerate learning. Every generation to come will learn so much faster than the previous generation as we all ascend to new heights of enlightenment of how to properly write software for learning and using technology.
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