Login, Play & Learn

Fourth graders have been creating Cyberchase accounts at http://pbskids.org/cyberchase/games.html so that they can keep track of their scores and progress with selected Cyberchase math & science games. Students challenge themselves to improve their skills as the play more games. In addition to the challenging games, the process of creating a user name and password is part of our conversation about Internet Safety. Students practice creating a unique user name and private password with a password reminder question that can help them retrieve a forgotten password.

Bugs, bugs, bugs

Third graders learn about bugs, or more accurately, they become entomologists learning about insects. Outdoor explorations in the garden, photo opportunities and research sources give students an in depth understanding of this group of animals and the life cycles they exemplify. One amazing opportunity offered by the University of Illinois is an interactive session with scientists who have loaded student samples onto an electron microscope for viewing by a class. I was asked to "drive" the microscope which involves selecting between the ladybug, pill bug, fly and ant sent by the class and then zooming in to see a compound eye, the hair-like "setae", the grasping sections of the mouth, etc.

Student questions and sample images from one class are available at http://bugscope.beckman.illinois.edu/members/2009-093#top.

2nd Grade, Lesson 1

In our school setting 2nd grade is the first time students have access to computers. To start they year, they explored the drawing tools of Clicker Paint. The buzz of discovery in the classroom is the primary sound as 7 and 8 year olds manipulate the trackpads to create the colors, images and combinations that show their understanding of the possibilities for creating with this software. The classroom teachers and I use this program in a progression from Exploration to Illustrating a learning (Fall, Life Cycles, etc.) to Illustrating and adding text to describe learning. Every child experiences success, accomplishes a new skill and feels mastery of the technology involved.

Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works

Each summer I teach a course to a group of K-12 teachers through USM's Professional Development Center. This summer the course included 2nd and 3rd grade classroom teachers and a wide range of other middle and high school educators. Using a text based on Marzano's research-based strategies as considered through a lens of technology in the classroom. The week was an active series of sessions building wikis, moodle site, blogs and incorporating multimedia into instruction. The hope of a course like this is that teachers will expand the way they instruct as well as the ways they envision student demonstrations of learning. The link to the course wiki is http://usmepc508.wikispaces.com/.