Post 6, Assignment 1, Reflective 5, Week 6

I love using the ICT's in the classroom!

But wait, there's still more...

This week we dipped our toes in to some additional digital tools classed as Animations and Simulations.

Animations and Simulations include a variety of tools that can offer massive advantages over textbooks when it comes to complex and abstract concepts. They can also offer an online and virtual experience where the real thing is too expensive or difficult to provide for the students such as flying to space to see the world from above!

I had a look/play with all the additional tool and feel in love with a few, especial Google Earth and the interactive Learning Objects. The interactive Learning objects where amazing interactive games that are learner based and well laid out. I would love to see more off these and could definitely see the learning benefits for all student, that's if you could find the right game for the right learning requirements as I don't see myself creating one anytime soon so I would be restricted to what was available. 

The ICT I wanted to explore more was Google Earth, I could see so much potential to visualize the world as a whole and utilize the layers available, which I will cover in a moment. For your interest I have had a play and reviewed each of the tools in a basic form.

ICT Tool	Ratings	Descriptions	Comments
Interactive Learning Objects	5/5	Interactive learning objects are web based objects that allow students to visually understand and virtually interact with phenomena that they learn about in the classroom.	Amazing ability to merge a game with education, I designed a mobile phone, investigated a crash. I felt it animated real life situations in an easy scaffolded way to create a great learning platform.
Adobe Flash	4/5	Adobe Flash Player is the standard for delivering high-impact, rich Web content.	A great software for multiple viewing Designs, animation, and application user interfaces are deployed immediately across all browsers and platforms, attracting and engaging users with a rich Web experience. http://www.adobe.com/software/flash/about/
Google Earth	5/5	Google Earth is a virtual globe, map and geographical information program	Google Earth lets you fly anywhere on Earth to view satellite imagery, maps, terrain, 3D buildings, from galaxies in outer space to the canyons of the ocean. https://www.google.com/earth/
Google Maps	5/5	Provides directions, interactive maps, and satellite/aerial imagery of many countries. https://www.google.com.au/maps?source=tldsi&hl=en	Google Maps are a fun and visual way to help students understand geography concepts, map reading, location, and distance measurement. Besides using Google Maps to teach the fundamentals of mapping, like latitude and longitude, you can inspire students to investigate the world and to think spatially.  http://maps.google.com/help/maps/education/learn/
Google Docx	3/5	Create a new document and edit with others at the same time -- from your computer, phone or tablet.  http://www.google.com/docs/about/	This is a must have if you are working together on a document in real time. Each participant will have a flagged cursor so you can see who is working where, and doing what. Then the document is saved with everybody's input. https://moodle.cqu.edu.au/mod/page/view.php?id=15661
Online concept mapping	5/5	A mind map is a diagram used to visually organize information. See below on my blog for an example.	I have been using these online tools throughout my study and I love the use of them to explain the overall links with a concept. They are fantastic for consolidating information to produce a clear picture of information
Online timelines	4/5	Wikipedia defines a timeline as a kind of graphic design showing a long bar labeled with dates alongside itself	Dipity is a free digital timeline website.  Users can create, share, embed and collaborate on interactive, visually engaging timelines that integrate video, audio, images, text, links, social media, location and timestamps. http://www.dipity.com/
Zooburst	4/5	ZooBurst is a digital storytelling tool that lets anyone easily create his or her own 3D pop-up books. As an educational tool, ZooBurst provides students with new ways in which they can tell stories, deliver presentations, write reports and express complex ideas.	ZooBurst contains a powerful “classroom management” feature for teachers that lets them easily set up protected, safe spaces for their students. http://www.zooburst.com/
Museumbox	4/5	This site provides the tools for you to build up an argument or description of an event, person or historical period by placing items in a virtual box. What items, for example, would you put in a box to describe your life; the life of a Victorian Servant or Roman soldier; or to show that slavery was wrong and unnecessary? You can display anything from a text file to a movie. http://museumbox.e2bn.org/	The basic format of Museum Box is the cube. The application provides instruments for uploading just about any type of digital content, including images, videos, sounds, presentations, word processor documents, and Web links. Audio and text content can also be created directly in Museum Box, allowing users to explain and recount their information. Voiceovers can be created by speaking into a computer microphone and then saving the clip in Museum Box’s website. http://blog.planbookedu.com/promoted/page:11

Wow that's a lot of tools! Whats your favorite?
Easy, my favorite is...Google Earth

Google Earth has many benefits as you can see from my PMI on Google Earth

Positive presents a great deal of information in a geographic context is easy to install and use is an excellent venue for inquiry-based activities is appropriate for educational use in a wide range of subject areas is an effective tool integrating the study of multiple disciplines is a great research tool has a large active user community with a public discussion forum is pre-loaded with a wide variety useful data enables users to create and display their own data can be launched easily to explore an issue that arises during an informal discussion is available for free download.  http://serc.carleton.edu/sp/library/google_earth/why.html

Minus Like all online tools there can be software issue and you may need a backup plan and  a safety policy.

Interesting The amazing layers and additional information available The space and universe functions

I linked my Prezi presentation (from last week) to Google Earth within an additional activity for my Year 9 Earth Science lesson plan. I wanted the students to be able to use the layers available and identify the types of volcanoes within the ring of fire (tectonic plate activity bordering Australia). 

Prezi - Tectonic Plates

This ideally would lead to a summary Globster page which was upload to the central Weebly. I have shown these links by developing a very useful mind map!

My Mind map shows the use of programs like Prexi, Google Earth and Globster being linked in to a lesson plan

Higher order thinking with a view to developing students’ deep

understanding and ability to construct insightful questions, are identified by Moyle (2006) as desirable objectives for teaching and learning with ICT. I aimed to create higher order learning through scaffolded questions, and student centered activities that lead to a group collation of their work. This would aid them to research and evaluate the information to present a creative posters that shows knowledge and understanding.

Is this one of those redefinition of ICT's in the classroom thing?

Well done, your learning!

Yes, I do feel that Google Earth have more than the ability to meet the highest level of the SAMRs model, it certainly redefines what was once possible in the classroom.
When you consider that before such ICT applications such as Google Earth, we had world globes. A small, limited resource that was often lacking much detail and not very engaging. 

Now, we have completely redefined learning with Google Earth. I felt that Google Earth was a fantastic higher learning tool as it lets you fly anywhere on Earth from galaxies in outer space to the canyons of the ocean, Google Earth allows the user to view satellite imagery, maps, terrain, 3D buildings, zooming in and out to see the detail or the big picture. 

These functions give us as teacher an amazing ability to take and show students aspect of the world that were inconceivable before such an easy, free, piece of technology. By giving us the ability to use the layers of information in a 3D form, it can facilitate understanding of the Earth systems and the many subject areas that relate to it, ranging from natural sciences to social sciences, history, art, engineering and any other topic that has a geographic component. 

A great example of using Google Earth and redefining learning in Science
http://www.slideshare.net/belindaastanton/tpack-samr

 Google Earth can be used:

• to support hands-on inquiry by students in computer classrooms.
• as a basis for homework assignments.
• for dynamic presentations during class lectures.
• for inquiry during class presentations.
• to create imagery and maps for PowerPoint, Word, and other presentation tools.
• as a data discovery, organization, and distribution tool for research projects.
• to enrich discussion of an issue that arises spontaneously during an informal classroom discussion. http://serc.carleton.edu/sp/library/google_earth/why.html

How have teachers used Google Earth in the past, what resources are there?

Great question, some examples of Google Earth being used in the classroom include...

Declan DePaor at Old Dominion University is having students create a collection of Google Earth teaching materials entitled Google Earth Science. This set of materials includes KMZ files that represented various types of tectonic plate boundaries, mountain belts, volcanoes, and other geological features as cross sections, and includes a profile of the atmosphere and Earth's magnetic field. Cutaways also represent the three-dimensional structure of the Sun, Mercury, Venus, Mars, the Earth, and our moon. http://serc.carleton.edu/sp/library/google_earth/why.html

Ron Schott's Geology Home Companion Blog offers lots of educational material and data, including "Where on (Google) Earth" puzzles that challenge visitors to find locations using Google Earth imagery along with clues. http://serc.carleton.edu/sp/library/google_earth/why.html

I can see loads of potential for it applications in my own teaching areas such as;

Science

• Explore the Earth's many ecosystems and habitats on all of the continents
• Identify topographic features such as types of volcanoes
• Explore the rich resources from  the Science Education Resource Center (SERC) to help facilitate better understanding of the Earth's many systems
• Explore the under water terrain, visit sea vents, and learn about the health of the ocean. 

Math

• Use Real World Math and the variety of lesson plans that utilise Google Earth to teach a wide range of math concepts, such as scale, geometry and distance
• Use the Ruler tool to calculate distances in various units of measurements
• Find the angle of elevation for hiking trails or ski runs using trigonometric functions

As an additional activity for my Yr 9 science lesson, I directed them to Google Earth layers. Here are some screen shoots of Google Earth looking at the volcanoes that make up the ring of fire (watch the Prezi!).

Google Earth additional information in layers

A fantastic feature that I wanted to use within my lesson plan was the additional information that Google Earth layers provided. For example when a volcano was selected, It provides a great addition to the visual side as it consolidates an amazing amount of information with a simple click. Making it very easy to use, engaging and educational. I would have my students continue from the prezi site to Google Earth with a set of questions to answer that would scaffold critical and creative thinking. Such as;

1. What types of volcanoes predominantly make up the ring of fire?
2. What are the characteristics of these types of volcanoes? and 
3. What Tectonic processes cause these features?.

Another great way to build on the use of maps and create higher order thinking is to use Scribble maps. Scribble maps allows maps to become interactive and could be used  in a classroom by setting scaffolded questions like, draw the ring of fire, what features can you see, what do you think causes the geological features?

I have attached my examples of using scribble map for this topic.

Set the world map and get the students to be creative and apply there new knowledge, what do they see?

Here is an example of scribbling - the students would look for features to identify the ring of Fire and outline their guess backed up with a explanation.

The collected information can be consolidated and presented on a Globster which is an online scrapbooking tool that allows the student to place many types of information on a single page.The Globsters can be embedded in the central Wiki or Weebly site as a great evidence of activity and learning. Opportunities for students to undertake both individualistic and collaborative learning were emphasised by Moyle (2006) as necessary for students’ development and I would aim to provide both group and individual activities such as individual scribble map activity and group work creating a Globster.

I have embedded an example of a Globster on my wikispace and would complete this lesson plan with a group collaboration creating a Globster, and then collating it into the central Weebly to give evidence of learning.

A Globster used as to summaries learning in a topic/unit

Any advice on using online ICT tools?

Some of the amazing tools available have the ability to transform the classroom, Google Earth can take you to space and right back down into your back yard. There are not many substitutes for that experience and the learning that can come from such software is limit less so my advice would be know whats out there, take the time to know what the programs can do. 

As quickly are we learn about the new programs, more will be developed. Keep up to date on what available and use it right. 

Again choose right, plan well, reach that goal and redefine learning.

Cheers Cassie

References

Moyle, K. (2006). Leadership and Learning with ICT: Voices from the profession, Teaching Australia - Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership 2006 Retrieved from http://www.aitsl.edu.au/docs/default-source/default-document-library/leadership_and_learning_with_ict_-_voices_from_the_profession

http://www.adobe.com/software/flash/about/

https://www.google.com/earth/

http://serc.carleton.edu/sp/library/google_earth/why.html

https://www.google.com.au/maps?source=tldsi&hl=en

http://maps.google.com/help/maps/education/learn/

http://maps.google.com/help/maps/education/learn/#tab=science

http://maps.google.com/help/maps/education/learn/#tab=math

http://www.google.com/docs/about/

https://moodle.cqu.edu.au/mod/page/view.php?id=15661

http://www.dipity.com/

http://www.zooburst.com/

http://museumbox.e2bn.org/

http://blog.planbookedu.com/promoted/page:11

http://libguides.madisoncollege.edu/newmedia/learningobjects

http://instructionaltechtalk.com/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-prezi/
http://ditchthattextbook.com/2014/03/13/rethinking-samr-tpack-and-using-technology-well/?relatedposts_hit=1&relatedposts_origin=1673&relatedposts_position=1
http://www.slideshare.net/belindaastanton/tpack-samr