Posted in School/Work, Science on Feb 2nd, 2009 7 Comments »
This picure was intended to make the students laugh but the motto of our school in the background is an important reminder. How can we use what we learn at school to serve our community?
I attended a webinar today. The speaker encouraged the teachers in our group to take students beyond the curriculum. She said [...]
Posted in School/Work, Science, Technology on Jan 20th, 2009 7 Comments »
View our Heat Technology Projects
The heat technology presentations were very impressive. While the students were given some choices, they designed projects that were original and innovative. Students made their own computer graphics or used their artistic skill to draw intricate diagrams. They made podcasts, movies, Power Points, and cartoons. We were able to share projects [...]
Posted in School/Work, Science, Technology on Jan 11th, 2009 No Comments »
I have been reading up on some of the common household appliances that make use of the heat technology we are reading in Chapter 10. Some are very challenging to explain but I think it is important to be able to apply the concepts we learn to actual real life experience.
Some interesting appliances are the [...]
Posted in School/Work on Jan 5th, 2009 No Comments »
Here is how we felt before leaving for Christmas break.
Here is how we feel now that we have returned from our refreshing break!
(Actually, these are pictures from Sydney’s science fair experiment. The water in the container represents cerebrospinal fluid and the first egg sustained damage because it lacked enough protective fluid.)
One of the things I [...]
Posted in School/Work, Science, Technology, Uncategorized on Dec 18th, 2008 1 Comment »
A student is making a podcast while her group performs a lab experiment.
Our podcasts are up an running! Here are some things I have learned. Windows media files need to be converted before they can be uploaded to the server but there are free online tools to solve that problem. Movies have to be small [...]
Posted in School/Work, Science, Technology, Uncategorized on Nov 29th, 2008 3 Comments »
Are you an independent, self-directed learner? That is one of the goals for my students this year. And I was so impressed last week to see that many of the students in my science and math classes are stepping up to this challenge.
Here is one example that was really amazing. During my prep period I was working on getting [...]
Posted in School/Work, Science on Oct 21st, 2008 4 Comments »
What did I learn from my students today? I learned who is afraid of spiders and who is not! Here is a picture of Fuzz Head who was found lurking in the hallways before school. I was called in to capture poor Fuzz Head and rescue him from a screaming teacher and students who were [...]
Posted in School/Work, Uncategorized on Oct 16th, 2008 4 Comments »
I read a lecture today that had these words at the end.
“Attention IS our scarcest and most valuable resource. What we do with our attention defines us.”
The speaker said that our attention is valuable. Every day we make decisions about who and what we will spend our attention on. But are we paying attention to the important things like connecting [...]
Posted in Creativity, School/Work, Uncategorized on Oct 8th, 2008 2 Comments »
What things should be on the test? I just watched a funny video that made fun of all the testing we do in schools. Why do we have to take tests anyway? I guess that schools test because students need to be held accountable for their learning. Here’s how I really know if students are [...]
Posted in School/Work on Oct 6th, 2008 No Comments »
In our class we are building a great sense of community. Students are helping students in their lab groups and we’re even working with students in Australia to share what we are learning. I am interested in seeing how community building affects how we learn this year. Will our efforts at collaboration inspire us to [...]
