Mr. Mauney’s Blog

Periodic Table Introduction

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBQnhLGT9RM

Helium video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8FJEiI5e6Q

Mercury video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oL0M_6bfzkU

These videos would be useful in a physical science or chemistry class for introducing the arrangement of the periodic table and also the characteristics of different elements.

I finally completed Thing 14.

Podcasts are a wonderful asset to innovative teachers. They offer teachers much more versatility and options for the ongoing quest for new ideas and information.

At one time, teachers were limited in learning of additional teaching tools and new lesson ideas to just the people they personally knew. Now, however, podcasts make it possible to find an exponentially larger amount of information and ideas that are from all over the world. Thus, innovative thinking spreads much more quickly and doesn’t spend years being just a “local trend”.

The best advantage of podcasting is the versatility it offers in personal scheduling. Teachers can now find all the best ideas at a time they can really focus on the task- no matter what time of day or night that might be. If a teacher knows that the information or ideas of a favorite source will be waiting for them when they have a chance to get back to their search, they will spend a great deal more time searching. It is so easy to not start a task if it is uncertain that you will have sufficient time to complete the task. But that is not a problem anymore with podcasting.

This is my slide show that illustrates the four seasons of the Eastern Deciduous Forest in various locations in eastern North America.

The photographer’s username was Nicholas T and the links to the Flickr are as follows:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nicholas_t/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nicholas_t/531020157/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nicholas_t/380119039/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nicholas_t/222460543/

Nicholas T

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nicholas_t/531020157/

This is one of the photos that I copied from Flickr. I have posted the photographer’s username and the link to the page.

This is a picture of Eastern Deciduous Forest in the Spring. I thought that I could show the different seasons of this Biome and how it changes appearance throughout the year. It would make a good slide show for a part of an Ecology lesson about Biomes.

I found that Flickr was relatively easy to use once you got started and that there are some very high quality images available.

I think that Creative Commons is a good idea for sharing information between people. It is much more flexible than traditional copyrighting because the creator can put different conditions about how their creation can be used. This will be much better for users of copyrighted material to search and find material that fits their needs.

I actually have never noticed the CC emblem on any website that I have visited. So I never wondered what it meant.

CC may be able to influence how students learn by giving students boundaries for using other people’s creations. It could also be used by students to share some of their own creations with whoever they want to by letting them set limits on who and how their creative work can be used.

I have used animations off of websites to illustrate Biological processes. I ususally mark the website as a favorite, but have never saved any animation from the web.

I have never shared content on the web. I have never had time to explore in that area.

The teaching materials that I use are either something that I created, something that came with a book purchase, or an animation that I found on the internet on a teacher website.

The major drawback that I see with Creative Commons is that a person who is interested in monetary gain from their work would probably be best served by a more traditional copyright. If I had created a song, for example, I would want people that would want to play or record that song to contact me to give them permission and for them to get a license to use my song.

There seems to be a trend in education toward using wikis for instruction. I think that it would be a good way for students and teachers to share information. I know that Vickie Davis and others have had success using wikis for instruction but I still have reservations about how effective it would be for most of the students that I see. To use a tool like this, it would seem to me to need students which were both highly motivated and also very interested in the subject matter. I have seen very few students that were that motivated and interested.

I looked at the Code Blue wikispace. It is a wiki for 6th graders to learn about and post about human anatomy & physiology. They pretend to be medical doctors and write fictional biographies about themselves and also fictional case studies about patients. I like it because they must learn something about the problems that their patients have and explain the background information and other things such as prevention and cures.

I also looked at the Go West wikispace. It is a wiki that is set up to explain and discuss what went on during the time of the Oregon trail. This wiki has a timeline, it talks about all thing relevant to the Oregon Trail, and even has recipes for food that was eaten at that time. I like the way that this wiki was arranged. It was very informative, not just about the history but also the way the people lived. 

The last wiki that Ilooked at during Thing 8 was the wiki about the Holocaust. It is set up so you can pretend your country has been invaded by the Nazis and gives different scenarios of things that you can do to avoid them. It really seems to make it personal.

All of these wiki spaces are very thought provoking and it would be nice to start one myself but I am afraid that I wouldn’t have time to do anything much with it.

The reader is very nice. It is a time saver as far as finding information quickly without having to hunt for it.

I found the Wickedscience blog was good for science teachers.

Deerhuntingbigbucks.com has good information for deer hunters. This article is good for shed hunting.

I just read a blog from a feed entitled “Of Creativity and Art”. It dealt with the differences and similarities between art and creativity. It also explains how both are important.

Here is the link

Of Creativity and Art

The genre of blogging is similar to me to what is called an editorial, but is available to anyone who wants to set up an account not just to a journalist. Blog reading is similar to reading other articles, but with the chance to respond with your own opinion. You also have the opportunities to read other opinions. Blog writing is different than some other types because of the great variability among the abilities of the writers of various blogs. Some are very good writers, while others are not as good. Commenting adds to the blog because one may see the support of the article from a different perspective and also a possible rebuttal from those in opposition to the writer’s opinion.  There is somewhat of a “blogging literacy”, the language of many blogs seems to be less literary than traditional writing and it may take some time to become proficient at reading some people’s blogs. Blogging may affect the way in which we write, because we tend to be somewhat influenced in how we write by what we read. Blogging may facilitate learning because it gives an opinion and it also allows for response and also to read responses that may not agree with the blogger’s position.