Tuesday, April 9, 2019
PhET Simulations
The University of Colorado - Boulder has a website completely populated with science simulations called PhET, and they are amazing. Simulation content ranges from physics and biology, to chemistry and math, and the simulations are not only incredibly accurate, but they are fun as well. For example, the simulation titled John Travoltage teaches students about the buildup of static electricity with a visualization of the transfer of electrons between objects, as well as how different charges interact with each other. Teaching science can be difficult especially when it comes to younger students, as visualizing an abstract phenomenon can be difficult for some students, but through playing around with a visual simulation of that phenomenon, the information can be presented to students in an engaging format. I would highly, highly recommend the inclusion of various PhET activities in any science classroom, but specifically at the middle school and early high school levels.
National Video Game Challenge
This would be a great resource for middle school teachers to use to show students how what they have been learning in school can be applied to a potential future career for them and expose them to new ideas of what they might be interested in for the future. Designing this video game requires students to think about systems, problem solve, collaborate with others, practice communication, and computer design and computational thinking. These are all skills that are necessary for people entering STEM fields to have and it is great for students to begin building these skills while still young.
http://stemchallenge.org/about/challenge-rules/
Make a Rube Goldberg Machine
Rube Goldberg machines are machines that perform a certain task by using chain reactions. There are many different ways to build Rube Goldberg machines which is great because it leaves students room to explore and make each project different from another one. This is a great STEM project because it incorporates science, technology, engineering and math. Students must perform trials to test their hypothesis, and retest them to improve what they think will work to perform the task. They must also plan out how far each object in their chain reaction can be from each other and how exactly to build it to perform it's task most effectively.
When introducing this project students should watch a video of a Rube Goldberg machine in action to build excitement for what they are doing and then be introduced to the problem their machine will be solving. These problems could include:
https://tinkerlab.com/engineering-kids-rube-goldberg-machine/
When introducing this project students should watch a video of a Rube Goldberg machine in action to build excitement for what they are doing and then be introduced to the problem their machine will be solving. These problems could include:
- Pop a balloon
- Blow out a candle
- Close a door
- Water a plant
- Crack an egg
Students can use ramps, drops, swinging objects or basically anything else they can imagine to build their machine.The awesome thing about this project is students can use almost any materials to build their machines so it does not have to be too costly if students choose materials that are already available or cheap to purchase. These machines are very neat to see in action but work best with older students. These students will love solving problems with their simple machines and will learn a lot from this activity.
Sunday, April 7, 2019
Trivia Crack
Trivia Crack is a mobile app that user can compete against other users across the world. Each player is given a question from six categories including; Entertainment, Art, Science, Sports, Geography, and History. When you start you will receive a total of five lives meaning you can start five different games and then will receive more after a given time on a timer. To begin your turn you will be asked to play with a friend or random opponent. Then you will spin a wheel that will determine what category the user will receive. The user then will have 20 seconds to answer the question the best to their general knowledge out of the four given choices. To win the game the first user to get all of the cartoon looking character wins. This game is fun way to test you knowledge and teachers can use this app in the classroom as fun way to have students maybe learn something that they don’t know already. Some of the questions can relate to things inside the classroom and some are things that the students learn from outside the classroom. I find this game to be fun and entertaining and would recommend this to teachers and friends.
Gameful Learning Pedagogy and Gradecraft
Having become familiar with the Gradecraft platform for the purposes of this course, I started to ask myself if I really know the true benefits of using gameful learning as a pedagogical approach in my future classroom?
Gameful leaning is a pedagogical approach that takes inspiration from good games function and applies that to the design of learning environments. Gameful design operates in a self-deterministic framework to intrinsically motivate students. In order to move towards accomplishing this theory, student autonomy, solid learning objectives, and proper feedback, the freedom to fail, and transparency must be goals set.
Student autonomy can sometimes be underlooked in educational practices, but students need to have some control over their learning environment. It is suggested that students should be able to make decisions of how they will earn 50% of the points they need to get an A. So if you establish a design where students need 10,000 points to get an A, then 5,000 might come from assignments you ask everyone to complete and 5,000 from assignments
Feedback is highly encouraged by instructors and to give it to students as quickly as possible. Descriptive feedback is also as important and platforms such as Gradecraft are working to provide a variety of tools to support this.
Freedom to fail can seem like a scary concept for students, but we as educators should always encourage students to take risks and try things. Working hard, practicing over and over again, failing miserably. Sounds scary, right?! However, if we structure learning opportunities to be flexible and non-competitive, students will enjoy the experience and make it meaningful.
Transparency is truly the only way a system like this would work and in order to have transparency, instructors should have their assignments designed and ready to go right from the beginning. There are also no grading curves. Just as in games, you don't get points "extra points". Students need to be able to know that whatever points they earn maps directly to the grade they'll get.
A gameful learning pedagogy is a practice that I highly recommend that sets the bar high for students and motivates them to succeed and create high-quality work.
Reference: Gameful Pedagogy: Motivation First Pedagogy. (2018). The University of Michigan Office of Academic Innovation. Retrieved: http://www.gamefulpedagogy.com/
Gameful leaning is a pedagogical approach that takes inspiration from good games function and applies that to the design of learning environments. Gameful design operates in a self-deterministic framework to intrinsically motivate students. In order to move towards accomplishing this theory, student autonomy, solid learning objectives, and proper feedback, the freedom to fail, and transparency must be goals set.
Student autonomy can sometimes be underlooked in educational practices, but students need to have some control over their learning environment. It is suggested that students should be able to make decisions of how they will earn 50% of the points they need to get an A. So if you establish a design where students need 10,000 points to get an A, then 5,000 might come from assignments you ask everyone to complete and 5,000 from assignments
Feedback is highly encouraged by instructors and to give it to students as quickly as possible. Descriptive feedback is also as important and platforms such as Gradecraft are working to provide a variety of tools to support this.
Freedom to fail can seem like a scary concept for students, but we as educators should always encourage students to take risks and try things. Working hard, practicing over and over again, failing miserably. Sounds scary, right?! However, if we structure learning opportunities to be flexible and non-competitive, students will enjoy the experience and make it meaningful.
Transparency is truly the only way a system like this would work and in order to have transparency, instructors should have their assignments designed and ready to go right from the beginning. There are also no grading curves. Just as in games, you don't get points "extra points". Students need to be able to know that whatever points they earn maps directly to the grade they'll get.
A gameful learning pedagogy is a practice that I highly recommend that sets the bar high for students and motivates them to succeed and create high-quality work.
Reference: Gameful Pedagogy: Motivation First Pedagogy. (2018). The University of Michigan Office of Academic Innovation. Retrieved: http://www.gamefulpedagogy.com/
Thursday, April 4, 2019
Mathway
Mathway is one of the most useful free calculator websites/apps
that offers instant answers to the users most complex math equations. The website practically solves anything from basic math problems,
geometry,algebra to more complex calculus equations and trigonometry.
Developed by Mathway LLC, this app is compatible with iPhone, iPad, and
iPod touch.
The free version only gives the answers, but a subscription will give
step-by-step solutions to problems in a wide variety of math types. It
is a highly recommended app for all students who are struggling with
math problems. An excellent topic glossary and intuitive interface make
for straightforward use.
Wednesday, April 3, 2019
PhET
https://phet.colorado.edu/
PhET is a website that contains FREE interactive math and science simulations for all ages. The project is run by the University of Colorado Boulder. These simulations help students understand concepts with ZERO cost! These simulations are great when you do not have a proper setting for chemical experiments or these is no budget for lab materials. I have used these in my classroom for many years and they keep adding new simulations. The simulations are easy to manipulate. They also have accompanying g teacher resources which range from slide shows to worksheets to guided lab inquiries and some even included quizzes.
PhET is a website that contains FREE interactive math and science simulations for all ages. The project is run by the University of Colorado Boulder. These simulations help students understand concepts with ZERO cost! These simulations are great when you do not have a proper setting for chemical experiments or these is no budget for lab materials. I have used these in my classroom for many years and they keep adding new simulations. The simulations are easy to manipulate. They also have accompanying g teacher resources which range from slide shows to worksheets to guided lab inquiries and some even included quizzes.
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