PLE Week 8

I viewed and commented on Kaitlin Tingey's Stellarium project viewing the phases of the moon, Lauryn Paul's pH project, and Kellie Cash's Stellarium project tracking moon's orbit around Earth. I was impressed with the variety of projects everyone came up with. I hadn't thought about the other ideas possible.

I really like the idea of using digital microscopes in the classroom. I remember that I had a difficult time using microscopes in elementary school because i was nervous about breaking the slides and lens. Digital microscopes take that pressure away, and allow students to view objects of all sizes, not just slides. Also, the entire class can view the object through the microscope at the same time because the live image can be projected. I think students get excited about using neat gadgets like digital probes and microscopes, as well, so it's a great way to make science exciting and hands-on. I also love Stellarium. I took an astronomy class that used a similar program, and I find it fascinating. I think kids would have so much fun watching the constellations, moon, and other objects "move" across the sky. It really makes space and astronomy accessible to children, because kids are not going to have the time or opportunity to sit outside at night and observe through a telescope. It also helps put the orbit of the Earth into context because kids can actually see it happening in fast motion.

6th Grade Stellarium Science Project

PLE Week 7

Description: For my science activity, sixth graders will use Stellarium to view seasonal constellations. Students will hypothesize whether or not the night sky changes during the course of a year. Students will look at the night sky as it appears from Utah during the four different seasons. Students will look at the constellations visible in April, July, October, and December and determine if the constellations visible are the same or different for each season. Students will also look at the night sky as it appears in the late evening and early morning on one day during each season to determine if different constellations are visible at different times of the night. Students will then use their observations to analyze why different constellations are visible during each season, and why constellations “rise” and “set” during the night.
Content: This science activity meets the sixth grade science core Standard 4: Students will understand the scale of size, distance between objects, movement, and apparent motion (due to Earth's rotation) of objects in the universe and how cultures have understood, related to and used these objects in the night sky; Objective 2 a & d: Locate and identify stars that are grouped in patterns in the night sky. Relate the seasonal change in the appearance of the night sky to Earth's position.
Students will learn that the constellations that are visible in the late evening are different from those visible in the early morning. This is because the Earth rotates on its axis. As Earth rotates through one full day, we see different parts of the sky throughout the day and night. In the evening, we see several constellations. However, as we rotate during the night, we see different constellations because our part of Earth is facing toward another part of the sky. Throughout a season, we will see the same group of constellations “rise” and “set” during the night. As earth makes its orbit, or revolves, around the sun, the position of Earth in the night sky changes. This means that we see a different part of Earth’s orbital path during each season. For instance, during winter, Earth is in the part of the night sky that contains the constellations Orion and Taurus. Because of Earth’s rotation (one full day), we will see Orion and Taurus during different times of the night, but we will see both throughout the winter because of Earth’s orbital position around the sun. Some constellations are circumpolar, meaning they are visible in all seasons because of their position in the sky. These include the Big and Little Dippers, and Cassiopeia. Circumpolar constellations, as well as the North Star, could be discussed in a separate lesson and activity.
Pedagogy: Students will be constructing hypotheses, observing and collecting data, and analyzing data. Students will develop a hypothesis to the question: “Does the night sky change during the year?” and test their prediction by looking at the constellations during each of the four seasons using Stellarium. After observing that the sky does change, students will analyze their observations on Stellarium to determine what might cause this change. From the Content Standard for Science as Inquiry handout, students will “develop descriptions, explanations, predictions and models using evidence,” and “think critically and logically to make the relationships between evidence and explanations.” Since constellations are visible, students can collect data that either supports or refutes their hypotheses, and use concepts of rotation and revolution to analyze and explain the results.
Technology: Using Stellarium to view changes in the night sky over the course of the year is a good fit with learning about the different constellations and relating the seasonal change in the appearance of the night sky to Earth's position. It would be very difficult to send students home with an assignment to watch how the constellation positions change over the course of a night and a year. The students would have a difficult time remembering such an extended assignment, and the teacher would find it a hassle to remind students over that many months. Stellarium allows students to observe the constellations as they appear from Utah, and to see how the constellations that are visible from the Northern Hemisphere change during the night and over the course of a year. Students can gather the observations in a matter of minutes, rather than months, and deduce that it is Earth, not the night sky, that is rotating (which means we see different constellations in the late evening than we do in the early morning) and revolving (which means we see a different part of the night sky, and hence different constellations, during each season, depending on where we are in our orbit around the sun).

PLE Week 6

I watched Google Earth tours by Lauryn Paul, Kellie Cash, and Kaitlin Tingey. I discovered lots of things in their tours that I didn't even think of using!

When using a Google Earth tour in the classroom, I think a teacher could run into several challenges. First, unless the teacher runs the tour while the class watches, I think students would have a really difficult time figuring out how to turn on layers, use the measurement tool, etc. Unless I was doing the tour for fifth or sixth graders, I think I would definitely run it and have the class watch. Also, it is sometimes hard to see the features on Google Earth. The landscape often looks like mush, unless you zoom out far away. I think children might easily loose interest if the teacher takes time to figure out where the best view is. This is why it's important to have every marker posted before hand. Other than that, however, I think Google Earth is a great way to take a field trip without spending money or leaving school. I find it really fascinating to watch the world spin and zoom into different places, view the panorama pictures, and look at distance relationships. I think children would find this interesting, too, especially if the teacher is doing the technical work so that they can enjoy the view. This is a great way to learn about the world.

Google Earth Tour

This is a Google Earth tour of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World.

Google Earth Tour Table

Leah Barker & Celecta Moss
The 7 Natural Wonders of the World: In this Google Earth activity, students will tour the 7 Natural Wonders of the World and determine which ecosystem each wonder fits in. Students will have already learned about different ecosystems. They are to guess what ecosystem they think the wonder might fit in. The class would later discuss.

Using a Google Earth Tour to apply learning about ecosystems to actual places is a good approach because students get to actually see the places talked about. They watch the globe turn, so they are observing where different places are on earth. Students see the variety of places on earth that contain different ecosystems. Students would be drawn into the activity because it is interactive and contains visuals. Students can also play around with different views using the arrows and directional scrolls, which is engaging and encourages curiosity.

3rd Grade Social Studies: Standard 1
Students will understand how geography influences community location and development.
Objective 2
Describe how various communities have adapted to existing environments and how other communities have modified the environment.

1. Describe the major world ecosystems (i.e. desert, plain, tropic, tundra, grassland, mountain, forest, wetland).

Location	Activity Description	Google Earth Content
1. Grand Canyon	View pictures and read description of Grand Canyon. Guess which ecosystem it fits into.	Go to Grand Canyon. View picture and description.
2.Great Barrier Reef	View pictures and read description of reef. Measure reef. Guess which ecosystem it fits into.	Turn on marine protected areas under ocean layer. View great barrier reef. Use measurement tool to measure length of reef.
3.Harbor of Rio de Janeiro	View pictures and read description of harbor. Guess which ecosystem it fits into.	Zoom out so that all of South America is visible in the window. View harbor. Terrain/Borders and labels layers.
4.Mount Everest	View pictures and read description of mount. Guess which ecosystem it fits into.	Go to Mount Everest. Terrain/Borders and labels layers.
5.Aurora Borealis	View pictures and read about aurora borealis. Guess which ecosystem Ellesmere Island fits into.	Go to Ellesmere Island, Nunavut Territory, Canada. This is close to the North Magnetic Pole, where chance of seeing the Aurora Borealis is best. Terrain/Borders and labels layers.
6.Paricutin Volcano	View volcano pictures and read description. Guess ecosystem of the area surrounding the volcano. Measure the diameter of the caldera.	Go to Paricutin Volcano (I), Michoacan, Mexico. Places/Terrain/ Borders and labels layers. Use arrow scroll buttons in upper right corner to view the volcano 3d. Use measurement tool.
7.Victoria Falls	View pictures and read description of falls. Guess ecosystem.	Go to Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, Africa. Places/Terrain/Borders and labels layers. Use scroll arrows to view 3d.
8.Provo, Utah	Read brief description. Determine what ecosystem Provo is part of. You never know what might be considered a Wonder in a thousand years-even Provo.	Find your elementary school (for this we will use BYU.) Places/Terrain/Borders and labels layers.

Movie Making in the Elementary Classroom

I enjoyed watching the videos by Leah Garrett, Lauryn Paul, Kellie Cash, Kaitlin Tingey, Mariah James, and Daren Parker. All of them were really well done.
When implementing digital story telling projects in the classroom, I think there could be several challenges. First, not all students are comfortable using computers. If a student clicks on the wrong thing, the teacher has to figure out what he or she did and try to save the story from being lost. Also, making a video would take a lot of time, either in the classroom or as homework. If it was sent home to be worked on, some students might not have siblings or parents who could help them gather pictures, music, and a storyline. Students with technologically inclined parents or families would have a real advantage. If the story was done in class, a lot of instruction time would be lost. An alternative would be to do one story as an entire class. Each student could be in charge of one scene in the story. The student could find the picture and narrate his or her page. This would speed the process up, and also give students the opportunity to still use the technology.