FROGUTS.com !!

I would like to talk about a site that wasn't listed on Dr. Heigle's blog called Frog Guts at www.froguts.com. This site offers an alternative to dissecting real animal specimens. I think in science we often ignore the student questions about ethics in science in regards to dissection. As a scientist, I truly value the experience gained from working with a real specimen. There is no way to simulate the feel of specimen, and the knowledge gained can be incredible. Without dissecting real specimens, students won't be able to observe the individual differences between specimens. The students who have completed dissections often reflect that they enjoyed the experience and learned a lot. I certainly do not want my future doctors and veterinarians to work on me and my pets without first dissecting other specimens. It may even help students who have an interest in those fields to decide how serious they are about their specimens.

On the other hand, there are some students so opposed to dissection that they avoid taking biology and fear that part of the class. For students who have an interest in science but no interest in medical fields, why should they have to dissect real specimens? Certainly a high quality online application would suffice instead. Although students will miss the individuality and real life feel of an animal dissection, perhaps this should be left for upper level optional classes like anatomy or zoology. Regular biology students could focus on online dissections and leave real dissections for upper level classes. This would encourage ethics discussions in science classes and exemplify the use of good ethics.

Frog Guts is an excellent online dissection simulation that asks for a paid subscription for their full services. However, there are a few specimens that can be demoed for free, like the frog. The site does a great job of first directing students through interactive observations. Then there are step by step directions about the actual dissection, starting with the basic step of pinning the frog so it won't move. I love that there is instant information about what the student is seeing. It also ensures that the students are seeing what they are actually supposed to see, which isn't a guarantee when doing a real dissection. I encourage you to go to the homepage and click on demos. From there, you can pick an animal and start your dissection!

online book discussions

I visited www.bookdiscussions.com. I love this! There are so many great books about science, but teachers usually make students all read the same book. Maybe with the online book discussion site, the students could read from a list of books. They could discuss them online at the site. They could reply to fellow students or really anyone who's read the book. Similarly, they could get feedback from anyone. I guess the potential negative is also what I like - anyone could view and respond to the postings. Anyhow, I think after years of doing it, the students would have a good resource int he posts of students from earlier years.

One Computer Classroom

The One Computer Classroom website talks about the possibilities of having access to one computer in the classroom. Certainly the teacher can use it for preparation and communication. But the cite talks about using it for presentations and leading the class, too. Although most of the classrooms I sub in have a computer, few of them have projecting capabilities. Also, the site talks about student use. Again, if they prepared their information elsewhere, they can present on the classroom computer if there is a projector. The site talked about giving tests or quizzes as a group using the computer. I've thought about that, but my students always talk me out of it. They don't like the idea of being tested at someone else's pace. They want to go back and reread the questions if they want to, but feel that is not possible if they have to test as a class. But the idea of the entire class depending on that one computer isn't very realistic. I would certainly take one computer versus no computer, but it must be accompanied with a projector. A Smartboard would be nice, too.

Flash play/Animoto frustrations

I wanted to review the Lodge Does the Canopy Animoto video, but cannot. The video requires the download of the latest Adobe Flash Player. I had a similar frustration several months ago at a local high school. I had what I thought was a great lesson plan and webquest for the students, but most of them couldn't get to the pages that were so easy for me to get to from home or my office. Even the teacher's desk computer could go the right pages. All the student laptops and computer labs needed the to download the program. But the schools have the computers so locked down that they are very difficult to use. Anyhow, I write this as a warning. Animoto may be awesome, but if your students can't use it, it is useless. So frustrating.

Netflix founder

This article talks about the founder of Netflix working on software to make schools a more online environment. Textbooks would be useless, as books would be found online. He started Dreambox, which is the software he created with lesson plans, games, and concepts needed by students.

I think this is brilliant. Everyone has been talking about this direction for schools, but no one has been working on it. I saw an video clip on CNN last week about a school on the east coast that gives a cell phone to each student with the calling/texting features turned off so everyone will have access to the Internet and teaching tools. I think it is an exciting, changing time for students and teachers!

Picasa

I love the idea of an online photo collage. I can see using that in science class if I give students a chance to go outside and take pictures of our topic, like plants. They could create a one page collage using Picasa. I've given longer final projects using online scrap booking sites. The students are better able to go into a large amount of detail that way, organize it, and present it. But I can see the benefit of Picasa for simpler projects.

Middle school subbing

I took a sub job for a SS middle school teacher last week. I feel so bad for this teacher! He has no classroom of his own, so he has to wheel whatever he needs around on a cart. I realized how spoiled I was during my long-term sub positions to have my rooms the entire days I was there. Not only that, but his students were ridiculous! Usually there are just a couple students you have to keep an extra eye on in each class. 10-12 of his students were off the wall at any given moment. When I stopped to address one issue, three other issues started. If the students were mine all the time, the first thing I'd want to do is re-arrange the classroom environment to try and manage the students. This guy can't do that b/c he works in 4 different classrooms!!! I must have sent a dozen kids to the office that day. I hate being that way, but I was so grateful to get some of them out of my room!