WebQuest on WebQuests

In groups, we examined a Webquest which asked up to analyze other WebQuests. We each took on a role (Efficiency Expert, Affiliator, Altitudinist, or Technofile) and judge the WebQuests based on what our roles were looking for. Our group selected Grow School Greens. The WebQuest meets NETS standard 1 by having the students construct knowledge. It presents them with a task and asks them to gather important information and use that knowledge to make a decision.

WebQuest Assignment

For the WebQuest assignment, we each found a WebQuest in the field we will be teaching which was not well constructed and could be improved. We then constructed our own WebQuests using the old ones as a model.

I chose a WebQuest about gravity. In this WebQuest gravity will be treated as an enemy which must be overcome. I order to defeat this adversary the students must gain an understanding of the gravitational force.

Original Gravity WebQuest

This activity will not only meet several CSOs, it will provide students with resources to investigate ideas on their own. The Wequest specifically meets seventh grade natural science CSO SC.O.7.2.25 which states that students will learn to explain the effect of gravity on falling objects.

Think Aloud

SMART Board Demonstration

This week we experimented with SMART Boards. The class split up into groups. Each group was assigned a subject and had to find an activity to demonstrate. Out group decided to teach a chemistry lesson about the basic structure of an atom. We found a program online from the creaters of the SMART Board that worked like a PowerPoint. We also showed the class how they could use the SMART Board notepad draw a model of an atom, like the one below.

The other groups presented several interesting activities. One of the groups demonstrated a virtual frog dissection. Even if the teacher wanted the class to preform a real dissection, virtual demonstrations like these could familiarize the students with the tools and processes and make direction easier to follow.

On the other hand, out group spent two class periods getting our SMART Board to work correctly. At the end of our second period, I looked up a YouTube video that showed six year olds demonstrating how to callibrate a SMART Board. We got it working in the last two minutes of that period. Then, on the day we presented we found out that the computer set up for the class to use did not have the SMART Board notebook software. So we had to wait while the program loaded. In hindsight, we probably could have just used Windows Paint to model the atom like I did to create the Argon atom below.

I have seen a SMART Board used effectively in a chemistry class, but any teacher who want to use the technology needs to be aware that there might be problems.

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