PKsciencewebsites

Terri DiGiovanni The periodic table of videos. What a great idea. Ten minute videos about each of the elements. Easy to understand and follow. imparts great information. It is like a biography of an element. I would use this to build knowledge about each of the elements and how their structure affects how they bond, react and how they are used. And to help understand the organization of the periodic table of elements.
 * Exploring the Potential of Interactive Websites in Science**

Spring 2014 - Directions: Click Edit, Type your name, Type your comments, Click Save.

For your comments, identify the name of the website and insert a hyperlink if possible. Then explain how you might use this interactive resource to (a) __activate__, (b) __assess__, and/or (c) __build__ **students' prerequisite knowledge for your lesson/unit.**

EXAMPLES FROM PREVIOUS SEMESTER

Lori Ann Iannotti
 * ** Site #1: ** __ Kids Health __ . This site can be useful for so many things when teaching life science. This site can be used to relate topics in the classroom to real life topics. My idea is to teach a unit on cells. The overall idea of the unit is to portray the content standard LS1(5-8) 2a The cell is the basic unit of life and has the same survival needs as any organism. This standard is for middle school students. On the board will be a huge visual image of a patient and the word cell will be written on the board. This image will grasp student attention. I will ask the students to grab an entrance ticket where they will write what they know about the connection of the word and the image. This will activate their knowledge and allow me to ** assess the students' basic knowledge of the topic ** . The laptops will already be set up at the student's desk. Student's will immediately go to the Kids Health website and listen to the article "What is Cancer?" This article is particularly good for 2 reasons. It relates a topic we will be covering to the learning standards in a real world way, but it also will be very helpful to students who are at a lower reading level. The site has an audio component, and it also highlights the words as you follow the audio. This article help children to build their knowledge about how cells work with relevant real world knowledge. The class will end with a discussion using K-W-L about Cancer cells that we will keep up in our classroom as we cover the unit frequently going to back to the students questions about the topic.
 * **Site #2** __Live Science__ This site can be used for many things of course because the plethora of topics is well unreal. I would like to use this site to introduce a project the students will be doing.This will be part of a unit on evolution Using content standard LS2 (9-11)3b describing ways in which humans can modify ecosystems and describe and predict the potential impact. Students will peruse "10 Species You Can Kiss Goodbye" This site will **activate student's knowledge** of previously learned impacts, and help them to create ideas for their project. Ideas like illegal pet trade, deforestation, logging, habitat loss, poaching and many others. As the students look through the site they will have a science connection overview, they will write familiar words and questions that are generated that will help them to start the information for their project. I plan to use sites like the Live Science to help me show the real world connections to science frequently to keep students interested.


 * Marissa Brasil**
 * // **Web Site** // ** #1: BioDigital Human ** ([]) This web site would be an excellent resource for building students' prerequisite knowledge for a lesson or unit in a biology class. The interactive nature of the web site allows students to explore many different facets of human anatomy and physiology, including the musculoskeletal system, circulatory system function, and various manifestations of infectious disease and other health conditions. By exploring this web site, students will be able to create a visual mental representation of concepts that are explained in class and explore topics of which they may already have preliminary knowledge. Most students have at least rudimentary knowledge of the human body systems because they are taught across the curriculum in elementary, middle, and high schools. By allowing time either in class or at home for exploration of this web site, their knowledge could be even further expanded through the use of this technology. There are few educational experiences that are more valuable than a hands-on task, and that is exactly what this web site provides.
 * //**Web Site**// **#2****:** **One Ocean** ([]) This web site would be an excellent resources for both activating and building students' prerequisite knowledge for a lesson or unit in a biology or life science class. In order to activate students' prior knowledge of the life and history of the ocean, a teacher could show one or more of the many educational videos posted on the site. By eliciting student responses after the video has been shown, the teacher can then assess how much prior knowledge the students have, which notions are misguided, and what information needs to be thoroughly covered. Teachers can also build students' prerequisite knowledge by using the videos as part of instruction and allowing students to play the many games that are included on the site as further reinforcement of the content. Short educational videos are an excellent asset to teaching, especially for content topics such as the ocean floor, which very few people on Earth will ever get to see. Using these videos makes the experiences more real and tangible for students.

TYPE YOUR RESPONSE HERE - THEN INSERT A HORIZONTAL BAR (8th icon on the editing bar) and then SAVE your work.

Rachel Naylor


 * Site 1: [|Series of Five Videos on Climate Change from NPR]. This site would be useful as a pre-cursor to teaching a lesson on climate change. Before jumping into any controversies, **the series works to build a student's knowledge** by breaking down the science behind climate change and what's actually happening with carbon. The series then eases students into what carbon does, why it's important, what happens when there's too much of it. The format is very easy to read and isn't very technical, which helps it to be less overwhelming to students. I would use each of these videos at the beginning of class to introduce the topic of the day and allow the students to gain some insight as to what we'd be talking about in class. From there, the students could come up with questions that could then be answered in the lecture.
 * Site 2: [|HHMI's BioInteractive Virtual Labs] . This site offers labs that would be useful to **assess previous knowledge and provide an introduction to real-life medical technology** that would be impossible to do in a classroom. In particular, the Immunology virtual lab could be used at the end of a unit on immunology as an introduction to a unit on medical technology. The lab takes students step-by-step through the real-life procedures of how scientists do experiments in labs. After key steps, students could pause and reflect on why the procedure has to happen the way it does. Online, no mistakes can happen, but students can also think about what would happen if mistakes happened in real-life. At the end, the students would have a basic introduction to one biological technique used in labs, which can then serve as a gateway to other procedures used in labs.