Comments on: Explain the experiement

By: Rodd Lucier

Rodd Lucier — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 15:05:48 +0000

[riffly_video]59028A46FE6A11DCBBCFD0A456B4F508[/riffly_video]

By: Zaharo Hilentzaris

Zaharo Hilentzaris — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 22:07:39 +0000

Personally, I love writing up old fashioned lab reports, but I know that I am a minority. Currently I am a biological education major at Illinois State University and I hold a UTA (undergraduate teaching associate) position at my school. I know first hand that students grow tired of the same boring procedures and lab reports. I believe that what your coworker, Carol Jordan, has done with Voice Threads is innovative and exciting for students. Not only would this method help students learn, but it also gives them hands on experience on different ways to interact and record finding in a laboratory setting. It gives then the experience and excitement of a real scientist and wakes them up to what real science is about. Technology and ideas like these make me excited about my future in teaching.

By: Ann Oro

Ann Oro — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 16:58:04 +0000

When I took a look at the Voicethread, I was also thinking that it might be useful to have the students from this school or others leave comments on the experiments. It would give way to discussions instead of another way of a differet way of reporting results. It might work well if it was between two classes working on the same project during different periods of the day in the same school.

By: Louise Maine

Louise Maine — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 14:30:11 +0000

I just blogged about this. Excellent use of technology for telling the story of their experiment!

I have used voicethreads for students to explain the part in the lab that best explains what they should have learned from it. This makes any lab far different from the routine assignment that it used to be and transforms their learning from just knowledge to that of application.

I hope that there will be more sharing of great uses of technology. The more educators that share, the better our teaching and using technology becomes.

By: Danielle Kiefner

Danielle Kiefner — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 07:02:05 +0000

That video was great! It is exciting to hear about and see different ways teachers keep students interested and engaged in education. Not only can making videos and voice threads be fun for the students, but it gives them experience expressing themselves verbally. Making the video required knowledge of the scientific method and course material, but it also incorporated use of technology, teamwork, and creativity. The students were having fun while learning, and it is also fun for teachers to see their students engaging in new experiences. It is important to me to allow students to express themselves in different ways and to assess their learning in various ways also. Projects like these should be meaningful to students because they differ from a routine assignment. I will definitely use tools such as videos and voice threads in my classroom, and it is great to see other teachers having so much success with them.

By: Experimenting with Lab Reports and VoiceThread : Clarify Me

Experimenting with Lab Reports and VoiceThread : Clarify Me — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 00:26:41 +0000

[...] while ago I wrote about how I like to try a new tool every week (give or take). After reading a post by Jeff Utecht earlier in the week, VoiceThread rose to the top of my ‘Tools To Try’ [...]

By: Seth

Seth — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 22:20:09 +0000

I liked the idea of doing something like this, taking an old method and doing it in a new way. I am not so sure I like the voice thread as much as the video though. I think I like seeing the students putting the extra effort in to the project. The script for the voice thread seems like it would work for a video but you can do more with the video. I can understand sometimes time does not permit for a video and much more effort is required for that. I guess that is when it would be good to use the voice thread instead. Either way they are better then doing a lab report like we are use to, plus both are more entertaining and creative for the students to do.

By: Jane Altemen

Jane Altemen — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 03:27:56 +0000

Yes, indeed, Jeff and Carol, thanks so much for sharing! I happened upon your work last night and I changed my lab task today! I showed my chemistry students the examples you so generously shared! We at UNIS Hanoi are an MYP school so my students and I will have to pay close attention to the rubrics but I dont see any limitations. I suppose, like any group work situation, it is tricky to assign authentic grades to individual group members? Have you any tricks for that?

By: Claire Thompson

Claire Thompson — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 22:19:58 +0000

Jeff and Carol, thanks for sharing these student projects! I’m always looking for new ways to deal with the traditional lab report format; it was great to see some actual student examples.