Sunday, May 29, 2011

BP8_Links To Comments

PLEASE NOTE: Due to this being our last Blog for ETC, I'm not posting a new Conundrum.  I hope everyone enjoyed the conundrums and my Blog in general!


Answer to Connect the Dots Conundrum:


Using ONLY four straight lines AND without taking your writing utensil or finger off the screen or paper, connect all of the dots.


Most people will try to connect them within the area of the dots.  This solution is not readily apparent and I hope you did not frustrate yourself trying to do it inside of the dot area (that's actually impossible given the directions).  



Follow this link to my Comment on Stacy's Blog!



Follow this link to my Comment on Glenn's Blog!

Saturday, May 28, 2011

Final Project

Today's Conundrum:

Connect the Dots....

Using ONLY four straight lines AND without taking your writing utensil or finger off the screen or paper, connect all of the dots.



Answer to Linen Closet Clean-out:

Bunmi was moving and decided to downsize her bed sheet collection before packing up her belongings.  She gave her friend, Ola 3 pairs plus a half of pair of sheets.  Her friend, Mide received half of what she had left plus a half a pair of sheets, and finally her friend Adebola was given half of what remained, plus a half a pair of sheets.  This meant Bunmi had no more sheets in the linen closet.  How many sheets did Bunmi start with?

She had 14 sheets or 7 pairs to start with.












She gave Ola three and one half pairs plus a half of a pair = 3 1/2 + 1/2 = 4 pairs or 8 sheets (3 pairs or 6 sheets remained).



She gave Mide half of the 3 remaining pairs plus a half of a pair = 1 1/2 + 1/2 = 2 pairs or 4 sheets (1 pair or 2 sheets remained).




She gave Adebola half of the remaining pair plus a half of a pair = 1/2 + 1/2 = 1 pair or 2 sheets (no sheets remained).



RELEVANT AND INNOVATIVE LEARNING SCENARIO






1.            Target Audience
My target audience is junior and senior high school students in Human Anatomy & Physiology.
2.            Materials
·      GlogEDU
·      Computer
·      Anatomy Book
·      Internet Connection
·      Anatomy Notes
3.            Objectives
At the end of this scenario the learner will be able to:
·  List the major components and their functions of the chosen Human Body System.
·  Describe a disease or disorder of the chosen body system to include Causes, Symptoms, Diagnosis, Treatment and Prognosis
·  Design a Glog, which demonstrates their understanding of the chosen system and can effectively convey the material to new learners.

4.            Procedure
                        I.         Create a GlogsterEDU account (Teacher/Instructor).
a.    Add students as necessary
b.   Disseminate GlogsterEDU user information to students/trainees.

                      II.         Each student will then need to create their personal GlogsterEDU homepage.

                     III.         Students will need to choose a body system from the following list:
a.    Cardiovascular
b.   Digestive
c.    Endocrine
d.   Female reproductive
e.    Immune
f.     Integumentary
g.    Male reproductive
h.    Muscular
i.      Nervous
j.     Respiratory
k.    Skeletal
l.      Urinary
                    IV.         Students should create a Glog page that details their specific system to include:
a.    Functions of the system as a whole
b.   Major Components and their respective functions
c.    Problems/diseases that can occur with that system (A list of 4 minimum)
d.   Take one of the four problems/diseases and go into detail about it to include:
                                                                i.     Causes
                                                               ii.     Symptoms
                                                             iii.     Diagnoses
                                                             iv.     Prognosis
e.    There should be a diagram detailing the system.  This does not have to be hand-created by the group, but proper credits must be given to the source if not hand-created.

                     V.         A quiz (using Quizlet.com) will be created as a separate assignment so that the class may be quizzed over the information included in the Glog.

                    VI.         The group needs to enable commenting so that other students may leave feedback.

5.            Web 2.0 Tool
Students will be utilizing GlogsterEDU to create their project as well as interact with one another and provide feedback to classmates via the Glogster platform.  Glogster is a Web 2.0 tool that can be used to create glogs (very much like a blog).  The Glogs are easy to make and the options allow students with little or no webpage creating experience to make an awesome page!
6.            Social Participation/Social Learning
The students will be responsible for working in groups of 2-3 students.  They will create a group GlogsterEDU page, which documents their journey to the completed project.  Group members will have to post to their own Glogs at least 3 times during the process to reflect upon their participation in the group and how they feel the final project is coming along.  They can utilize text, audio or video when posting.  Video and audio posts need to be between 1-2 minutes each.
Group meetings can take place in person, via chat site or through Googledocs.
7.            Making Connections
Throughout Human Anatomy & Physiology, we explore the different body systems, detailing the anatomy (structure) and physiology (function) of the systems as a whole and of the individual components, so, the students will need to recall the information that they learned throughout the year, because this will be implemented as a final project (possibly in lieu of a final exam). The new knowledge portion will come from them investigating diseases/problems with their particular system and going into depth about one specific problem/disease.
The project will ultimately teach the rest of the class (but designed to teach someone with no previous knowledge). Students will be gaining a deeper understanding of the material themselves, by becoming “experts” on their system.
8.            Create/Produce
The end product is the Glog about the body system.  The class will be using each group’s GLOG to study for a quiz that is created by that group.
9.            Assessment – Please see rubric below.
10.        Reflection – The reflection for the RILS must have two parts.
a.   This is the individual glogging aspect, which is also included in the overall grade.




My student's Cardiovascular System Glog is below and the address is: http://s82dkae.edu.glogster.com/cardiovascular-system/



Saturday, May 21, 2011

PE5_Glogger

Answer to Insert the symbols Conundrum:

Insert +, -, X, and/or parentheses between the numbers to find the total.




1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6 + 7 - 8 + 9
=   29

Today's Conundrum:

This is a difficult one!

Linen Closet Clean-out:

Bunmi was moving and decided to downsize her bed sheet collection before packing up her belongings.  She gave her friend, Ola 3 pairs plus a half of pair of sheets.  Her friend, Mide received half of what she had left plus a half a pair of sheets, and finally her friend Adebola was given half of what remained, plus a half a pair of sheets.  This meant Bunmi had no more sheets in the linen closet.  How many sheets did Bunmi start with?

I wish I actually had more time in this School Year to try out my RILS with my students, but unfortunately, I do not.  I guess the bright side of that is the fact that I have plenty of time to work out all of the kinks and perfect the assignment (at least make it better and easier to understand) before it gets set into motion.  I am glad that I was able to discover Glogger through the ETC Course and it has given me an alternative to paper and pencil final examination.  I like project-based assessment, because there is a show me piece rather than a regurgitate aspect.  I enjoy watching students use their knowledge to create a product that they can be proud of and say, "Look what I did!"


My RILS was to have students create a Glog page to demonstrate their knowledge of one of the following Human Body Systems:




a.    Cardiovascular
b.   Digestive
c.    Endocrine
d.   Female reproductive
e.    Immune
f.     Integumentary
g.    Male reproductive
h.    Muscular
i.      Nervous
j.     Respiratory
k.    Skeletal
l.      Urinary

For the system, they must address the following:


    1. Functions of the system in general


    1. Major component organs and their respective functions



IN ADDITION, They need to include a list of four possible dysfunctions/diseases of their chosen system and elaborate on one to include:

  • Causes



  • Symptoms

  • Diagnosis

  • Treatment

  • Prognosis

The rubric for evaluation is below:




Please feel free to use this rubric and evaluate the Glog posted under PE4_Glogger and respond with any comments you may have.  Thank you.  Again, I am dissatisfied with the overall look of the final product, but I feel that it addresses the aspects upon which the rubric is evaluating it.

The objectives for the lesson were as follows:

At the end of this scenario the learner will be able to:
·  List the major components and their functions of the chosen Human Body System.
·  Describe a disease or disorder of the chosen body system to include Causes, Symptoms, Diagnosis, Treatment and Prognosis
·  Design a glog which demonstrates their understanding of the chosen system and can effectively convey the material to new learners.






PE4_Glogger

Today's Conundrum:

Insert the symbols:

Insert +, -, X, and/or parentheses between the numbers to find the total.



1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9
=   29



Answer to Geometry Conundrum:


Which of the following is the odd one out and why?


Octahedron
Square
Cube
Sphere
Cylinder


A square is the odd one out, because it is only 2 dimensional, while the others are 3 dimensional.


My experience with Glogger.com:


Below you will find the Glog, which I created in accordance with my RILS Plan documentation.  I will be including my RILS Plan as part of PE5_Glogger, so you can compare the finished product with the Plan (after viewing the finished product).  


Creating the Glog was more complicated than I initially thought and it did not turn out the way I had in mind.  I am actually disappointed with the final product, but it was a learning experience nonetheless.  There are new features coming to Glogger, so hopefully, the new features will allow my students and me to do more appealing things with the Glog. The page space was limited as well, so I think the fact that I had to cram so much stuff on there, made it look less appealing.


I am going to continue to tweak my abilities to use Glogger, so that I can aid my students with Glogger training and hopefully ensure a more positive experience with Glogger than I had myself.  I want my students to create a product that they are proud of, especially since it will take a decent amount of time for them to gather the necessary information, plan the layout of the page, and then put it all together.
MY GLOG