OER questions

1. What is OER? Summarize it in a few sentences

OER is a more interactive way of learning that allows students and teachers to have an input. Teachers can use other teachers work to get information to students with out having to take the time to create it themselves, and not having to worry about copyright issues. However, the teachers are not stuck to keep the information the exact same; they can manipulate it in a way that best lines up with what they are teaching in their lesson plans.

2. There has been an attempt connect OERs and STEM for teaching and learning. Why do you think people think of them together?

People may link them together because they are both new ways to better the education system. If a teacher is able to incorporate both STEM and OERs into their classrooms, then they are giving their students great opportunities to be successful. STEM is just a way of learning that combines different subjects to make learning more united and OERs can be a way to aid that form of teaching.

3. How would you use OERs to teach STEM subjects in your classroom?

You can use OERs to teach any version of a STEM subject. I think a great way would be to take two different lesson plans that were originally made to teach just a Science class and just a math class, and then combine the topics together. OERs allows you to manipulate the materials that have already been created and make it into your own lesson plan that follows the STEM guidelines.

4. What would be your topic for the learning adventure project in STEM context?              My topic of the learning adventure project will be about the life cycle of animals in plants.

Stop Motion Project

Here is a link to my Stop Motion Project about growing  flower

Lesson Plan: Growing A Flower

Title: Learning about the Growth of Flowers
Instructor: Jackie Arnold
Subject: Growing Plants
Grade level: 2nd Grade
Time Period: The planting will take one day, however observe the growth over the next few weeks
Objectives: Students will be able to: -identify the different stages in growing a plant/flower -Learn the steps of planting -Watch/Observe the changes from seed to flower
Materials: -Cup (pot) -Soil -Scoop for the soil -Seed -Water -Watering Can -Paper to record observations -Book to read to the students -Marker to write on the cups
Topical Outline & Sequence of Activities
Topic	Time	Activities
Introduction	10 minutes	Read a book to the students that goes through the different stages of growing a plant, so that they can see what they are about to be completing
Show Video	2 minutes	Show the stop motion video to give an overview of the process
Predictions	5 minutes	Have the students make a guess on how big the flower will grow to be and what it will look like.
Gather Materials	10 minutes	Have students get a cup and have him or her write their name on it. Allow each student to find a designated spot that will allow his or her plant to get the correct amount sunlight each day.
Create the plant	20 Minutes	Then allow students to scoop the appropriate amount of soil into their cup and then add the seed. Each student will need to water his or her plant every other day.
Talk about the future	5 minutes	Explain how the next few days/weeks are going to go, this includes: taking care of the plant and keeping up with the journal(writing and drawing the changes in the plant.

Learning Activity Guide

During this project, my group and I decided to do research on the website Edmodo. This website is used as a way for teachers to communicate with students and parents in a way that is similar to Facebook. The teacher can create posts and share activities with their students. The teachers can also create quizzes and projects, the grades will be posted on the students personal account so that the teachers, parents, and students can be up to date on the students progress.

This website can be used through out the entire K-12 career. Teachers can make all of the content grade relevant for the age they are teaching. Setting up the account is very simple. All you have to do is create an account with your email and a password. When you are registered you will use a class code provided to you by your teacher, so that you can join their page. The teacher then has the ability to share projects, notes, quizzes, screenshots and so much more to their classes. The teacher can make comments on posts made by their students, which allows them to have conversations that the entire class can see. However, you can also have private conversations that can only seen between the student and teacher.

This website is super beneficial for many students because all you need is a computer and the internet. It allows students to be more organized and keep everything online, so it can be accessed both at home and at school. Overall, I think that the idea of Edmodo has been a great success. It is so relatable to students because of how it resembles social media, so there is a greater chance that students will be able to use it to its full ability.

Link to the video:

Technology Aiding in Classrooms of All Ages

With the world of technology growing faster than we can grasp it is evident that the advances being made are going to have a large impact on many aspects of day to day life. One of the major areas that technology has helped expand is the different mediums used in school systems. There are so many more ways to teach and explain material whether you are teaching a class of kindergartens or graduate students. Due to the increase of technology in our schools many of the younger students will never know what it is like to go to class that is not being interact through the internet or on some type of device.The article Students Explain Everything Using iPads is a great example of how technology is used, especially in elementary schools. This article was particularly interesting to me because the school that I attended for elementary school is now bring iPads in for the students to use on a regular basis, so I was intrigued on how this form of technology was being implemented.

The article is talking in detail about an app called: ExplainEverything. This app has been created to allow students to watch themselves work through questions by recording their step by step process on the tablet as well as recording them as they explain their steps with words. This type of app not only allows the student to critique themselves, but also allows teachers to follow their train of thought when working through a problem. Prior to reading this article I did not know that such an app existed. However, I think that this method of teaching is one that will continue to be helpful in a child’s education. This style of teaching allows students to be able to correct themselves if they notice their own mistakes without being corrected by the teacher first, and it also allows the teacher to find the areas where a child is weaker in particular problems. This app can be helpful in the K12 setting because it can be useful for those of all ages and applied to nearly all subjects.

ExplainEverything is a unique way of teaching that allows students to have a sense of what it is like to be a teacher. I wonder if this app will encourage more students to want to pursue a degree in teaching?

Tweet: ExplainEverything, newest app to help kids learn to teach themselves from own work

Reference:

Solo, M., Hargis, J. (2014,May). Students Explain Everything Using iPads. Learning & Leading With Technology,  41(7), 32-33.