Science Simulations ... what fun!!

Animations and Simulations – Tool 4

I chose to investigate some Science interactive learning objects / simulations for Tool 4.

The first one I explored was the Science Quest app by Jacaranda on iPad

This app contains interactive activities that support the topics covered in the Jacaranda eBook Science Quest.  This textbook is commonly used in Australian schools, as it is in line with the new Australian Curriculum for Science.  The app is free and follows the chapters of the text book, making it very user friendly.  I downloaded the Year 8 and Year 10 Science Quest apps, as these are the classes I will have on EPL 1.  Some of the interactive activities included constructing DNA, timed quizzes on chemical reactions, an online board game on how to care for the environment,  rating the rock formations from oldest to most recent, and a digestive system jigsaw. 

I used a PMI tool to analyse this app:

Plus	Minus	Interesting / Implications
Clear, easy to read instructions for each activity.	Specifically designed to complement Science Quest text book, so may not be easily used if class isn’t using this text.	May engage more students in junior science through the fun, interactive activities.
Free	Requires students to have iPad, iPhone or iPod and access to internet to download app.	When used within a larger learning context, the activities I looked could support a range of remembering, understanding and applying skills (as classified by Blooms Revised Taxonomy).  The activities did not appear to lend themselves to the use of higher order thinking skills such as analyse, evaluate or create.  Other activities would need to be used in the learning context to ensure students could practice and demonstrate these higher order thinking skills.
In line with chapters of the Science Quest textbook, so very easy to link with textbook.
Activities directly relate to Australian Curriculum (as textbook written in line with Curriculum)
Fun!
Made intangible concepts in science able to be seen and “played with”
Can be used to supplement in-class learning, or as a revision tool (and can be used at a time that suits the student as the app is always available).

 

Knowing that the school I am doing my first EPL at uses the Science Quest textbooks for Science in years 8-10, I will definitely consider including the interactive app into my teaching (assuming the activities were in line with the content and pedagogical outcomes of the unit/class being taught).  Many of the activities would be suitable to do in a group setting, so even if not all students had iPads/iPhones/iPods, there may be enough for a few groups to be formed in the class (and assuming the school permits the use of mobile/tablet technology in the classroom).  As mentioned in the PMI table, the app activities  I explored would probably only support the lower order thinking skills of remembering, understanding and applying.  However, the app would be a fun and engaging way for students to consolidate or apply their learning in class.   

 

The next science simulator program I investigated was Explore Learning Gizmos.  Similarly to the Science Quest app, this program followed the Australian Curriculum for Science. 

Again, I used a PMI tool to analyse this program:

Plus	Minus	Interesting / Implications
Student exploration sheet and vocabulary sheet included in each gizmo for free version.	Free version (not registered for 30 day free trial) only gives you 5 mins per gizmo per day.	May engage more students in junior science through the fun, interactive activities.
Free 30 day trial	Requires students to have computer and access to internet to use gizmos.	When used within a larger learning context, the gizmos I looked at could support a range of remembering, understanding, applying, analysing, evaluating and creating thinking skills (as classified by Blooms Revised Taxonomy) – the full spectrum of thinking skills.
Student exploration and vocabulary sheet have options to download as pdf or word doc.  Word version allows teacher to make specific to his/her class.	The cost may be a minus, however, it is unknown as there is no cost information on the website, only a contact to obtain price from a company representative.	Awesome learning tool, but because I am not sure how much it costs, the implications may be that if it’s too expensive, it won’t be easy to access (as can only buy a school subscription, not individual teacher subscription).
Activities directly relate to Australian Curriculum (as gizmos created in line with Curriculum)
Fun!
Made intangible concepts in science able to be seen and “played with”
Can copy pictures (graphs / maps etc) or the whole screen from a gizmo into a Word or Powerpoint document.  This allows the teacher to use information from the gizmos to personalise the student exploration sheets or use in class presentations etc.
Can export raw data from tables in gizmos to Excel.  Allows students to use data to create other graphs or do further analysis on the data.
Tool tips when hovering over each icon/button assists the user to navigate around the gizmo easily.
Allows students to carry out science experiments from the beginning to export the data collected for further analysis.
Learning objectives and vocabulary is outlined clearly on each gizmo.
Registered free (and paid) version includes assessment questions for each gizmo.
Can be used to supplement in-class learning, or as a revision tool (and can be used at a time that suits the student as the website is always available).

 

This was by far my most favourite science simulator learning tool.  It was extremely professional, and because it was developed in line with the Australian Curriculum for Science, it could easily be used “as is” in the classroom (but also is flexible in that the student exploration and vocab sheets can be adapted as required).  As mentioned above, the acitivies in this program can support pedagogy and content knowledge that requires higher order thinking skills such as creating, evaluating and analysing.  This would also be enhanced if students completed the gizmos as a group, as the studetns could negotiate, question and comment on the path they are going to take to solve the problem at hand (for example, create an electrical circuit).  

I think the only downfall with this program may be the price.  Because the price was not listed on the website (you have to speak with a rep), I have the feeling it will be very expensive.  I did have a quick look further online and found this general price list on a wiki not authored by ExploreLearning (so I cannot be sure of the accuracy or validity of the information).  However, if this general price list is anything to go by, it does seem quite expensive, ranging from a teacher (and his/her students) subscription of $674 for 12 months, through to a Science department 12 month subscription for a minimum of $1995.  Yikes! Schools seem to constantly struggle to find extra funds, so I could imagine it would be quite difficult to obtain a department level subscription when there are more pertinent competing priorities. If this is the true cost of subscription, it's not a very useful tool because it’s access will be restricted significantly to the more financially advantageous schools and teachers.

PS  Sorry again for the LARGE gaps between tables .... I am not sure how to fix this (and it only happens with tables in some posts, so I'm not even reliably getting it wrong!).

Powerpoint puzzle

I learnt lots of new tricks this week with PowerPoint.  I have only used it in the past as a presentation tool, so was impressed by the interactive tools available.

Childhood obesity from katecoates

 

I've embedded my PowerPoint presentation here, but unfortunately, with SlideShare, it only saves as a presentation (and can't be used interactively).  I have since experimented and uploaded it into my wiki, and had interactive success!! 

 
I analysed the use of PowerPoint with a SWOT analysis chart:
 

Strengths

 

• Can include video, audio, hyperlinks, images, charts, diagrams (and more) in a presentation.
• Mouse Mischief tools makes it very interactive in the classroom (assuming you can access many mice).
• Can contain a large amount of text if required.
• Lots of templates and wizard tool - easy to use for teachers and students.
• Can import text from Word in outline view - creates slides instantly.
• Can be shared as interactive tool via wiki
• Slides can be saved as image files and uploaded into MovieMaker.

Weaknesses

• Traditional use of lengthy presentations with lots of text can be very uninteractive and boring.
• Can't embed into blog or glog as is, has to be uploaded to a SlideShare style program or saved as a video, and can only be used as view only and not interactive.
• While it can be uploaded directly to Prezi, it does lose it's interactive ability.

Opportunities

• Opportunities for both traditional presentations (by both teacher and students) and interactive activities
• Can be used to easily create a video in MovieMaker.

Threats

• because of it's inability to be used interactively in blogs, glogs etc, it may be replaced with more interactive tools such as Prezi.

Overall, the addition of interactive elements (well, new to me, anyway) includes a whole new dimension to PowerPoint.  I think it works well in the classroom as a stand alone tool, but is limited with it's ability to be shared and used interactively via the web.  I think in the digital age, more web-friendly tools such as Prezi may take preference.

Students need to ensure they follow ethical, safe and legal guidelines when working with PowerPoint.  Adequately referencing (and seeking permission if required) of images and text and video used in the PowerPoint needs to done to ensure copyright laws are not infringed.  And as always, students need to ensure they do not use explicit language or images or videos in the presentation.  These guidelines are also important for teachers to follow, as they need to model exemplary behaviour at all times.

Play with Prezi

I went with the childhood obesity theme this week....   so here's my play with Prezi. 

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I analysed the tool using PMI:

Plus

• Very visual - I can see that it would appeal to 'digital native' students
• Lots of templates so easy to use (and easy for students to create).
• Thinking does not have to be linear - greater creativity and better flow of thinking allowed.
• Can embed pictures and YouTube clips and own documents.

Minus

• Hyperlinks are messy - can't highlight text and include hyperlink in background.  The whole weblink needs to be inserted as text.  
• A little bit hard to work outside the template (like add new think bubbles etc) ... but perhaps becomes easier with practice.
• Hard to navigate and format in edit mode (do you think I could make the ppt size any bigger?)
• Can't limit Prezi to private viewing only with free version.
• Only 500MB storage in free version - may be an issue if using large documents etc.
• Referencing seemed almost impossible with the format of the tool, unless you insert text boxes below each image and youtube clip etc, which would be messy and take away from the impact of the presentation.  Perhaps need to attach a document with all the references together.
• Powerpoint presentation loses interactive and animation ability when inserted into Prezi - is inserted into Prezi as a series of slides.

Interesting / implications

• I had never heard of Prezi before now, but there are 18 million + users .... where have I been hiding?  I'm assuming that alot of those 18 million users will be our students.
• Implications with online legality, safety and ethics as free version can't be saved as private viewing only.  Possibly need some monitoring for student work (and like all other online tools, educate students about online guidelines and safety).

I can see that Prezis would be prefered over Powerpoint for many students.  Because of the reduced capacity for text in a Prezi, I think it would result in a more interactive, interesting presentation from a student, as Powerpoint presentations often contain too much text and hence can be uninteractive and quite boring.  However, I think until Prezi improves it's usability (messy hyperlinks, hard to navigate, public viewing only etc) I don't think I will be rushing back to use Prezi in my teaching.  However, if students find it easy to use and prefer it over Powerpoint, I would be encouraging them to use it.  Just because I find a tool hard to navigate, does not mean I will limit my students.  It may be a good thing if they want to use it - it will force me to use it to become more proficient at it (and perhaps alot of my issues with the tool are because I am not proficient at using it).

As mentioned above, students who use Prezi need to follow ethical, safe and legal guidelines.  Students need to be aware that their Prezi will be open to all web users as there is no option to make it private.  Therefore, they need to ensure there is no inappropriate or malicious content or language, and that the images/videos they embed into the Prezi need to follow the same guidelines.  Students need to also ensure they reference the multimedia items they have used in their Prezi (even though the tool doesn't make it easy to insert referencing) so that they don't infringe copyright laws.


References

Images in Prezi sourced from http://feigenson.us/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/elevator.jpg, http://www.medimanage.com/Images/child-and-tv.jpg

YouTube clip in Prezi sourced from http://youtu.be/myxwCEGcBYc

My two seconds of fame: Periodic table around the house video

I decided to create a video about how elements of the periodic table are more than letters, words and numbers in a table ... they are real, and are around us in everyday life.  I thought by linking some elements to a real context, students may be able to better connect with the periodic table.

 

 

I used Windows Live Movie Maker to create the movie on the periodic table.  This was the first movie I have ever made, and I was surprised how easy it was to put together using this program (even though watching yourself on film is always embarrassing).  I used our DSL camera to record the video, uploaded the individual video files onto Movie Maker, cut the sections I wanted, added music and Movie Maker did it’s magic!  I think students would find this tool exceptionally easy to use.  In fact, I think my 5 year old could create a movie!  As most students have a smart phone / Ipod, they can use this to record the video file.  A specialised video camera is not required, so makes it more accessible to more students.  In addition, I uploaded the video to Youtube, which was also a very straight-forward process (that I have not done before).

Here's my PMI analysis of video:

Plus	Minus	Interesting / Implications
Students can re-record until they are happy with recording.	Can be time consuming to edit and put together.	Can be used instead of live oral presentations – good for students who are not confident doing oral presentations.
Combines images and sound – appeal to both visual and auditory learners.	Sound can sometimes be an issue, depending on the quality of the microphone in the phone/camera/video recording device.	Like podcasts, YouTube (and other video sites) has changed education – you can watch a video on virtually anything, including lectures from conferences and universities in other countries.
Can watch video whenever convenient	Can't have comments/feedback from teachers or fellow students (or wider web users) until it's finished and posted on Youtube (or similar)
Easy to record (most mobile phones and cameras have video function)
Can embed directly into wiki and glog and blog
YouTube – videos on practically anything (a lot of educational videos too).
Can import PowerPoint slides into MovieMaker to create a video very easily.

I think the use of video as a learning tool could be very relevant in the areas of Science and Home Economics.  As seen in my short video, making Science real by creating a video on the periodic table elements may make students more engaged with concepts that they cannot see.  In an assessment piece, giving students a limit on the video duration would also make them consider and assess the most important components that needed to be included. 

Creating a video requires high order thinking skills of designing, planning, producing, filming, mixing/editing as per Bloom's Digital Taxonomy. Even though the final video may only be a few minutes long, there is alot of work using high order thinking skills behind the scenes to get it to that point. If I made this video public on YouTube (currently it is unlisted so only those with the link can see it), it can contribute to the current resource pool of science in the real world. This opens it up to comments and debates from web users as to the accuracy and effectiveness of the video ... in essence, users of the web are marking/assessing my video! This creates dialogue, and encourages me to go back , review and update the video depending on the feedback and suggestions provided.

With the periodic table video, I included the words of the elements with the pictures to assist students to make the connection between the visual image and the name of the element.  This is in line with the spatial contiguity principle, whereby students are thought to learn more effectively when corresponding words and images are located near each other  (Stansbury, 2008).  Similarly, students are thought to have enhanced learning when corresponding words and images are located simultaneously according to the Temporal Contiguity Principle (Stansbury, 2008).  In the case of this video, having the name of the element presented with the visual picture of the real life application may be more effective than just having the name of the elements presented at the end (and not connected to the corresponding image). 

 

Being a visual learner, I couldn’t agree with the Multimedia Principle more: “Retention is improved through words and pictures rather than through words alone.” (Stansbury, 2008).  Bring on the pictures, I say.  For me, it is true that a picture speaks a thousand words.  I think particularly for subjects like Science where there is a whole new vocab and intangible concepts (eg elements of the periodic table) for students to learn quickly, pictures really do assist with retention. 

 

I included some soft background music in the video because it seemed very quiet (and a bit boring) with only my voice on the video.  However, this background music may have hindered learning, as according to the Coherence Principle, students can learn better when unrelated and unnecessary sounds are excluded rather than included (Swisher, 2007).

As with all online media, creating videos requires safe, ethical and legal guidelines to be adhered to.  Students (and teachers if they are creating the video) need to ensure their video does not contain any abusive or explicit or illegal language, images or content, that they comply with copyright laws (particularly if they are using images, video and music incorporated in their video).  All subjects in the video need to give consent to be filmed, so students must ensure this is done (and permission from parents/carers if children are being filmed). 

  References

Stansbury, Meris. (2008). Analysis: How multimedia can improve learning.   Retrieved 22 March 2013, from http://www.eschoolnews.com/2008/03/26/analysis-how-multimedia-can-improve-learning/

Swisher, David. (2007). Does multimedia truly enhance learning?  Moving beyond the visual media bandwagon towards instructional effectiveness. Paper presented at the K-State at Salina Professional Day, Kanvas State University, Salina. http://www.academia.edu/1046356/Does_Multimedia_Truly_Enhance_Learning_Moving_Beyond_The_Visual_Media_Bandwagon_Toward_Instructional_Effectiveness

 

Digital audio recording

I decided to create a digital audio recording on blind stitch hemming (to link it to my subject area of Home Economics).  The audio recording can be found in my wiki.

I then converted the audio recording into a web podcast using Podomatic:





I used my Iphone to create the original audio recording.  I was able to trim it using the same program, which was very handy.  Podomatic was a very easy program to use to convert my audio file into a podcast.  I think for students who are working in a blog, they would get more benefit out of creating their audio files into a web podcast so that it can be embedded into their blog.  I found it very disjointed and inconvenient to have to upload the audio file into my wiki and then have a link to it in my blog.  Creating and embedding a podcast would eliminate this need.

I analysed the audio tools using a PMI table:

Plus	Minus	Interesting / Implications
Students can re-record until they are happy with recording.	No visuals – may not engage visual learners.	Can give a more polished presentation as students can practice until they are happy with their final recording.  This is unlike a live oral presentation where students who are not confident presenting may struggle.
Can do other things while listening to audio recording.	Can’t embed directly into blog.	Podcasts have changed education – anyone can take classes on nearly any topic for free, and can learn when it suits them (and can repeat over and over again if they don’t understand a concept – which you can’t do in a class).
Can listen to audio/podcast whenever convenient
Easy to record (most mobile phones have voice recorder function)
Can embed directly into wiki.
Online podcasts – free education on virtually any topic.

Out of the three tools explored this week, the audio podcast was my least favourite.  While they would be useful to listen to while you do other things (eg housework!), I found listening to the audio-only podcasts quite unengaging.  I am a visual learner, so found the video podcasts and enhanced podcasts much more engaging as they contained related images as well as the audio.  I like the idea that they can be used for students to publish and present their work, particularly for those students who may be less confident giving live oral presentations.  Audio recordings and podcasts allow the students to practice and practice until they are happy with the recording.  Podcasts can also be used to create an archive of lessons.  This may be useful for students who may have missed some lessons due to illness, or as a revision tool.  Students can listen (or watch in the case of enhanced podcasts) to archived lessons in their own time when it suits them, and they can listen over and over again for concepts that they may be struggling with. 

Itunes U had many podcasts that I think would be useful to use in teaching.  I narrowed my search to education, however, I think if you opened it to the subject areas, there would be many more options as well.  A few that I really liked were Classroom 2.0 Live (a resource for teachers – great ideas as to how to use podcasts and ICT in the classroom), iPads in Education (more ideas how to use iPads in teaching), Chemistry (aimed at high school students, and includes review questions for each week), Principles of Human Nutrition (aimed at university students, but has handouts, ppts and review questions that could be used or adapted for Senior School high school students). 

My favourite was the Khan Academy, and I was very impressed by the science lessons that I looked at.  The lessons included key concepts written on the whiteboard, while the teacher narrated the class.  For me, the components of the lesson I remember are the diagrams and pictures that were used to add value and explanation to the key concepts written in the lesson.  I can see the Khan Academy lessons being very valuable revision tools for students to use in the lead up to their assessment, or for further clarification if they didn’t quite understand a concept in class.

With audio recordings (and particularly Podcasts), ethical and legal considerations for students include ensuring they do not use abusive or explicit language and content, and accessing Podcasts that do not contain the same.  Copyright issues also need to be considered if students use music or voice recording of others in their podcast.