Dina's Blog

Wael Ghoneim-Google expert in the Middle East March 6, 2011

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Assignment#3 Presentation January 18, 2011

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Power Point Presentation-Web.2.0 Technologies January 11, 2011

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Presentation on Web 2.0 Exploration – Assignment #2 January 11, 2011

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As a teacher I see myself as a mediator and facilitator while teaching. Students with different aptitudes show different levels of interest in certain subjects. I try to motivate these students by scaffolding the topic at hand and giving them a chance to grasp different concepts in little chunks in an effort to grasp their attention and to motivate them. Hence I try to incorporate technology as often as possible. In a little while I want to create a class Blog so all my students can communicate and collaborate.
In my lesson design I want my students to have the chance to work on projects (PBL) and present their findings in the classroom. I want to give them the opportunity to choose different topics they feel excited about and feel connected to the outside world.
Furthermore I believe that education based on fact-transfer and information recall is the lowest level of training. Instead I try to encourage my students to acquire problem solving and analytical thinking skills. Baring this goal in mind my lesson plans involve active participation and gradual knowledge transfer according to Bloom’s revised model to ensure ‘mastery’ of subjects and the promotion of higher forms of thinking.

I have chosen the following web 2.0 tools to help me achieve my goals:

www.cellsalive.com: is a site with interactive animation to allow students to learn and understand the basic structure of plant, animal and human cells, organisms, bacteria and viruses. This site also incorporates videos about cell cycle, cell division (mitosis & meiosis), tutorials about blood cells, cancer cells and so on. Students can find interactive activities, online quests, questions and answers related to cells in general.
www.chemiecool.com: is a great resource to get to know any element in the periodic table. Students can find general states of elements, energies, oxidation and electrons, appearance and characteristics, reactions, compounds, conductivity, isotopes and several fantastic you tube videos on each element.
www.freezeray.com: allows teachers to perform virtual reality experiments in no time. Students can repeat these experiments during the lesson in the Computer lab as often as they want. There is minimal cost, time is used more efficiently and it is a safer environment when you have a class with more than 20 students. I don’t have a lab assistant at the moment to set up experiments during the school day especially with my full schedule. So instead of teaching my material only theoretically the students have the next best experience by using virtual demonstrations. Another huge benefit is that they can log on to the same web site any time at home and repeat or revise the experiments. Here are some examples of online demonstrations:

1. Temperature: gives a qualitative demonstration of how temperature affects the rate of reaction. Student adjusts the temperature of the water bath by rotating the dial and then observing the rate of the reaction change.

2. Identifying Salts: combines flame testing for alkali metals and the precipitation of silver halides in order to identify alkali metal halide salts.(Silver nitrate is added to the different alkali metal halide samples producing distinctive colors for these alkali metal halides). A window appears on the screen to confirm the student’s answer on the spot.

www.creative-chemistry: Aligned to curriculum standards. This website is geared towards higher academic achievement students and A-level students taking the GCSE or the IGCSE exam. This website provides really challenging material in form of question sheets, structured sheets, information sheets in p df-form and also some very high-quality power point presentations and practical guides to very important experimentations. The content reflects a higher academic standard that coincides with our curriculum in middle and high school. So it’s really beneficial and not just generic low standard worksheets.
www.bie.org: PBL-Students gain a deeper understanding and are motivated to follow Blooms Taxonomy by applying, analyzing, evaluating and then creating. At the end of their learning process they can present their ideas to their classmates, colleagues in school or to their parents. They can participate in science fairs and learn how to relate their projects to community issues using latest technological tools during collaboration (Blogs, web sites and so on).

Assignment #2: Hardware / Software at ESK January 11, 2011

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At Europa Schule Kairo we have two computer labs for students. One computer lab in the elementary school which is a separate building. It has about 12-15 Desktop Computers. Teachers have to sign up if they want to visit the computer lab with their class. Usually one class has 22-25 students which means that groups of two or three students have to share one computer.

The middle and high school students have another computer lab in the basement of our secondary school building. This one has about 20 Desktop computers for students. Still not enough, because a class has usually more than twenty students as well. Secondary students don’t like sharing one computer. This is why most teachers ask students to bring their own laptops to school if their parents allow it.
The internet connection in the basement is not very reliable. The teacher has to make sure that the connection is working before she or he takes the students to the computer lab. On rare occasions the power goes down and the teacher has to have an alternative plan for the students.
Of course the administration has several laptops. Every secretary as well. Their internet connection is the best. Some desktop computers are available for teachers in the teachers’ lounge. Usually most teachers own their lap-or notebooks and bring them to school. We rely more on our USB-sticks via mobile lines, so we are not dependant on the school’s network coverage.

Our school has Dells. Pentium 4, 512 MB RAM, Windows XP Pro, Microsoft Office 2007 and a lot of other software. We have an IT specialist who is responsible for setting up the computers and downloading software. All computers in our school have multiple language settings ready (German, English and Arabic).
I am attaching two pictures of our computer labs at school.

Project Based Learning January 10, 2011

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Reflection on Saturday’s Tech class instruction January 9, 2011

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Reflection

I found the introduction to technological basics very important. Especially the explanation of important basics of a computer like the processor, memory (RAM/Bite/Mega Byte), RPM etc. We had a chance to ask questions about the shelf life of a battery, the screen, resolution, printers and projectors and so on.

It was really beneficial to discuss the basic features to consider when purchasing a new PC. All this information is very important to teachers without real IT knowledge; we are just end-users that use a PC without having a real knowledge about hard-or software. We are usually dependent on other person’s opinions.

I was very impressed by the digital storytelling tools like story bird, tikatok, prezi and zoo Burst. They really make stories for kids come alive. As a science teacher I have learned to use interactive animations to facilitate the content of my subject areas. As a student, I had to study from regular textbooks with some illustrations. We didn’t have this vast collection of interactive websites and movies that capture your interest and facilitate learning. I personally enjoy teaching when I feel I am empowered to such an extent. Every student can download the material and replay and exercise on his own outside the class and really benefit.

Screen casting is amazing….especially the Jing software we downloaded on our PC’s. I know for sure that I’ll be using this software a lot, since I love taking pictures and making videos in school during lab experiments and in private when I travel with my family.

Thank you for such an interesting and amazing course.

Dina El Baradie