Review of Gas Crunch Project

Gas Crunch is a project where students complete activities related to the central question of "How would an alternative fuel affect the lives of the citizens of our country?"

The materials and activities for this project are available through the PBL Online Colaboratory (you can access this project after a free online registration). There are 9 documents available for download and use by teachers and students. This project is technology laden. Each student needs to have access to and knowledge of computer spreadsheets.

I like the way the PBL online-colaboratory presents projects. The structure of:
Begin with the End in Mind
Craft the Driving Question
Plan the Assessment
Map the Project
Manage the Process
provides a framework for educators to use the resources provided online but "do their own thing" based on their teaching style. The project is not scripted, therefore teachers have to think about what would work best in their classroom. Also, the Word documents are editable, instead of pdf files that you can't edit.

This project is more math oriented. I think I'll have students complete a project based on this theme around Christmas. Students like cars, and this project would maintain internal motivation throughout the month of December.

Possible First Project: Energy Choices

Using project based learning integrates many different disciplines to complete a unit of study. However, I am responsible for teaching all of the science standards in one year. Therefore, I only have the instructional time with students proportional to those science standards. Also, I have no time during the school day to collaborate with other teachers at my school.

I am thinking of setting up a wiki to enable the teachers to collaborate on one project this fall, once things settle in at the beginning of the year. We would hope to start the project by late September to early October. I am hoping for a project related to energy plans of the two presidential candidates.

To incorporate Web 2.0 tools, I hope for students to be able to create graphic organizers, presentations, and videos that can be posted to our St. Adalbert Middle school wiki space. I am not exactly sure how this will all fit together. I am still hoping for a classroom laptop set for our school in the fall. If not, I'll have to start getting resources/activities in order for this project to be successful.

The PBL Co-Laboratory

The PBL Co-Laboratory is an online forum for project based learning. The co-laboratory allows teachers to browse already created projects while allowing teachers to create new projects.

I like the dashboard teachers can set up. Teachers can classify projects as "favorites," and "my projects," while creating their own projects that can be worked on in collaboration with others.

The search feature allows teachers to browse already created projects and to see the format of those projects. Teachers within a school could work on professional development by analyzing these project summaries. I certainly will be reviewing some of these projects in the future.

Review of The Great Earth Day Carpool Project

"The Great Earth Day Carpool" project has students find the average number of cars in the school parking lot and compare this average with the number of cars on Earth Day. Students encourage teachers to carpool to work to reduce carbon emissions. Estimated carbon emission reductions are calculated and posted online. The project suggests students create a powerpoint to show teachers about the benefits of carpooling. Other promotional activities would also be appropriate.

I like the interdisciplinary nature of this project. Integrating math and science in a service learning type project makes this project engaging. The wiki allows those who register the opportunity to edit their own information and use other recordings to compare information. It would also be interesting for students to compare the amount of carpooling and other variables at each school. After the project is completed, students could look up demographic information about specific schools to analyze trends in the information. They might be able to compare school location, amount of carpoolers, and air pollution data from other sources.

Review of Down the Drain

"Do you think people in other parts of the world use more or less water than Americans? Well, this collaborative project will help you find out the answers to these questions. By collecting data on water usage from people around the world you will be able to see how your water use compares to others and determine what you might do to use less water."

This quote describes the goal of Project Down the Drain. I like the real life data that students collect and share by participating in this project. Students compile information as a class and then submit online. They also are able to review information posted by other classes throughout the world.

One way the project could improve is by getting more information from around the world. An overwhelming majority of reports were from the US.

I think an interesting activity would be for students to use this information to create a map where the size of circles indicates the amount of use. Also, a teleconference between classrooms to discuss differences in water use would be interesting.

Review of Global Ecosystems Project

Overview: Students learn about biotic and abiotic factors within an ecosystem by creating a powerpoint presentation that is posted online for sharing. Students use pictures they have taken of their local ecosystem for the project. The power of this project is for students to learn about their own ecosystem, sharing that information, and learning from other schools and areas about other ecosystems.

This project has good intentions. I like the teacher and student resources that make this project a good one for teachers beginning to phase in project based learning. It is also low in terms of the amount of technology required (digital camera and computer with internet connection).

However, only two different ecosystems are currently posted on the webpage (both apparently from the same school). Also, urban ecosystems are somewhat discouraged by the request for rural ecosystems. I think I am going to partake in this project in the fall and spring this year. I hope to be able to have students add the South Bend urban ecosystem and the Lake Michigan Beach area ecosystem (after a field trip to the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore).

One final thought about this project. I would try and incorporate the activity of sharing basics about specific ecosystems with a service learning component. Students would determine what the most important part of the ecosystem is to protect and then create a plan to go about protecting that part of the ecosystem. The implementation of this plan and reflection on the project as a whole would be assessed.

Review of Project BudBurst

Project BudBurst allows individuals from across the United States to report data related to plant growth each season. From first leaf to full flower, participants are able to provide information about local plant observations.

I like this project for its collaborative features and ease of use. With a single internet ready computer, a class can participate in this online project. I also like the excel data set that students could use in the classroom. Finally, because one must report everything related to a plant at once, this forces students to keep a detailed notebook throughout the spring, summer, and fall.

I do not like this project because of its purpose. "With your help, we will be compiling valuable environmental and climate change information around the United States." To assume they are compiling "climate change information" instead of simply climate information, puts the conclusion ahead of the observations. Especially since the project started in 2007, it will be difficult to obtain meaningful "climate change information" in one year.

The real use of this data would be done by scientists who would compare the BudBurst data with precious years' data. However the method of collecting data for those previous years would be a little different from the BudBurst's method.

Possible Problems

Because of the lack of technology at home, and having 4 computers in my classroom, I am worried about using technology in education. I foresee the following as problems to solve/overcome with possible solutions in parentheses...
1.) Students typing speed (allow students to play typing games afterschool)
2.) Disparity in internet access between students (allow afterschool access to those who don't have internet at home, have students get library cards)
3.) Online advertisements. Students see "Free Groceries" and click because they know their family needs groceries. (Proactively teach and show on an overhead projector how this type of scheme works)
4.) Student to computer ratio. (Have stations and work for students not using the computer)


I am sure other problems will arise, but it is nice to have a plan to preempt some issues in the classroom.

Planning for Next Year: Google mail and Docs

As I plan for next year, I am wondering the steps to initiate my first "project." I currently am excited to try to have all students create a gmail account the first day of school. Students will use this account solely for school purposes. Using the Google Docs features, this should simply any electronic documents, presentations, and spreadsheets students use throughout the year. Our school has shared file space, but students could delete other students work. By having students save their work online using Google Docs, this should be secure. Also, by having an email solely for school, I can require students share their password with me. This way, students have a backup for forgetting their email password.

Hopefully, this lays the groundwork for students to engage in project based/student centered learning using technology for the rest of the year. At least students will have an email address to use whenever they sign up for online collaborative activities.

First Podcast?

Here is me reading the 6th grade science standards. I am testing my ability to podcast. I am not sure this is technically called a podcast.
1.) I recorded this audio on Audacity.
2.) I exported the file as an .ogg
3.) I convert the .ogg to .mp3 using switch.
4.) I created a blip.tv account.
5.) I uploaded the audio to my blip.tv.

I am not sure if it is easier some other way. Probably. I had headaches trying to convert to .mp3. I also couldn't upload .mp3 to youtube, therefore I went with blip.tv.

My Social Bookmarking Page

I have been compiling resources using social bookmarking. Visit del.ico.us/JGensic to use the work completed on categorizing websites related to student centered learning, project based learning, web 2.0, and other related topics.

I can see how students could use social bookmarking to evaluate resources online and organize research online. I am excited about using this in research projects. I am worried about how to allow different students to post to different social bookmarking sites using the same computer. Right now using my iBook with Firefox the "post to del.icio.us" always posts just to my page. How do I change this?

Introduction

Professionally I do the following...
-Teach middle schoolers
-Teach middle school math, science, health, and physical education
-Work at an under resourced Catholic School in Northern Indiana
-Try to juggle having a family with leading education reform at my school

My goals for this blog are the following...
-Give myself and others a place to reflect on attempts to shift from teacher centered classrooms to learner centered classrooms.
-Provide a location for people to share ideas about transitioning to a more learner centered classroom environment.
-Provide a place to share struggles about transitioning.


Currently, our school has wireless internet but a student computer ratio of about 7 to 1. I have taught for 3 years and am looking for new ways to teach science and math that reflect what actual scientists and professionals do with science and math.

This summer, my goal is to create a plan for fully using the four computers in my classroom (for project based learning), while at the same time establishing procedures at the beginning of the year. I am nervous about managing student behavior with only four computers. This means not all students will be able to use the computers at the same time, therefore I picture a stations approach working the best.

However, ISTEP testing is in the fall and the spring this year. Therefore I am looking at ways to use student centered approaches to prepare for those tests.