Voice Thread

I watched:
1. Caroline- location of the moon
2. Kate- changes and phases of the moon
3. Leslie- kidspiration and sink and float


I really enjoyed watching the various voice threads and getting to know all the options that are out there to help me integrate technology into my science curriculum. I really liked using Stellarium to show how the moon changes in location and has phases. It would be a great way for kids to learn how to make predictions, analyze date, and make graphs about what they have learned, allowing them to really go through the scientific process. I also liked kidspiration and how it added a whole new dimension to creating activities that kids can work hands on with during science lessons. I look forward to using some of these tools in my future classroom and implementing technology more fully in my science objectives! I think using technology will make the activities more rememberable and help make lessons more contextualized!

Science Center Voicethread

Week 7- Part One of Science Challenge

Content

As I was looking over the various science probes, I thought it would be a great way to incorporate technology a I teach my students about globes and maps and the community. I decided to focus on 2nd grade and utilize the 2nd grade science core standards 2 and 3. More specifically, I want to focus on these objectives:

Standard 2:
Objective 2: Examine important aspects of the community and culture that
strengthen relationships.
ii. Compare rural, suburban, and urban communities.
iii. Relate goods and services to resources within the community.

Standard 3:
Objective 4: Demonstrate how symbols and models are used to represent features of the
environment. i. Identify and use information on a map or globe (i.e., map key or
legend, compass rose, physical features, continents, oceans)
ii. Use an atlas and globe to locate information
iii. Locate continents and oceans on a map or globe (i.e., North America,
Antarctica, Australia, Africa, Pacific Ocean, Atlantic Ocean).


Pedagogy
Through this activity, my students will practice and demonstrate the following:
- Observation- observing different buildings and how communities function
- Inquiry- where things are located on a map; why communities are set up in the way they
are; construct questions about the world and their community; pose inquiry about
the world around them and how it functions; pose questions about the
community; create new questions from existing questions and answers
- Predicting- creating predictions where things are located on maps and globes; which
direction do they think items/areas are; creaing hypothesis and testing them out
- Analysis- taking information gather and making conclusions, new questions, etc


Technology
I plan to use Google Earth for this assignment. I plan to use the 3D building layer, Street layer, and basic navigation (zoom in and out, compass, directions, etc) to help facilitate the discussion of maps and our communities.

For Standard 3, I could introduce children to flay maps and globes, explaining how maps help us navigate and know more about the world around us. We could discuss places they have been in the world and locate them on the map. I would introduce the compass and how they are used. I could explain how with technology, we have even more maps! I would show them Google Earth and explain these are made by satellites, so they are real images. We could make inferences about where oceans are, where they think other places are, and become familiar with navigation. The children would be encouraged to observe places that look familiar and to make guesses of what they are looking at (i.e. I could bring up and ocean and have them guess what the large blue mass is)

For Standard 2 (community awareness), I think it would be appropriate to bring up Provo and examine the community we live. The children could announce some of the places they know in the community. After we have visited these places, we could make inferences of why certain places are put together (homes, businesses, etc). We could also look at big cities and small farm towns, etc. We could make guesses of what might we find in each place and why. This would allow us to discuss how various communities function.

Virtual Tour

Here is my virtual tour assignment! I created a tour utilizing 4th grade science core curriculum, examining the differences between rocks and minerals, the types of rocks, erosion and weathering, and how soil is made. As students view my tour, they will become more familiar with this topic. To download the file, click here







The tours I viewed were:
1. Kate- ecosystems
2. Adrianne- Clocks
3. Caroline- Cultures Around the World

I really enjoyed this activity and thought it could be used in so many ways in my future classroom. Some of the upsides would be that it is a way of exposing children to he world without having to actually visit those places. By utilizing tours and Google earth, you could enrich your lessons. Instead of discussing the pyramids in Egypt, the kids could actually "go" there with good earth. This would also be a great resource if you were going to be out of town and a substitute would be with your class. You could plan ahead and preapre an activity that would ensure your students were still engaging in meaningful and productive activities.

A few downsides I could see with using Google earth is that it takes a lot of time. It takes a lot of planning to gather the materials, connect ideas to content standards, and create the tour. I could see some teachers getting so caught up in the production of the tour that the content and meaning towards the standards are lost. It becomes a fun activity instead of one that utilizes technology to enhance a topic and learning.

Google Earth Tour

Location	Activity Description	Google Earth Content
1. Y Mountain	Have students watch the youtube video about the differences between rocks and minerals. Have various pictures of rocks and minerals on page. Direct students to decide which is a mineral and which is a rock using what they learned in the video. Record results in learning journal.	Video and images
2. Timpanogous Cave	Students will have a Bill Nye video that will re-look at the differences between rocks and minerals. They will be introduced to the 3 types of rocks. After viewing the movie, students will view pictures of rocks and record what types of rocks they are in their journals.	Video and images
3. Moab	Students will read information about erosion and weathering of rocks. After reading the information, students will watch a video about erosion and weathering. After viewing the material, students will be asked to answer the questions, "Where the arches in Moab caused by erosion or weathering?"	Text, images, and video.
4. Dixie National Forest	Students will read a text about soil. Students will discover that soil is composed of rocks and minerals. Students will watch a video and view images of various types of soil. When they are done, they will summarize what they have learned about rocks, minerals, and soil in their learning journal.	Video and images

Possible Sources:
1. Y Mountain






2. Timpanogous Cave




3. Moab




4th Grade Science Core
Standard 3
Students will understand the basic properties of rocks, the processes involved in the formation of soils, and the needs of plants provided by soil.

- I will be guiding the children to examine the differences between rocks and minerals
- They will be able to distinguish between the 3 types of rocks
- Learn about weathering and erosion
- Learn about soil and how it is composed of rocks
All will be illustrated through the surrounding areas in Utah. The children will be guided to Mt. Timpanogous, Moab, and other locations that exemplify different rocks, erosion, and soil.


For this assignment, I decided to focus on 4th grade science core. I thought a virtual tour would be a great way to show students around the landscape of Utah while introducing a new topic. Instead of having there merely read out of a text book, a virtual tour will allow them to visit local locations where they can see the topics discussed. Mt. Timpanogous, for example, has various rocks embedded in it. The children will see pictures of these rocks and then read about rocks and minerals. They will begin to understand that rocks and minerals are all around them. For some children, they need to see things visually. If some sudents have been to Moab or caves, they will be able to relate to the new content with previous information, which will hopefully help them better remember the content.

I also thought this would be a good resource for if I was out of the classroom and a substitute was there. This would be a great way to make sure I was guiding the students and they are continuing to have meaningful experience while I am not there.