Tuesday, June 19, 2012
Weather Concept Map
Weather
I. Temperature
•You
can tell the temperature by counting the clicks a cricket makes in 15 seconds
and adding 37!
A. Celsius
B. Fahrenheit
II. Clouds
A. Cumulus
Clouds
that appear to be convective to one another when they are formed in the sky.
These clouds appear circular and are one of the 2 main types of clouds. Cumulus
are puffy mid-level white clouds made of water and ice, usually associated with
fair weather.
B. Stratus
Clouds
that appear to be layered when they are formed in the sky. This is one of the 2
main types of clouds. These consist of water droplets and cover most of the sky
with an even, gray color similar to a fog, which can signal light rain.
III. Wind
A. Heats
up the earths surface
Sun
heats up the air, which produces wind that heats mostly the air closest to the
earth's surface.
B. Makes
Electricity
1. Wind
Turbine
Best
way to produce energy using the wind. It is made of propellers and attached to
a tall tower. Just one can create enough energy for a single house. They are
good because they are pollution free but some people find their loud noise
unappealing.
2. Wind
Pumps
A
windmill that pumps water into various sources. It can be used to create clean
water for drinking or to irrigate farm land.
IV. Air
A. Stratosphere
15 km
50 km above the earth. This is where jet planes fly and there is no way to
breathe here. That is why jets are sealed closed and filled with air so that
passengers can breathe.
B. Troposphere
The
lower layer of the atmosphere and is 15 km high. This is where the clouds are
formed and it is very difficult to breathe here because the air is so thin.
Example- the top of Mount Everest.
V. Rain
A. Fun
Facts
There
is so much water in the air that if it all fell as rain at the same time, it
could fill enough buckets to reach from the earth to the sun 57 million times!
•One
inch of rain over one square mile equals to 17.4 million gallons of water.
The
weight of one inch of water over one square mile equals over 145 million
pounds.
B. How
Forms
Water
droplets form from warm air. As the warm air rises in the sky it cools. Water
vapor (invisible water in the air) always exists in our air. Warm air holds
quite a bit of water. When enough of these droplets collect together, we see
them as clouds. If the clouds are big enough and have enough water droplets,
the droplets bang together and form even bigger drops. When the drops get
heavy, they fall because of gravity, and you see and feel rain. Since its often
hot and humid in the summertime, it rains more then.
‘Safe’ Social Networking for K-12 Schools
Let’s face it, unless your too young to have a Facebook
account, you probably do are will have one someday. Since social networks are
growing so rapidly, students will most likely be involved in communicating using
the internet at some point in their lives. Because of this there most certainly
is a need to educate them on how to use such sights appropriately, instead of
just hiding it from them. The idea that students can use social networking to
experience learning in a new way is absolutely wonderful. Aren’t teachers supposed
to differentiate their instruction?
Obviously, teachers should continuously monitor students’
behavior online and thankfully most of the new and coming programs do that for
them automatically. The internet should be and apparent choice for teaching lessons
and targeting students that may feel more comfortable “talking” on a social networking
site. It is a great tool for students in
middle schools grades especially, because they can be asked to post discussions
on such sites as homework if there is not enough time to do so in class. When
getting practically any institution there is going to be some form of “blackboard”
or other site that students will be required to master, so why not let them
begin to practice these skills at an earlier age.
Children’s Internet Protection Act
The federal CIPA law is going into effect starting in July
of 2012 that will educate students K-12 on internet safety. What is the federal
law calling for from schools? It is a vague, yet definite list of CIPA
requirements that every school receiving E-rate funding must begin to comply with
and bring into play this coming year. The actual requirements were vague in
their description of what they considered “inappropriate” content and never
mentioned how administrators and faculty were to provide evidence of teaching
internet safety to students.
While there are online resources, curriculum packets, and DVDs
available for general education teachers that are soon expected to implement
these lessons into their courses, it is true that some teachers are completely internet
illiterate and will be faced with a big challenge in order to weave this in to
their curriculum. However, I feel that since we already have lessons on bullying
other students and not talking to strangers, teachers should have little
problem teaching their students to apply these expertise while engaging on the internet
as well.
Future full of Badges
I agree that there
are several institutions that seem to dominate the ranking scales of popularity
in reference to higher education. It is awe-inspiring to hear that a not so popular
institution is thinking inventively about the way the way in which students give
evidence for acquired skills, knowledge, and experience to potential employers.
The modern day transcript as it is now, featureless little indication of both a
student’s formal and informal experience, whether learned from an institution
or not.
Personally, I would love to be represented through an array of digital
badges, instead of just a grade for required faculty chosen courses. As is
today, especially in my field, it is much more important that one apply methods
successfully outside of the classroom, than simply memorize or identify the learned
concepts on exams. UC-Davis should pride itself in being such ground-breaking institution
lending its thoughts to that of its students and others alike.
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
Gamification
Gamification should most certainly be used in the classroom! Whether or not using them will be motivational or hurtful to students relies solely on the teacher programming them. Educational games should be tailored toward students' varying interests, learning types, and ability levels. I'm not a fan of the leader boards. Students should have access to their own individual progress report, but not others. You can rest assured that my students will experience gamification before graduating from my classroom! I am so excited to learn about these and other ways to engage and motivate my students.
Blogging
It is my opinion that blogging is not for everyone and therefore should not be a requirement for everyone in a classroom. As the article stated, some people prefer to create videos or podcasts, as opposed to blogging. Writing is not every one's cup of tea, but it can be a great way to get people to think creatively and independently. Most research now a days is conducted online and this is one reason that leads me to believe that faculty members indeed should create some sort of identity online in order to represent themselves and their school. However, I do believe that how faculty or students choose to do this should be based solely on their interests.
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
Web Literacy
I
understand that there are many reasons why parents and schools often elect to
filter various web sites out so that children are not able to access them.
However, there is absolutely no reason to leave children uneducated and vulnerable
when they eventually do begin accessing information online. I believe it is
doing children a complete disservice by not teaching them how to preserve ethical
responsibility and critical thinking skills when decoding content on the
internet. All too often many children, and adults for that matter, have to
teach themselves web literacy. Personally, I remember receiving my first spam
email that read, “You have a million dollars to claim! Just give us your bank
information and we will credit this amount to your account.” I actually called
my mother and pleaded for her bank information, believing that the email was legitimate.
Obviously, my mother explained that this was simply a scam, but what about the
children who do not have a care-giver to teach them these types of “rules” for
the internet? Children must be able to recognize the difference in accurate and
phony information.
I am delighted that the Common Core Standards
have required for all students be taught web literacy! Children should be trained
to distinguish between genuine and artificial information that is habitually
posted on the internet in order to draw effective conclusions about their
research. This is only the beginning however; children must also learn to
organize authentic information whenever they do come across it. For example,
one may bookmark multiple pages in order to draw one main conclusion; but what if
multiple students need to be able to access the same information? Organizing
information so that a particular group can access it is a huge benefit in
classrooms today. For instance, last semester I created a Facebook group for all
of the girls in Block A, since we took the exact same courses. This was extremely
helpful for everyone at some point over the semester. It was our own page that
we could each go to and post questions and discuss assignments. I had no idea
that the girls would use it as much as they did. My professors quickly caught
on and were very proud of us for taking such initiative.
Teaching
children web literacy is a lot like teaching them reading literacy. Once they
have the skill set, they can conquer mostly anything with their new-found knowledge.
It is like the saying goes, “If you feed a man a fish, you feed him for a day;
but if you teach a man to fish, you feed him for life.” The same applies here. By
helping students to find, decode, and organize information they are able to
then apply those skills in various aspects of their everyday life. It is essential
that we use common sense when conducting research online or in books. Students
must understand that the internet, just like most things, is not correct 100%
of the time. The internet is man-made. Anything man-made is going to have its
imperfections. This obviously doesn’t mean that the internet is not beneficial;
it just means that we have to use common sense when deciphering through web content.
Lastly,
it is extremely helpful to get more than one source on any given topic. It is
the same situation when a person receives a shocking diagnosis from a doctor;
they are usually advised to get a “second opinion”. When using the internet, it
is imperative that children are also able to distinguish between primary and
secondary sources. Most importantly, students need to think when they use the
internet! Effective educators will engage their students in as many web based
lessons plans as possible. These informative lessons will educate students on
the exact thought process that they should be engaging in while using the internet
or conducting research of any kind.
Vision of K-12 Students Today
What should we expect from schools?...
All countries can become proficient at speaking the English language-
China then India are the largest English speaking countries
Math skills are needed- 24 countries beat us in math
Students need better reading comprehension to help them learn- 16 countries beat us in literacy
Students reported reading 2 hours a week, while they watch TV 4 hours a day or game 19 hrs a day
Statistics say young people enjoy using computers
40% have online friends they never met
Schools need up-to-date technology
Schools need foreign language abilities
Students need to learn "how" to study
*ENGAGE STUDENTS*
89% don't use blogs
76% teachers don't use group email
9% of teachers have a blog
29% don't use technology
97% don't instant message
75% is graduation rate
1 in 4 won't get diplomas
TECHNOLOGY IN EDUCATION NEEDS TO HAPPEN NOW!!!!
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