Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Tool # 9

Technology is presently guiding the way human beings access and perceive the world around them. It is becoming more and more necessary to be trained and aware of the newest and most updated product. The possibilities and uses of all of the technological devices is constantly growing and changing.

Students need to be held accountable for their own good and for the sake of their learning. Accountability guarantees that the students will put forth effort to complete the assigned task and be forced to take some responsibility for their work. Labs are a crucial and intricate part of a chemistry and science classroom and using stations is a great way to facilitate this type of activity.

 The use of Phet simulations is a great idea and resource. My classes have used this website in the past to show simulations of equations and other properties that are difficult to visualize without assistance. The interactive website also looked like an excellent resource for science classroom. I have not explored it to the fullest extent yet but will definitely be accessing it again and showing my students. Each of these could be used as stations by having students rotate from device to device after 10 minutes and instructing them to complete simulation or activity and write a brief explanation of their observations.

Some apps that could potentially be very useful to my students are Science Glossary, The Chemical Touch:Lite Edition, and BrainPOP Featured Movie. I have used videos from BrainPOP in the past and feel that this is a good way to introduce or reinforce a topic. The Science Glossary and The Chemical Touch  apps will help students understand terminology and vocabulary more easily. Each application also describes properties and characteristics of chemicals in more detail. Students could be asked to watch a short video or create their own definitions of certain words and terms.

I like the idea of using the open-end discussion and having students fill in their thoughts on the device. The students could electronically sign their contribution, and it would be very simple for me to glance at their comments and make sure everybody participated. The class could then discuss each point and hopefully reinforce the content and learning.

1 comment:

  1. Check out the Molecular Workbench by the Concord Consortium. It has some simulations you may be interested in using with your students.

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