Thursday, 29 December 2011

Digital Learning Design

Wikipedia

1- Undertake a search of WIKIPedia in your subject area and make a list of the resources you find that would support your teaching. Subject Area: Science Year 5 (Chemical Sciences)
A diagram of the states of matter here
Information on what a solid, liquid and gas are. Wikipedia also included detailed information on the phase changes which could be used. Note: The information on wikipedia is worded very complexly and therefore the information would support the teacher but not the students. The only resource that i as a LM could direct students to is the images on the above listed pages. Enen than the LM would only use section of the images to support student learning.

2- Think about how you might take advantage of the technology to make these resources available to your students inside and outside of your classroom.
I could list the web addresses on the class wiki page for students to access at home and at school. Students could be assigned a task that as a group they are to read the wiki page associated with a particular area of the learning, e.g. solids. Studentread the page and extract key facts, extend on the knowledge found therin from other websites and write a summary to post in the class wiki so as to share with the class. This will simplify the complex information found on wikipedia into simplified and an age appropriate summary. The group of students who researched and wrote the summary also gain a deep understanding of the content in the process.

3- Post your thoughts and pedagogical rationale to your Professional Blog and invite comments from your peers. 
Not sure what i do here but hey, feel free to comment so as to provide some clarification. 

SlideShare 

The powerpoint wont embed so ill just post a link: http://www.slideshare.net/Aesora/power-point-10714814. Considering it wont embed i cant really continue on with the following steps of synchronizing music to my video so this is all i have for this section.

Extended E-Learning



 
Science Year 5- Australian Curriculum
Biological Sciences
Unit Focus: This unit involves students examining the structural features and adaptations that assist living things to survive in their environment. They use this knowledge to pose questions and make predictions about the relationship between adaptations and environmental changes.
What Does it Look Like?
Students will:
    Describe adaptations of living things to the Australian environment
    Describe adaptations of living things to extreme environments other than Australia
    Explain how particular adaptations assist survival
    Classify adaptations as structural or behavioural
    Appreciate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander understandings of adaptations
    Research how people’s understanding of the adaptations of living things influences decisions made about food sources cultivated in different environments
    Pose questions and make predictions about how global warming might affect  the survival and future adaptations of living things
    Communicate ideas and explanations in a variety of ways.
What does it Not Look Like?
All/ no computer use
Students sitting in rows, working individually
Solely teacher directed learning
No real life application
No interaction with the actual environment, aka school, or student home environments
Chemical Sciences
Unit Focus: This unit provides students with opportunities to broaden their classification of matter to include gases and to begin to see how matter structures the world around them. Students investigate the observable properties and behavior of solids, liquids and gases. They also investigate the development of composite materials to meet the needs of modern society.
What Does it Look Like?
Students will:
·      Reviewing and comparing the properties of solids and liquids
·      Exploring properties of gases and comparing them with solids and liquids
·      Describing safety conditions for handling and using gases in investigation and real-life contexts
·      Comparing the range of properties within solids, liquids and gases
·      Investigating ways in which solids, liquids and gases change under different conditions
·      Examining sublimation (solid to gas) and explaining how this change in state can be useful in everyday situations
·      Evaluating some composite materials and their classification in terms of state
·      Appraising the properties and behaviour of some composite materials in relation to real-life applications.
What does it Not Look Like?
All/ no computer use
Students sitting in rows, working individually
Solely teacher directed learning
No real life application
No interaction with solids, liquids and gases
No questions
Earth and Space Sciences
Unit Focus: This unit involves students exploring the place of Earth in the solar system and then using this knowledge to look for patterns and relationships between components of this system. They discover how science and technology have advanced understanding of space.
What Does it Look Like?
Students will:
·      Exploring knowledge of Earth, other planets and the sun considering Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander stories related to the solar system
·      Researching how the development of optical instruments and technology contributed to the discovery of the planets and major bodies in the solar system
·      Gathering and recording data to compare facts about the planets and the sun
·      Creating models that show the relative size of and distance between Earth, the other planets and the sun
·      Comparing environmental conditions on other planets with those on Earth and hypothesizing whether or not life is possible on other planets
·      Describing how scientists from a range of cultures have contributed to understandings of the solar system
·      Examining how technologies developed to aid space exploration have impacted on society
·      Outlining Australia’s involvement in space exploration.
What does it Not Look Like?
All/ no computer use
Students sitting in rows, working individually
Solely teacher directed learning
No real life application
No visuals
Not using Google Earth
Not using a telescope/ class overnight excursion
Physical Sciences
Unit Focus: This unit involves students investigating properties of light and the formation of shadows. Students explore the role of light in everyday objects and devices and consider how improved technology has changed devices.
What Does it Look Like?
Students will:
·      Exploring sources of light
·      Exploring shadow formation and relationships to a light source
·      Making predictions and investigating absorption, transmission, reflection and refraction
·      Classifying materials as transparent, opaque or translucent drawing simple, labeled ray diagrams
·      Relating familiar phenomena (e.g. rainbows) to properties of light considering the role of light in their everyday lives considering the role of light in the functioning of animals and plants (e.g. bees, reptiles, green plants)
·      Investigating devices that use light and exploring how improved technology has led to them changing over time
·      Researching the contributions of other cultures to the development of optical devices.
·      Constructing a model of a device which uses mirror or lenses and explaining the properties of light it utilises.     
What does it Not Look Like?
All/ no computer use
Students sitting in rows, working individually
Solely teacher directed learning
No real life application
No interaction with different lights and their effects on various objects
No opportunities for creativity

Rethinking Pedagogy for a Digital Age: Designing and Delivering E-Learning

Design for learning should therefore focus primarily on the activities undertaken by learners, and only secondarily on the tools or materials that support them.
Tasks are required of learners whereas activities are engaged in by learners.
Learners need opportunities to make a newly acquired concept or skill their own; to draw on their own strengths and preferences, and to extend their repertoire of approaches to task requirements.
Integration across activities in vital, whether associatively, constructively or situatively.
A learning activity is not a given entity, but depends on the capabilities of the learner.
Learning activities are the most pedagogically meaningful focus of design for learning
Theories on how people learn: Authenticity of the activity, Formality and Structure, Retention/ reproduction versus reflection/ internalization, The role and importance of other people, locus of control.
A learning activity are a specific interaction of learner/s wither other/s using specific tools and resources, oriented towards specific outcomes.
A learning outcome is some identifiable change that is anticipated in the learner.