Voki

Weather Concept Map

Weather

http://www.weatherwizkids.com/weather-clouds.htm

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

http://www.kids.esdb.bg/wind.html

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.

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.