Technology Inventory

I was surprised that there weren't any computers in the classroom where I have been assigned. The students do just fine without them. In fact, their class is rather crowded so it's better that they do not have computers in the room. I think it's great that there are so many computers in the computer lab and that the students have access to them there. I wish there were more science technology tools, but you have to work with what your school has!

Location	Activity	Google Earth Content
1. Nauvoo, Illinois	Show picture of Nauvoo in old days and compare with today	Look up modern Nauvoo
2. Winter Quarters, Nebraska	Measure distance from Nauvoo to Winter Quarters	Follow the trail from Nauvoo to Winter Quarters
3.Martin's Cove, Wyoming	Ask them how difficult it would be to pull wagons and handcarts across the terrain at Martin's Cove	Look up Martin's Cove and notice the mountains and hills
4. Salt Lake City, Utah	Measure the distance from Nauvoo to Salt Lake	Follow the trail from Nauvoo to Salt Lake City. That's like walking to disneyland and back
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Digital Storytelling

Storyboard

Here is our story board for our story!! Thanks!!

The content we will be using in our lesson is a poem called "The Aliens have landed" by Ken Nesbitt.
The pedagogy we will be using is reading aloud. Because we are learning about rhymes in this unit, this is the ideal way to to teach because they will be able to hear the rhyming.
The technology we will be using is the digital storybook program. This will enhance the lesson because the children will be able to listen to the story and see the funny pictures as many times as they need.

TPAC questions

The content we are focusing on our lesson plan is showing the difference between celsius and fahrenheit. The pedagogy we used was a specific science experiment that was hands on. The instruction was hands on. The technology we used was a temperature probe and a mac computer. They were very helpful in the instruction and pedagogy. The whole lesson was made around the temperature probe and computer... so they were very crucial to the success of the lesson.

The Tech Savvy Teacher

Temperature Time

The 4^th grade class of Ward Elementary decided to figure out what the difference in Fahrenheit and Celsius is. To do this we first filled a water bottle with cold water from the water fountain. Then we measured the temperature by placing the temperature probe in the water for 60 seconds. Our temperature probe was connected to our computer and the information that the probe collected was input to the computer program. The computer program then told us the temperature of the water in both Fahrenheit and Celsius. The temperature of the water was 13.5º Celsius and 56.2º Fahrenheit.

Second, we filled the water bottle with hot water and measured the temperature of the water for 60 seconds. This time the water measured 46º Celsius and 102º Fahrenheit. Once we collected our data it was time to calculate the difference between Fahrenheit and Celsius! To do this, we created a table and subtracted the Celsius degrees from the Fahrenheit degrees for each example.

ITEM	DEGREE CELSIUS	DEGREES FAHERENHEIT	DIFFERENCE
Cold Water	13.5 º	56.2º	42.7 º
Hot Water	46º	102º	66 º

After doing our math we came to the conclusion that the difference between Fahrenheit and Celsius for the first example was 42.7 º Celsius and 66 º Fahrenheit. Obviously the difference between Fahrenheit and Celsius is dependent on high or low the temperature is. Come back next week to find out the conversion formula!

Screen shot of the temperature analysis

Mindy, Tausha and Emilie analyzing the data for the temperatures.

The water being analyzed

Looking studious while noticing the the temperature changes

Tausha and Mindy with the temperature probe

Just Mindy with the temperature probe before we stuck it in the water.

The TPACK

In today's lesson we learned that PK is Pedagogical knowledge, CK is Content Knowledge, and TK is Technological Knowledge.  When you combine the whole package it is TPACK which is Technological, Pedagogical and Content Knowledge.  When you combine all of those, you are able to teach the kids in an all-encompassing way.  Most teachers are really good at their CK and PK, but have a hard time with TK.  There are many things that you can do to use TK that will enhance the lessons and the children's learning.  The optimal teaching option is TPACK.

We also learned how to use Stelarium.  It is a free resource to document and show what the sky is like in different parts of the world.  You can also use it to teach constellations and patterns of the planets, moon, and sun.