Blog Journal # 3

As a science intuitive person, I will attempt to define a lesson plan that targets learning for science students via computational means. I would first detail what a lab report would look like for a science student who is in my laboratory. I propose that I will teach 6th grade Science to students. In Chapter 2 of Tech Tactics I learned that a word processor, like Microsoft Word, is best for a student to create a lab report. It is great for ordering, editing, outlining, and revision. I would teach, like we used in our Introduction to Educational Technologies class, just how to align margins and create subheadings for each of the pertinent sections in the lab report: Materials and Methods, Data, and Conclusions. I would use the projector that is linked to my computer as we did in class to go through the details of what items in the marginal menu I have used to create my document-- and encourage my students to use these same tactics. I especially love the use of a word processor for inter-classroom materials because the information and abilities of a word processor can be learned at any age. Fonts, alignment and revision will be the only requirements from my proposed 6th grade Science class. I expect that these three requirements will be a positive challenge for my students.

My special concern for my students in a technology supervised class is that some students may be limited when leaving the classroom. During class time I expect that resources to teach will be available. One of the greatest struggles I have now is limited access to a computer. I have a home computer, but it has a virus. The only time that I can reinforce what I have learned is in my 3 hours a week at school. I think the best way of learning how to function while using technology is to constantly utilize the resource. During class, I will encourage my 6th grade students to find a topic that each of them is interested in and find many sources about it on the Internet. I will also encourage my 11-13 year old students to pursue time to get to the library and just play games on the internet, use school monitored networking systems like Blackboard to find their friends on the internet and chat, and to pursue what peaks their individual interests.

The sixth grade is a perfect time for a science student to be introduced to an online database. The student may not be able to fully interpret some of the jargon in the scientific journals, but there are journals that are comprehendable. I will expressly research the journals that appeal to younger scientists: conceivable ideas, tailored word choice, and that use lots of pictures and graphics. The journal called Science and Children is a great journal database that meets these criterion. I will introduce my students to how to find a database that the school has access to. Here is a link to locating an Science and Children journal database: http://vnweb.hwwilsonweb.com.proxy.lib.fsu.edu/hww/Journals/getIssues.jhtml?sid=HWW:EDI&id=00748.