STAO Conference

On Friday, November 11 and Saturday, November 12, I attended the STAO conference for Secondary Science teachers at the DoubleTree Hotel by Hilton in Toronto. I was able to attend about ten conferences, some of which provided some very useful ideas for teaching Science, as well as some free resources that I definitely look forward to using in the classroom someday. I thought I would share a few of those resources here, since some of them are available free online to any teacher who wants them. One of the most interesting I just received in the mail a few days ago; it's a microarray simulation that was sent to me free of charge by the Ontario Genomics Institute:

This is used to teach students taking courses related to biotechnology about how cancer research is done; students place droplets from six bottles containing different "genes" on a slide, then add a hybridization buffer; the droplets change different colours based on whether the genes are expressed in normal lung cells, cancerous lung cells, both, or neither. There are other useful educational resources that can be found on the Ontario Genomics Institute's website, as well as information about teaching prizes. The spokesperson at the conference also recommended that teachers go to the "Rx and D" website and e-mail as many pharmaceutical companies as possible, seeing if they're willing to give away equipment and other resources, as they're often willing to do this.

Another company that had a prominent presence at STAO was Smarter Science; they strongly encourage inquiry-based learning in elementary and secondary schools, and have developed many resources to foster students' understanding of the scientific process. At one of the talks I attended, we learned how to use "Squishy Circuits" to help get Grade 9 applied students interested in electricity:

This involves using a form of dough that conducts electricity to connect dollar-store LED lights in series or parallel circuits with a battery or other power source. This can be used to explore the scientific method as students can change one independent variable at a time and see how it impacts a certain dependent variable. Instructions for making homemade conductive dough can be found at this site. The Smarter Science website has many useful materials and ideas for Science teachers; this link in particular has many useful ideas suggested by teachers for student-centered inquiry-based learning activities.

Finally, one other resource that Canadian Science teachers should be aware of is the Perimeter Institute, a research centre in Waterloo that receives funding from the Province of Ontario and Government of Canada. It has plenty of resources that are free for Canadian teachers, including in-class kits, multimedia resources, and workshops focusing on teaching modern physics. I picked up a couple of the packages at the conference, including this DVD and worksheet booklet focusing on relativity and how it relates to GPS technology:

Teachers can visit this part of the site to have these resources mailed to them.

Google Sites as a Pedagogical Tool

During my first placement teaching the Chemistry strand of Grade 9 Academic Science, I created for my students a Google site where I posted daily updates about class activities, homework, and other things they might find useful. A link to the site can be found here. Although there are other sites such as Wikispaces that can perform some of the same functions, I found Google sites to be preferable because of its ease of creating and updating a site, the ability to quickly upload files, and the fact that it's all done through one's Google/Gmail account so it can be integrated with a teacher's Google Docs and other Google resources.

One nice thing about Google sites is that you can create a site even if you don't have a Gmail account by clicking here; however, I'd recommended that you get a Gmail account anyway, since it's a great e-mail service. Once you've registered, you can click on "Sites", then choose from a variety of ready-made templates to make your site look professional with only a couple of clicks. You can then begin entering the text you want your students to read. In less than a few minutes, you can have your own nice-looking website that's ready to host useful content for your students.

With my Google site, I only scratched the surface of the potential this resource has for enhancing learning in the classroom. Some of the ways I used the resource include:

• Updating the website daily, informing the students of what was covered in class in case they were absent, and listing the day's homework in case they didn't write it down
• Posting/embedding YouTube videos which further elaborated or reviewed material that was covered in class
• Hosting lecture notes and lab handouts directly on Google's servers and allowing students to have them for review
• Embedding a Google Calendar created specifically for this course so students can quickly see the dates of upcoming tests, assignment due dates and other events
• Linking to a Class Forum that students could use to discuss course content with each other or ask me questions
• Providing useful links to other websites, including homework help sites, laboratory and chemical safety information, and the Ontario Curriculum document for the course

There are many other useful Google Tools I didn't have a chance to make use of, but may in the future, such as Picasa photo slideshows, integrated spreadsheets, and uploading class notes using Livescribe, which allows students to click certain parts of the notes and hear an audio recording explaining the note. I also ran it as a traditional website which is created and edited solely by the teacher for the benefit of the students; Google sites also give the option of allowing the students to update the site for the benefit of their classmates as well upload files such as assignments rather than handing them in physically.

For me, one of the major drawbacks of the tool is that it allows for only limited use of HTML editing and no use of external stylesheets, which can be frustrating for teachers with some web design experience. For example, there is no way of using HTML to edit the Navigation pane of the sidebar; I wanted to edit the link to the Class Forum so it would open in a new window, or better yet in the frame on the right-hand side of the site, but there was no way of doing this and students are therefore forced to leave the Google site if they want to visit the forum. I also couldn't find a way to center or change the font colour of the titles on individual pages; if it is possible, they make it very difficult to do so. Also, it was annoying that Google doesn't allow you to change the template for your site once you've chosen one. Overall, however, the benefits greatly outweigh the drawbacks, as it is very easy to embed video from YouTube, upload and link to documents and pictures, and create an aesthetically pleasing website using the templates.

EdTechTalks - Autonomous Online Learning through Livestreaming

Last night I had the opportunity to take part in an hour-long webcasted discussion series known as Ed Tech Talk. These are talks held completely online about technology in education, as well as education in general. The most valuable thing about these talks, aside from the interesting topics discussed, is the way it brings together educators from all over North America and the rest of the world, allowing them to contribute unique points of view influenced by their location and values of their local communities. The discussion held last night brought together teachers from New Jersey, Virginia, British Columbia, and elsewhere. These talks are generally held three times a week on Sunday, Monday and Wednesday; the Wednesday talks I took part in last night are part of a series known as "Teachers Helping Teachers", where educators specifically discuss topics related to helping each other in their careers.

These online talks use a technology called Livestreaming, which allows many users to log in with their webcams and microphones; everyone views one video channel that displays one webcam at a time, based on who is talking at the moment. This week's discussion was a continuation of one that began last week about a book called Walk Out Walk On: A Learning Journey into Communities Daring to Live the Future Now. The title refers to "walking out" on traditional or limiting beliefs and "walking on" to create healthy, self-sufficient communities who are able to figure out how to solve their problems using whatever resources they have. The stories take place in countries like Zimbabwe, South Africa, and India, as well as the United States. A member of the chat, Paul, indicated that the author of the book may be joining them on the webcast sometime in January.

A teacher named Monika opened up the chat by pointing out that the United States has largely been unsuccessful in giving foreign aid in the past because it creates dependency in foreigners on the resources Americans bring in to those other countries as well as on America itself; rather, when we go to help other countries, we should work to understand the culture of the people we are helping, and teach them how to help themselves in a way that allows them to retain their cultural identity. Another teacher named Mary Ann pointed out that for many people the notion of "doing unto others" is based on the faulty premise that we are better than the people we are helping, and we need to eradicate this belief if our relief efforts are to be more effective. Another key point made in the discussion is that North Americans often see efficiency as a key virtue in their foreign policy decisions, but sometimes too much efficiency comes at a cost of decreased creativity, which can negatively impact our ability to properly help people.

Many other interesting points were made, and the discussion continued for a little over an hour. A student teacher named Scott also talked briefly about something he's trying in his grade 3 class; instead of chairs, he is allowing students to sit and bounce on exercise balls at their desks. He has found that, so far, it has been really beneficial for certain students' abilities to concentrate in class, and that a local TV news station even did a story on it. Teaching is going to be his retirement job, and he is looking for a school that will allow him the flexibility to try new, creative things like the exercise ball idea.

I really enjoyed having a chance to listen and take part in the discussion, and found it to be a great way to bring like-minded people together with a passion for pushing the envelope in education. Although the discussion about Walk Out Walk On wasn't directly related to traditional K-12 education (although it was about education in general), I thought the idea of understanding the culture of the people we are helping and teaching them to help themselves was actually a great metaphor for how we should do our work as teachers. The trend in education seems to be always moving towards more student-based learning, so as teachers, the more we do to understand our students, their interests, ideas and passions, the better we'll know how to serve them.

As mentioned above, there are many benefits to the technology of online autonomous learning; some include bringing people with similar passions and interests together to share ideas, providing points of view on similar topics and initiatives from people living in different kinds of communities and cultures, the fact that it can all be done with nothing more than a laptop so it's easy to access and you won't be late to the meeting because of traffic or other factors, and the fact that you can bring in guest speakers like the author of Walk Out Walk On who can webcast to people all over the world from wherever they happen to be. There aren't a lot of drawbacks, but some might include the fact that the audio and video froze occasionally, the fact that you can only see one person at a time, you have to have a working high-speed Internet connection, and you can't physically share resources with other teachers. However, I think this kind of education is going to become increasingly popular in the future, as it allows teachers to reach a large number of associates and students in an uncomplicated way.