Week 13

Presentation of the final assignment!

We have presented our final assignment that we have worked on since last three weeks. We are the third group to present and we have given our best.

-The blog-

http://6adilscienceclass.blogspot.com/

The homepage contains information about class notes as well as task from the teacher. Images are inserted to make the lesson clearer for the pupils. Task is given to the pupils as well as instruction on work submission.

In extra reading and materials page, it contains the essential information about the topic which is not discussed in the class. These materials are for pupils to read to gain more insights and widen their knowledge on the topic.

Need some help page serves as the guide for pupils. Teacher will post information such as exam tips or important topic to be covered which are useful for the pupils in their study.

Shared knowledge page is created to encourage pupils to share their thoughts, ideas or even knowledge gained from any sources with the teacher and also the rest of the class members. This gives the pupils a platform to communicate their ideas and thoughts which enhances their thinking skills and in the same time increasing the participation on the lesson.

Videos and podcast page contains video podcast of the teacher explaning about the topic on endangered animal species. This video can be access by pupils and can be downloaded. Teacher uses this platform when he is not able to attend the class or for long holiday. Teacher also presents extra information about the topic learned to make pupils understand and gain more insights of the lesson.

Welcoming note page is an introduction by the teacher about the blog. here, the teacher welcomes and explain briefly to the pupils about the blog and its content. The teacher also provides his name and also email address.

6 Adil Science Class Chat Room is for teacher to interact with the pupils out of the traditional classroom. Pupils may ask questions to the teacher and receive feedback immediately. Pupils need to sign up using Chatroll to enable them to participate in the clss chat room.

There are a few questions that we have to ponder.

1) Is the platform (blog) suitable and would you use the platform?

My answer is YES. The platform that we have chosen which is BLOG is very suitable to be used by teachers. It is because, blog is very practical as it can be developed easily by opening the blog account and start blogging with students. Blog can be updated and assessed easily by everyone. It is one of the shared knowlegde platforms that allow students to share ideas and thoughts with one another. Blog encourages continual search, filter and posting of ideas and information. Thus, it encourages creative and critical thinking skills. Using blog, it makes learning become unlimited and less formal as students are able to assess knowledge anywhere and at anytime. Besides, the blog is suitable to be use both inside or outside the classroom. All in all, blog has many advantages and the use of blog to assist teaching and learning process should be exploited so that we can produce students who are knowledgable and also Technology oriented.

2) ADDIE Model- does it help in designing and developing those instructional materials?

My answer is YES. Using ADDIE Model, it helps to make the designing and developing instruction materials become more systematic. A good lesson must start with a good instructional planning. Thus, analysis phase in ADDIE Model assists us to analyse the content ideas, limitation and the focus of the materials for our blog. Apart form that, it helps us to have clearer view on what we are supposed to do. It assists us in the way it shows the big picture of the project so that we are organized. Thus, it enables us to produce effective and appealing instructional materials at the end of the project.

The overll project makes me realize that there are many tools that can be exploited by teacher to improve the effectiveness of the teaching and learning process. Thus, teacher should try out different methods and principle so that it suits the students' learning needs and preferences. Teacher should also integrate Technology for instance Web 2.0 as it has many advantages in assisting Science lessons.

Personally, I would like to thank Prof Madya Dr. Rohaida for the knowledge and values integrated in the lecture given to us. You really open my eyes that teaching has a lot more to do that just desseminating knowlegde to the students.

Week 12

This week class, the focus is on developing the Blog as what we have planned in the storyboard. Thanks to Prof for the whole 3 hours provided for us to work on our Blog. The 3 hours given are very beneficial as we are able to browse the net, searching for the best materials to be included in our blog, the suitable and workable links, designing the layout, choosing images and designing an appealing blog. We have diveded the work among our group member.

1. Woo (Extra materials, Links and Blog)
2. Izzati (Lessons' notes and storyboard 1)
3. Maha (Concept Map)
4. Chrispin (Videos, podcast and layout)
5. Faiz (Shared knowledge, chatroom)

After all the designing part of the blog complited, we will then finalise and justify everything. This includes the report which is the write up. This is really a major project and we hope that we will finish it with success.

Week 11

This is the another step in the progress of completing our last assignment which is Development of Simple Instructional Materials.

My group members and I have decided to use BLOG as the platform in designing our Science lesson. Why use blog for teaching? Looking at the practicality, blog can be developed easily by opening a blog account and start blogging with students. It can be updated and accessed easily by everyone. Blog encourages continual search, filter and posting of ideas and information. It encourages students to share their knowledge, read the notes and comments the posts. It makes the learning become less formal as it allows elements of fun to come together along the learning process.

The topic of our lesson is Endangered Species and the focus is more on how to prevent animals from extinction. Prof. Madya Dr. Rohaida introduced us to a new way of planning and designing our project which is through skeching storyboard. We need to sketch two storyboards. The first one is about the blog itself and the second one is more on the layout.

I find storyboard is a very systematic way in planning and designing our project. It helps us to see the big umbrella of our project before we actually focus on a subtopic. Besides, it helps us to have clearer view on the materials that we should put in the blog, how it should be and where we need to put it in. Storyboard is a very systematic way in planning the project and we hope that it will improve the quality of our product.

Week 10

ADDIE Model

Prof introduces us to the ADDIE model and this model consists of five phases. Those phases are:

1) Analysis phase
During this phase, the learning problem is identified, the goals and objectives of the lesson is predetermined, the delivery options and the timeline for the project are decided.

2) Design Phase
This is the phase where storyboard is designed for the entire website.

3) Development Phase
The actual product and the designed tool.

4) Implementation Phase
This phase is the phase where the tool is tested. Thus, in this phase the effectiveness of the tool will be evaluated and the weaknesses and strengths are discovered.

5) Evaluation Phase
This is the phase where feedback is gained for further improvements and modification.

Based on ADDie Model, we are asked to start planning for our next assignment where we have to develop Instructional Material for Teaching Science.

My group members and I have discussed and we have come out with our topic, domain and target audience as follows;

Topic : Endangered Species

Domain : Knowledge

Target Audience : Year 6 pupils

We need to find some literature review to support the selction of the topic. Specifically, we have to find support on why the topic is difficult to be taught and why it is important to be taught to the pupils. Are there any misconceptions from other websites about the concept?

Besides, we have to make analysis of the topic chosen and based on the analysis,we have to produce a concept map

The analysis helps us to see the overall details of the topic that we have selected. There are several subtopics (the content of the topic) but for this assingment, we need to focus on one subtopic only.

Week 9

This week's class, we need to present our group asingments, which is about Web 2.0. In this assignment, we need to choose a platform that can be use in teaching. My group, we have been assigned to use blog as the platform for teaching and learning Science.

We have created a blog, http://6adilscienceclass.blogspot.com/.

The objectives of this blog are;

1)Students would be able to learn in a collaborative way through interaction and sharing of knowledge between themselves and with teacher.
2) Blog is going to be used as a platform of discussion as sharing between the students themselves and between students and teachers.
3) To implement blog as a vital part of the class teaching.

There are several pages in the blogs and each of them has their own purpose.

1) Lesson – Here is the notes of all the lessons taught regarding this topic so that students can get these notes for their revision. It is arranged in a weekly basis to ease students filing of notes. (Own videos, songs or any other teaching materials can be embedded as well under this tab)


2) Chatbox – This is a space where students can interact with teacher and among themselves on topic regarding to the lessons learnt in class. They can share websites or web-tools URL that serves as an additional knowledge to what they are learning.


3) Video (podcast) – Here teacher will attach a video of extra information that students might need in order to understand the topic better. Students can comment


4) More Readings and Materials - In this section, teacher will attach or embed the URL of all the materials that students might need to improve their learning – e.g. past-year exam questions, notes on responsibility of human beings on nature, video on protecting endangered species, facts and statistics of endangered species and tips for the upcoming quizzes or test.

The advantages of using Blog as a platform in teaching:

In the advance world of today, the use of blog in education field is very practical. This is because, blog is something that can be updated and accessed easily by everyone. Using blog as one the educational sources, it makes learning independent of time and place, from teaching at a certain time and a certain place to teaching at anytime and anywhere. For instance, if the teacher cannot enter the class, he/she can always upload the notes and tasks for the students and the student can still learn without teacher teaching in front of the class. Thus, the learning process can happen without any boundaries.

Using a blog, it makes education to become demand oriented and participant-centered. It changes the usual way of learning which is from one way teaching and supply orientation where teacher is the one who control the learning process to participation by everyone. Using blog, education has been transform from a teacher-led class to a student-centric experience accentuated by self learning, peer to peer teaching, reach and readily available content, greater accessibility and discovery based learning.

Another point is that, using a blog makes education to become less formal. It is because it allows elements of fun to come together along the learning process. For instance, teacher can upload videos and songs to make the educational blog to be more interesting and attractive to the students. Students prefer images than text. Thus, teacher may also include cartoons and pictures that can capture students’ interest to learn in the blog. This will help the learning process to be more enjoyable and appealing.

Apart from that, using blog, it encourages collaboration between teacher and students. In traditional classroom, the emphasis is on the teacher. Teacher is the one who manage and control the learning process. They transmit the knowledge and students will passively receive the knowledge. Using blog, it allows collaboration and communication between teacher and students. They can ask and answer question to or from each other. Thus, both teacher and students will participate and become more responsible in the learning process.

Week 8

This week's class, we have been introduced to Software Evaluation Rubric, Researched and Developed by Kristin Miller and Jacqueline Bach, SAS inSchool Interns, Summer, 2001. The rubric covers several aspect, which means software or website is evaluated based on several aspects. The aspects are instructional contents, curriculum connections, graphics and multimedia, lay-outs, technical aspects, adaptability and accessibility, learner engagement and interactivity, teache and learner support material, assessment, age/grade level, and lastly flexibility.

Why we need to evaluate software or website?

There is an extremely wide variety of material on the Internet, ranging in its accuracy, reliability, and value. Unlike most traditional information media such as books, magazines and organizational documents, no one has to approve the content before it is made public on the Internet. Thus, it is our job to evaluate what has been put up in order to determine whether it suits your needs.

Besides, information is everywhere on the Internet, existing in large quantities and continuously being created and revised. This information exists in a large variety of kinds such as facts, opinions, stories, interpretations, statistics and is created for many purposes which is for instance to inform, to persuade, to sell, to present a viewpoint, and to create or change an attitude or belief. For each of these various kinds and purposes, information exists on many levels of quality or reliability. It ranges from very good to very bad and includes every shade in between. We have to bear in mind that not every website that we viewed is reliable and can be trusted. Thus, it is ctucial for us to evaluate the web site before we actually search, select and use the materials from the web site.

Example of the Web site Evaluation Rubrics:

http://http://lrs.ed.uiuc.edu/students/tbarcalow/490net/EvalRubric.htm

http://http://meds.queensu.ca/assets/evaluation.jpg

Week 7

In this week's class, we were introduced to:


• Web 1.0


• Web 2.0


• Blog


• Wiki


• Social Networking


• Media Sharing



Web 1.0 - is a retronym that refers to the state of the World Wide Web, and any website design style used before the advent of the Web 2.0 phenomenon. Web 1.0 began with the release of the WWW to the public in 1991, and is the general term that has been creates to describe the Web before the "bursting of the Dot-com bubble" in 2001.



Web 2.0 - gives its users the free choice to interact or collaborate with each other in a social media dialogue as creators of user-generated content in a virtual community, in contrast to websites where users are limited to the passive viewing of content that was created for them. Web 2.0 gives the users opportunities to give feedback on the web.

Examples of web 2.0:

• Social-networking

• Blogs

• Wikis

• Video-sharing sites

• Hosted services

• Web applications

• Mashups

• Folkonomies



Blog - a type of website or part of a website. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in reverse-chronological order. Blog can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog.Most blogs are interactive, allowing visitors to leave comments and even message each other via widgets on the blogs and it is this interactivity that distinguishes them from other static websites. Many blogs provide commentary or news on a particular subject; others function as more personal online diaries. A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, Web pages, and other media related to its topic. The ability of readers to leave comments in an interactive format is an important part of many blogs. Most blogs are primarily textual, although some focus on art (Art blog), photographs (photoblog), videos (video blogging), music (MP3 blog), and audio (podcasting). Microblogging is another type of blogging, featuring very short posts.



Wiki - a website that allows the easy creation and editing of any number of interlinked web pages via a web browser using a simplified markup language or a WYSIWYG text editor. Wikis are typically powered by wiki software and are often used to create collaborative wiki websites, to power community websites, for personal note taking, in corporate intranets, and in knowledge management systems. Wikis may exist to serve a specific purpose, and in such cases, users use their editorial rights to remove material that is considered "off topic." Such is the case of the collaborative encyclopedia Wikipedia. In contrast, open purpose wikis accept content without firm rules as to how the content should be organized.



Social Networking - a social structure made up of individuals (or organizations) called "nodes," which are tied (connected) by one or more specific types of interdependency, such as friendship, kinship, common interest, financial exchange, dislike, sexual relationships, or relationships of beliefs, knowledge or prestige.



Media Sharing - occurs through online social networks and digital communities with a comprehensive platform and diversified interfaces to aggregate, upload, compress, host and distribute images, text, applications, videos, audio, games and new media. It is the interactive process of sending via email, instant message, text message, posting or linking to media on a website or blog and other methods of sharing media to a targeted audience. As media is shared it takes on a variety of different contexts and meanings.



All in all, i realized that Web 1.0 and Web 2.0 can be a tool that can enhance the teaching and learning proces. They can be the platform that can be used in learning. As teacher, we need to be well versed with the use of these tools so that we can use it to support the teaching and learning process in the classroom. The integration of these tool will enhance learning.

Week 6

This week’s class, we have been given a chance to engage ourselves in Micro Computer Based Laboratory (MBL). MBL is one of the strategies in Designing Application Tools.

This is very new to me because I have never experience it before. My group and I, we have chosen an activity from the topic Electricity. We use Voltage Current Sensor in order to conduct the experiment.
There are a few steps that we followed while conducting the experiment. The details are in below;

Voltage Current Sensor
1. The sensor is being plugged in to the computer.
2. EZscreen or DataStudio is selected from the window or programme files.
3. The voltage leads is being connected to one battery. The red lead is connected to the positive of the battery while the black lead to the negative.
4. Choose “Table” from the list of items in Datastudio.
5. Click “Start”
6. The voltage and ampere of the battery is displayed on the screen.
7. The data is being recorded on a piece of paper.
8. Step 3 to 7 is being repeated with 2 and then 3 batteries.

After engaging ourselves with MBL, I can say that it is very user friendly, practical and it gives me enjoyful experience engaging myself with the tools. Is this strategy (MBL) suitable to be used in primary Science classroom? Every strategy, there are pros and cons.
This strategy is suitable to be used but only for Level 2 students. This is because it is user-friendly and safe to use especially when an experiment requires dangerous substance like acids and bases. The data collected is very fast and accurate. The data can also be converted to graph and table by just a click. This is very convenient for students to see the whole picture and concept of an experiment fast. However, teacher need to be well-trained so that each function of DataStudio can be used to the fullest.

On the other hand, this strategy also has its lack. This is because Pasco (e.g. Voltage Current Sensor) can’t be used for all experiments. Moreover, basic process skills cannot be integrated or acquired as students will not get the chance to learn how to use certain basic apparatus like thermometer and ammeter.

There are a few advantages and disadvantages that my group and I have discovered.

ADVANTAGES

User friendly Uses computer solely.
Manipulative skills can be acquired.
Data achieve is very precise.
Saves time in collecting and tabulating the data.

DISADVANTAGES

If there is no electricity it cannot be used anymore

Students cannot acquire science process skills. This is because all the data are ready and students do not need to measure.

It can only engage with some lab apparatus such as battery, bulb and beakers.

The cost is also very high. Not all the students can have their own unit of Voltage Current Sensor and use it simultaneously.

All in all, we have gain new experience and new exposure. Hope that one day, we can let our students to experience this strategy.

Week 5

This week's lecture is about Strategies in Designing Application Tools.

There are 7 strategies;

1) MBL- Micro Computer based laboratory
2)Drill and practice
3) Tutorials
4) Stimulation
5) Problem-solving
6) Information retreival
7) Education games

Now, we will look into the strategies one by one.

1) MBL-computer-based laboratory - utilizes a computer, a data collection interface, electronic probes, and graphing software, allowing students to collect, graph, and analyze data in real-time. This real-time atmosphere allows students to attend to and process important details in each experiment.

2) Drill and Practice - is a structured, repetitive review of previously learned concepts to a predetermined level of mastery.

3) Tutorials - Interactive class taught by a tutor to students at university or college, individually or in small groups; Of or pertaining to a tutor; belonging to, or exercised by, a tutor

4) Simulations - The act of simulating something generally entails representing certain key characteristics or behaviours of a selected physical or abstract system.

5) Problem-solving - is a mental process and is part of the larger problem process that includes problem finding and problem shaping.

6) Educational Games - are games that have been specifically designed to teach people about a certain subject, expand concepts, reinforce development, understand an historical event or culture, or assist them in learning a skill as they play.

There are so much things that teacher needs to consider in planning and conducting a lesson. All in all, the lesson should suits with the different types of learners so that all the pupils will get the knowledge transmitted to them as well as to have enjoyful learning experience.

Week 4

The class started with the discussion about the learning theories. There are two main branches of learning theories which are behaviorist and constructivist.

Behaviorist focus on the change of behavior and the emphasis is on the product. According to behaviorist, they believe that stimulus should be given to the students because stimulus will produce reaction. The repeated reaction will then create long-term behavior.

On the other hand, constructivist believes that learning is a process, connecting the prior knowledge to the new experience gained from the environment. Learning is viewed as an active process where the learners are actively constructing mental models and theories of the world around them. The knowledge is constructed through logical organization, interaction among learners/teachers and from the integration of prior and new knowledge.

Week 3

The second class. Dr. Rohaida gave the explanation on Brief History of The Use of Technology, computers and some common terminologies that we could d find when we use computer such as CPU, RAM, Bytes, CD-ROM, FTP.

Then, we are asked to prepare power point presentation about Artificial Intelligence ans Virtual Reality in groups.

Artificial Intelligence & Virtual Reality in science education.

What is Artificial Intelligence (AI)?

AI usually defined as the science of making computers do things that require intelligence when done by humans. It also the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it.It has had some success in limited, or simplified, domains. AI research is highly technical and specialized, deeply divided into subfields that often fail to communicate with each other. AI is applied in distance learning.


What is Virtual Reality (VR)?

VR is an artificial environment that is created with software and presented to the user in such a way that the user suspends belief and accepts it as a real environment. Virtual reality is primarily experienced through two of the five senses: sight and sound. The simplest form of virtual reality is a 3-D image.

Virtual reality can be divided into:

• The simulation of a real environment for training and education.

• The development of an imagined environment for a game or interactive story.

Popular products for creating virtual reality effects on personal computers include Bryce, Extreme 3D, Ray Dream Studio, trueSpace, 3D Studio MAX, and Visual Reality. VR has the potential to provide alternative forms of learning that can support different types of learners, such as visually oriented learners.

Week 2

This is the first time I entered PMEY3104 class. The course title is Integration of Technology in Primary Science.
During the class, we were brief about our subject and also were given our assignment. We need to find a journal that related to the integration of ICT in Science Education.

We were also introduced to the use of ICT in Science classroom. Our lecturer,Dr. Rohaida told us that we need to create a blog. Every week, we have to post a reflection in our blog. The reflection will help us to have better understanding of the lecture.
During the class, we have discussed on the use of technology in Science education. The big question is, “Why use Technology?”. Basically, there are several reasons why technology has been used and integrated in Science subject. We learned about technology that is used in classroom such as lcd, ohp, television, projector etc. These technologies are used widely in education field as they are tools that can help teachers to be able to transmit the knowledge effectively. Besides, the use of technology can enhance the students’ interest in the teaching and learning process. Technology in the classroom can enhance learning. It help the students to become capable users, information seekers, problem solvers and decision-makers.
Prof also led us on discussion whether it is best to teach science and technology as a separate subject or integrate both subjects together. In my opinion, it is best to integrate both subjects. It is because Science and Technology comes hand in hand. What I mean is technology is invented from the knowledge of Science and thus it makes science scope to become wider and broader. In teaching and learning Science, Technology is a tool that enables teachers to make the transition from a traditional classroom to one where technology is an imbedded and integral part of teaching and learning. Thus, the integration of Technology in Science classroom will help to enhance the effectiveness of the teaching and learning process.
Then, we were divided into groups. Each group need to do research on a topic given and my group got the topic OHP – Overhead Projector.
The Overhead Projector, or “OHP” is one of the most frequently used tools in education field. An overhead projector is a variant of slide projector that is used to display images to an audience. There are several steps that should be followed in using the OHP.

Instructions:
1. Situate the overhead projector on a low table that is 2 to 3 feet off the floor. Make sure the overhead projector is plugged into a reliable power source.
2. Place an overhead transparency on top of the flat glass surface of the projector. Transparencies can be written on directly with a wet erase overhead pen. Alternatively, a transparency can be fed into a laser printer, and information from programs such as spreadsheets and databases can be directly printed on the transparency.
3. Turn on the overhead projector. Most machines have a large, circular button on the front for this purpose, but on/off switch locations can vary.
4. Angle the mirror at the top of the projection arm until the image is properly aligned onto a blank wall or drop-down projection screen.
5. Move the table holding the overhead projector forward or backward (if necessary) until the projection image approximates the size of the projection screen or blank wall space.
6. Turn the circular knob at the top of the projector arm until the projected image comes into focus.
7. Press the on/off button again when finished with your presentation. Allow the overhead projector to completely cool down before using it again.
The use of OHP is usually under the control of the teacher. This means that it is by default an instrument of teacher-centred instruction. This is not necessarily a disadvantage of using the OHP. This is because the teachers can develop its use as a tool of session management. Switching it on, for example, is likely to send the message, "Now get ready for some input from me", and can be used to curtail discussions which are veering off the point. Similarly, switching it off when a discussion starts is a way of acknowledging that the class group is making the running.
OHP allows presentation of a series of images in sequence. The timing and ordering is controlled by the teacher. Thus, teacher an manage the class easily. Teacher should not put in too much information on any one OHT. This will create confusion among the students. OHP is a visual medium. Thus, it requires attention from the students. Teacher should make sure that the students are paying their attention during the input transmit session. In order to check their understanding, teacher can post questions to them. Besides, teacher can also include mind maps or any kind of graphic representation in the OHT so that it can attract students’ attention.
All in all, the use of technology in Science classroom will enhance the students learning. Thus, teacher should update themselves with the ICT knowledge and technology skills so that they can exploit them during teaching and learning process.