No Luck With Ask A Scientist

On the ask a scientist website I asked, How do scientists keep the body from becoming immune to the viruses that are used as vectors for gene therapy. I received no answer from the ask a scientist website. When I researched this topic on line I found that they don't. One of the reasons that gene therapy has not been widely successful, is that the body does develop a defense against the viruses used for gene therapy. This makes it so that scientists have to use many different viruses for each round of gene therapy. This requires more resources, and a lot of time. This is a topic that I will continue to research and follow as scientists develop new and improved gene therapy techniques.

A New Presentation Tool for the Classroom

Recently I have been introduced to Prezi an online presentation tool that can be used in the classroom. I was impressed by the free flowing nature of Prezi and the almost movie like navigation that is sure to get the attention of the students. The tools for creating a Prezi are easily learned for beginners, especially with the use of the tutorials that are provided by Prezi. What I really like is the ability to share the Prezi on my classroom webpage by embedding it, which will make it accessible to all of my students. Currently I am using activeinspire the software that comes with my active board. I love the software, but my students are not able to open presentations at home. I can do many of the same things with the activeinspire software, but it is not free and it is not as free flowing as the Prezi. On both I am able to use animations, sounds and embed videos. I am able to access both from home. Both Prezi and Activeinspire have websites (www.Prezi.com and www.promethean.com ) where authors can share their creations and collaborate with each other. One thing that I like about activeinspire is that I have the ability to write directly in the presentation. I also have the ability to put quizzes and questions that the students can answer using handheld voting/texting devices. This allows me to assess and for the students to receive feedback immediately. The whole active board and its software and accessories is not cheap. As long as I have it to use I will probably use activeinspire.
When I think about having my students create presentations I think that students will really enjoy learning how to use Prezi. My concern is the time it would take them to learn how to use it. Many times my 6th grade students come to me without the skills to create presentations and need the structure and linear thinking of PowerPoint and other similar presentation software provide. As students become better at creating and getting their thoughts out in an organized fashion, I feel that they could really benefit from using Prezi to create presentations.

21st Century Learning tools.

There are many online resources available for today’s teachers. The plethora of available resources can make finding valuable, useful resources a time consuming challenge. That is why I not only search on my own but rely on other teachers to find valuable resources. In designing a unit on electricity for my enrichment class I was able to borrow from veteran science teachers as well as find several online resources that will help to make this unit fun and exciting for my students.
The website that I found to be the most exciting is the Internet Plasma Physics Education Experience (IPPEX) website. IPPEX is a site that has online interactive physics modules. These modules can help students gain a stronger understanding of physics concepts while utilizing technology and saving money on resources. IPPEX can be found at http://ippex.pppl.gov/interactive/electricity/. Another website that can use in my classroom is the BBC Schools website. This site can be found at http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ks2bitesize/ and is a great site for elementary and middle school students. This site provides educational games and simulations that help students grasp and practice scientific concepts.
Both of these sites are valuable resources that I can use in my classroom to help my students experience science concepts in ways that we would otherwise not be able to do in our classroom setting. These sites are among many that I can use to create online learning experiences for my students. I like to periodically use online learning experiences to help my students become better researchers and more technology literate.
Being able to search and research online is a necessary skill for today’s students. With the large number of websites out there students need to be able to determine whether a site is useful and students need to be able to find and take information from these sites. The two sites that I have chosen for this exercise provide the opportunity for students to become better researchers, but also provide them with opportunities to become 21st-century scientifically literate citizens. Both of these sites have modules that lead students through a discovery process. When used in conjunction with other sites and classroom experiences students will gain a firm understanding of the scientific concepts being studied. These sites also allow students to use and practice their problem solving skills through scientific inquiry.

Exploring Heat Transfer

Exploring heat transfer in mugs leads me to think about a dilemma that I have every year as a teacher which is my coffee or tea getting cold before I can get it drank. I chose to solve this dilemma by purchasing a coffee mug warmer, but I also could have explored using a lid of some sort to help keep my beverage warm. When choosing materials to top my mug and act as an insulator I naturally think about materials that are often used to hold or contain beverages or as insulators in the kitchen. I chose paper, corrugated cardboard, foil, and Styrofoam as the tops for my mugs.
I naturally expected the Styrofoam to act as the best insulator followed by the corrugated cardboard, then the foil and the paper to act as the worst. In conducting this experiment I found that I was mostly correct in my hypothesis of which topper would act as the better insulator. The Styrofoam was by far the best insulator and the paper was the worst. Where I was wrong was that the foil was a better insulator than the corrugated cardboard. I believed that the corrugated cardboard would act as a better insulator than the foil due to having more air pockets. They were very close in temperature, but the foil mug was warmer. This may have been due to the fact that the steam from the hot water built up on the corrugated cardboard causing it to become soggy. These results may also have been due what I feel was a flaw in the experiment. The mug with the foil was poured last and the mug topped with the cardboard was poured first. The small difference in time may account for the results. If I were to conduct this experiment again I would take an initial temperature for each mug and measure the change in temperature rather than just the end result. This would allow me to have more accurate results in measuring the change in temperature from the time the water enters each individual mug.

One way that I try to make this concept relevant to student lives is by having them explore why hot fudge sundaes come in plastic containers, milk shakes in Styrofoam, and blizzards in paper. The students then design and construct their own experiments to answer this question. Students may not care why their hot fudge sundae is in plastic, but who doesn't like to experiment with ice cream! In the end they are rewarded with ice cream!

Guided Inquiry.

This weeks inquiry question that I addressed was what was how different surfaces affected the momentum of a marble. I explored this question using several different flooring samples, two meter sticks, the plunger from an old pinball game, a balance, a stop watch and one marble. I created a track across the different flooring samples out of the meter sticks and then used the plunger to send the marble across the flooring samples. I then took the mass of the marble and multiplied it by the velocity of the marble. To make sure that the only variable was the different surfaces I marked and made sure that the plunger was pulled back the same distance each time. My hypothesis was that the marble would have less momentum on surfaces like the plush carpet and would have more momentum on surface like the ceramic tile due to an increase in the amount of friction between the marble and the carpet. What I was able to discover was that my hypothesis was correct. The marble had less momentum on the carpeted surfaces due to the increased amount of friction. This experiment was not too challenging as I have had my students work through a structured inquiry project answering a very similar questions. Due to that fact completing this inquiry assignment was not too much of a challenge. If I were to modify this experiment I might add a second marble and have the students see what happens to the momentum when the two marbles collide. After completing this exercise I believe that I might have my students complete this activity as a guided inquiry rather than a structured inquiry activity this year. This will be a lot more fun and interesting for my students and allow them to use their problem solving skills.

Exploring Cells

This week I taught an inquiry lesson on the differences between plant and animal cells. In this lesson students were able to use microscopes to compare plant and animal cells. Then students used that information to build models of both plant and animal cells. To see examples of student work, or you could visit my webpage that has pictures of student projects. (Disclaimer: The web page is all torn up because I am totally revamping it for next year!) The lesson had some minor kinks in it and that caused me to reign in the students more than I should have. It was not taught in a classroom setting, but in a camp setting. Due to this there was no graded assessment of the student projects and student motivation was not a problem at all. All of the students had a great time exploring cells.

http://mrs-tate.wikispaces.com/CELLabrate+Chapters+2+and+3

Cruel and Unusual Punishment!

Just looking ahead at week 6 discussion!! To make us dream of having 50,000 dollars to spend on a reform. I think my problem will be to narrow down all my ideas. This will drive my husband more nuts than anything because I already have a brain that doesn’t quit and I need to talk my ideas out. Could be an interesting few days!!