Jeopardy Review Game! Earth Unit Test

Check out first period's: 
My Jeopardy Template

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Moon Rocks?

Between 1969 and 1972, the Apollo mission to the moon returned to Earth with pieces of the moon's surface.  Space scientists eagerly tested these samples.  They wanted to learn what the moon was made of.  They found that the moon's surface was made of material similar to the material that makes up Earth.  But is this material really "rock"?

The BIG Question:  What are rocks?


With your group, use the suggested resources to develop an explanation that can be used to answer this simple, but important, question.  Make sure that you have good evidence and reasoning to support your explanation.  You can record any observations or notes you make on the shared workspace at your table.


Resources:


Discover what rocks are and how rocks are formed here on Earth:
Rock Hounds with Rocky
Geography 4 Kids

Read about the moon samples brought back by the Apollo astronauts and what tests scientists have done on them:
Smithsonian: Moon Rocks Exhibit

Check your work with the following rubric... remember to make improvements before we share:
Rubric

The Adventures of Carla Calcite

Help for choosing your mineral:


1.  Start with your science textbook online.  (HINT: Look for the link to Appendix B for a list of common minerals and their properties!)

  

Ch. 4 Minerals (pp. 116-143) (click here.)

OR  Online Log-In:

user ID: crams6 password: crams6

Click here to go to the Textbook Log In page.

It will be the book titled "Prentice Hall Explorer." Sixth grade students use the following titles: Inside Earth, Chemical Building Blocks, Astronomy, Electricity and Magnetism, Weather and Climate, and Environmental Science depending upon the unit you are currently studying.

2.  Then you can head here for more information:

http://www.minerals.net/mineral/index.htm

http://www.galleries.com/minerals/by-name.htm

3.  Reread:

THE ADVENTURES OF CARLA CALCITE

In the boot-shaped country of Italy stands what’s left of a marble statue of Minerva, the Roman goddess of wisdom.  Down near Minerva’s food, in the fold of her robe, is a small bit of mineral called Carla Calcite

Carla wasn’t always a part of a marble statue.  In fact, she’s been through a lot o f changes in her lifetime.  However did she come from?  And how did she end up in a marble statue?  To find out, we’ll have to travel back many millions of year to a time when the world looked very different form the way it looks today.

If you went to northern Italy right now, you’d see a group of mountains called the Alps.  But long ago in that very same spot, there were no mountains at all. There wasn’t even an Italy. Instead, there was a great sea.  Carla was around then, but she was not part of a rock statue.  She was part of a shell.

The shell Carla Calcite was part of was the shell of a tiny creature that had lived in the great sea.  When the animal died, its shell settled on the bottom of the sea together with the shells of many, many other sea animals.  The shell – and Carla – then sat on the seafloor for thousands of years.  As they sat there, layers of other shell, along with other sediment, slowly piled on top of them.

All those layers were very heavy, and the weight packed and squeezed Carla and other bits of minerals together.  Chemicals in the seawater seeped into the tiny spaces around Carla and the other bits of minerals cementing them together.  All of this pressing and cementing hardened the layers of shells Carla was in until it finally turned into a kind of rock called limestone.  Millions of years passed by and the layers keep right on pilling up

During this time the whole Earth was changing – just as it always has.  The pieces of land that were north and south of the great sea were slowly moving towards each other like huge rafts.  The movement crumpled the old sea bed Carla was in until all the rock layers in it – including Carla’s layer were folded together like an accordion.

All of the folding caused mountains to form where the sea had once been.  The heat and pressure form forces inside the Earth, gradually changed Carla’s limestone layer into a new kind of rock. Now Carlawas part of a layer of rock called marble.  And after many millions of years, Carla’s marble layer was pushed up until it was near the top of a huge hill. One day, there was the chink, chink sound of sharp tools chipping away at eh hillside.  All of a sudden, a huge block of marble fell away form the hill.  A group of men tugged and heaved as they hoisted the block up onto a cart.  Carla was inside this block, and she was about to start a new journey

The cart carried Carla and her block to a little town where a sculptor lived.  He bought the block, and soon began to chip away at it with his stone-cutting tools.  As he sculpted, the shape of the goddess Minerva gradually took form.  And that’s how Carla cam to be in the fold at the bottom of the robe near the foot of the marble statue.

But our story of Carla doesn’t necessarily end there.  For over a thousand years, the sun beat down on Minerva and so did the rain.  The rainwater dissolved small bits of statue.  And bit by bit, tiny pieces of rock fell away form Minerva and were washed into a river.

One day Carla may wash into the river too.  And eventually she may fall in the river bottom, becoming covered with layers of silt and rocks.  The layers may slowly become cemented together.  And it may only be a matter of time before Carla fins herself inside a layer of rock once more.

CO2 and Water Quality? Project

How might increasing CO2 in the atmosphere affect our drinking water supply,and also the natural habitats of aquatic plants, animals and organisms?

To share your work with others, we will be using a round-robin format. This means that one member of the group stays at your work station to share your groups’ ideas while the other group members go to the other groups, one at a time, to listen to and critique the explanations developed by your classmates.

Remember, as you critique the work of others, you have to decide whether their conclusions are valid or acceptable based quality of their explanation and how well they are able to support their ideas.

Identify:

http://tellus.ssec.wisc.edu/outreach/teach/ideas/kotoski/Minifact_Sheets/Minifact6_Carbon_Dioxide.pdf

ü     What is CO2?

ü     Where is it found?

ü     Where does it come from?

ü     Other cool facts

Create a “foldable” or graphic organizer to neatly present your findings.

Diagram:

Draw a diagram of the role carbon dioxide plays in the global greenhouse in the workspace provided at your table.

Use the following interactive to help you out:
http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/gw-overview-interactive.html

Graph:

Find each country’s share of CO2 Emissions here:  http://www.ucsusa.org/global_warming/science_and_impacts/science/each-countrys-share-of-co2.html

Make and print a graph showing the data using this website:

http://nces.ed.gov/nceskids/createagraph/default.aspx

Interpret:

Look at the data here:

http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/ccgg/trends/#mlo_full

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/27/AR2007122701942.html

What is the present level of atmospheric CO₂ in parts per million?

What was the carbon dioxide level when you were born?

What was the carbon dioxide level when your parents where born?

What is the importance of 350 parts per million?

Create a graphic organizer (foldable) to share your results.

Analyze:

http://www.ucsusa.org/global_warming/science_and_impacts/science/graph-showing-each-countrys.html

• Is the rate of carbon dioxide emission a related to population? Why?
• Are there any global patterns of CO2 emissions?
• How do these patterns compare to what you know about the lifestyles of countries around the world?

Create a “foldable” or graphic organizer to neatly present your findings.

Predict:

How might increasing CO2 in the atmosphere affect not only our drinking water supply, but also the natural habitats of aquatic plants, animals and organisms?

http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/gw-impacts-interactive/

Create a “foldable” or graphic organizer to neatly present your predictions.

Evaluate:

Take the freshwater quiz. 

http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/freshwater/freshwater-quiz-climate-change/

Choose 5 questions and make a fun “quiz” game for your classmates.

Talk about it Tuesday- Volcanoes

This week we'll be investigating volcanoes. We'll be visiting a virtual volcano, and investigating what's up in our own backyard in Yellowstone National Park.   

How many of you parents can remember this?  I hear that ash fell in western Montana for days.

 

Talk about it Tuesday- Plate Tectonics

This week we're discussing how science has gotten from Jules Verne's idea of what Earth was like inside and out to what we know and theorize today.  Students are learning that science is dynamic and everchanging.  The more we know the more we realize what we don't know.  Check out the new technology being used to learn about plate tectonics.A closer look at plate tectonics with computers? 

Check out the cool interactive below from NASA  Images:

Discovery News

Nano-diamonds?  Check out this news story.

Welcome to Science and the Who's the Scientist? Project

Welcome to Science and our class blog.  Each week (except this one) I will be posting on Tuesdays and Fridays.  Tuesday will be devoted to a suggested dinner table discussion topic- Tuesday Table Talk.  My hope is that Friday's post will evolve into a student generated post called 5 for Friday- five things we learned about each week.  Hope to see you here.  Please feel free to comment! 

Today's activity was loosely based on this project.  Check it out and feel free to discuss it with your child. 

• Who can be a scientist?  
• What do they look like?  
• Where do they work?  
• What characteristics does a scientist have?
• How does the media's portrayal of scientists cause stereotypes?

Revisiting Guiding Principles

I am so excited to share and use the things I've explored in this class with my students and teaching partners.  It has really changed how I view using technology and the web. In my mind, it's been like going from black and white to technicolor or even 3D... pretty amazing.  I know that it's made me think more about the process of using technology with students... like what skills will they learn not just what content.  That's a big thing.  It didn't really dawn on me until know how much the world is changing and our ways of doing things are changing.  One of the readings talked about educating kids not for the jobs we have now but for the jobs that haven't been invented yet.  Pretty powerful image, isn't it?  That idea really resonated with  me.

So here are my guiding principles... PLUS

1. I will strive to use technology for making learning more accessible, engaging or creating deeper meaning not just because it is "there."




2. I will work hard to make sure my students are safe in the digital world and understand how to interact within it with respect for themselves and others.



3. I will remember that technology is the tool not the answer and endeavor to convey it to my students- because they are the answer!



4. I will learn more about technology from and for my students so I can help better guide their learning.  

5.  I will think about what 21st century skills my students can practice as they use technology and I will try to encourage them to develop these skills.

Best of luck to all! 

Imperiled giant pandas need replanted bamboo forests in order to reconnect

More food for discussion.

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Imperiled giant pandas need replanted bamboo forests in order to reconnect

Giant panda habitats are too fragmented and need to be reconnected in order for the endangered animals to maintain their genetic diversity, a new study shows.

The study, conducted by researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the China Wildlife Conservation Association, both in Beijing, was published July 23 in the open-access journal BMC Genetics .

[More]

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Discussion Summary

I really enjoyed getting to see what people were thinking in the discussion area.  The support and mirroring of what I've been feeling (overwhelmed, excited, inspired) was neat to see.  A few kernals that I took away were: 
This is a process, we are lucky enough to be lifelong learners. 
Best practice is evolving too. 
Trying a little bit at a time is OK. 
Technology is one tool in the hands of what really matters in education- the teacher. 
Finding the time to collaborate is important for teachers too. 

Thanks,  I'm sorry for the short post.  If, you've been reading the news, you may have heard of a plane crash in Lake Michigan this week.  (It's been in the national news because of a "goodbye" note found in the water after the crash.)  The volunteer medical transport flight was carrying 2 pilots, a doctor, his patient and wife from Michigan to the Mayo clinic.  The doctor was my uncle and one of the best men I know.  The pilot was rescued but all others are still missing and presumed lost.  We are waiting for word that the wreckage has been found and more. It's been a hard few days.  

Digital Science Fair

Here is my final project, ever evolving and hopefully improving with student input..

The science fair really is the final unit of my class and take about 4 weeks of work to come to fruition. I'm planning to have my students make "In Plain English" scientific method videos early in the year and I want to link the best up with the wiki for review. Students will be able to use the Science Buddies site to choose a project and then during the research phase share additional helpful information on the wiki. I've asked them to share their topics with me on a wallwisher.com board. The final digital display I'm thinking I may leave up to students. I plan to introduce- with the help of my awesome teaching partners- some other applicable web 2.0 tools so they should have some basis for making a choice. I modeled Glogster with the "home" page of the wiki because I think that this will probably appeal to most of my 6th graders, being a "poster" type. I have a rubric that I use for the science fair that students help modify each year so the rubric is TBD.  I'm deciding between having them share their projects on Edmodo or a specific blog set up for that purpose.  That will probably depend on access issues at my school.

Here is my wiki: http://cubscientists.wikispaces.com/

Wallwisher

For several years, I've used the "exit" ticket idea with my students.  A closing writing prompt that must be completed before they leave the classroom. We've used sticky notes, journals, the whiteboard, smartboard, moodle discussion areas to do this, but now I really want to try Wallwisher.  Wallwisher is an online notice board where you can leave a digital "sticky note."  Simple and green.  Can't wait to try it and... I think I'm going to incorporate it into my project as a place for students to share what their project choice is. 

Also, in my poking around looking for ideas to modify my current science fair rubric so that it works for my digital science fair, I found this pretty comprehensive list of rubrics.

Oh, also you may have noticed that I've changed a few things about the blog.  I'm trying to make it user friendly for my students and parents so that I can continue blogging here next year.  Hopefully, it will help extend the walls of my classroom and perhaps make them  feel  more "semipermeable" for parents. :)

China's Wars Driven by Climate - Discovery News

Interesting discussion starter!

http://news.discovery.com/history/china-climate-wars.html

China's Wars Driven by Climate

July 14, 2010 8:15:00 AM

Two millennia of foreign invasions and internal wars in China were driven more by cooling climate than by feudalism, class struggle or bad government, a bold study released Wednesday argued.

Food shortages severe enough to spark civil turmoil or force hordes of starving nomads to swoop down from the Mongolian steppes were consistently linked to long periods of colder weather, the study found.

In contrast, the Central Kingdom's periods of stability and prosperity occurred during sustained warm spells, the researchers said.

Theories that weather-related calamities such as drought, floods and locust plagues steered the unraveling or creation of Chinese dynasties are not new.

But until now, no one had systematically scanned the long sweep of China's tumultuous history to see exactly how climate and Chinese society might be intertwined.

Chinese and European scientists led by Zhibin Zhang of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing decided to compare two sets of data over 1,900 years.

Digging into historical archives, they looked at the frequency of war, price hikes of rice, locust plagues, droughts and floods. For conflict, they distinguished between internal strife and external wars.

At the same time, they reconstructed climate patterns over the period under review.

"The collapses of the agricultural dynasties of the Han (25-220), Tang (618-907), Northern Song (960-1125), Southern Song (1127-1279) and Ming (1368-1644) are closely associated with low temperature or the rapid decline in temperature," they conclude.

A shortage of food would have weakened these dynasties, and pushed nomads in the north -- even more vulnerable to dips in temperature -- to invade their southern, Chinese-speaking neighbors, the authors argued.

A drop of 2.0 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) in average annual air temperature can shorten the growing season for steppe grasses, which are critical for livestock, by up to 40 days.

"When the climate worsens beyond what the available technology and economic system can compensate for, people are forced to move or starve," they said.

The study found more droughts and floods during cold periods, but the factors that contributed most directly to wars and dynastic breakup were soaring rice prices and locust infestations.

The Roman and Mayan empires, they noted, also fell during cold periods.

Zhang and colleagues speculated that periodic temperature shifts roughly every 160 or 320 years were related to natural climate changes, namely fluctuations in solar activity and in Earth's orbit and axial spin.

The team said the findings demonstrate that climate change can lead to unrest and warfare.

"Historians commonly attribute dynastic transitions or cycles to the quality of government and class struggles," according to the paper, published in the British journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B. "However, climatic fluctuation may be a significant factor interacting with social structures in affecting the rise and fall of cultures and dynasties."

But the historical evidence they found points to global cooling, not to global warming, as the culprit.

The scientists were cautious about making projections for the future. In 2007, the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) said that man-made warming this century will lead to worse droughts, floods, harsh storms and sea level rise, with the potential to inflict hunger and misery on millions.

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Wikispaces

So, I was a bit intimidated by wikis- lots of layers and lots and lots of content.  I've often found navigating them pretty overwhelming.  But after creating my own on wikispaces, I'm actually feeling better.  I can really see the potential for students sharing their research and resources on specific topics.  It really has the potential to grow as big and as deep as the students can take it and that is exciting.  I'm still figuring out the bells and whistles so to speak of setting up a wiki but I may now be a convert.  You can see where I'm headed by checking out the wiki here.    Also, here is a terrific science fair site!  I'm hoping to use it in conjunction with the wiki.

I've also been fiddling with this blog and thinking about how to use blogs in the classroom.  I really enjoyed looking at how other teachers are using them. 

My exploration of Edmodo continues. I'm slowing getting the hang of how things work with it.  I now have a dummy account and a real one for what it's worth.  I'm sure it will be hugely confusing if I can't figure out how to delete the "play" one.  Also note that they've launched an iphone app, yay!  Love the connectivity.

Blogs and Wikis

I am a big fan of blogs.  They have provided a wealth of information and support for me both professionally and in our crazy adoption world life.  Blogs have made me feel less isolated and inspired me.  I really like the idea of a classroom blog but not one that just I blog to but one that we create as a class.

Here are some I love:

GeekyMomma http://macmomma.blogspot.com/

Get your hankies out for her classroom blog and digital goodbye to her class http://weblogs.pbspaces.com/mrskolbert/2010/06/03/a-digital-goodbye/
 
and on the adoption and asian culture front:

Laugh out loud funny adoptive family fun http://salsainchina.blogspot.com/

Grace Lin (the chinese american children's author and illustrator... careful... it's easy to fall in love with her!) http://www.outergrace.blogspot.com/

OK and perhaps not too popular with this demographic but... I was raised by hippies and... feel strongly about this issue... it's about the right balance, people ;)  She has some wicked good "unplugged" ideas.
http://unplugyourkids.com/

and of course I blog at http://www.lalaandpie.blogspot.com/

Wikis... they get more complex.  My teaching partner has used them mostly to discuss classroom issues (behavioral primarily).  I really like the idea of using them to develop a supplement to learning materials available in the classroom.  They just seem a bit too complex for my middle school kiddos.  I'll have to play around before I make a final judgement. 

Generating an Argument

I really like this lesson format.  It is one that I've been trying out with varying degrees of success for the last 8 years.  It is authenic and student centered.  I like the article's suggestions on on line data sources.  Using real data is even more meaningful.  Tom Snyder Productions makes "kits" for middle school that follow this format and my students love them!!!  I'm thinking about a project about polar sea ice and polar bears.  My students were captivated by the idea of "pizzlies" or "groler bears."  We do live in brown bear (grizzly) country! That makes it pretty high interest to them.  Every kid will have a bear story to tell, I'm sure. :)

Reflecting on Online Data and Sims

So, I alway worry when using models and simulations with middle school students. For the reasons discussed in some of the readings. I think that it is SO important to be constantly asking what does this do to enhance or support what my students are learning hands on? Thinking of sims as parallel to traditional hands on science not a replacement makes sense to me. Keeping sims student centered and getting students to use higher order thinking skills within or as a result of the sims is key as is pointing out limits to models...Ask your students to do this. They will see it, but you have ask them to look. It isn't intuitive yet.  The final challenge for me is keeping the focus on content not tech- it can be hard with MS students. They like to play!  Overall, sims allow you to see something that you might not otherwise. Like this.
This one could be extended to then ask students HOW or what causes eclipses... a common misconception is that an eclipse happens once a month.


Using online data can be tricky, as well, mainly because the math and reading skills of middle school students are often so divergent. Here is a resource that looks pretty great that helps middle school student use real data to solve problems... Problem based learning or inquiry :) 

Participating in Citizen Science

Now I thought I was going to get to introduce this here but I see that Eric beat me to it by mentioning it on the wiki.  My husband is a scientist and also works with non scientists through his volunteer work with Audubon and he turned me onto the idea of "citizen science."  My students have participated in Audubon's Christmas Bird count for several years and eagerly follow and submit data to the Journey North website.   It's great.  It's real and meanigful "work" for students to do and they really dig doing it.  I love the authentic-ness of it and the fact that it isn't a simulation.  The data that they collect and the learning  (both content and process skills)  that they do in the process is connected to their lives and their community.  It helps to prepare them to be thoughtful engaged "citizens" someday.
Poking around this spring for more ideas... since I mostly teach earth science and ecology I stumbled upon scienceforcitizens.net.  Science for Citizens connects students (or just plain you or I) to projects that involve collecting and submitting real scientific data to help solve real scientific problems.  Some projects require analysis and some are pretty straightforward data collection.  Here are a few that I'm thinking my 6th graders could participate in next year: 
Snowtweets
The Quake Catcher Network
Those make sense for Montanan students and I'm also quite taken by What's Invasive! since we already to a project on our city park- a mile high mountain that we can walk to from school- Mt Helena City Park and some terrific folks at the Prickly Pear Land Trust graciously help educate our students on this wonderful resource. 

QUIZ: Tech Savvy Teaching: How Do You Rank? | Edutopia

QUIZ: Tech Savvy Teaching: How Do You Rank? | Edutopia

Virtual Storytelling, Science in Plain English and Geocaching, Oh, My!

Whew... lots going on this week.  Lala is feeling much better but I'm counting the days until my husband arrives to start his vacation with us.  Finding time to carve out to read and reflect has been d-i-fficult as a single parent.  :)  So, I have to admit that our middle school team has done a digital storytelling project (about our town's history) for the last 6 years and I have distanced myself from it...mainly because I have been uncomfortable with the technology and with being in front of the camera myself.  I honestly have been reluctant to subject my students to an experience that would have really stressed me out at that age.  However, I am in love with Lee Kolbert's Science in Plain English projects.  My daughter did something like this for her final elementary school GT project, except that they wrote "rock" songs to do the explaining and they turned out suberbly!  One of the things that I really like it that it allows students to use their own "voice" (to use an english term) to explain.  Using the "In Plain English" format gets them to really think about what they know and have learned and how to combine it with images that help to explain without overwhelming.
 I posted a while ago about multimedia education and some research being done by Daniel T. Willingham.  One of the ideas from his research that resonated with me was that just because a lesson has pictures or other media to supplement the words it does not always make the lesson more effective.  Willingham goes on to talk about how the more you know and understand about a topic the more meaningful a more visually complex multimedia task or "lesson" will be for a learner.  Working with middle school students, some of whom my class is the first real science class they have had, I've been really thinking about how my students are really "novice" science learners.  This is where Commoncraft's "In Plain English" format really makes sense to me.  It keeps it simple-stupid!  Great for middle schoolers and other novices! ;)
So, I'm inspired to try the same type of thing with my students.  I can check out a classroom set of Flip video cameras OR... applying what I learned in tech camp:  I'd like to try using Photostory 3 to make a narrated slideshow in the "Plain English" style.  Perhaps giving the kids a choice about which medium they'd like to create with.  I played with Photostory 3 at tech camp.  We made a video about germs in a middle school- I didn't bring my computer on vacation... borrowing my dad's (thanks dad!) or I would share.  I'm going to try with my daughter to play more with some of the pics she's been taking on vacation.  I'll post if and when that happens.
Also, we've been geocaching here and it is really fun!  I may even make my 9 week elective class about geocaching!  Watching my daughter teach her grandparents how to use their GPS today was priceless!
Check out what geocaching is if you don't already know.

Glogster et al...

So the sickness lingers at "grandparents camp" here in the great lake state.  I'm still struggling and Lala woke up this morning headachey, feverish and throwing up...three hours later and a trip to the ER we had to cancel her trip to MSU for their (grandpa and her) academic camp.  She is sick and bummed now.  In the chaos, I've set up my Edumodo for my classes next year and played around with glogster some more.  It is really a neat tool but for perfectionists who are design impaired like me it is time consuming.  I'm really thinking that it may be great for hosting a virtual science fair next year.  Kind of geeked about that.  I also think that it will be cool to use a a virtual bulletin board- yes- we 6th grade teachers still do that- but one that I can get kids in to working on too... we can have lots of versions of the BB theme all posted in our Edmodo "classroom."  Usually my BB help to introduce the larger theme of my inquiry units, for example, one unit's central question is "Why do we sort plastics for recycling?"  The BB generally ends up being examples of different plastics labeled with their #s and all the questions we have about plastics.  I envision lots of kids creating virtual BBs with our class generated questions and sharing them on Edmodo.  I think that webspiration does mind mapping  but I like the multimedia-ness (not a word- I know) of glogster.  Here is the glog I made today.  It's usually one of my first BBs.  I do a lesson on the scientific method they rewrite it, make posters and and my students finally  "discover" or "uncover" the idea that it is cyclical and that becomes our BB.  Using glogster with this lesson will hopefully allow them to develop a deeper understanding of the parts of the scientific method. I'm also thinking about how glogster might allow them to collaborate on a BB.

Not ignoring tech

I'm not ignoring tech this week.... Just been really sick and then traveling alone cross country (still sick) with three kids in tow. They traveled great- me not so much. Playing with using my Ipod touch for blogging. I have access to a classroom set of those. Collecting ideas for that (and amazing cures for a wicked sore throat!)

Bots

Unfortunately, I picked up the nasty virus that my kiddos had last week and missed Geocaching at tech camp. Lala stayed with my teaching partner and had a blast. I'll have to rely on them to teach me (although I can use a Gps... I can even do it with a topo and compass... This is MT after all.)

Today is all about Bots. The students made "draw bots." I'm wondering how I can partner with our art teacher to design these in science and create with them in art. Here is a variation of what we made: http://blog.makezine.com/upload/2009/02/yet_another_drawbot/drawbot2.jpg
I'm thinking that we could collaborate on a "recycle, reuse, repurpose" project. The added science connections are electricity and, for middle and HS level students, the physics of how and why they "draw" the way they do. Students could experiment with the shape of the bot body, the length of the legs, the orientation of the propeller etc. Great critical thinking skill builder!

Day 2 @ Tech Camp

Today was kind of the goofed up day... I was signed up for a basic Moodle class. I've played with Moodle before. It does lots of things for teachers but I find it clunky just maybe too much for my kids (well, maybe me too). So... I crashed the kids' class of Comic Life.  Cool program but kind of doing "old things in new ways."  That seems to be the theme today.  Cool stuff but not really out of the box creative.  I'm intrigued by the idea of using less paper but not every kid is going to love using technology for every project.  Some just love that feel of paper.  The final class today was Science-In-Tech-Great-ion... sounds cool, right?  Not really about science at all. Just a class on using some tech tools taught using science examples: Photo Story 3, Flip Cameras   I'm kind of geeked about trying out edu.glogster.com for our science fair projects or at least offering it as an option.
Now Edmodo.com, this I think might be the "Moodle" replacement I've been looking for.  It looks a lot like face book and is simpler for kids (and teachers) to navigate than Moodle.  It does lack some of the bells and whistles of  Moodle but as I don't need to teach my class virtually... I think that I can live without them.

That's it so far... except that my daughter has started a blog to chronicle the adventures of her "hexbug."  She's been taking pictures of it at Tech Camp this week.

I Heart Ted

A teacher talk at MSU for my Physics by Inquiry class turned me on to Ted. My current faves are Sir Ken Robinson talks on creativity and Jamie Oliver on teaching kids about food. I can see the potential for using these in the classroom because they are so captivating and compelling. I also really like the TV program "Big Ideas for Small Planet." I downloaded a episode to show to my students about kids ideas for helping the planet and they were so excited that they developed and carried out 5 different service projects from making recycling bins for classrooms to protesting the use of styrofoam in the cafeteria (that didn't make me any friends) to organizing a "Go Green with Less Machines" day. Kids are amazing when they're given wings.

My husband is an avid traveler and has planned to take each of our children on a special trip to mark their 10th birthdays. Our daughter is 10 today and has been requesting a trip to Costa Rica's Monteverde Cloudforest. Check out this Ted talk about rainforests. Oddly enough... Our daughter's been telling us for 2 years that she's going to college at Evergreen State (no idea where that came from, we're just along for the ride here).. and this researcher teaches at...

Evergreen. Sometimes you kick the universe and sometimes it kicks you. Happy Birthday, Lala!

Science and Literacy

Several things struck me when reading about literacy.

1. "Students need to have a compelling reason
to read, write, listen, and speak, and meaningful
science content offers that reason."

I've always felt that way as a learner. I am not much of a writer. Reader, yes. Listener, yes. But speaking and writing has never been my thing. However, if what I am reading or listening to is compelling... that makes it easier. The "my summer vacation" essay was always HORRIBLE for me and not just because my summers were super boring. (Farm kids don't get to go on any vacations.)

2. "When you share performance expectations
with your students, you let them in on the
strategies that good learners use intuitively."

When I finally realized that "how" to learn things was not intuitive for kids that was huge. I have learned to be explicit about how to get there and where there is.

3. By writing as they read, students
also create their own study guides for review and
outlines for report writing.

Great point. I am going to have students do this for sure. I have struggled with how to make reading about science active in a meaningful way i.e. not just playing a reading strategy game.

4. "What did you find out?
How did you figure that out?
How did you get that idea?
How did you reach that conclusion?"

Love this! I'm going to make cards of these discussion questions and put them on lanyard to use with labs. Middle school kids need explicit prompts for discussions to work. Can't wait to see how it works out!


Finally, it is heartening to see that literacy standards relating to science and technical arts are being developed. I have always been concerned that both language arts and science teachers were missing this aspect of literacy. Students need technical reading, writing and communicating skills and many are not developing them. When my husband taught first year university students in general bio he used to get many a research paper that began, "The sleek, gorgeous animal flew through the warm tropical waters, flying like a mythical beast..." Gak! He likes to remind me that real scientists don't read (or write) romance.

Keynote and Alternatives to PP

This morning we started with a keynote speaker, Dr. Martin Horejsi from University of Montana.(Sound familiar? He co-authored one of our readings this week with Eric!) He writes a monthly column for "The Science Teacher" (NSTA publication) called "Science 2.0" Very interesting talk and great message- although my daughter's critique was... he didn't stay on message. (I had to talk her out of raising her hand and telling him so.) A starting place for teachers and technology is to imagine we have all the resources we could ever want... computers, iPads, whatever for every child. All the tech hook-ups. What would we want to do then? What kinds of experiences would we want our kids to have to BEST learn our content? Interesting. We are used to looking at the technology we are given and then saying... What could I do with this? Instead we should be dreaming about what- in an ideal world- would we want our students to get to do and working from there. It seems like approaching technology integration from the opposite direction than I've been thinking. Kind of an "ah ha" moment. He also talked about how no one can be an expert at everything today. We have to find what we are interested in and go with it. Collaboration has always been an important part of teaching and integrating technology is no exception.

Workshop #1...Well, this could have been more aptly called Intro to prezi.com. I've used this before and previously signed up for a free educators acct. Prezi is a web based presentation tool. It allows students (and teachers) to create presentations using zooming and panning. The kids in the class today seem to really love it. They can brainstorm or prewrite first and then make intuitive connections, adding multimedia and grouping. To me the visual experience of the final product is cleaner and more interesting compared to (most) information heavy, linear PP slides. My decidedly nonconforming non conformist daughter is loving it. It makes sense to her. I'd love to see what my students could come up with.

Playing to Learn? on Prezi

Technology Boot Camp

Although, this class certainly feels like tech bootcamp.  I am actually attending my district's version starting tomorrow.  I'm going to be learning about Alternatives to Powerpoint, Moodle (although I've got some experience with it already), Geocaching, and Robotics in the Classroom.  I'll try to blog or tweet some this week about what I am learning.  I actually like Twitter quite a bit surprisingly-I recently stumbled upon lots of great resources for parenting GT kiddos-much appreciated as my 10 year old hits 6th grade in the fall! Yikes!

On another note, "Ask the Cognitive Scientist" is a column that appears in AFT's American Educator magazine.  Here is a link to a very interesting article entitled "Have Technology and Multitasking Rewired How Students Learn?   You can imagine why this caught my eye!  While not exactly "guidelines" the author's four summary points are worth thinking about. 

1.  Encourage your students to avoid multitasking when doing an important task.  Younger people are not better at multitasking.  They are less bad because their brains have greater working memory capacity.

2.  If a new piece of technology is placed in your classroom with the expectation that you will use it, take advantage of online teacher communities. Just like we're being encouraged to do! 

3.  Think about what the technology can and can't do.  There are advantages and disadvantages to using technology... think about what you want to accomplish and whether the technology will get you there most effectively or not.

4.  There is nothing wrong with engagement.  Even though brain reseach does not show a correlation between having technology in the classroom and deeper understanding of content, if it just gets kids attention- that's OK too.

The video below is about Multitasking... cool stuff.  My husband has been trying to tell me this for years,  however, my response is "It is impossible not to multitask when you're outnumbered." :)

The Starship and the Canoe

My husband has badgered me into an explanation of the blog name.  So, it's a book about Freeman Dyson- by Kenneth Brower.  Freeman Dyson is a world-renowned astrophysicist. The book explores the divergent lives of Freeman and his son, George, who at the time lived in a tree in coastal British Columbia and was designing a giant seagoing canoe.  I love this book. It showed me at a pretty critical point in my life that brillance didn't have to be about achievement.  It taught me about purpose and passion and, of course balance...  I decided I wanted to fall somewhere in between reaching for the stars and feeling the firm ground beneath my feet.  Pretty radical, huh... did I mention my parents were hippies? 

Guiding Principles

I wish I knew how to imbedd this but I'm just  not there yet! But check it out- I think it adds something to the discussion.
http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/visualizations/because-every-country-is-the-best-at-something/

Well, I'm still struggling a bit with the volume of new things and the sense of urgency that I feel emanating from the readings etc. Not sure what I really feel about that yet. I'm still questioning... Really? Technology is going to solve all of our perceived "problems?" Is it really an answer or is it more of a tool? I strongly believe that it cannot and should not replace a teacher or hands on experimenting but I am excited about how it can provide more learning opportunities to students-especially mine- who are geographically quite isolated.

I have a strong streak of Thoreau in me and I really just need to get outside and THINK a bit more on it. However, it has been raining for DAYS here on the dry side of the continental divide.  I can't even take my kiddos out for a walk.  We are all feeling stir crazy!  But here's where I am right now in my process: 

1. I will strive to use technology for making learning more accessible, engaging or creating deeper meaning not just because it is "there."

2. I will work hard to make sure my students are safe in the digital world and understand how to interact within it with respect for themselves and others.

3. I will remember that technology is the tool not the answer and endeavor to convey it to my students- because they are the answer!

4. I will learn more about technology from and for my students so I can help better guide their learning.

21st Century Skills?

So full disclosure, I am a skeptic. I'm not an early technology adopter. I am highly interested in it but only in how it can streamline or bring deeper meaning to the life I want to live.  That said- teaching philosophy... I believe much more in the art of teaching than the "science" of prescriptive or reactive education.  Yong Zhao and Michigan State University (my alma mater!  go state!) has been blogging about this recently.  So any sort of educational research that attempts to apply to all students in all classroom makes me wary.  Not to say I totally discount it, but you've really got to convince me.

So here are my thoughts: The imagery of education as a factory producing a product alluded to at the beginning of the chapter is one which I dislike intensely. But the idea of 21st century skills not only for the workforce- (really that is not the sum of a person's meaningful life)- but for successful citizenship, I am intrigued by. The examples of 21st century skills:  adaptability, complex communications/social skills, non-routine problem solving, self management/self development, systems thinking, all sound like skills that were used when family farms were the norm and people collaborated for success rather than competed against one another in their "cubes" to have the most. (The U.S. competing against the rest of the world instead of collaborating for a common good got me going a bit too.) Somewhere along the line we have "untaught" or removed the opportunity to learn these skills. I'm not sure how or where that happened.  The upshot is... I'm not sure I'd accurately call them exclusively "21st Century Skills."

Thoughts on "adapting" or applying the 21st century skill set in the science classroom:  I really get excited about these. Using authentic scientific experiences in the classroom, I agree is best practice. Giving students the opportunity to "act" like real scientists- dirt and uncertainties, arguments and all, encouraging thinking outside the box or circle or whatever- what students often miss is the importance of creativity and collaboration in the scientific world. I'm excited by how 21st century technology will come into play in helping students develop these skill sets.

Introduction

Welcome! I am a 6th grade science teacher lucky enough to live in the last best place- Montana! I grew up on a dairy farm in northern Michigan so living here is no stretch- just more cows. I've taught all science subjects 6th through 12th grade but my passion is middle school. My husband and I have three children- 10, 4 and almost 2! I love to travel, hike, and just watch things grow! I blog intermittently about our life in our mixed up multi-ethnic family at lalaandpie.blogspot.com