Thang 12

I tried the different search engines and didn't really find anything outstanding in the results. I really liked the two programs that compared google and yahoo side by side and top to bottom. I thought the top to bottom display with with the dots was pretty cool.
I couldn't get the link to qunitara to work. The music one was weird. I clicked on one of the bands displayed and things moved around, but then I couldn't figure out what else had happened. Then I finally found the menu at the side and found the albums for sale. I'm sure there is more going on, but I guess I wasn't interested enough to keep looking.

RPC Follow up

Research Questions were due on Monday, and of course, some students didn't turn them in on time. One student shared that she got up on Monday morning and was checking her email for a message from a friend. She found this strange email and opened it, and there was her reminder.
She had actually forgotten to write up her research question. So she quickly sat down and typed up her research question and happily turned it in. So, in at least one case, the email reminder worked exactly as it was supposed to. YaHoo!

Thang 8

Today I did my dribbling lesson on point of view. I used the two sample web sites for genetically engineered foods. The students quickly detected the points of view. We talked about how knowing the point of view could really be helpful if you were looking for information from a certain perspective. It was a helpful lesson to use.

Thang 11 goooogle

Exploring google was fun and exasperating. I worked really hard to try and create my own customized search engine but could never get it to work. I tried to create one using two data sources I was familiar with, but every time I then went to try it by trying to find something that I knew should have been there, it found nothing. I don't know what I was doing wrong. Google earth was interesting. In Google for educators the contest for students to write code looked like something my son might be interested in. I also had fun with the timeline feature in history. At school we are starting to use google groups for discussions. So I am now part of a google group where our Techonology Advisory Group discusses and I am part of a google group that the entire school can use to discuss a proposed schedule change for next year. It feels like an efficient way to discuss a topic.

Thang 13

To get my students started on their research project we spent some time looking at the two subscription data bases sirs researcher and proquest. Since they are doing an essay where they need to evaluate pros and cons and chose a position, sirs researcher was right on the money with its section which discusses the pros and cons of an issue. The students checked out this section and I showed them the section where "my analysis" actually takes them through the thinking process they should use in making a decision on a position. We looked more briefly at proquest, but I did want to show them the resource and how you can focus on a time period in the newspapers in proquest. The students really did seem attentive and now I will just have to see if they make good use of the resources.

Thang 6 and Thang 7 Part II

Today four of my classes started a research project where we are using the RPC. They are investigating an alternative fuel and creating an essay where they will describe their alternative fuel and state a position of whether they believe that fuel is or is not a good alternative fuel. The project is stretched out over the entire tri so the final project is not due until late February. The students all registered today on the RPC and had the page sent to their email address. We are using the due dates from RPC to have those parts of their project due in class. So, anyway, I've jumped into the pool and I'm trying to tread water. Hope I can keep my head up.

Thing 17 One New Thing

I recently learned about iTunesU at the iTunes store. Personally I don't use iTunes much but I saw a news article about Podcasts of lectures from colleges being available in the iTunes store at iTunesU. To get there simply click on the iTunes logo on your laptop. In the iTunes store there is a menu at the left and at the bottom it says iTunesU (new), click there. Apparently sometime in the last year apple approached a number of universities and asked them if they would give them the podcasts they were doing of classes on campus for free, and apple offered to store and catalog them and make them available to the public for free. There is an amazing array of subjects from universities across the country available for free. A few months after apple started offering the podcasts online one of the lectures had 50,000 downloads. As high school teachers we can certainly make use of some of these lectures as resources for our students. Anyway, have fun exploring "The Mind of Einstein" or an environmental series from Yale or philosophy lectures from UC Berkeley.