Anyone have some good workshop notes on "Great Applications of ICT for Science"?

Whoops, sorry just saw that I should have put this in the science group but I don't know how. Trials of a newbie!

Hi All,

Being an expat teacher and a former Head of ICT now working as an EdTech consultant in Hong Kong, I have been doing a series of workshops on the use of ICT for English Teaching in Local Hong Kong Primary/Secondary schools. Web 2.0 tools. Pedagogically sound use of IWBs, projectors, Visualizers etc. One of the training officers from the HKSAR government read my CV too closely and saw that I had around 18 years of experience teaching Science and, specifically Physics in what now seems a former life. He has asked me if I can run some workshops for local HK teachers on appropriate ICT applications in Science. Good idea in theory but I have to admit to not having taught in this field for some years. Back then I was putting all of my notes on Powerpoint and uploading to the intranet, using Vernier dataloggers to record and map data in real time for experiments, using simulation, especially with Interactive Physics.
Given that was some time ago, there must be some new applications, especially in the web2.0 world, that are making a big hit with science teachers. I am sure that GPS is making a huge impact in the teaching of Vectors and even motion in general.
Anyone want to give me some ideas or point me to some references I can use for my workshop proposal.
Thanks!
Paul

Tags: Hong, Kong, physics, science, workshop

Views: 97

Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Wow. Can't wait to hear the replies on this. I myself have nothing to contribute, but would want to support your being able to build resources in this area.
Thanks Steve,

Here's hoping some replies are forthcoming.

Cheers

Paul
If you don't get any, I'd be interested in devoting one of our LIVE web conversations to this topic to see if we can bring some folks out of the woodwork. Will you keep in touch with me on this? steve@hargadon.com.
Would love to Steve, I have been trying to find time to join a live session but I have been really busy putting a conference together here in Honkers http://21c-learning.hk I see that the next one coming up about Teaching Across the Content Area goes out at 7am my time on Wednesday. I will try and come in on this one if I can.
Regards
Paul
The conference looks fascinating. Just as a note from an outside observer, it was hard to see the dates for the conference unless I looked very hard. :)

Hope you'll give us a full report on how the conference goes. In a previous job I visited Hong Kong several times. What a place!

Steve
No notes, but you have to check this out. Phun, a 2D physics sandbox. Lots of fun. Watch the video.

The only Web2.0 apps that I have been using directly with my science students so far are VoiceThread, wikis, Quizlet, delicious, bubblus and xtimeline
None of which are specific to science but nonetheless excellent tools.

Mobile phones are becoming invaluable in the lab. Photographing pracs, timing things, scheduling, calculating

Geogebra is an excellent free download that I have used with my maths classes.

Maybe you could take the connectedness angle. Students blogging fieldtrips with their phones. Skyping and wiki-ing to collaborate with classes in other schools. That kind of thing.
Some good suggestions here Jason. Thanks for this.
Paul
Hi Paul,

I have a similar backgroud as yours and share an interest in applying Web 2.0 to science teaching because I am now teaching preservice science teachers. Having implemented the pre-internet innovations such as Interactive Physics, I have been surprised by the slow infusion of these new tools into science learning.

I suspect that this perception of "slow uptake" is just a case of me not getting out much. :-) I'd love to hear/read/see what others are trying. I started a wikispace "scratchpad" to tryout some of these applications. I invite others to create pages at this space that show examples that extend my (and my students') thinking about how to use these new capabilities in science classes.

Scratch pad is at: http://jaysscratchpad.wikispaces.com/

Enjoy!

- Jay
I'm also involved in training pre-service science teachers and would be interested in sharing some of the stuff I play with, and learning some more new things.

In terms of science simulations, there's lots of nice stuff for the interactive whiteboard such as

http://www.yenka.com/freecontent - excellent short animations, and its free
http://www.sunflowerlearning.com/index.htm - Not free, but highly recommended

I'm trying to collate good IWB resources on my blog at: http://www.whiteboardblog.co.uk/labels/science.html
and trying to collate stuff on my del.icio.us feed at http://del.icio.us/dannynic/science

I havent played with visualisers for a few years, but am hoping to get my hands on one soon. I've done dissections and the like on them in the past and it worked very well.
Hi Danny,

You blog has some great ideas. Several of my student teachers have access to smartboards in their placements. I'd love to hear more about your vision of how they could use this technology w/o "powerpointing" their poor students to death.

Jay
hi Jay

The problem with powerpoint is its a very passive thing - you sit and you watch. To slide after slide.....

The whole point of the Interactive whiteboard is that it should be interactive. Sometimes there is still a place for powerpoint - but you can quickly add simple interactivity such as drag and drop, labelling, fill in the gaps as ways of checking student knowledge. Add to that the wealth of interactive games and you can start to get away from Death by Powerpoint

Here's 10 quick ideas for Biology that uses some of the interactive features
http://www.whiteboardblog.co.uk/2008/03/biology-on-iwb-10-quick-ide...

Something like Phun is excellent on an iWB http://www.whiteboardblog.co.uk/2008/04/phun-phun-phun.html

The board adds another level to just using a laptop and projector. Although there is a lot to be said for wireless slates, wireless mice etc to pass around the class to also add interactivity.
This Del.icio.us site will have something useful I'm sure:

http://del.icio.us/iwb.user

This site started in Australia but everyone is encouraged to add to it on Del.icio.us. You just need to add "for:iwb.user" to your Del.icio.us network. When you find an IWB site click on for:iwb.user and add it to the tag. Use this address when you want to look at the page: http://del.icio.us/iwb.user

RSS

Report

Win at School

Commercial Policy

If you are representing a commercial entity, please see the specific guidelines on your participation.

Badge

Loading…

Follow

Awards:

© 2024   Created by Steve Hargadon.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service