Cloud "Communication" and Formation

Typical textbooks will explain that temperature change is the driving force behind cloud formation. The base of the cumulus clouds seen above is somewhat flat and this where a temperature change occurs where moisture in the air condenses. However, a new study indicates something different could be the main factor.

A new study posted in the online journal Nature, indicates as rain descends to the earth, this creates a downward draft. Once this downward draft hits the surface of the earth, this cooler air will move laterally. When this horizontal draft hits another horizontal draft, this collision creates an upward draft of warmer, moister air. These upward drafts create new clouds as older clouds dissipate as precipitation occurs. This upward draft seems to be a stronger factor in cloud formation than simply temperature changes.

Furthermore, this periodic pattern of rain events and cloud formation in open skys seems to be in an organized pattern and scientists are referring to this pattern as a new form of "communication" between the clouds.

For more details, visit http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/08/13/clouds-communicate-scientists-say/

YouTube - Dinosaur Extinction Theories and K T Boundary.wmv

YouTube - Dinosaur Extinction Theories and K T Boundary.wmv

This video is my first successful attempt at creating a video and uploading it to youtube. My original goal was to create a "plain English" video that gave an introduction to the K-T boundary and dinosaur extinction as part of an inquiry unit for students. Rather than discussing the video itself, I would like to share things I have learned about creating and uploading videos on youtube:

1. Keep your videos short! The longer and more complex your video is, the more difficulty could arise in creating, saving, converting, or uploading videos. I was using all free software which all came with limitations on the video. Therefore, I kept refining the video down to its most basic presentation. (Which, by the way, could be a great learning tool for students. Higher Order Thinking Skills! Having students create a summary or a "basics" video over your content really forces you to think!)

2. Make sure you video making software and youtube have files that are compatible. I had to create and save this video eight different times before finding a file type that could upload and be processed by youtube that fit the size and audio specifications. Even after reading help pages on youtube, I wasn't sure why I kept running into uploading problems. I used pinnacle videospin software and it worked really well and allowed me to create and save my video in different file types.

3. Patience! Wow! I didn't realize such a "learning curve" existed when creating and uploading videos. However, maintaining a perspective that you will learn a lot by trouble shooting helps you be patient through the development process.

I found youtube to be the most helpful video service on the web. I looked into using teachertube but found the video limitations were even more strict than youtube. I found this true for yahoo as well. Flickr and Picasa have video options but they are very small, a minute at best.

Creating videos can be a great learning tool as well as an assessment, but caution: it takes time!

Edmodo | Home

Edmodo | Home

I will be using edmodo for my final project. I like edmodo for it can be described as a facebook for education. My main two goals or principles in selecting to use edmodo was to improve communication between myself and students and to improve organization. I feel like edmodo provides one website where students can get updates on projects, class notes, assignments, ppts, messages, etc. This will especially be nice if students are gone from my class.

You can try it out by going to: fritzlife.edmodo.com and applying as a student, group identification code is r72gmk, login is whs1 and password is whs1. You can see I have posted some notes, calendars, etc.

Any feedback or ideas on improvement are welcomed and appreciated!

Guiding Principles with Technology, Part II

After advancing my knowledge and understanding of web tools from taking Web 2.0 from Dr. Brunsell, my list of guiding principles in selecting technology to use in the classroom has changed some. First of all, using technology in the classroom can help develop a 21st century technology literacy in our students. This is a worthy goal in itself especially as our society becomes not only dependent upon technology but redefined by our technology. Secondly, many web based tools provide opportunities for teachers to accomplish learning goals as well such as the development of higher order thinking skills, data analysis or even content goals.

The following is a short list of principles to keep in mind when selecting technology to use in the classroom:

1. What is your goal? If a teacher's goal is to increase communication between faculty and students, a teacher mind consider using gmail, blogs, google docs, or twitter. Or, if a teacher's goal is to create some online collaboration between students, he or she might use a wiki, blog or wallwisher. Many nice web based tools exist but be careful to not fall into the trap of "activity mania" where students are active but in mindless or vain activities.
2. Is it user friendly? Teachers know well the diversity of learning capabilities in a classroom. Before "diving" into a new web based tool, be sure students will have a comfort level in using the technology. If adequate help and support are not provided, the student may become frustrated and give up on participation, ultimately missing out on a great learning opportunity.
3. How much will it cost? Again, research all of the capabilities offered by a web tool service. You may be able to accomplish your goals using their "free" version of the tool.
4. Can I kill two birds with one stone? Will the web tool allow me to be diverse or will it allow me to differentiate my instruction to meet student needs?
5. Will it cost me a lot of time? Teachers also know well the limited time available in the education world. Teachers must be selective in using web based tools so that precious time is not lost in creating some learning opportunity for students. Technology should improve efficiency of time use, not waste it!

Implementing technology in the classroom will be a norm shortly as we continue to venture into the 21st century of learning. However, one last admonition to teachers: Do not stop learning yourself! New web tools are always being developed. Follow some blogs and keep updated on new technologies you may use in your classroom!

Reflection on 2.0 Web class discussion

Taking the web tools 2.0 class was beneficial to not only me but a lot of educators this summer. I think it's safe to say everyone has "bought into" the need that students need experiences to develop a technology literacy that will enable them to be successful for the 21st century. Furthermore, one would think a student's motivation would be higher when the opportunity to work with web tools in the classroom arises. Below outlines some of the highlights and benefits teachers gained from taking Web Tools 2.0:

• Web tools exist that make learning and research more efficient and organized. For example, using diigo allows groups or individuals to save and organize websites for research projects. This is one step up from copying and pasting them into a google doc and then sharing with other group members.
• Providing students with opportunities for online collaboration is a valuable skill. First of all, this gives "quieter" students a better opportunity to give and receive input within a cooperative setting. Secondly, online collaboration using wikis and blogs helps prepare future web-based communication skills.
• Many web tools exist that provide students with a greater way to demonstrate learning. For example, rather than writing a lab report, students could post the different parts of the lab on an "online poster" at the glogster website. This also allows for audience feedback.
• In general, using web tools in the classroom can only promote a better learning experience. Whether a teacher uses prezi to "spice" up a presentation or having students participate in discussions online, teaching is changing to adapt to new needs for the 21st century learner.

I think teachers in general are grateful for the "forced exploration" to learn new web tools that will make teaching, learning and assessment more fruitful for everyone. Incorporating web tools in education can create a "win win" situation for everyone.

Edmodo | Free Private Social Platform for Education

Edmodo | Free Private Social Platform for Education

WOW! Edmodo is a great way to develop a SAFE social network between teachers and students. With a user-friendly sign-up for teachers and students, teachers can easily organize communication and classroom activities with students online. Edmodo is like combining twitter, facebook and the use of google docs all in one!

Teachers can create a calendar for students to follow classroom activities as well as due dates. Teachers can post messages for students to read and comment. Teachers can assign assignments and have students upload these assignments right on edmodo.

With the ease of facebook and twitter, edmodo can be the answer many teachers are looking for in developing a social network in the classroom!

Wikis and Blogs in the 21st Century Science Classroom

In an ever growing dependence on social learning on the web, students are needing more experiences in the classroom with 2.0 technology to develop the necessary skills to be successful. Wikis and blogs can be two useful tools to accomplish this goal in the 21st century science classroom.

Blogs are simply online journals or diaries that post entries in reverse chronological order. Blogs could be used by students or teachers. Teachers could start by posting their own blogs and having students comment on the blog. OR, students could create their own blogs to share insights gained from classroom activities, results of experiments, relevance of content to real world or current scientific events. Blogs could be used as learning tools or assessment tools.

Wikis are more interactive than blogs. Wiki pages are pages that give the author more freedom and choice to decide the page's purpose. For example, wiki pages could become a center for social networking between groups in a class or classes outside the school district. The wikis could be used for learning tools as well as assessment tools. The following is a list of ways wikis could be used:

• Students posting research to be shared within a group or with other groups
• Students discussing experimental results and conclusions
• Students posting discussion comments about classroom content
• Group collaboration on some activity
• Students obtain resources posted by the teacher
• Parents obtaining information from what is being taught and learned in class

One of the great benefits of using blogs and wikis is that both are user-friendly. Most sites are free and provide tutorials for easy setup and use. Furthermore, research is showing that student participation in wikis and blogs is increasing classroom participation. Wikis and blogs will provide the opportunities students need to develop 2.0 literacy in today's classroom!

Challenge Based Learning

Challenge Based Learning

Today's employment needs go much beyond just having a degree. People need to effectively converse with one another, work as a team, identify problems and solutions to those problems, develop and implement improvement plans, effectively communicate to an audience, manage projects, etc. The skills necessary for these job requirements cannot be learned through traditional teaching methods such as the "lecture, notes, worksheet, quiz...." format. Students need to be in situations where they are first of all interested, taking ownership over learning something new, creating a plan to act on what has been learned.

Challenge based learning is a concept that teachers can try to promote to develop such learning and skills previously mentioned. Teachers need to start becoming more creative in encouraging students to take creative ownership in learning and then challenging themselves to act on what has been learned to better themselves and society. Challenge based learning offers this vision! Learn more...

Using Online Data in Inquiry - Is Iowa's climate changing?

Data for this graph was obtained from:

http://mesonet.agron.iastate.edu/climodat/index.phtml?station=IA2203&report=17

The above website allowed me to research yearly rainfall totals for the Des Moines, Iowa airport for the last one hundred years. You can easily change what type of data you would like to see as well as changing your location within the state. Access to this data provides students with the opportunity to research and collect data, analyze the data, organize the data in tables or charts, and create conclusions the data supports. These are all necessary thinking skills in the inquiry process.

For example, I copied and pasted monthly and yearly precipitation totals in excel and had excel graph yearly totals over time. Above is a graph showing my results and I also had excel add a trendline with the equation to see if the yearly amounts of precipitation are changing in the state of Iowa. The access and work with this data would be a great activity for students to generate an argument for global warming and climate change.

Note: I had to do some formatting in excel as well as saving the graph as a jpeg image before uploading to blogger. These skills may take some direct instruction for students to develop these skills.

Astronomy Labs and Inquiry

Engaging Students in Astronomy Inquiry using Online Data Summary

http://www.uwyo.edu/capersupport/docs/Astronomy_Inquiry-2010-1ed_Oct22-2009.pdf

This is a great resource to have students engaged in inquiry. The structure of the labs and activities is designed after a "backward faded scaffolding" approach to inquiry. The students start off in the inquiry process in a structured manner to eventually collecting data from their own investigation to answer their own generated question to arrive at a conclusion.

More specifically, the scaffolding looks like:

1. Students start with examining data and deciding if the conclusion provided for the data set is supported by the data

2. Then, students are provided with a structure to collect data and determine a conclusion that the data supports

3. Then, students must collect data on their own with the goal of creating a conclusion to a researchable question

4. Then students can generate their question to research

This model not only works for astronomy but students could easily be engaged in this process in any scientific area. Furthermore, this a great way to introduce students to inquiry over a period of time.

Also, keep in mind this process will definitely be aided by having the data sets online researched in advance to be available to help the scaffolding!

VoiceThread - Group conversations around images, documents, and videos

VoiceThread - Group conversations around images, documents, and videos

This link will take you to an online discussion where educators are sharing their ideas on how they are using voicethread in the classroom. Go to the link add your input.

Some of the topics include:

1. Assessments in foreign language with the audio option posting

2. History projects - posting real pictures or postcards from family history

3. Book projects

4. Poem analysis

5. Undergrad work -online discussions

6. Archives

7. Higher Order Thinking Development

Others?

Example of Voicethread

Below is the voicethread I used as an activity and assessment tool with my high school astronomy class.

Using Videos in the Classroom

Having read a chapter in, "Technology in the Secondary Science Classroom," I was inspired on how I might use videos and images from the web in my science classroom. The following lists how I could use images and videos to develop conceptual understanding or science thinking skills with my students:

1. Using videos to develop science thinking skills (as well as higher order thinking skills). Using movie clips that demonstrate motion, videos of demonstrations or experiments or using your own videos, have students make predictions on the possible outcomes. Then, show the results with the video and have students give explanations. Using videos this way could also serve as a great way to initiate student led inquiry.
2. Assessment Strategies using videos. Following a study of some scientific concept, show a movie clip, video clip or your own video to the students to analyze. For example, following a study on plate tectonics and volcanic development, a teacher could show a variety of volcano images and have students argue which volcanoes could have been formed from subducting sea floors.
3. Collecting Data and Observations. Encourage students to download their own images or videos as a means to have data to later analyze. For example, have students take pictures every day of a single plant growing and then have them create a movie with the images for analysis.

Capitalizing on the visual resources on the web can only enhance the higher order thinking and conceptual understanding development in the 21st century science classroom!

Guiding Principles with Technology

Using technology in the classroom is vital to prepare students to be successful in the 21st century. The following are some guidelines I am currently following and hoping to refine before the school year:

1. Will this use of technology promote original thinking or production?
2. Will this use of technology help develop higher order thinking skills?
3. Will this use of technology promote online collaboration between groups?
4. Will this use of technology promote the use of inquiry skills?
5. Will this use of technology help develop confidence in trying new means of technology on the web?

I have found a lot of success using voicethread with my students and I became very excited about using glogster. However, when we kept having software issues (glogs not saving, losing usernames, losing images, not saving, etc), the students became quickly disgruntled in using glogs. This was discouraging because students really liked the idea when it worked! I took mental log...students want user-friendly technology!

Using Real Time Data in the Science Classroom

The image above is what you will see when you visit "Science in your Backyard" hosted by USGS website. Click on your state and a variety of real time data for earth sciences will be available. Below I will outline a couple of ideas on how you might use this website in your classroom:

1. Using Current Events - I clicked on "IA" and found an article about the effects of a warmer, drier climate developing in Iowa and the effects this will have on Iowa waterfowl. The article highlighted research that indicates a greater sensitivity to a drying climate than previously thought. Updated, local and RELEVANT data and research like this could "spice up" a unit like global warming. Current events are also great formative assessment tools.

2. Real Time Water Data - Having access to real time water data could be a valuable resource for inquiry in the classroom. For example, we have received a lot of rain this year in Iowa (El Nino last year? This year?) and you can see in real time the effects this rain has had on local rivers. Students could make predictions on which rivers will reach floodstage and why and then access this website daily to collect data. Once data is collected, organized analyzed, a student could argue conclusions about watersheds and flooding in Iowa.

3. Resources Links - On this same page, I was able to access a link that gives updated reports on Iowa's mineral production each year. Those of you looking to "spice up" your mineral unit and make it more inquiry based could use this link to do a variety of things with minerals:

a. Research which states provide types of minerals and investigate trends

b. Research any yearly trends within your own state with mining and production of minerals

c. Research what types of minerals your state contains and then research which states are more probable to develop alternative energy resources

Developing science thinking skills as well as higher order thinking skills are more important than content retention. Using real time data in an inquiry based earth science classroom can provide your students with the opportunities they need to develop the necessary skills to becoming scientifically literate in the 21st century.

Go to the website and see how you might use this great resource in your classroom:

http://www.usgs.gov/state/

Updated Oil Emissions in the Gulf

Anyone paying attention to the last two months of attempts at stopping the oil leak will know the attempts have been less than fruitful. This recent disaster is certainly posing a long term threat to the coasts of the Gulf of Mexico. Two recent updates reveal this is more than a "leaky" problem.

New estimates reveal that the current amount of oil leaking in the Gulf is much more than what was previously estimated. Before this week, the current efforts at stopping the gushing oil was hoped to only allow 20,000 to 40,000 barrels of oil per day. However, this week Government Officials now say approximately 35,000 to 60,000 barrels of oil are leaking into the Gulf waters.

These new estimates were reached from several research teams using high-resolution videos, acoustic technologies, and measurements of oil and pressure amounts, according to CNN.

Furthermore, Government Officials have also discovered that many other oil companies operating here in the U.S. have similar response methods as did BP. Companies such as Exxon, Conoco, Sinclair, as well as others, have similar emergency response procedures with BP. New efforts are at work to improve emergency response procedures as well as maintenance procedures to avoid future disasters as we have witnessed these last two months.

Purpose of the Real Earth News Blog

This blog has been created first to fulfill a graduate class requirement towards a Masters Degree from Montana State University. Secondly, this blog will serve as a media outlet for my students to easily know the current events occurring in our world. Furthermore, this blog will allow students to interact with each other concerning current environmental and earth science news.

My goal is first to have something to hold me accountable to stay current on what is occurring in our world and to formulate a particular stance on the issues. Secondly, I hope that students will develop and awareness of environmental issues and furthermore, develop some "green" values to help be stewards of our precious resources. Hopefully, as students interact through this blog, students can learn from each others' input and therefore, personally synthesize some beliefs that will aid future decision making for our world.

Feel free to comment and give additional input to media outlets that give updates on what is happening in our world!

Afghanistan Mineral Wealth

A recent report posted on CNN revealed that U.S. military and geologists estimate the mineral weath in Afghanistan could be as high as $1 trillion. Specifically, the mineral deposits include gold, copper and iron. These are three widely used minerals in various technological applications. Certainly, these deposits could be a tremendous asset to the reconstruction and stabilization of a war-torn country.

However, I would like to warn Americans that historically, we do not have a good track record in "helping" countries with mineral wealth. Take a look at Congo, Africa. Congo is home to an abundance of an ore called, Coltan, short for columbite-tantalite. Coltan, when refined, is a very heat-resistant, corrosive-resistant, and highly conductive mineral used in all of today's technology including cell phones, laptops, games, hand held devices, etc. Historically, though, rather than this tremendous billion dollar business aid this war-torn country modernize, this wealth has fallen into the hands of corrupt governments of neighboring countries, including its own. Western countries, including those owned by previous American presidents, have aided the illegal trading of these valuable minerals. As a result, more people of Africa have died than in the Holocaust (some estimate as high as 7 million Africans). Over one million people still roam without food, shelter or occupation. And, a disheartening large number of children resort working in the mines or joing rebel militaries as a result of the war over the minerals.


Be discerning as the U.S. Government tries to "help" Afghanistan in developing its economic structure with this newly discovered wealth! I would hope the U.S. Government would learn from this tragedy in Congo before opening up this new mineral market to the Western World.