Inquiry Based Research Activity--Pluto is a planet!

I really did enjoy this activity, I thought it was fun to get to work with Anisa and plan out a lesson for third grade science. I actually enjoyed refreshing my memory about the planets and learning that Pluto is still indeed a planet, just a dwarf planet. I think inquiry based research activities could be very beneficial in the classroom because kids love this stuff. They love getting to search the web and complete activities on the computer and learn at the same time, its an excellent source for getting students involved and actively engaged.

Something I realized with this activity was how important it is to get the formatting and instructions correct on the worksheet. Ive only made one worksheet before in one class so I wasn't exactly sure how explicit I needed to be, but I learned during this. I learned approximately how many questions you should have per age group, how clear the directions should be, how the website shouldn't be cluttered and easy to read, including age appropriate readings. Overall, this was an exciting activity that I hope to be able to incorporate in my future classroom.

WebQuest

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Exploring WebQuest this week was very beneficial. I wasn't aware how common WebQuests actually are and incorporating them in your classroom is a fun way for students to learn. I don't remember any of my teachers having us do these. Putting the fun aside, this tool requires the students to think critically, an important task for students to achieve. This activity also encourages teamwork, something I believe to be crucial in a classroom. Students should be able to work well together.

In class we were in a group of 4 and we were each given a specific assignment. I was in charge of seeing if the activity was group friendly or if the work was to be done individually, which is considered a bad WebQuest. The other three were responsible for checking the layout and technology part of it, if it required higher order thinking, and the efficiency of the activity. As a teacher, I will have to do this before assigning WebQuests to my students in order to see if its too lengthy and wordy, if it does or doesn't require you to think, or if its even easily readable and the links actually work. I think this is an activity that students will enjoy and benefit from.

Website Evaluation

Well, I have definitely never evaluated a website before this assignment. I didn't realize there were so many things about a site that should be taken into consideration before recommending it for use in the classroom. This assignment made me realize how crucial it is to see if it is even up to date, something I probably would not have even noticed if I wasn't required. This assignment allowed me to get a feel what it will be like evaluating websites for use in my future classroom. I think the most important characteristic of website evaluation is the accuracy of information, so how reliable the author and publisher are. I chose to evaluate Funbrain and it was published by Pearson, a publisher I have heard about for years because of school textbooks, so I know it was reliable. I am glad that we had to do this so I will know what to look for in the future for my classroom in order to provide the best websites to my students.

Expectations for Course

In this course I am hoping to learn an enormous amount about how to navigate smoothly through different tools on the internet. I am excited and eager to learn how to use technology so that I will be up to date in my future classroom with different tools available for my students to use and access. I think it is important for teachers to stay updated with technology because in today's society 'everyone's doing it.' Using the internet is a convenient and easy way to communicate and stay connected with your student's parents, and updating them on your classroom.