Astronomy Article Collage

Shoot for the Stars

         In class today we were to make a collage with articles that involve astronomy. I used the tool, lino to create my collage. It was an easy tool to use. All you do is upload a picture or video and then you can use a post-it to write a comment about the picture. 

        In mine I used a picture of a the article's cover or a picture of what the article is talking about. Then I would put the link in with a brief summary about what the article was about on the post it next to the picture. This made it easy to organize and see what each article was clearly about and how to get it fast. I am actually using lino again in my other class to make a collage because I liked using it so much. 

       My articles were all from scholarly resources. I got my articles from Newsela, New York Times, Science Magazines, and NASA. I chose to use these sources because I know they would never give me false information. I also chose these articles because they covered different aspects about astronomy. For example, one article spoke about current events and discoveries involving astronomy, but then one article spoke about the first discoveries ever in astronomy. This made me realize how far advanced we have come since the first discoveries.  You should never use Wikipedia or other non-formal websites/ articles for research. These websites could be made by anyone and give out incorrect facts. 

      After making our own collages on research articles we were to form groups and make a timeline. In my group we created a word collage using all words that were similar in our research articles. Then, with those words we created a timeline about the discoveries found about them. I thought making a timeline was really interesting because it helped me to see exactly what year every discovery was founded and how far apart each discovery was. 

Here is a link to my Astronomy article collage. 

Here is a link to my Astronomy timeline. 

Above is my word collage using Tagul.

Above is a great video to use to introduce what astronomy is to students. 

Newsela News Article

An Emoji is Worth 1000 Words

          Since texting became popular everyone started using symbols to show feelings or emotions. Recently, hundreds of emojis have been created which are small digital pictures or icons used to express ideas or emotions while communicating with others electronically. However, sometimes reading these emojis can be misinterpreted. A Study has been done at University of Minnesota to test why people misinterpret certain emojis. I found my information from Newsela's science news articles, " An emoji is worth a thousand words- and they can all be misinterpreted" by Star Tribune.

          Researchers discovered a few things after they conducted their experiment. Depending on the phone carrier depends on how certain emojis will come up. For example, a person who sends the happy face emoji on an iPhone comes up differently than those who have Samsung phones. Being that the two emojis are different on each phone causes people to misinterpret the emotions of one another leading to miscommunication. Researchers conducted their study by using the top 5 most common used emojis and having a random selection of 304 people between the ages of 15 and 40 rate them positive or negative and describe the emoji. After, doing this they compared the results and found out that depending on the carrier the scale numbers ranged between 2 points and people described them differently from one another. One example is,  when seeing an Apple emoji of a person raising both hands in celebration, people described it as “stop” and “clap.” When describing Google’s version of the same emoji, people used “praise” and “hand.” However, people using the same carrier, who see the same emojis also have different views and emotions towards different emojis. The way people view emojis can tell us a lot about who they are as a person and their views towards certain things. It also shows that each person thinks differently from one another because not everyone is the same. There are going to be more studies on this topic and how emojis relate to people's views.

            I chose to use this article because I, myself, can really relate to this article. Many times I will be texting someone and think they are mad at me because of the type of emoji they use; meanwhile, they were not mad at all. I now know that I am not the only one who is constantly confused while communicating with others through technology. Now that communicating through texting and emailing etc. is the way that the majority of people communicate I believe it is important to know that emojis can be misinterpreted so to be careful the way you use it. I can use this in my future science classroom in several ways. I can use it to show students that everyone thinks differently from each other and that its okay. I can also use this article to show that students need to be precise while explaining findings or research because people can interpret it in different ways and it can have a total different meaning than what you meant. Another way I can use this in my classroom is to show students that science is constantly making new discoveries and one question leads to many other questions, that is why once one experiment is done many others are done after based on the new discovery.

Above shows a video based on how people view different ways of typing.

Virtual Book Talk

Let's Discover Cold-blooded Animals

          To create my virtual book talk I used the tool VoiceThreads. This a simple tool to use. All you have to do is add pictures then you can speak and add your voice, or add comments to show texts. You can also draw on the pictures are you are speaking to point things out and make it easier to see. VoceThreads can also be used as a collaborative lesson, because anyone can comment on the VoiceThread if they have a username and multiple people can be on it at the same time. I would definitely use this tool in my future classroom to do another book talk or have students work in groups to do a project.

     The book I chose to do my book talk on is, Let's Discover Cold-blooded Animals by RainTree Publishers. This is a non-fiction informational reference book that explains how cold-blooded animals interact with the environment and other animals to survive. Although, that may sound boring reading it was actually really engaging learning knew facts. I loved the set up of the book because it was divided into different sections and sub-topics based on the types of animals. This made the book easy to follow. Also, there is a glossary of all scientific terms that are bolded throughout the back that you can look back at when you don't understand a word. This also made it easy for me to follow. The pictures were very engaging and lively which made reading and looking through the pictures entertaining. I really liked how in the back of the book it gives you questions that you can answer by looking though the book. However, it also gives you questions that you can look up the answers yourself. I like this because it allows readers to explore and do further research on their own. It shows us that everything we learn leads to questions which leads to different discoveries.

     After presenting my book talk to the class I realized that some things worked well, but some things needed to be adjusted. The tool I used was good and my voice and pictures were clear. However, a book talk is supposed to have a hook to grab peoples attention to make them want to read it. In my book talk I did not use every page from the book, I just used the pages that were relevant to my lesson and things I liked about the book. However, I gave a lot of the information away. Why would people want to read the book, if I already gave all the information away? For future book talks I will ask questions instead of giving information away so that they have to read it to find out the answer. I believe that my book talk would be good for informing teachers if they want to teach this topic or any one who is interested about cold-blooded animals. This book could also be used to  engage and introduce students to learning a new topic.  I could also have students answer the questions in the back to check their knowledge for understanding and do further investigations. I would definitely use this in my future classroom.
Here is a link of my Book Talk Template
Here is a link of my Virtual Book Talk



Technology is Fun

Technology is Fun

        Before coming to this class I used to hate technology. Every time I would try to do something on the computer something would break or I would not be able to figure out how to use the tool. Throughout our Science Methods course we had to create several projects and activities with different programs. Having to use different tools for different activities every week made me feel more comfortable and confident with technology. Now, I am not afraid to try new programs because I know I can figure out how to work it just like I did for the others. Some of the programs that I really enjoyed using in class and will definitely use in my future classroom are: WebQuest, Kahoot, google drive, timetoast, lino, vennage, and tagaloo. Each of these websites are used for different purposes and are simple to use.

      The first time I used WebQuest was for my inquiry lesson during fieldwork. This is an interactive websites that allows students to be engaged while exploring. Teachers can create their own website or use one that already exists. It is great for all grade levels as well. WebQuest is great for teaching Inquiry lessons.

        Kahoot is a learning game using multiple choice questions, discussion, surveys etc. I never made a Kahoot yet, but other people in my class have. I really enjoyed being a part of this because I really felt like I was playing a game. The way it works is everyone signs in and makes their own username which is fun because I get to be creative when making up a name. Then, questions and answers are shown on the main board and then you pick the answer you think is correct with the corresponding color. Depending on how fast you answer and if the answer is correct determines if you will win. I really enjoyed this because I am competitive and always want to win. Kahoot is great for quizzes, or checking for understanding after a lesson or topic is taught. 

       Google Drive is a tool on google which allows people to create documents, slides, and quizzes etc. on their computers. I really like using this because everything saves automatically so it decreases the chances of losing work. I also like this tool because you can work on things collaboratively. Multiple people can be working on the same thing at once in different places, which is really convenient for group work and projects. It is also very easy to navigate so it is good for all grade levels. 

      TimeToast is a program used to create timelines. It is very simple to use and very interactive. The way it works is you just type in a date, add a description and facts, and add a picture and then it automatically saves and creates a timeline. I liked this because it was very easy to see when events happened and what events happened first. I also liked the pictures because it was engaging to look at and made it easier to see what the text was talking about. This is great for students in the classroom to use when creating timelines or events that happened.

       Vennage is a tool used to make PosterBoards. Using Vennage makes things seen in an easy way while also being nicely decorated. It was easy to work and there are so many different settings and options that are available to use. I used this for creating my PosterBoard of the layers of Earth's atmosphere. I used different shapes and colors so that students can see the distinction between each atmosphere. Vennage can be used to show any information about any topic. 

        Tagaloo is a tool that puts a bunch of different words in a collage of a shape. The way this works is you enter the words that you wish then you hit submit. The program generates the words into different sizes and dirextions. When it is finished it is a group of words that form a beautiful picture, This tool is great to use for different groups of words such as: vocabulary words, verbs, and words involving specific topics. This tool is also great for children of all ages. 

       These are just some of the programs that I learned about in this classroom and I cannot wait to use them in my future classrooms! I cant wait to learn and explore even more programs everyday so that I can use them in my current classes and when I actually teach. Technology makes learning topics fun because it engages students in different ways. 

     

True or False

Misconceptions

A misconception is a view or opinion that is incorrect because it is based on faulty thinking or understanding. When you are younger you tend to make  the reasoning behind things that you don't understand up based on television, media, or previous knowledge etc., which may not always be correct. In class we were to list misconceptions and then the real facts about different topics such as: the zoo, dinosaurs, rocks and minerals, solar systems, and desert animals. My group had the rocks and minerals topic and my misconceptions were, all rocks are gray and that all minerals are diamonds. Doing this activity made me realize that I was not the only one who had false beliefs when I was younger and that there are so many different ways that children can mistake the truth. One misconception that really stuck out to me was, dinosaurs and friendly and talk. One student thought this from watching a children's show about dinosaurs who spoke and were nice so he thought dinosaurs in the past were like this too. Some more common misconceptions that elementary students have about life can be found in this link. It is important to realize that students will have many misconceptions that may seem a little silly to someone who already knows the truth, but as a future teacher you should never make fun of a student for thinking something. However, you should correct their misconceptions so that they know the correct information and the truth about topics. There are many different ways to do this. For example, have students read books about that topic, watch videos, or play games etc. It is important to remember to reassure students to ask questions about things they are unsure about because we are learning little by little each day and it is okay not to know everything about everything.



Explore and Explain About the Earth

Vennage

Today in class we were to answer a few questions about our understandings about Earth's surface, atmosphere, and weather. This made me realize how much I do not know about some scientific topics. Here are the questions and my answers:

1. Consider the area of Earth’s surface, atmosphere, and weather about which you feel most knowledgeable. What ideas do you have regarding what you will do as a teacher to keep your knowledge current?
   I feel like I am not that knowledgable about Earth's surface, atmosphere, or weather. I would need to study this topic for hours before I taught it to a class. However, if I were to pick one topic I feel like I am most knowledgable with the weather because I am constantly looking up the weather every day to see what I should wear or plan activities for that day. 
2. Consider the area of Earth’s surface, atmosphere, and weather about which you feel least knowledgeable. What ideas do you have regarding what you will do as a teacher to continue to strengthen your knowledge base about this topic?
   I do not know know that much about any of these topics; however, if I were to pick one that I am least knowledgable with would be Earth's atmostphere. To strengthen my my knowledge about these topics I will read different textbooks, articles, and books on these topics. I will also try to experience and go to different workshops to become an expert on these topics.
3. What resources are you aware of that will help you be an effective teacher of Earth’s surface, atmosphere, and weather?
   Some resources that will help me be an effective teacher of Earth's surface, atmosphere, and weather would be different research articles. Some examples are: 
   1.  This is an article  that contains videos that will help me to have a deeper understanding on Earth's atmosphere.
   2. This is an organization that I can join for Earth's enviormental climate.  
   3.  This is an article that can help me teach children about Earth's atmosphere. 
   4. This is an e-Study Guide for Extreme Weather and Climate, textbook by C. Donald Ahrens: Earth sciences, Earth sciences.

After answering these questions I realized that it is okay if I do not know everything about every topic because there are so many different ways I can become more knowledgeable to be able to teach a great lesson. Then, we were able to pick partners and create a PosterBoard about one of these topics. We picked to do  a PosterBoard on Earth's atmospheres and layers because we wanted to learn more about this topic. We used the tool Vennage to create our PosterBoard. At first it was complicated because we were unsure how to use this tool, but after trying different things we were able to complete it. I really enjoyed creating a PosterBoard because it allowed me to explore and use different tools that I would have never tried before. Now, I will be able to incorporate this tool into so many projects and lessons. I usually don't try new things because I am scared that I will not know how to work it. However after using Vennage, I am willing to explore different tools to differentiate my lessons and make them more visual in my future classrooms.

Here is a link to our PosterBoard that we created.  

Observations of other Groups- fieldwork

Observations During Fieldwork

During fieldwork at Bishop Dunn we were split up into different groups and  had to teach two lessons. While we were not teaching we had to observe other teacher candidates teach their two lessons. I believe that each group learned a lot from observing one another and each group got better and better. While observing Group 1Direct Instruction Lesson I noticed that they spent a lot of time waiting for students to finish copying notes on the board. This made my group come up with the idea to give students a printed out version of the notes from the smartboard with blanks that they need to fill in. This saved so much time. While observing the other groups I think they took a little of everyone's lesson. They copied what went well such as: asking questions, explaining information in deph, and talking loud and clear. These are all aspects of a lesson that makes students learn better. While observing Inquiry lessons they all involved students working together and doing research together exploring to get a deeper understaning of the topic being taught. I noticed that while some groups were teaching the students were getting loud and roudy. It is good to have some noise in the classroom because that means that students are working together. However, the classroom should not sound like an amusement park because it can be distracting and chaotic. To prevent the class from being too loud teacher candidates should have a variety of attention grabbers so that students don't get used to one and have it mean nothing. Overall, I really enjoyed teaching and observing the different Direct and Inquiry lessons!