For our group inquiry, Denee, Dane, Jessica, and I looked at using Apps in Outdoor Education.
Here is a screencast of our slides! Feel free to pause and look at the slides as you go!
Pottery is a huge world. Which before this I didn’t know. I thought it was a fun hobby people had and spent some time on making beautiful and useful things. It takes a lot of time, mental and physical effort, money, learning, understanding, and practice.
I have learned that I didn’t have the time this semester to become a full time pottery as I previously thought I would. That is ok I will come back to it when I have the space to do so because something else I learned is that….
I love pottery.
It is a very human practice, looking at the history of it, I learned it is an art practiced for thousands of years – the oldest pottery shard humans know exist is 20,000 years old. Clay is what we were made of, according to many different creation stories. It is an art that incorporates the four elements earth, water, air, and fire, which are the elements that for a long time what we were said to be as humans.
The oldest pottery shard, found in China’s Jiangxi province that has been dated to be 20,000 years old. Read more.
Some of the key activities and terms that are specific to the art of pottery that I learned during my inquiry in pottery are:
- wedging
- wetting
- slabbing
- coiling
- throwing
- trimming
- firing
- sanding
- glazing
- ribs
- trimming tools
- kiln
The technology used for pottery has been around forever and has never changed. The pottery wheel and the Kiln are still necessary today to practice this art. Though the wheel has changed from being hand-spun to electrical, and kilns have gotten bigger and more industrialized.
Technology has helped me learn about pottery, whilst I didn’t have the time to go into the studio and practice. Being able to watch youtube videos, tv programs, look information up on the internet and read books was invaluable to my learning throughout this process.
FreshGrade (Sam, Mitra, Jess S.)
Includes
- communication tool, between parents and teachers
- lesson plan option
- digital portfolios – audio/video difficult to hear if not very quiet in surrounding area
- Announcements
- Activities
- Report Cards
FreshGrade & FreshGrade NEXT
- talk to teachers about use and frustrations
- FreshGrade NEXT is just upgraded version of the program
- (ACTIVITY* make hearts out of modelling clay)
- NEXT is a bit slower
Features
- can connect to curriculum and tag posts as they connect to curricular outcomes
- can connect to google translate – would impact privacy laws when connected to third-party sites
- needs to be explained to parents
- can increase pressure from parents, communicate with parents that your posting quality vs quantity and its a benefit and takes time, expectations
bobka – Anne
Google Teacher
OpenED!
Presentations
Technology in the Classroom !
Language and language technologies in the Classroom
Digital Storytelling
Video in the classroom
Coding
A couple websites to learn about code!
Code Monkey (for young learners)
Looking for ways to learn to code without being on a computer? look at Coding Unplugged.
Challenge
The Fun they had by Isaac Asimov
- write a story about yourself teaching in 2040!
Guest Speaker – Verena Roberts
Open Learning Design Intervention
- Real learning begins when we are left to figure something out, it’s about the doing.
- Learning happens everywhere, creating access
Design for learning – teacher job to create access
Learning is learning, doesn’t matter the name
Formal learning theorists: Vygotsky, Dewey, Barth, Scardamalia & Bereiter
Informal: other teachers, environment
Personal Learning environments
Interactions – Collaboration – Connections (outcomes, objectives, competencies)
- Students being creative and innovative
- Digital literacy ; space to build personal learning environments
Reflective
- Journaling
OLDI
- Relationships
- Co-designing learning pathways
- Building & sharing knowledge (assessment – using dig. Lit. to build PLNs)
- Building Personal Learning Networks
Scaffolding has to happen slowly and be very intentional :
Learning Plan #1 – searching and communicating online
LP #2 – who is my online audience?
LP#3 – How do I solve community Problem?
LP #4 – What it my story based on? What is my perspective? How does my story inform my identity?
It was good to see the struggle-in-action of using technology. I think that it’s really important to really prepare and have pretested your system of communication if using technology. I will always prepare for the worst-case scenario when using technology. Just to know that my back-up pathways will work. and if all goes perfectly that’s great. I just would want to be prepared for any potential technological issue.
Presentations
OpenEd Resources – Hannah and Ruth
commonsense.org education
Integrating Technology in the Classroom – Anna, Sydney, and Kathleen
Using technology needs to be appropriately, meaningful and empowering.
Question use of technology; screening content – what is being accessed/age appropriateness/its the world but in a tiny mirror so rules and boundaries need to be discussed and held.
Is a supportive tool – use it only when it enhances activities.
3D design & printing – Nick & Jamie
amazing applications for biology, chemistry, any science topic really, math, design, and story telling!
The Great Pottery Throwdown is a BBC show that brings home potters from all over England to Stoke-On-Trent to compete to be top potter.
The show has been a really interesting resource for me as a new potter, as watching other people make pottery really helps with my ability as a new potter, being a visual learner as I am.
The entire first season can be watched on youtube.
I also have found a book at the library that the BBC made that goes very in depth into the history of pottery. Looking at the history of pottery would be a really interesting lens to look at human history, culture, and art. So many civilizations made ceramics. Some of the only information we have about ancient civilizations has come from finding fragments of clay pottery. If students made their own pottery and learning about the history of pottery they would feel a much greater connection to history and the richness of pottery in this way.
Keiro’s presentation – stop-go animation
stop motion (can be downloaded)
used imovie to fade into the graphic
Photo shop
- twinning (allows you to take two photos and then it will make it stop go in between)
Pros
- can be used in any subject to make it fun and engaging
- hits all core competencies
- simple concept that can be taken deep
Cons
- limiting technology available
- its a slow process and then technology can be difficult
- takes time and error can occur
Things to watch for
- camera stability
- time is really needed
- have fun!
REsources
- makerspaceforeducation.com
- iste.org
- onf-nfb.gc.ca
- wiobyrne.com
- waldprotfolio
- education.microsoft.com (lessons for all grades!)
- giphy.com
Google Geographic Products
Google Maps
- google: My Maps (can make own maps including points of interest, save in layers (stores, parks), can colourize icons, can share & collaborate, can change to satellite images)
- can add photos and videos of places, could upload audio and link it to places
- map out: different places in the world using language of place, map fictional settings.
- Street view : can look at natural wonders, talking about being able to go through museums
- Google Cultural Institute – information about cultures, arts, natural wonders, repository of historic documents
Google Earth
- experience – high resolution 3D imagery, can be used for immersive experiences in the class
- find your house – to get them excited about looking at the world
- flight simulator – flying around
- view the past – going back 15-20 years, looking at development land-use change, agriculture, growth
- Layers: different data can be looked at over layed on maps
- Im feeling lucky – click button and get sent to a place
- google moon (immersive interactions with apollo missions, landers, narrated by astronauts), mars, and sky (planets, galaxies, view from telescopes around the world)
- Voyageur : nasa, the bbc, jane goodall, and sesame street teamed up (narrated tours of places around the world)
Lesson Ideas
- 20-questions (pick a place, ask questions have students guess)
- math – maps, measuring, distance
- explore different environments
- can make own tours
- scavenger hunts (coordinates, clues, pictures)
Lessons – My Maps
- Grade 4 curriculum;
- following routes travelled during Euro-western exploration
- make own road trip
- add journal entries in my maps, historical timelines, distances measured
Privacy
- Google can track you if you don’t opt out
- corporations selling information to sell you products
- benefits – convenience
- creation/erasure of national boarders
cartography has nationalism built into it. Originally the way that countries were delineated.
Digital Literacy
Information Literacy
-
-
- what is fake and what is real? how to recognize, quality and credibility
- awareness and critical thinking. who benefits from what is being said, is there bias?
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Ethical use
- citing, use, etc
Understanding digital footprint
- what are you sharing, cookies, ip address, passwords, service provider, etc
- what are you leaving behind when you use the internet?
Protecting yourself online
- you have to be critical or what is offered and what you want to leave on the internet.
- vpns, data encryption and hacking
- self-regulation, awareness, screen time
Handling digital communication – cyberbullying
- the internet is a public space
- don’t be a dick
- there is a history of what you say
- would you say what you are about to say to peoples faces? if not, don’t say it
Pros & Cons
Risks
Strategies, Tips, and Best Practice
- Crash Course ; youtube series – navigating digital media (10-11 videos in series), media literacy (amazing for middle school – more intellectual)
- fact checking – double check your info and teach students how to do this
- lateral reading – when discovering new information, looking into who is writing articles, when was it written, is there corporate backing/who published this?
- evaluating evidence
- Mediasmarts.ca
- Canadian specific content (know Can Law, applicable to Canada and BC) includes resources for all stakeholders
- some outdated information
- Choice & Voice
- creation v. consumption (more creation = more interesting, increased awareness)
- multimodalities (diversify, diversify, diversify) – pick meaningful things, but many
- collaboration
- accessibility – make sure learners are given skills to use technology (physical) and apps, go over them
- crowd-accelerated learning (citizen science – using people’s brains to categorize and process; ie NASA sorting galaxies) – involve outside school that are meaningful and authentic
- social learning – spend time on this peer-to-peer interaction, acknowledge role as a social guide.
Parents and Dig Lit
- assume ignorance, figure out parents involvement in their child’s digital life
- is part of BC curriculum (21st century citizens)
- communicate with parent so they understand
- digital engagement family night (class or school wide)
- risks and benefits – be compassionate, explain why, patience
Sex, sexuality and the digital world
- lots of misinformation, single stories, confusion, and shame
- awareness of this, provide positive digital resources where they can find real true information
- internet can be a safe place for all people as they explore sexuality
- common sense education
House hippo – media smarts
Good Morning November!
SD 63 strike
Indigenous Resurgence Workshop (Saturday November 23) – Sign-up through link on EDSA face book page.
MINECRAFT
Popularity of minecraft has increased of late.
kids share IP addresses to connect to play minecraft
Entire city of Florence replicated in the minecraft world.
(take a screenshot or video – screencastify)
Minecraft requires a minecraft server (what is this?) – costs ~5000$.
Microsoft bought minecraft from Mojang, and the server was changed, so now don’t have
MInecraft can relate to a number of subject areas, sorts of projects, and core competencies:
- ancient civilizations
- community building
- problem solving
- natural resources
- navigation
- x,y,z axises
- building, architecture, art
Verdict: Minecraft is cool.
On Monday, October 21 our ED 336 class went to Rebecca Bathurst-Hunt’s class to have a look at her classroom set-up and speak with her about how she implements inquiry learning into her public school classroom. Rebecca Bathhurst-Hunt and Trevor Mckenzie co-authored a book in 2018 titled Inquiry Mindset, a book designed to help teachers encourage “dreams, wonders, and curiosities in young learners”.
I was unfortunately unable to attend the classroom tour but have been working my way through her website and the multitude of other resources that have been provided by my fellow classmates and Michael, who recorded the audio of her talk and has posted it on our classroom website!
I am so inspired by Rebecca and her implementation of Inquiry based learning into her classroom practice.
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