Tech Savvy Teacher

The digital microscope is a great tool to use in the classroom. It allows the teacher to capture video or pictures of an object as it is being observed. A digital microscope is a great tool because it allows every student to have a front row seat to what's being viewed under the microscope without needing a microscope for every student! You can take pictures of every slide to provide examples of each stage of the experiment. This is an example of an experiment that was done using the digital microscope.

Comparing Sugar and Salt and How They Dissolve

This experiment is designed for a 4th grade science class that is learning about rocks and minerals. It could also be used as a demonstration of physical change.

1. We predicted what we thought the salt would look like under the microscope.

2. We predicted what the sugar would look like under the microscope.

3. We predicted whether the salt or the sugar would dissolve first when mixed with water.

4. We observed salt under the microscope.

5.We observed sugar under the microscope.

6. We noted the difference between the sugar and salt crystals

7. We added warm water to the salt and observed it dissolving.

8.We added warm water to the sugar and observed it dissolving.

9. We compared the difference in how fast the salt dissolved and how fast the sugar dissolved.

10. We looked at our predictions and compared it to our observations.






You wouldn't think that comparing salt and sugar would be a very exciting science lesson but with the aid of technology it becomes an engaging lesson that students will be sad to finish!

TPACK and other cool stuff

This week I learned about TPACK, which is the combination of technical, pedagogical, and content knowledge. When you have a lot of content knowledge you know a lot about a particular subject. Pedagogical knowledge is knowing how to teach and what methods work best to help students learn. Technological knowledge is knowing how to use technology to increase or enhance knowledge. When all three are intertwined you get effective teaching. It's important for teachers to know and use TPACK because effective teachers are constantly learning how to improve themselves and if lessons meet the criteria for TPACK then the lessons will be effective.

I also learned about some really neat and useful science tools. My favorites were stellarium and the microscope. It was amazing to be able to have a microscope that hooks up to the computer so that everyone can see what's going on. What an amazing way to have the benefits of using a microscope for science without having to have a microscope for every few students.

RSS and Web 2.0

Well I don't know if I would say the RSS is "really simple" but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. It is actually something I can see myself using if I found sites that were valuable to my class. It would be neat to have a daily update on sites pertaining to what we are learning about. For me to actually use it the site would have to be really interesting and relevant.
Now delicious and goodreads are both sites that I will use. I really liked goodreads because it is an easy way to keep track of books that I want to recommend to students and books that teachers may recommend to me. Delicious would be an easy way to keep track of sites that I knew were safe and valuable resources for students and parents to visit. Plus, it will help me keep track of where I find good things on the web.

My tech background

Hey I created a blog! So my history with technology is basic...I can do the essentials on the computer and internet. I can navigate my way around technology but to be honest it kind of overwhelms me and I find it somewhat scary at times. I'm excited to learn more about being tech saavy!