reflection on the idea of the webquest as a learning tool

I have been paning through all the sites on the net to see how i should approach the creation of this webquest and I have found some really interesting views that are insightful and well expressed and that offer a clear challenge as to ow top approach and use this madium to achieve good teaching and learning outcomes
http://www.webquest.org/ The articlae that I really significant was the entry that Bernie Dodge wrote on the 05/04/07 in which he gives us a clear idea of which end of the Blooms taxonomy we should be aiming at, with the outcomes that our webquest should hold.

Knowledge: arrange, define, duplicate, label, list, memorize, name, order, recognize, relate, recall, repeat, reproduce state.
Comprehension: classify, describe, discuss, explain, express, identify, indicate, locate, recognize, report, restate, review, select, translate,
Application: apply, choose, demonstrate, dramatize, employ, illustrate, interpret, operate, practice, schedule, sketch, solve, use, write.
Analysis: analyze, appraise, calculate, categorize, compare, contrast, criticize, differentiate, discriminate, distinguish, examine, experiment, question, test.
Synthesis: arrange, assemble, collect, compose, construct, create, design, develop, formulate, manage, organize, plan, prepare, propose, set up, write.
Evaluation: appraise, argue, assess, attach, choose compare, defend estimate, judge, predict, rate, core, select, support, value, evaluate.
From Bloom, et al., 1956

As teachers we tend to ask questions in the "knowledge" catagory 80% to 90% of the time. These questions are not bad, but using them all the time is. Try to utilize higher order level of questions. These questions require much more "brain power" and a more extensive and elaborate answer. Below are the six question categories as defined by Bloom.

KNOWLEDGE
remembering;
memorizing;
recognizing;
recalling identification and
recall of information
Who, what, when, where, how ...?
Describe
COMPREHENSION

interpreting;
translating from one medium to another;
describing in one's own words;
organization and selection of facts and ideas
Retell...
APPLICATION
problem solving;
applying information to produce some result;
use of facts, rules and principles
How is...an example of...?
How is...related to...?
Why is...significant?
ANALYSIS
subdividing something to show how it is put together;
finding the underlying structure of a communication;
identifying motives;
separation of a whole into component parts
What are the parts or features of...?
Classify...according to...
Outline/diagram...
How does...compare/contrast with...?
What evidence can you list for...?
SYNTHESIS
creating a unique, original product that may be in verbal form or may be a physical object;
combination of ideas to form a new whole
What would you predict/infer from...?
What ideas can you add to...?
How would you create/design a new...?
What might happen if you combined...?
What solutions would you suggest for...?
EVALUATION
making value decisions about issues;
resolving controversies or differences of opinion;
development of opinions, judgements or decisions
Do you agree...?
What do you think about...?
What is the most important...?
Place the following in order of priority...
How would you decide about...?
What criteria would you use to assess...?
http://www.teachers.ash.org.au/researchskills/dalton.htm
http://www.alicechristie.org/edtech/index.html Dr Alice Christie is a superb educator in the USA and her site is a great place to visit and learn from.
http://webquest.sdsu.edu/designpatterns/all.htm This site was another really helpful way to understand how to construct this learning tool

Inspiration Mind Map Example

To load an Inspiration map onto a blog
when open in inspiration go to file
down to export,choose giff,
save, then save as, (usb, desktop my docs or personal file )
then in my blog
open up a new post
Hit compose
then picture icon
then browse
retrive from wherever
upload then done

final Lecture

Web quest
Define what a webquest is
Identify teaching and learning benefits of intergrating WQs as learning tools
Identify the critical components of a web q
Evaluate some webqs
Network data base that is univwersal, information that is accessible

an enquiry oriented activity in which most or all of the informatiion thast learners interact with comes from resources on the internet

Mind Map on Prensky's DN's V's DI's

Mind Map on Gardners MI's

Signs of the times Reflection Part2 JS423

Reading the signs of the times is not something that I understood clearly before this unit and I still have a long way to go before I can say that I can read them well. I say this because firstly because I'm not well read in history especially modern history. So much of this unit is not new information, but it is more fully explained and put into a context that I have been able to get a grasp of. History has always been taught to me in these disconnected bubble's and now I am beginning to see it in a more broad and connected way, this helps me to understand the perspectives we need so that we may start to read the times that we are facing and living in right now, I now have a very different view of what Christ's message is to those who want to follow his mission that he entrusted to all Christians today,than I did before I started this unit of study.
I do have to have the historical perspective so that we can connect with what is happening in the world we live in right now, history has a habit of repeating itself, so it is up to those of us who have been told about the mission of Christ's message to do what we have to do, to the best of our ability and when we do that we are able to help in our own way to try to bring the balance back not only into our own lives but for the students that we teach, because we are actively living the word of God.
Now I am trying to come from a suitably conscious position and by this I am reflecting that when we as adults think about what choices we are making and then take a pathway that supports the least fortunate in our own community, we actively engage with the Idea of PRAXIS,Theconcept of reflection and action. We start with the closest relationship, that of family and then we extend our consciousness,experience and action into our community around us, which might be our Church or local parish, schools where our children attend or where we teach and then we can extend out further to a larger action plan, whatever that might be.
When we support communities around the world who are trying to survive with dignity and value, independently of the foreign monopolies that are constantly promoting poverty, when we actively engage in a conscious way to reduce our footprint on this planet, we then have way of sharing values with anyone around us, and I think subconsciously it does give hope.

"If you don't have a claim on my charity, then you have a claim on my justice" When we look around especially in this wealthy country of Australia, we do see many charitable organisations at work, people with a desire to live Christs message of "love one another as I have loved you" "if you do this to least of my brothers you do this to me",but the biggest challenge remains within the area of justice, if we talk about the 80/20 divide and the north V's south, we look at a very formidable challenge. We don't have to look very far to see this is a major issue facing this world today, we only need to see the homeless on our streets and the state of affairs in the aboriginal communities, in this country to start to become aware that social justice is a political as well as a church based responsibility.So how can we address overwhelming problem, how do we lead the students we teach,to have a awareness about these issues and what ways can we help them to engage in thinking about all this and then taking some action that they can see the positive results in. For me I teach Visual Arts and Textiles and Design and I really find that I have so many ways that I can introduce the discussion of social Justice into a lesson, and actively get students engaged in a project that is invigorating and inspiring that can extend into the community beyond the classroom walls. This is particularly easy if you teach in the Catholic System ot the Christian School system.Even in Catholic Schools that might not have a very high profile Social Justice programm there are many ways you can expand enhance and develope a really strong awareness of Social Justice in a school where you might be teaching.
One thing I have witnessed with the youth of today is that there is a huge vacuum and though they fill it with materialism it doesn't satisfy their deeper needs, I feel that when they do "acts of charity" they really love the experience, they need to experience the act of giving,the majority of people really do grow and prosper emotionally and spiritually when they are given the opportunity to take a real and responsible role in actively helping those who are less fortunate and are struggling through inequity, poverty, neglect, intolerance, violence, displacement, fear and despair.I think it remains up to us to keep the poitive outlook and actions occurring so that we infect the young with the value of positive thinking and the power of hope.

ICT- Item 2 Blog Part B ED4134

Leonardo Da Vinci
In this Exercise i am trying to lead the students along a pathway where they will be able to see images I've put there and then go and retrieve information that will assist in their understanding of the unit they are studying with a view to the historical, the cultural,the subjective, the structural and the post-modern frame's that are covered in the stage4 and stage 5 curiculum.

Year 9 Visual Art Class
Automania
Since man invented the wheel he has been totally entranced with the idea of moving at greater and greater speed in this excersie we will look at the love affair that man has had with this idea and his relationship to the modern day automobile.

http://lizzy.smugmug.com/gallery/1597167#77504537
Your work is to now go to this web address and find other machines that involved movement and to download at least three other machines that Leonardo Da Vinci designed. Remember to name them and write a sentence about what the did and how they worked. http://www.wga.hu/index1.html
The next step is to have a look at this slide show that gives you some idea of how people axpress themselves through their cars in todays society.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/surlygrrrl/sets/72157594212114201/show/?no_back=1
Here are some images of art cars that people have created

http://www.carhenge.com/

Now in relationship to the Multiple intelligences theory that Howard Gardner has developed these are very interesting and valuable frameworks to have as a underpinning in class activities.And with the help of ICT in classroom work we can enhance and expand their learning abilities. What I am looking at here is how do I see this as a real undertaking in my lessons and curriculum approach. The example that I am working on for this exercise, to cater for different learning styles,is a Stage 5 Visual Arts Unit titled Automania. The overview is about the relationship man has with his Car in this modern world, how it has the status of Icon associated with it, how we venerate the automobile and its development in historical terms. The students eventually will create their own Art Car in a sculptural 3D medium which would be decided by the faculty and what type of equipment the school had in their art rooms. The initial lessons that would occur before the students embark on any practical art works, are usually research and development based processes that expose them to the gaining of Visual, historical, cultural and societal based knowledge. It is at this stage, that I find the use of ICT ,in the transmission and gaining of knowledge can be most effective.Another important factor is the stimulation of each individuals creative potential, using a range tasks we can incorporate all types of learners.
The Verbal-Linguistic Intelligence
To engage the verbal linguistic learner, make sure in a list of tasks that the students have to fulfill, that you would ask them to express information they gathered into a poem or a rap, or to write a prose piece if that was appropriate for the task.They would need too name artists, genres of art practice, historical information and other information that might relate to whatever topic they were studying.
The Logical-Mathematical Intelligence
This doesn't mean that a person with this intelligence as the dominant in their make-up, cannot engage in the rather abstract and fuzzzy aspects of the creative mind.As a teacher we can always challenge them to quantify, categorise, analyse, identify the flaws in something ie, would Leonardo's car have worked, read more about Leonardo's observations of nature and list what he discovered.Or you could develop a game that leads the students from Leonardo to the present using cars.This is an area where you can really engage the student, as you can get them to design a computer game where specific outcomes have to be attained relating to the requirements of the topic.
The Naturalist Intelligence
These little ones are always a delight to from where I stand, they are so observant of the world around them. Even though their strength lies in the area of the natural world their ability to find out fascinating details that many overlook is always enlightening. Including tasks for the Naturalist is fun,for example, they have to discover how paint was constructed in 1462, what was it made from, where did the colours come from. This is a fun one to create a web quest from as it takes all over the world, you can give them experiments to do, create colours from grinding rocks and then painting with the pigments, again there are many ways for this student to be engaged and to develop their knowledge base and grow.
The Bodily-Kinaesthetic
I can always pick these ones in a class, they will be drumming with their fingers or feet, taping their pen on the desk, generally they can't sit still for very long. Now this can be a challenge when we do theory in an art class, I find they focus quite well on challenging construction processes that have a staggered level of achievement, for example if you designed a web quest or computer game that has scores different levels of achievement, the competitive side of this intelligence tends to be stimulated and you can get some really great results.
The Musical-Rhythmic Intelligence
This Intelligence can work alongside the Linguistic intelligence quite well as they have the abilities to work with rhythms and melodies, so they have that understanding of the patter and metre of sound in words and also music. Here is another area that can be introduced,music of the times that you are studying, music like art reflects the culture and society that we live in and it really engages the students to listen and learn about the musicians that created the music. They also learn more about the artist because in many instances the musicians and artists all hung out together and had similar thoughts about societies that they lived in.With the unit Automania there are endless references to cars through music, to create a game called Musical Cars.
The Visual-Spatial Intelligence
These students seem to naturally enjoy the visual arts but not always, they may be very creative in the practical side of art practice but they really would rather not do the theory work involved, so to engage these students can be just as much of a challenge as a mathematical logical learner. I find with this type of intelligence they really need to be designing something on the computer, there is a web site called "Pimp My Ride" where the student designs a car, from the basic shape up, and can add, change and insert a lot of their own choices onto the basic car design they have been given.
The Interpersonal Intelligence
These students will help you the teacher in the classroom setting and also their class mates. These are the team leaders, great if you are building a computer game around the unit you're studying, and wonderful at helping the digital immigrant learn to speak to the digital natives.Great people to lead group work and presentations, also at helping with peer to peer learning activities.Though they can be quite chatty in class, they can be a good support to students who might struggle and need that little bit of extra help in class work.
The Intrapersonal Intelligence
This student might like to keep a journal and use Leonardo's time as a starting point, looking at Leonardos inventions and whether they could have been built with the technologies available at that time in history.Or they could keep a journal imagining that they were one of the artists in the Futurist Movement,or even as a car during Leonardo's time and then at the turn of the 19th century and then in the future.



There are endless benefits to developing ICT in whatever unit you may be teaching. developing programs on platforms like moodle, not only develop the student but they develop the teacher as well because you can always modify, readjust and add to the initial program so it is a constantly growing and developing information source that gives the students current information and can be used to challenge them and make them think and construct their own learning which is what the constructive approach to educating children is about.

Morimura is a Naughty Boy

Feel the Groove

Posting Stuff into My Blog:
Video visit youtube:email to blog copy the embed code paste into HTML

Feel the Love, Hear it too!

Have tried to download sonific so many times now while i am at home and it just doesn't work
it keeps saying no song selected and then directs me to itunes and everything costs money there, I give up.

AIM: To answer this question as a collaborative group using the links below...
Explore e-learning This is a catalogue of resources for Teaching Maths and Science in Secondary schools http://www.explorelearning.com/index.cfm?method=cResource.dspResourceCatalog This is a site that provides a wide range of activities based on Gardner's multiple intelligences (fantastic site!) http://surfaquarium.com/mi/intelligences.htmThis site provides a number of very useful sites in relation to Gardener's MI with ideas for the classroom and the use of ICThttp://hometown.aol.com/abctagteam/multiple_intelligences.htmApplying Bloom's Taxonomy in the classroomThis gives you concrete leads....but how do you use it in the ICT environment?http://www.teachers.ash.org.au/researchskills/dalton.htmThere are a number of different sites that link you into research on e-learning and current trends. This site won't provide you with an immediate answer but it will help you begin collaborating with those who are researching in this field.http://www.ncsl.org.uk/networked/index.cfmConstructivist learning theory...don't forget that you are basing all this work on this theory. This is a good summary for you and not too technical.http://www.exploratorium.edu/ifi/resources/constructivistlearning.htmlThis site from Bradford England goes through the various intelligences and gives you possible activities in ICT to use to develop particular intelligences. While it is way beyond our technologies it is good to know because schools are getting these resources. There are also an increasing number of these technologies available as free software.http://www.bradfordschools.net/content/view/226/182
Tools and resources provided by Intel for free to support collaborative student centered learning. Online thinking tools are active learning places where students engage in robust discussions, pursue investigations, analyse complex information and solve problems. Resources for 21st century teaching help teachers play a critical role in facilitating learning activities and posing questions that take student thinking deeper.http://www.intel.com/education/tools/index.htm
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Labels: Compiled by Allan Coman

Google gadgets for your webpage- just for fun
http://www.google.com/ig/directory?synd=open&source=gghp.
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Sunday, March 18, 2007

How to add video into your blog
http://bloggerstatusforrealbeta.blogspot.com/2007/01/editing-template-in-new-blogger-blog.html
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Monday, March 12, 2007

http://www.slideshare.net/Downes/elearning-20/1
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Monday, March 5, 2007

http://evolution.massey.ac.nz/assign2