WebQuest

1. Which two of example WebQuests listed on the Elementary link are the best ones? Why? Grow School Greens because it was time efficient and taught a lot of skills over time. Where is My Hero? was good because they learned a lot of important facts about the presidents.
2. Which two are the worst? Why? The Underground Railroad was not good because it seemed like a time waster and they didn't learn much from it because it is only a journal which is created by the student. The Ice Cream was also bad because it didn't really teach any lessons that would be used later in life.
3. What do best and worst mean to you? The best is the one that utilizes time the most efficiently and teaches a deep lesson. The worst is one that is long and doesn't really teach a lesson of great value.

Web Quest Worksheet: The Efficiency Expert

WebQuest	Strengths	Weaknesses
Grow School Greens	It seems to teach critical thinking and teaches a good lesson that goes in depth. It takes very little time each day.	It is long and has the ability to have students slack off.
Where is My Hero?	You can learn a lot of facts about each president.	The project is probably too long.
Underground Railroad	None.	Does not seem to teach the students anything of importance is used to waste time.
Ice Cream	Learn to make ice cream.	Learning how ice cream is made doesn't really teach anything of importance to the students future.
Ancient Egypt	A lot material to learn with a fun activity to keep the students interested and learn a lot about the ancient Egyptians.	Will take a long time to gather the information.

Double Journal Entry #12

Quote: "We must teach communication comprehensively, in all its forms. Today we work with the written or spoken word as the primary form of communication. But we also need to understand the importance of graphics, music, and cinema, which are just as powerful and in some ways more deeply intertwined with young people's culture. We live and work in a visually sophisticated world, so we must be sophisticated in using all the forms of communication, not just the written word."


Reaction: This is a very good way of thinking about communication. One might be able to convey a message well with the written word but do we know how that message makes someone feel. There are many different tones you can use while saying the same statement, but even though you say the same thing with a different tone the message is received differently. This also works in movies as George was saying. The background music and the colors play a key role in communicating a message, by making a person feel the way you want them to feel while receiving the message. Communication is not just the written word, it is the way the word is seen, heard, and taken in.


Citation: Daly, J. (2004, September 14). Life on the Screen: Visual Literacy in Education | Edutopia. K-12 Education & Learning Innovations with Proven Strategies that Work | Edutopia. Retrieved November 10, 2011, from http://www.edutopia.org/lucas-visual-literacy


External Resource: http://wac.colostate.edu/atd/technologies/bridwellbowlesetal.cfm


Citation: Bridwell-Bowles, Lillian, Powell, Karen L., & Choplin, Tiffany Walter. (2009, January 19). Not just words any more: Multimodal communication across the curriculum. [Special issue on Writing Technologies and Writing Across the Curriculum] Across the Disciplines, 6. Retrieved November 10, 2011, from http://wac.colostate.edu/atd/technologies/bridwellbowlesetal.cfm

Autobiography

Autobiography

View more presentations from sharwell6.

Glass Giants

Double Journal Entry #11

1.Summarize the argument made in this article.


This article is saying that having a law that restricts registered sex offenders is not really going to do any good. The article says that the rate of people being sexually abused through use of the internet is very low. It is also stated that most registered sex offenders are not people who have actually sexually abused a child or teenager, but people who have done things like flashing, public urination, and consensual sex between teenagers. This article states that blocking the sex offenders actually takes away a form of rehabilitation, by taking these people away from sites that could help them in their career. The last thing this article brings up is that the most dangerous offenders are the ones that have not been caught yet. 


2.What evidence is presented to support the argument?


The evidence used are things such as statistics from studies, expert testimony, and articles from trustworthy news providers.


3.State and justify your position on banning sex offenders from social-networking sites?


I am going to have to agree with the article because not everyone who is registered as a sex offender is a danger to children. Also keeping them from these sites is hurting their career which could in turn be hurting their rehabilitation.

Wikipedia: Gregor Mendel

1. Any one of the following cleanup banners means the article is an unreliable source:

This article or section has multiple issues.	no
This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards.	no
The neutrality of this article is disputed.	no
The factual accuracy of this article is disputed.	no
This needs copy editing for grammar, style, cohesion, tone or spelling.	no
This may contain material not appropriate for an encyclopedia.	no
This article only describes one highly specialized aspect of its associated subject.	no
This article requires authentication or verification by an expert.	no
This article or section needs to be updated.	no
This article may not provide balanced geographical coverage on a region.	no
This is missing citations or needs footnotes.	no
This article does not cite any references or sources.	no

2. Read through the article and see if it meets the following requirements:

Is it written in a clear and organized way?	yes
Is the tone neutral (not taking sides)?	yes
Are all important facts referenced (you're told where they come from)?	yes
Does the information provided seem complete or does it look like there are gaps (or just one side of the story)?	yes

Wikipedia: Friend Not Foe

1.  Did the class activity about Wikipedia and this article change your opinion about the value of Wikipedia to society in general and education specifically?

I have always thought of the site as a starting place for information and going further by checking the resources they used but, by using what's not in the Wikipedia as a research topic is not something I would have thought to do.

2.  Describe how you might direct students to use Wikipedia in your future classroom.

I think I would take sort of the same approach with my students, by telling them to do research on things that are missing on the page. They would use Wikipedia as a place to get an idea for their actual research paper.

Wikipedia

a. What is Wikipedia? 

"'Wikipedia is a multilingual, Web-based encyclopedia project, operated by the Wikimedia Foundation, a nonprofit organization.'"
b. How would you answer the question posed in this piece “How reliable can a source be when anyone can edit it?”

If it can be edited it can be changed to be inaccurate but by checking the sources posted, you can check to see if they are correct. 
c. Who do the creators of Wikipedia place their trust in when it comes to weeding out misinformation? 

They believe in "wisdom of crowds". 
d. Why did founder Larry Sanger leave Wikipedia? 

"Mr. Sanger left Wikipedia, believing that it should give more authority to experts; he has since created another site, Citizendium that does just that."
e. What would abuse or vandalism look like on a Wikipedia page? 

Giving misleading information about a certain entry.
f. What do the statistics quoted in the third paragraph of this piece reveal? 

They reveal that almost everyone that uses the internet has been to or used Wikipedia. 
g. Why do you think Wikipedia is so successful? 

I think it is successful because it has information about anything and everything.
h. Why might Wikipedia’s creators not want to accept advertising? 

With a lot of advertising it could make people less likely to go to their site if it had all the annoying adds.
i. How does Wikiscanner help increase the reliability of Wikipedia entries?

"Wikiscanner, quickly exposed examples of self-interested editing by prominent businesses and governments around the world."

Think Aloud

Think Aloud

View more presentations from sharwell6