Edible School and Night in a Global Villiage

These videos were very interesting. I thought it so very neat that some schools were able to give their students such an up close and real life experience such as these did. Some students just truly cant imagine how hard it is for others in foreign countries. The edible school was very resourceful in creating a garden the way they did. In using the compost to make their soil that is a good way to teach kids a way to recycle. I did not understand them linking this to social studies however and not science. When they were talking about the different transformations water goes through and the different roles that effect the plants growth they had the children answering questions they had learned in class. The children even got to harvest and eat some of the fruits and vegetables from the class garden. The children seem to be more interested and more involved when they got to physically reap the benefits from their hard work. The film about the children pretending to be different tribes and bartering for food and water, that was very inventive. The children seemed to have really enjoyed the activity and learned alot from the trip. They understood what people have to go through sometimes in order to survive day to day. These teachers are doing a very good job to find new and inventive ways to get children motivated to learn and participate willingly in their education.

iTunes U.

I did some research on what exactly iTunes University was. I found that you can go to the iTunes store and go to iTunes U. Then to the side in a menu bar there are a list of schools who support this system currently. I experimentally clicked on MIT. When it pops up it gives to a brief summary about what opportunities are to be made available through this technology and what you can expect to grasp as a student.

Under the welcome message there are a range of subjects you can click on. Some examples are biology, foreign language, and Physics. Under each subject it tells you when the last time it was modified and how many tracks it contains. The ones I looked into were free. I broke apart into audio parts and it said you could watch some as a video. As you click on the subjects they break apart into individual smaller groups that are more specialized. Some I explored were molecular biology, genetics, and stem cells.

I personally thought this was very cool. I thought it would also be very beneficial to a teacher that had a concentration in a subject or was a high school teacher. I personally am an elementary education major and would most likely not use this as a resource. A high school teacher could find a lecture she liked and ask her students to listen to it as extra ideas or views. One might also use its videos as an extra resource if a teacher does not have the images to accompany a lecture.

Duke University and IPods.

I have read an article at http://www.macworld.com/article/44138/2005/04/duke.html about how Duke University has been giving some 1,600 incoming freshman 20GB IPods. The students use these IPods in many different forms. Some professors allow the students to download large programs and take them home to use for homework. I believe this is a very generous idea. Some professors also have some students gather in groups and report their collective thoughts on a topic rather than them all writing a paper together. He said the results and material were outstanding.

Other useful ways in which the IPods are being used is podcast lectures. When a student misses a lecture, that's it they miss it. So now many professors at Duke are recording their lectures and putting them out as podcast for those who miss class. Also not just for those who miss class, but, when they have time to kill such as riding the bus or driving to work they could be re-listening to the lecture. This could help students understanding tremendously!

Dr. Alice Christie's Educational Technology Guide.

There are many of ways in which teachers can infiltrate technology into their classrooms for both the students and teachers benefit. Dr. Christie's site has many ways for teachers K-12 to further their lessons with technology. In her website she has many different tools that her students used listed. Yo can click on them and they will give you a short description of what they are and how they are beneficial.

I looked at the Google earth site. I believe that this would be so interesting for kid when learning about underwater canyons, or what the planet earth looks like form space. It will also come in handy when researching volcanoes. While using this program you can go to Mt. Saint Helen's for example and you are right over the opening of the volcano. I think children would learn so much more when they can actually see what they are learning about rather than just trying to imagine it by what their textbooks say.

Another interesting tool was something called The digital Pencil. After reading a book the students can log onto this site. For example a picture of a lady bug will appear in the middle. The children will fill in question boxes about what they learned. Such as, what do lady bugs eat, who are their prey, and who do they fear?

Wikipedia Post

After reading the articles about the validity of Wikipedia, I still believe that Wikipedia should not be a reliable source of information. I have believed Wikipedia was an dishonest source of information since using facts from it in a high school paper. It resulted in mark offs because some of my facts did not match up. I have also always wondered how someone would or could properly cite facts from Wikipedia. How can one say its an encyclopedia if anyone can add or delete information. How do we know that what was replaced is accurate?

I don't think its okay for companies to change and reword or completely delete accurate information about them. If they don't want their dirty laundry aired then don't do things that will make society point fingers at you. All in all both sides of the story should be made available. The good facts and the bad.