Updated Guiding Principles

Over the last few weeks I was able to see some great examples of how technology can be used to encourage students to use their creativity to present and share what they know. The only change I would make to my original four guiding principles is the addition of Number 5.

1.Positive Attitude: I need to have a positive attitude about any technology we use in class.
2.Skills: Only use technology when I have a firm grasp of how it works.
3.Safety: Make sure my students use technology in a safe and appropriate manner.
4.Authentic: I need to use technology when it helps students develop critical thinking skills or helps them master one of our core competencies. It has to be tied to the curriculum.
5.Create: Use technology to encourage students to think in a creative manner and produce original work that truly represents what they know.

I hope over the next couple of years to increase my usage of project-based learning, allowing the students to demonstrate what they have learned in an authentic creative manner. I’m going to encourage students to use many of the websites and programs Eric and my fellow classmates have shared over the last seven weeks in projects throughout the year.

Final Project

So here it is, my "In Plain English" video on Hardy Weinberg and the accompanying student assignment sheet. Enjoy.




Name:_________________________________________ Date:____________

Digital Storytelling: Protein Synthesis

Introduction:
Instead of a normal end of chapter exam for this unit you will be producing a video, audiofile, or voice thread explaining how the information encoded in a gene is turned into a protein. I really enjoy the “In Plain English” video series by Common Craft (search “In Plain English” on YouTube) and think this style would be a great fit for this project. You could also create two or three nice diagrams of the process of transcription and translation and include them in a voice thread. Check out some examples at www.voicethread.com. If you’re into storytelling you could record it as a story using a free program call Audacity, downloadable at http://audacity.sourceforge.net/. Be creative, you can go in any direction you like, provided you run the idea by me first!

My hope is that you can produce a short (no greater than 5 minutes) presentation explaining the processes we have covered in class. You MUST include the following terms in your project:
DNA, Double Helix, Adenine, Thymine, Guanine, Cytosine, RNA Polymerase, Spliceosomes, Ribosome, mRNA, tRNA, Codons, Anticodons, Amino Acids, Stop Codons, Peptide Bonds

Working with one other person or by yourself you will have one week to complete this assignment. You will have in class time to research and prepare, but you will most likely have to record your story outside of class. Digital still cameras and video cameras are available in the library and simplistic video editing software is on both the PC’s and Macs. If you need help using this equipment let the librarian or myself know.

Suggested Schedule:
Day1: Brainstorm. Visit the sites and videos I described above. Discuss with your partner the type of technology you would like to use. Can you think of any limitations your plan might have?
Day2: Start writing a script and, if you need them, developing images you will use
Day3: Continue planning and writing
Days 4-7: Record your story
Day 8: Bring you audio/video file to school or post it on an appropriate website. We will share the projects with refreshments that day!


Grading: You projects will be graded by using the attached KRHS Communication Rubric.

Kitchen Update on Photopeach

The last couple of weeks have been busy in the kitchen. We had guests come in for a week long visit yesterday and I had hoped that we could have the kitchen renovation done. We came close. The countertops are coming in this morning! The last two things that need to be done is plumbing in of the sink and faucet and finishing the floor tile. Our guests have been very understanding. I told them to think of it as indoor camping.

I created a Photopeach account and built a short slide show so that you can see what I have been up to over the last few weeks. Enjoy

Kitchen Renovation on PhotoPeach

Toasted by Timetoast

Last week I read a few folks blogging about Timetoast a free online timeline program. I was intrigued by their descriptions so this week I thought I would check it out and build a time line on the History of Life on Earth. This is an assignment I give my biology students each year. They usually make it out of paper and string using 1 mm for 1 million years. It really puts the age of the Earth into perspective for them. And it shows them just how short their existence is on Earth. Sad, I know.
I wasn’t planning on changing the student assignment as I think it’s important for students to “physically see” (if that makes any sense) the enormous age of our planet. However students that miss the lab could build a timeline at home using the program.
I did find one problem immediately. The time entries don’t go past 0 years. From 0 to 2010 you’re fine. Try anything past that and you’re in trouble. Want to plot the first prokaryotic fossils 3.5 billion years ago? Good Luck! It looks promising for timelines on evolutionary theories for example. It is easy to use, but wouldn’t work for this particular assignment.
Second I need to apologize for a couple responses I gave to folks about Create-A-Graph. Last week I said I took a look at it and said Excel was far superior. Excel would be better for high level students. But for my Standard Biology Students it is excellent! I built a little graph for a plants class I’m taking and it was 100X more user friendly than Excel. So I take back everything I said about Create-A-Graph :-). Check out my graph. And yes, my wife already told me I forgot the units.

Not 100%, but improving

I must admit that I wasn’t and I guess I’m still not 100% behind the classroom blog, but it’s improving. One reason for my apprehension might be my first online experience. A few years ago I built, with the help of my brother, a class website to share important links and daily homework assignments. I thought parents and students would find it useful and use it often. I couldn’t have been more wrong. I advertised it with letters home and in direct conversations with parents and it got very little traffic. Very little might be an overestimate. After keeping it up for three years I abandoned it.
The blog definitely seems like an improvement from what I had because students can directly participate by adding comments. I think in order to make sure students participate I would have to require a certain number of comments from each student. For those of you that have blogs is this your practice? One point Eric hit upon in the PowerPoint he shared with us is that classroom blogs encourage ALL students participate. One quote he included that I really liked was, “I like the opportunity to compile my thoughts and express them when I’m ready and at my own pace.”
I also think Dan Basler has a great thing going with his blog. In AP biology I’m so focused on covering content that I don’t have usually find time to discuss current scientific research/discoveries. Or if we do it lasts only a few minutes because we have to move on. My AP students are truly interested in biology and I think they would put in the time and become invested in the process.

Thoughts on “Generate an Argument” Instructional Model

I enjoyed Sampson and Grooms article and agree with the authors that we should encourage students to work together to critically analyze data and draw their own conclusions. I also think this instructional model could also be a time saver if used a few times a year providing students with data set rather than having them collect their own data. It would also give students a look into current scientific research.
I was a little worried with the title of the article “Generate an Argument”. Debates work well when all students are invested. The roadblocks I have encountered in the past when having the student debate (genetically modified foods being an example) is that a handful of passionate students take over and monopolize the discussion. The more timid students (the majority) sit back and don’t participate. I feared that this could also happen in this activity. I was glad to see that the authors encourage a round-robin format in which one member stays with the poster and the others circulate to each of the other groups exchanging ideas and defending their conclusions. I believe this will encourage more participation on the whole.
There was only one problem that my wife (fellow biology teacher) and I discovered which was a lack of usable student data on topics that we cover. Our curriculum is really centered on molecular biology. We both spent quite a bit of time trying to find a data set that we thought the students could understand and manipulate. (If you have found a great site please send a link!). I have adapted a data set I already had, but its more ecology focused and we don’t spend a lot of time on that material.

I need help!

I feel like last week I missed the boat on embedding videos in the blog. So this week I thought I would shoot a little video and show you how the kitchen renovation is going (we now have walls!), download it and embed it in the blog. Along with that I thought I would ask for your help and create an online survey to choose our paint color (again I have never created an online survey before).
My wife and I are terrible at choosing paint colors. We have redone 4 rooms already and we go through and average of 4 sample colors per room. We wake up in cold sweats during the night, can’t eat and can’t sleep until the paint color is up. If you go down to our basement I have Behr and Sherwin Williams entire color selection in small 250 ml bottles. So watch the video and help me choose our paint color. Cabinets are going to be a light cherry, I don’t think I mention that in the video. Thanks a bunch!



Click here to take survey