Week 4 Dust Echoes and Inspiration

We logged onto the ABC website and entered Dust Echoes (abc.net.au/dustechoes).

Dust Echoes has many Aboriginal stories, accompanied by study guides, worksheets and activities.

We played one of the videos of the stories, and then captured images that told part of the story. We copied these images into Inspiration (via Paint), and in this way we were able to retell the story. This static visual representation of the story forced the reteller to rank which pictures were truly relevant to the story. In this way a teacher could ask the students to retell the story in 20 pictures, then 10, then 5. This was a good exercise in higher order thinking, and yet another way that ICT skills could be incorporated into learning and teaching, making lessons dynamic and engaging. I will definitely be using this in teaching.


We then explored the concepts of graphs, using M&M's. Students sort the M&M's in a packet into their various colours, and collate the results in Microsoft EXCEL. These data can then be used to create graphs. At this stage of development, the graphs can be vivid and colourful, even 3D, with pictures attached. The activity is a fun and engaging way to introduce EXCEL. The next time they use the program they can graph other things, like hair, eye colour, ages etc.

This exercise can then be used to explain what is the real purpose of graphs; they can be used to gleam lots of information. For instance, we can ask "why are there so many brown M&M's"? We can then go on to form an hypothesis: Brown M&M's are cheaper to make than colourful ones". We can then test this hypothesis by running an experiment. This leads us to the concept of the usefulness of experiments and concepts of economics. We can also use the exercise as an engaging way to learn about factories, health issues, history of sweets, pros and cons of sugar, where sugar comes from, the importance of the farming industry, ecological effects of farming, etc etc etc etc etc!!!!

Graphs in primary schools can be colourful and engaging; a good introduction to the plainer look of graphs in later study.

Week 3 Design Briefs and QUIA website (games, activities and quiz creation)

This week we were introduced to the concept of design briefs. It was an interesting process, as it was not only fun and engaging, it also had the potential to be used as a higher order thinking exercise. This last part was important; without it it became simply a diversion.

We were encouraged to use a cyclical process of whereby we investigated, designed, produced, analysed and evaluated a design. It was cyclical in that the evaluation stage could lead to further investigation, and the process would repeat, until a successful product was produced. Such a process indeed did employ higher order thinking; we were not asked to simply recreate someone else's product, thereby employing some fine motor skills, but by being asked to design and then critically evaluate our design, meant we needed to think about alternatives and solutions.

The design we were asked to come up with was how to make a 'frog' jump. We were given some materials (a picture of a frog, a piece of cardboard, some sticky tape, and a rubber band). We had to use all of the materials; none could be left out.

The cyclical process lead us to make improvements. Reflecting on the rest of the classes work also opened new possibilities.

Design Briefs can be an introduction to science, which is critical if we are going to develop our primary school students into potential future scientists!

See the attached Design Brief, and the resultant video of our frog jumping!

Part 2 - QUIA website

With the QUIA website we were introduced to a particularly useful resource, one that allowed us to produce quizzes, activites and engaging games for the students to access via the computer.

I had never imagined that this sort of stuff was available to us! It was so easy to produce a quiz, and it was a highly engaging learning process for the teacher as well; producing a quiz or a game meant we needed to really think about the subject matter.

The QUIA website was easy to access; it required subscription, but allowed a 30 day free trial. This is something I would be happy to pay for as a teacher; I would then be able to keep the resources I had acquired rather than lose them every 30 days!

We created a user name and password, and then were able to create quizzes, activities and games. This is an example of a quiz I produced on snakes:

http://www.quia.com/quiz/2514035.html

Anyone can then do the quiz.

We then created a new activity – hangman. This can be adapted in case there are some students who are sensitive to hangman.

http://www.quia.com/hm/668205.html - link to hangman

http://www.quia.com/ba/410304.html - link to battleship

This is just one example of a site that produces games and activities. There are apparently many more, however, this one seems as good as any, so I think I'll use it in future.

Week 2 Microsoft Publisher

Today we were introduced to Microsoft Publisher. I found this exercise very interesting, as I have always vaguely wondered what Publisher was, without wondering enough to explore it. What I discovered today was that it is very useful software indeed!!

We toyed with two of its programs: Pamphlet making and website making. I was surprised how useful these two tools were, and how simple it was to produce these two documents with a minimum of fuss. Is making a website SO simple?

Re the pamphlet. In no time at all I had a serviceable document that could be printed out and distributed. With some further experimentation and some more in depth application, I'm certain I could make a professional looking pamphlet.

The same for the website. I had barely used it for 5 minutes before I had a website with links to my resume, awards and achievements, and professional philosophy.

The session on Publisher, while it enlightened me with regards to what Publisher actually did, only made me realise that Pages on Mac has templates that create beautiful pamphlets and posters, far superior in quality of design than those on Publisher. I didn't realise the potential of Pages, and how it was a kind of Publisher equivalent.

I will be using that instead of Publisher to develop my e-folio. However, I don't think there is a Mac equivalent when it comes to the website making. This may be just my ignorance; I am fairly new to Mac computers. So I may need to jump on a PC to develop a website for my e-folio, using Publisher.