The LAB-rynth of Science

At thought, at first, about naming this blog, “The party’s over!”  But there is a finality to that lyric which is really not what the purpose of this course is all about.  This is the beginning of the journey, not its conclusion.   To boldly go where no one has gone before?

I will still find moment to pause in any new aspect presented to me.  That is the nature of the true conservative, as all scientists are. (Don’t you DARE call me a Republican - those politicos had their chance to give the government back to the people and succumbed to lust for power.  But that’s a rant for a different venue.)

First, kudos for Shelley.  The time and effort that she had put into the coordination of this course would have been well beyond me.  Again, great job, Shelley!

Second, a number of us have been connected (wasn’t that the idea?) through the trials and tribulations of this course.  Let’s strive to keep in touch.  I hope that the list of participants could be in  some way archived.  After all, we are only a few trillion electrons apart.

Now, specifically which of my shiny new implements (listen to my voice-thread comment) do I currently find most useful.  Personally, I look forward to using the Library Thing to organize my personal library.  Evoca is a definite plus professionally.  I intend to use it on Ed-line next year.  YouTube videos on science topics may be good introductions or even reviews.  I need more time to pursue what is available.  Hey, I might even contribute as long as my tubby little self is not on camera.

I have read several Thing 23 posts.  All are in agreement that the kids are ahead of us in Internet 2.0.  And we must act to bring these methods of communication into the educational mainstream.  But the how to acomplish the task reminds be of a story.

A traveller passed three men working in a field.  He asked the first man, “What are you doing?”  The man replied, “Earning three dollars a day.”  The traveller asked the second man the same question.  The reply was, “Digging a ditch.”  When the third man was queried, he said, “We’re building a cathedral.”

So in this very daunting challenge, each needs to do what he or she can, whether it is digging a ditch or building a cathedral.  For, as my favorite author of the Bible puts it,  . . . “behold, I say unto you.  Lift up you eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already with harvest.” John 4:35, KJV.

I am comtempting one more post.  It’s the contarian in me, but there as some concerns I have about assumptions about the effectiveness of the electronic media as a teaching tool as well as some question about the ultimate effect on the actual physiological developmnt of the brain.  The problem is that I am having trouble with my meager communication skills in pulling the information together in a concise, readable message rather than some rambling, muddled mess.

At first I considered naming this blog, “Looking for Love in all the wrong places”, but that is really not what is going on in Classroom 2.0.  The participants are examining change, a fundamental change in the manner of communication.  Whether or not my contrarian approach to concept of social networking approves or disapproves, is really irrelevant.  To paraphrase the famous line from Poltergeist, “It’s here!”. 

Let’s address the official view.  From reading the governmental publication, Creating & Connecting, I felt that there are two basic concerns.    First was that the segment of the school populace referred to as the nonconformists were ahead in the application of social networking and this is somehow detrimental of the education establishment.  Nonconformist is a term I don’t particularly care for.  How about the disconnected - disconnected from the belief that the skill sets taught in school are of little real value.  Smart kids, under-achieving grades.  When queried, the only significant thing that Madonna was remembered for in high school by her teachers was that she didn’t shave under her arms.  If you really want a heads up about what the disconnected are evolving into, you need to read Dr. Steven Mizrach article, Technology and the Transformation of Identity.   But I digress.  Being smart kids, they find an outlet for the need to express themselves.  Ta-Da!  The Internet!  We are, of course, as educators, obligated to reconnect the disconnected.  To do so, we must establish communication on their level.  Again, the many facets of the Internet.  The publication continues with recommendations to address the use of social networking in education.

 But publication also states how reluctant administrations are to implement these changes?  Why?  For the same reason that many of my colleagues and myself are not rushing into this brave, new world.  Assessment or rather the lack of valid assessment.  Administrators of education institutions face parents that want grades, government bureaucrats that want measured achievement improvement, admission officials that want a means of comparison.   Assessment!

So I proceeded to do my Ning thing.  And this is where my first blog title came to mind.  After spending more than a hour searching Ning under the topics of science, chemistry and physics, most of the Ning linkages lack two things - relevant content and members.  Yes, I know that Mr. Richardson in the opening session that most bloggers only have five  or six frequent readers, but with most Ning networks in these areas were one, two or three.  And most were looking for assistance, hence the lack of content.  I did see several social groups gather about a particular teacher course or class.  But that specific approach seemed to have a limited appeal.  So for now I do not see a specific application for my course.

However, I personally took the plunge.  I did sign up for Content and Technology group in Classroom 2.0.  Or at least I think I did.  The methodology for registering for a particular group is a little vague.  Oh, yes, Klingon Confederation looked interesting, but I only speak Andorian and Vulcan.

Just in case, a reader may think that this commentator is opposed to social networking, let me assure that is not the case.  I belong to three professional list servers which according to the email administrator at Woodward is constantly over-filling my Inbox.

As some of the tasks, we had to do this was of moderate difficulty.  I modified the template page to make it more in keeping of my own nerd interests.  I suppose you might call Pageflakes “Web Site Construction Light”.  You really don’t have to mess with registering domain names and the such like.  And the ease of set up was along the same as the Edublogs format.  I did have some difficulty in trying to add some RSS feeds I wanted, but as I have household chores I must do, I will defer to solving that technical difficulty for some other time.

This post is to reflect on two questions:  How might this informational tool might be used in the classroom setting?  What themes or topics would be the focus of the Pageflakes?  Responding to the first question, it seems that the use of Pageflakes might just be the same as Ed-line.  And I have enough trouble getting my students to use Ed-line as is.  However, the Group feature does have the advantage of a more interactive engagement of the student than in Ed-line.   Up loading student school email addresses could allow them to add relevant information on a specific topic under consideration.  Oh, my Gosh, am I succumbing to this social net-working mind set?  I have found that some of the features of Ed-line a bit limiting which may not occur in Pageflakes.  I may have to examine this further.

I am not sure that I could find the appropriate theme or topic using Pageflakes that would fit into the nature of my course.  If I were asking the student to use the Internet as a research tool, other more direct informational techniques might more useful.  My comments on collaboration in Thing 20 are an examples.

Do I wish to share with the world?  Maybe, but only after a great deal of reflection.  If I am going to show the cyber world what I think is important to me, I want to very sure of what I would put into my Pageflakes.  So no stretchy thing for me at this time.

Google Docs and those related on-line applications are the future of word processing and related information management.  Even Bill Gates has said as much.  Why do you think that Microsoft wants Yahoo! so badly? 

But let’s critique the current state of Google Docs.  As with any new word processor program, you  have to learn its quirks.  Speaking of quirks, remember WordStar?  With the word processor I did two activities - created a new document and uploaded an existing program.  I wasn’t that impress with existing features of Google Docs word processor.  The font selection was limited; I couldn’t figure out how to set the page width for viewing; and how do you set the margins? 

Uploading an existing document was not all that seamless.  Again the limited selection of fonts wreak havoc on equations and formula.  I use symbol font for my scientific scribing.  I got some interesting Wing Ding equivalents.  Also the re-alignment of characters was a problem.

Through I currently do no use spreadsheet in my class, the practice spreadsheet I made seem to function fine.  I must admit that the form function in the spreadsheet has some interesting possibilities.  Say, I have an idea! (Twice in less than a month; no wonder my head hurts.)  See idea below!

I do little with PowerPoint presentations so I leave the evaluation of that aspect to someone much more experienced.

Actually, it would seem in a classroom setting that the use Google Docs would be inherently collaborative.  I could post an Objectives sheet as a Google Doc.  Students could access it, give responses to it, and have it peer reviewed for accuracy and clarity.  If I gave a group project, a collaborative presentation would be the ideal forum for pulling ideas together.  But the form feature show the most promise for some of those administrative tasks we teachers constantly do.

At the beginning of every year, a number of teachers have students fill in some sort of survey.  If a survey for all students were to be created using the form feature of the spreadsheet, it could be sent to all students using the their Woodward email accounts.  The students would fill them out and the information would be available for all teachers to use.  Recycled electrons and no leveled forests! 

Yes, the Google Doc approach will become more common place.  But outside of it obvious Internet tie-ins, it needs a lot more bells and whistles to be as attractive as Word.

Actually, I have been using de.licio.us for some time.  Being a nerd and all, one of my hobbies is that I collect Web sites on a wide variety of topics, such as finance, computer and Internet utilities, games and puzzlements and photography.  If I come across a site that I feel will be of use to a colleague, say David Widener, I use del.icio.us to give him a heads up on the site.  As department head I use de.licio.us to collect resources for use by members of the Middle School Science Department.   So I have tagged, bundled, networked.   Examples of the how I utilize del.icio.us can be found at http://del.icio.us/fruschen.  As for my contribution to our wiki page, I have bundled a few photography web sites which I think are amusing.

I looked for two videos in YouTube that I could use in my course.  The first was an impressive demonstration of dehydration of table sugar by sulfuric acid.   The second was about the effect of catalysts on the rates of chemical reactions.  As a “how-to” I discovered how to make a quiche.  But the one I selected for fun involves the unique application of “empty” calories and no calories at all. 

Video by EepyBird.com production 

I went to  TeacherTube and queried the same topics.  I only got one video, literally, on the topics I selected.  That particular video was pretty ho-hum.  Okay, TeacherTube has only been up and running for just over two years.  And its subscriber base is somewhat limited.  Like what kid is going to go voluntarily to something with the word teacher in it.

Would I, in the near future, make a contribution to TeacherTube.  No.  Does Teacher need quality contributions? Yes.  So why am I so reluctant.  First, I look fat when filmed - let me re-phase that - I look fatter.  Second, to do such a project I would need a spark of creativity but I’m afraind that my pink bunny is stone cold dead.  Now, if this were an inter-discplininary project, like with an English or creative writing class, I could see definite possibilities.

I have yet a third reason for hesitancy.  YouTube is passive; watching other involved in an event.  As a advocate of inquiry/discovery, I want my students doing the deed, not watch slack jawed.  Also this is yet another symptom of the alienation of real interaction between people engendered by the reliance of virtual world communication.  Rick Springfield expressed it much better than I.  Please click on link to here what he has to say.  (YouTube has denied embedding.)
 

Easiest Thing I’ve done; once I realized I had to turn the microphone on.  Looks like podcast are in my students’ future.  Oh, by the way, here is my podcast.

I did comment on three podcasts produced by my fellow participants.  I don’t want extra points; I WANT CHOCOLATE!

I had never touch an iPod until last summer during the course I was taking under David Widener.  The second time was when I gave my son his iPod as a Christmas present.   That is the extent of my practical experience with mp3 players and files. 

I didn’t download from iTunes.  I actually did that this past summer.  And you are correct.  It’s the wellspring of all podcasts.  So I investigated two other sources - Podcast Alley and Education Podcast Network.  First some general observations about both.  I preferred the arrangement of Education Podcast network.  I liked that I could click on on the icon and hear the podcast without subscribing first to my Goggle reader.  The topics I examined were appropriate to the maturity and educational needs of my students.  But several of the links I clicked were dead.  Podcast Alley did have a wider range of topics.  I did not delve into all of the areas available, so I take the course commentator’s word about questionable areas.  Interesting though, Religion and Spirituality had 80+ times more topic sites than did Science and Medicine.

In Podcast Alley, I looked? (listened) to selections in “The Naked Scientists” and “Skeptoid”.  The former deals with the current events in science.  The presentation would appeal to the Pod People.  The latter was more intriguing.  If I were teaching an Honors section, I might use it to have student analyze pseudo-science trends. 

 As I mentioned earlier, I did have some trouble accessing some of the listed sources in the Education Podcast Network.  Most of the sources were about biological and environmental topics.  There were more sources for science listed than in the Podcast Alley.  I did look “Science Podcast” from Science Magazine and “Periodicity” from the Wisconsin Society of Science Teachers.  Again the former was about newsworthy science events while the latter was more about the experience of teachers in the classroom.  I have much simpatico with my brethren up No’th.

Will I use pod-casting in my class?  I have already decided before taking this course that next year I would record my note taking sessions and post them to Ed-line.  I shall save my rationale for my Evoca podcast.

I am ahead of the curve on this one.  I have used JigZone for a number of years.  When I was recovering form the damage to my spinal cord, my manual dexterity was virtually non-existent.  I was looking for a way to improve my use of a mouse, so I thought moving the pieces of a virtual jigsaw puzzle would help.  It did, though frankly, I’m still not very good.  My construction times are horrible.   I really don’t know if this is “socially relevant” in the Internet 2.0 way or not.  But it is fun, diverting, and a little frustrating!  I have had a thought (my but it’s lonesome up there).  I may take one of those pictures I take of students, turn it into a jig saw puzzle and post it on my Ed-line site. 

There are two other focused play sites show possibilities for use in my course.  Quizlet is both collaborative and  sharable.  This could be quite useful in preparing for examinations.  Of course, the students should do the work, not me.  After some 32 years of teaching this material, I already know it.  The site also allows for does it allow comments, discussions, and ratings. 

The second possibility for use is iOutliner.   I do not have students write formal papers but I do have them do research as if they were going to write a paper.  This might be useful in showing how to organize information before writing anything.  However, the learning curve of this site may be too much for the average student.  I don’t want a technique like diagramming sentences in which the teacher became so bogged down in teaching the rules the usefulness of the activity was lost on the students.  I not sure if this site has any of the criteria of social relevance of the Internet 2.0.  Perhaps there are better sites along this out there in the cyber world.

Of all the social networking activities that we have done so far, I find this the most unsettling.  Are there so many people so deprived of close personal relationships out there that they must go to strangers for validation of their lives?  Is this yet another example of the Pod People philosophy of It’s All About Me?  Or is this an illustration of an aspect of mob psychosis, anonynity of action amidst the sea of others?

Okay, maybe that’s too harsh.  I am no trained psychologist, though I can see such a profession easily evolving-Psychoses of the Internet, Cyber Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Virtual Clinical Depression.  Talking about your computer getting a virus. 

Perhaps I am totally outside the generational loop.  As a young lady just mentioned to me recently, this Pod People generation have grown up and into this environment of sharing the personal parts of their lives.  This was alluded to in Mr. Richardson opening lecture.  Maybe this approach is the only outlet for the alienated, the dispirited, the alone, the pressured, can.  It is just a shame that there is no way to give them a hug.