650+Assignments

Here are the assignments for Jeff Benjamin in EDU 650 at Marian University.


 * 10/1/13 Week 5 Assignment:**

9/24/13 ** Week 5 Assignment: Web 2.0 **

As I take this course, I am also avidly building materials, experiences and assessments for my new AP Chemistry curriculum. I have already begun using a few of the resources learned in the class to my own classroom. Many of the most useful resources fall under the category of Web 2.0.

We have known as educators for a long time that for students to really learn, they can't just receive information. Studies show that students retain about 10% of what they hear during lectures. Smartboards and other presentation technology only make it more appealing for a while before children tune out. That's just not how the human brain works best. Students learn much better when doing. Even better, they retain over 70% of learned content when they teach the lesson to someone else. That's where Web 2.0 resources really shine.

[|Survey Monkey] One thing that our school has really been pushing for a few years is the use of frequent formative assessments throughout each unit before ever taking a summative assessment. It also gives limited opportunity for differentiation. What we should probably be doing is a formative assessment at the end of every lesson. We should find out what students learned and didn't learn right away and build on it. This can also be done at the beginning of each class as a review of the previous lesson.

With Survey Monkey, teachers can create small, bit-sized, assessments whenever they want. These can be multiple choice, short answer, or ranking questions. It also eliminates the temptation to ask questions to the class and call on the kid raising his hand. I want to know what the kids NOT raising their hands understand. It can be as simple as having students rank their own understanding or ask questions for next time.

After conducting the survey, I can then show the results to the class in the form of a graph or and discuss misconceptions. I can also give exemplars from students' correct responses. It also allows me to provide more immediate differentiation for students instead of waiting too long.

[|PB Works] PBWorks is a website that I am interested in learning more about for all of my classes. It allows me to create a classroom website and invite my students to be users. I can assign projects to a course calendar, upload videos and enable discussion questions. Students can post responses, upload links, helpful videos they find around the web, even ask questions of their own.

What I eventually would like to achieve is a classroom environment where students seek out answers to problems I have posed and collaborate to find a solution. I should be the learning coordinator, not the provider of information. This type of resource could be what I am looking for. My only concern is the cost. The free version would not allow for as much upload as I would want to fulfill this need. I would have to pay $99 a year. I wonder if other similar sites offer enough for free.

[|Quizlet.com] As much as "memorization" is looked down upon in modern education as a lower level of cognition, it is a necessary evil. In the AP Chem curriculum, students are expected to KNOW the names of polyatomic ions, the charges of different elements, solubility rules, etc. Quizlet is an online resource that allows students to make flashcards, study them, and play games for mastery. I created a set of flash cards using this program on ions last week and used them in my class yesterday. The students were actually quite engaged and challenged each other to competitions as they began to master the information. Playing games such as these, which continuously reward points for achievement, really appeal to 21st century teenagers. When conducting a search on Quizlet for "AP Chemistry," I found hundreds of flashcard games already created by students and teachers for the same purpose. Maybe next time I should have the students make the cards first.
 * Games:**

[] This site offers some excellent videos about how physics principles apply to Olympic events. I already used one of these videos on curling in a lesson on friction, but that was a YouTube video. I didn't know there was a whole series. The videos are only 10 minutes long and do a great job of showing students how what we learn in class really apply to the outside world.
 * Technology Lesson Plans:**

[] One big part of the Next Generation Science Standards is integration of science content with societal issues. One topic I can definitely cover is the chemistry of oil spills. I used to show a video about the Exxon Valdez oil spill, but it is so old. This website offers several lessons about oil spills including costs and benefits of offshore drilling, the effect on the ecology, and alternative energy sources.

[] This website does a great job of integrating different scientific disciplines by showing how understanding of nuclear physics (radioactive decay) is used by paleontologist to understand fossils. The site requires students to read background information and then apply what they have learned about radioactive decay to answer questions. It also provides links for further study.

**Week 4 assignment:**
As recommended in our reading assignment, I began my search at edublogawards.com to find the top rated educational blogs. After reviewing several, here are the ones I found the most helpful to me:

1. []

This blog is just what it sounds like; a review of many free educational online resources. It covers the best iPad apps, wiki sites, video resources, etc for teachers. And unlike many "product review" sites, this one doesn't seem to be promoting a particular product. With so many new technologies emerging every day, this site will save me a lot of time trying to sort through the bad ones.

2. []

Primary Tech is a blog about blogging by a teacher who has been using blogs in her classroom for six years. It is an online discussion of the best ways to integrate blogs into the classroom. The author points out that blogging should not be an "add-on." Most teachers don't have time to push anything else into the curriculum. Instead, she suggests infusing blogs into the curriculum we already teach.

3. []

Since I am starting a new AP Chemistry curriculum, this is a perfect time to start fresh with new technologies. This blog from an AP Chemistry teacher is meant for his class. I will try to glean some good ideas on how to use some of the same technologies in my classroom. It will also help me a little with the pacing.

4. []

This is the official blog from the Wisconsin Society of Science Teachers. It contains discussions of new seminars, conferences and other professional development opportunities for science teachers. It also includes information about available grants.

Click here to to view my AP Chemistry blog.