Stellarium as a Science Technology

Psychology assessment week 8

After reading through Piaget's ideas on children's development, I definitely agree with most of his ideas. I think he did a really good job of narrowing down what exactly leads to children's mental development. The elements he believed lead to mental development were; biological maturation, active exploration, social experiences, and equilibration. I feel these elements are absolutely the factors that lead to a child's ability to progress mentally. We know children's minds mature, we know children advance as they have more real world experiences physically and socially, and we know children grow mentally as they learn new information and adapt old schemas.
One element I disagree with is that children go through distinct stages. I think that stages can be a good guideline when planning what to teach children based on where they are developmentally, however i feel that they are not necessarily limited to specific stages at specific times in life. I think that part of scaffolding is helping children to progress at whatever stage of life they are in, so that means children could potentially have strengths and advanced understanding in one area and weaknesses in another and not necessarily be limited to the "stage" they are in.
Another element I disagree with is the idea that development always preceeds learning. Although Piaget acknowledge that it can sometimes occur, I feel it happens more than that. I can recall many instances in my life where learning something new helped me develop in another aspect of my life. I think this can be the case with sports. First you learn the basic skills by seeing them modelled or explained, then you develop them by practice. I think this can be the case for many other things.
I agree with Piaget that language is not necessarily essential to have thinking abilities, however i agree with Vygotsky that egocentric speech is a good thing and not a cognitive limitation. In my human development class I remember discussing the idea that when an activity provides just enough challenge to an individual they sometimes engage in self talk, which is a positive way of sorting out information and regulating theri thought process.

Science Technology

For my activity I will be focusing on the 6th grade
Standard 4 Students will understand the scale of size, distance between objects, movement, and apparent motion (due to Earth's rotation) of objects in the universe and how cultures have understood, related to and used these objects in the night sky.

Objective 2 Describe the appearance and apparent motion of groups of stars in the night sky relative to Earth and how various cultures have understood and used them.

a.)Locate and identify stars that are grouped in patterns in the night sky.

After learning about constellations in the night time sky, I would have my students pick a night of a specific week to go outside their home and observe the night sky. After they have decided on a night, they will use the program stellarium in class to find out what the night time sky should look like from their home on that specific night at a specific time. Using stellarium they will identify specific constellations that should be visible to them at that night. They will be able to reference a sheet of the specific constellations in the sky to aid them in identifying the constellations. They will then record which constellations should be visible to them. The night they do their observation they will specifically look for the constellations they found when using stellarium. The next day in class they will then draw pictures of the constellations they were actually able to find.

Content: Students will use stellarium to identify constellations that are visible from their home on a given night.

Pedagogy: Students will observe the night sky at home as well as on stellarium and will classify groups of stars as constellations. They will then record their findings and draw the constellations they observed.

Technology: Stellarium

psychology Assessment week 7

1. In elementary school I remember being grouped randomly to create a presentation on animals who's habitat is in the mountains. We each worked brainstormed about each animal and then we all helped to draw the animals and display them. I believe we each then presented on a specific animal. In college I remember being randomly grouped into study groups for a research paper in biology 100. We all contributed to the research and met together to compile the paper. We also took tests together so we relied on everyone's knowledge of the subjects.
2. I definitely think cooperative groups encourage learning. I remember from my past experiences that it helped me to learn new concepts that I might not have been able to figure out on my own. Having others in the group to help me understand material really helped me learn. For this reason I think cooperative groups would be beneficial for student's learning.
3. Instructional conversations have all students participate by adding input and conversing. The teacher and students will converse about a text, it appears as a normal conversation but the conversation has direction and goals. Everyone discusses the text. Reciprocal questioning however helps to reinforce new concepts. Students may each understand the new concepts differently so they would discuss each new concept and share their insights and understanding. Each student would questions and then everyone in the group would ask their questions and allow others to respond to them.
4. One example of a situation you would want to use ability grouping is in guided reading groups. It would be a good idea to group students of the same reading level so that you can have them focus on certain books as a group and scaffold their learning as a group without having to worry about moving too fast for one child or too slow for another. Mixed grouping would be a good idea when students are working on a presentation or some sort of research. I think this would be a good idea because students could contribute regardless of their abilities, especially if they were assigned specific tasks. It would also encourage learning for the students on lower levels as they could learn from and get feedback from more confident peers.

Google Tours I Viewed

I viewed Ashley Daley's google tour on ancient cities. She had great places for the students to visit and great activities.

I viewed Tami Varner's google tour. She did hers on different areas of the world and why they are settled. It was a great tour to get students thinking about why areas of the world are good for settling.

Last I viewed Stephanie Anderson's google tour. She did hers on rivers of the world. I love how she incorporated the 3d building layer.

link

http://sites.google.com/site/nicholemsite/google-tour

My Google Tour

Psychology Assessment Week 6

1. 1. An example of contiguity learning in school was if I got 100% on my state’s capitals tests in 5^th grade for a whole week, I would get a candy bar from my teacher. Also, at home I learned that if I misbehaved, I would get sent to my room.

2. 2. In 5^th grade if we demonstrated good behavior or performed certain tasks we got tickets that we could trade for prizes. We also had them taken away if we misbehaved. In 6^th grade we were given a prize if we read a certain amount of pages in a given term. In 4^th grade we received a bag of candy if we got 100% on all our spelling tests in a term.

3. 3. I would try to use interval reinforcement schedules. I would apply this if students read a certain amount of books in a term, they received a prize at the end of the term. I could also do something like this weekly. If students complete all their assignments for the week they get to participate in a special activity on Friday.

4. 4. Behaviorism somewhat assumes that a reward or reinforcer must be in place in order for a behavior to continue or cease. This contradicts with the gospel principle of agency a bit because we really emphasize that individuals choose based on personal testimony of right and wrong how to act. Sometimes in the gospel we do things simply because we believe it is right, not necessarily because we want the reward or are afraid of the consequence. Behaviorism somewhat eliminates the element of making a decision based on principle and personal beliefs.

Virtual Tour Plan

1. 5th grade science

Standard 2: Students will understand that volcanoes, earthquakes, uplift, weathering, and erosion reshape Earth's surface.
Objective 2: Explain how volcanoes, earthquakes, and uplift affect Earth’s surface.

B. Give examples of different landforms that are formed by volcanoes, earthquakes, and uplift (e.g., mountains, valleys, new lakes, canyons).

I chose to do a virtual tour on this topic because it would be very beneficial for students to actually see landforms that have been created from volcanoes, earthquakes, and uplift, not just hear about them. Google earth is also very interactive and this would provide a greate hands on experience for students when learning about these specific landforms.

2. The pedagogy I am using is having students explore for themselves the landforms discussed. At certain landmarks I will have them analyze the size, and reasons for the appearance of the landforms. This is fitting becasue the students actually get to see and explore the landforms discussed, and they can actually make realistic analysis because of this.

3. The technology I am using is Google Earth and many of its content layers. This technology fits very well with the content and pedagogy because students can actually see and interact with each landform. They will also have opportunites analyze how volcanoes, earthquakes, and uplift affect the earth with real examples. The learning will be more meaningful to students because they were actually able to participate in the lesson. Google earth is probably the best technology that could be used for this particular subject because it makes it easier for students to see where earthquakes, volcanoes, and other activity are occuring as of recent times. The information presented on Google earth is updated very often and allows students to see how applicable the information is to them.

Location	Activity Description	Google Earth Content
1. Craters of the Moon Idaho	Look at the pictures from panoramio posted at craters of the moon. Try to find cinder cones and other evidence that this are was created from volcanic activity. Click on the volcano and read about volcanic action in this area.	Volcano, panormio, terrain, borders and labels
2. Mt. St. Helens	Use the compass to explore Mt. St. Helens in 3D, after you have done this select panoramio and view some images taken of Mt. St. Helens. Next select the volcano and earthquake layers. Why do you think there is so many earthquakes in this area?	earthquake, terrain, volcano, panoramio, 3D building, borders and labels
3. Sierra Nevada Mountains	Check out the 360cities 3D pictures on the mountain range as well as any panoramios.	panoramio, terrain, 3D building, borders and labels
4. Lake okeechobee	Take a look around the lake. View any panoramios posted. Select the weather layer and see what is going on at Lake Okeechobee. kids will see how big Lake Okeechobee is by comparing it to a footbal field that is overlayed.	borders and labels, panoramio, earthquake, 3D building, weather

IPT 301 Week 5 Assessment

1. I think the 2 most important instructional strategies are emphasizing the importance of understanding material, and practicing basic skills to a level of automaticity. I think these are useful to my teaching because if children realize how important it is to actually understand material they are more likely to pay attention and try to learn the material in depth. If they understand the material in depth they can most likely apply what they have learned to other situations across the curriculum. They may also remember it better. I think its important students practice the skills they learn so that they can reach automaticity because this leads to mastery. When they can practice a skill without having to think about it much it will be easier for them to use in their everyday lives and evaluations.

2. Low-Road Transfer: extensive practice of a skill leading to ability to perform the skill with little thought or effort and in a variety of contexts.

Example 1: A boy practicing taking goal shots in soccer so many times when he actually has to perform a goal shot in a real game it is natural to him. He also becomes very good at aiming where to kick the ball in kick-ball.

Example 2: A girl practicing adding fractions over and over in math class and at home with half-eaten food and blocks. She becomes so skilled at it she often analyzes objects in her everyday activities as fractions without really thinking about it.

High-Road Transfer: purposely and consciously applying learned information to another situation.

Example 1: A child learning that when doing word searches she can search for the beginning letter of the word throughout the whole text first to see if the word is attached. Then she applies this strategy to a completely new and more challenging word search.

Example 2: A child learns about fractions specifically using circles. She then uses fractions to tell the time on a round clock. (A quarter after, a quarter till, etc.)

3. The type of transfer I see used most often is high-road transfer. Students often learn specific principles and techniques one week and then the next week they will apply that knowledge in a different way or in a different subject but with more added to it, like scaffolding. For example they will learn to add numbers for one unit then they will assign numbers to money and add money using what they learned about adding numbers.

4. I have used an algorithm when I use formulas to solve math problems for example, the FOIL formula for multiplying numbers in parentheses. There is a specific sequence in steps; you multiply the first numbers, then outside, then inside, then last. Finally you add them.

I have used heurstics when working with decimals. Sometimes when the decimal is very long, you approximate, like saying 1.00000000000001 is just 1.

Psychology In-Class Teaching Reflection

In-Class Teaching Reflection

One principle of teaching we incorporated into our lesson was that we learned how to create an objective, assess, and plan instructive action. We planned out what we wanted the students to gain from our lesson, we planned an assessment activity, and we also planned how much time we would dedicate to each topic and when we would present each topic in our lesson plan. We also prioritized knowledge and skills we would focus on. We decided to spend more time on the Theory of Multiple Intelligences (MI theory) because it had eight parts to it. We thought by planning an activity and focusing more of the instruction time on this theory would help them better remember the principles it entailed.

One of the principles of learning we included in our lesson was that we really tried to emphasize when to apply what they had learned to gain mastery. We did this with the activities that assessed their own MI and children’s MI. They had to think of strategies they could promote certain MI in their own classrooms. We also talked about how knowing your own MI strengths can help you realize what activities you may favor in your own classroom. We also talked about common misapplications for some of the MI theory concepts, this also focused on knowing when to apply what was learned. We tried to use these real-life applications to promote another principle of learning; the student’s motivation effects how they learn. We thought by making everything applicable to their future careers it would be more motivating to learn the information.

I thought we had many strengths and a few weaknesses within our teaching experience. One of the strengths was that we focused a lot on application of the principles we taught, we really tried to help the students realize that the information was relevant to their future careers. We accomplished this by asking engaging questions that forced them to evaluate the relevance to their own lives. We also provided thorough explanations for each of the principles we discussed along with images as mnemonic devices and allowed time for questions and comments. Another strength was that we provided activities to cement the principles of Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences Some of the weaknesses were that we took a lot of time to emphasize the MI theory, but did not spend quite as much time on some of the other theories. We also did not provide activities for all of the theories, this could have aided the student’s memory better if we had. I think we also might of went over a bit on our time.

If I were to redo this teaching experience I would emphasize the other theories besides the MI theory more. I would have also liked to provide activities for the different theories to make them more memorable and more engaging. It might of also been an improvement if we asked for even more feedback from our classmates so they stayed focused and interested. I would have also liked to cut down our presentation time by 5 minutes.