Google Tour: Producers, Consumers, Decomposers
The tour linked above is one that I created for my fourth graders to help them review producers, consumers and decomposers. Due to milestones practice, we are taking a short break from science, however once testing is over, my students will get to choose a topic of their choice to complete a project to teach their classmates about it. I decided this topic in our science standards because it was one we covered in the very beginning of the school year and I wanted to have something my students can use to help them refresh their mind, if they choose nature science for their end of school year science project. I used a variety of images, videos, and a game to help review the content of the tour. I also included a google slide at the end of the tour to help my students reflect on what they will learn with this tour. Additional directions will be given via Google Classroom for the slide to help students understand how to add their reflection.
"If your students ever played Pokemon GO, they experienced AR when they roamed the streets looking for tiny monsters that appeared on their screens" (Crews.)
Google Tour
I have never heard of Google Tour until I began to prep for this blog post. Google Tour is a tool that teachers can use to help their students travel the world. Google Tour uses Google Earth to engage the audience by traveling to different places around the globe. Locations can either be locally, or globally if students are learning about different countries or areas through science or social studies. Google Tour supports the 4 C's by not only allowing teachers, but also students to collaborate. There are many possibilities for students that use Google Tour. This tool is not only great for gifted students, but also other learners we may have in our classrooms such as SPED, ESOL and our regular ed students. Google Tour is great for all students because it allows for them to include photos, videos and links.
Club Penguin
When it comes to gaming, I don't think I offer my students enough opportunities to play games online or have given them the chance to explore virtual reality type of games. I do plan on introducing some that I've learned about in the module for this blog post. I decided to choose Club Penguin to reflect on this blog post, because it looks similar to the online games my students get to play on Friday. Friday is the only day my students get to play a game of their choice during homeroom. Due to being departmentalized in my grade level, students do not get enough time to just play on the computers, so Fridays is given as their day to explore the world of gaming online.
Club Penguin is a multiplayer online game that involves a virtual world. Through this game, students get to have their own penguin that travels with them throughout the different games and online activities. Club Penguin is intended for children between the ages of 6-14, although other ages groups may also enjoy these game as well. Club Penguin would be great to help students continue to learn about the world of computer science and how coders get to create great games line this one and many other that are out there. I can also see how math may be integrated into this online gaming as well. I can see how Club Penguin can help students collaborate and embark them in creative thinking as their go through the journey on the different games with their penguin. Although the advantages for students to explore the virtual world are many, some of the disadvantages I see if students being able to leave the site and head on to social media. This site may also allow other players that are not the rest of my students to communicate with my students. Club Penguin will need to be monitored when students are using it, to ensure they are not leaving the site or are not being approached by other players my students don't know.
"Many educators find that gamifying learning keeps students engaged" (Crews.)
Bridging the Digital Divide
I've had the opportunity to work at different schools and districts and through all of them, I have seen the digital divide. The current school where I teach at offers a wide variety of technology for all of our students. The schools includes from ipads, Chromebook carts to Osmos that teachers can check out any given time. However, many of our students do not have these type of technology in their own homes. It became very clear to me that there is definitely a gap in our school and community. Although there is a gap, my students still take full advantage of the technology they have in our school. Many, prefer to work on their chromebooks than using paper and pencil to complete their work. My students love technology so much that I have banned it from indoor recess because I was seeing that they were not interacting as much as they do when they play outside. I know the importance technology has in education, and know there is a time and place for it. Although I've limited technology usage during indoor recess, I try to find other educational ways that my students will be engaged through the usage of technology.
According to the Neo Blog, author Susannah Holz shares how technology is changing our field of education. "Technology is transforming education, the change is as inevitable as that which the printing press brought to education" (2018.) Susannah also shares how technology is also becoming an issue for many of our students. "access to technology is becoming a rights issue. In the same way access to basic healthcare is a right, and in the same way defibrillation machines, heart monitors and pathology labs can be considered high tech..." (2018.) The following video was very eye-opening for me to even show different audiences in my school the difference technology makes in a child's education.
As you can see from the video, when it came to the round where different tools where given, the difference in how fast students were finding the answers to the questions was very obvious. According to the video, millions of students do not have access to internet at home. I can relate to this while growing up. My family was very limited on money so my first computer did not come until my senior year in high school. The computer was not even purchased by my parents, it came from a really good friend from the family. She was a teacher in my school and felt the need to provide me with a working computer that would help me complete homework and guide me to college. I am still hanging on to the computer because it is a reminder of how far I've come in my life and how technology affected my education in my last year of high school.
References:
Crews, Jeff. (2018). Five Ways Teachers Can Use and Create Augmented Reality Experiences. Retrieved from https://www.edsurge.com/news/2018-01-22-five-ways-teachers-can-use-and-create-augmented-reality-experiences.
Holz,Susannah.(2018).Digital Divide 2.0: A Few Facts and Figures. Retrieved from http://www.edtechupdate.com/2017/digital-divide/?open-article-id=7672042&article-title=digital-divide-2-0--a-few-facts-and-figures&blog-domain=neolms.com&blog-title=neo-lms
SoulPancake. (2017). If you’ve never heard of the ‘homework gap’ this video will shock you [Video file]. Retrieved fromhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqkAlwGsxwE