Today in the YETC lab I really feel like I learned a great deal and will remember a lot more of what has been taught. I really enjoy being able to apply what I learned in class. For my session today I usually spent anywhere from five to ten minutes on any particular program. The programs I looked at included, stellarium, xmind, celestlia and phun. All these programs had something different to offer. The program I had alot of fun with was the Phun program. Phun is a great physics teaching tool. It is a virtual world that illistrates and showes how gravity air and other physical properties affect objects. I especially liked the interaction and creativity one could use to create new objects and manipulate them in different ways.
I think that especially for the sciences the programs I experimented with would be some great tools for my learners. An example in which I would use one of these programs is if I were to do an Astronomay section in my classroom. For my class I would use stellarium to show the different constellations and where they might be in the night time sky. I would also use celestlia to show my students the different planets and their movements throughout the solar system. What I like about these tools is that it allows students to have more options to look around and explore. They are also very user friendly so I am sure after a couple minutes of lecture on how to use the software kids would understand how to use it and be able to go off on their own.
This section was very meaningful to me because it further enforced my learning from last week plus it was alot of fun. If I were to offer one suggestion for the class I would make sure we all got an oppertunity to explore the YETC and then have us make up our lesson plans. To me that would be a better way of allowing us get more exposed to what is out their and then allow us an oppertunity to practice what we have learned.
Monday, February 9, 2009
Monday, February 2, 2009
YETC Lab Introduction and Presentation
You know the saying, "You can't judge a book by its cover." Well I should have applied this idea to my thinking of the YETC Labs. Before this class I had attended the YETC labs a couple of times and I even noticed some of the teaching materials that they had on display, but my idea and understanding of it were very limited. Let me just say that I am now amazed at shear volume of resources that are available through the YETC.
During our tour of the YETC we were shown all kinds of different digital tools available. Some of the materials we talked about were things like the Gutenberg project. Which is an online project to digitize thousands of different books. We also talked about one of the many add-on's that are available on FireFox to be able to download live streaming videos. One of my personal favorites was the free astronomy software called Stellarium. I really loved this tool because it was free and I think it would be a great tool to help my students learn more about the constellations and where they are at in the sky.
As we were walking through the YETC I kept having ideas for lesson plans and ways I could utilize the resources available at the YETC. One thing I really like about the YETC is how you are able to use so many different forms of media. For example, I think that using say a video of the space shuttle for a presentation on NASA would be a lot more interesting to a group rather than just a picture of the shuttle. Another thing I am defiantly going to look into are the many different teacher improvement videos available. I know that I am a visual learner and to have the opportunity to use visual sources to improve my teaching is a definite plus.
One thing I have noticed and it is something that I brought up in class, was how the elementary school I am at right now only has computers in the library and students only use the library once a week. I think that it is sad how their are so many different resources available online but schools simply don't have the funding or means (i.e. computers) available to their students to help them in their per suits of learning. I hope that when I become a teacher I might have resources available to allow my students to utilize the Internet and the resources available their.
YES ----I think that another day of YETC exploration would be an awesome idea.
During our tour of the YETC we were shown all kinds of different digital tools available. Some of the materials we talked about were things like the Gutenberg project. Which is an online project to digitize thousands of different books. We also talked about one of the many add-on's that are available on FireFox to be able to download live streaming videos. One of my personal favorites was the free astronomy software called Stellarium. I really loved this tool because it was free and I think it would be a great tool to help my students learn more about the constellations and where they are at in the sky.
As we were walking through the YETC I kept having ideas for lesson plans and ways I could utilize the resources available at the YETC. One thing I really like about the YETC is how you are able to use so many different forms of media. For example, I think that using say a video of the space shuttle for a presentation on NASA would be a lot more interesting to a group rather than just a picture of the shuttle. Another thing I am defiantly going to look into are the many different teacher improvement videos available. I know that I am a visual learner and to have the opportunity to use visual sources to improve my teaching is a definite plus.
One thing I have noticed and it is something that I brought up in class, was how the elementary school I am at right now only has computers in the library and students only use the library once a week. I think that it is sad how their are so many different resources available online but schools simply don't have the funding or means (i.e. computers) available to their students to help them in their per suits of learning. I hope that when I become a teacher I might have resources available to allow my students to utilize the Internet and the resources available their.
YES ----I think that another day of YETC exploration would be an awesome idea.
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