Ask A Scientist

I love the idea of being able to get questions answered.  Since the Internet and now phones that can search for answers while on a road trip, I often say, "let’s find out!" when someone asks something we are not sure about.  This is a great way for children to continue their curiosities and find out more about things they find interesting.

I asked:

I wonder what in a cell controls how cells change during dormancy or hibernation.  What tells the cells to slow or stop growth?  Do the cells just naturally react and slow or change because of the body’s or plant’s change in temperature and nutrient in take?

Unfortunately, I did not get a response yet.  However, the experience was not a total waste of time so far.  Being able to search for my question led to some other information such as the biological clock.  That is something that scientist do not know much about. 

While I am still waiting for Ask A Science to respond, I tried a different site that offers to answer questions as well.

http://madsci.org/submit.html.

Using a site where you can find out questions is a great resource.  Students often may get to a block with their curiosities and stop trying to find out.  Having resources that allows student to ask something they are wondering allows them to take charge of their learning and go further with something they are wondering.  Having student try this activity in the classroom would be a great experience.  Including a step to research their question first and then ask what they still do not know teaches the idea of being lifelong learners.  They will be able to take the experience and use it as they have more questions.

Presentation Tools

This week I experimented with a few presentation tools that can be used in the classroom.  In the past I have used Power Point or created a visual through the SMART Board.  Both are easy to use and have many interesting features. 

I took the opportunity to try out other presentation tools that I had not heard of before.  The two that I have chosen to evaluate are Prezi and Photo Story. 

When using technology in the classroom, one of the most important feature is being easy to learn and use.  Prezi was slightly tricky to get the hang of using in the very beginning.  However, once I began to create a presentation it was very easy to understand how to create and add interesting features such as pictures and graphs.  Photo Story is very easy to use with very simple features.  Uploading a picture then adding text or a record to go along with the visual is about all there is to photo story from what I have discovered.  Being this easy to use would easily allow students to use the tool to create their own presentations.

Prezi has features such as creating a path, adding a variety of visuals, and several ways to share the presentations.  Photo Story has options to add a voice recording and music to the presentation.

Both seem very reliable.  To work in Prezi you need to have the Internet and the explorer browser.  Photo Story is a software that is downloaded on to your computer.  This allows you to edit the presentation without Internet.  One probably with Prezi is that in the short time and few days I have experimented with it, it has locked up and required me to restart the Internet browser four times.  This would be very frustrating if I was creating a real presentation especially if I had a time restriction. 

Only Photo Story required extra equipment which is the microphone for recording audio to go along with the photos.  Prezi requires Internet access.

Photo Story has several way to save the presentation.  However, Prezi offers several ways to share the presentation such as face book, email and twitter.  It is very easy to share and save.

Both Prezi and Photo Story are free which it makes it easy for many people including students to access and use. 

Photo story has the option of adding sound to the presentation.  You can record as well as include music files. I could not find where to add sounds, animation or video to the Prezi.

Photo Story could be very engaging with the right pictures, text and audio.  However, it is very simple and could become boring.  I would consider using Photo Story because of how easy it is to use and how quickly I could put together a presentation for a lesson. 

Prezi seems to be much more engaging.  There are more visual options and features.  However, creating a presentation could be more time consuming because of all the option.  Either tool would be helpful in the classroom.  I would choose which one depending on my time restrictions and purpose of the presentation.