EDIM508 Google Earth

Reflection Blog to accompany Google Earth Virtual Field Trip project.

Google Earth is a great, easy to use program. It has evolved many exciting features since I started using it. It is now more user friendly and requires little instruction. For this assignment, I revisited an older assignment. About 6 or 7 years ago, I added a Google Earth component to a volcanoes assignment. At that time, Google Earth was used a novelty enhancement. Students were asked to locate their volcanoes using Google Earth and use a picture from the program in either their presentation or poster. Google Earth really didn't offer much to that project in terms of learning. Used only as a source of graphics that could have been located more easily through other means, its inclusion was designed to create awareness of the program.


With the motivation of this EDIM508 assignment, I returned to the topic of Volcanoes. Now, instead of being an irrelevant attachment, Google Earth is integrated into the learning process. Students explore the volcanoes in Google Earth to learn about their features, to characterize types of volcanoes, and to relate volcanoes to Earth processes. This project was designed to allow students to work independently, a key benefit for its inclusion in alternative education.

Another benefit to conducting this activity online is the easy transition between resources.  Beyond just looking at volcanoes, this format allowed students to explore some of the historical and cultural aspects of living around a volcano.  Volcanoes played a prominent role in earlier civilizations, defining their gods and customs.  Google Earth allows me to integrate this cultural information into the description boxes or create embedded activities for students to further explore the culture and history around specific volcanoes or volcanoes in general.


I was nervous about using Google Earth at first because of my limited experience in creating custom content for it. Compared to my first attempt at Google Earth in the classroom, I was now met with overwhelming material. Smithsonian's Global Volcanism Program has cataloged and created Google Earth placemarks for an abundance of volcanoes. I used their information as a starting point, and edited several of the placemarks for selected volcanoes to include references to Discovery Education and offer Google Earth instructional activities, as well as cultural and historical information about each volcano.


Initially, I had wanted to do a comparison of population surroundings volcanoes. After searching for a while, I found a working dataset. Unfortunately, I have not found a way to automate enabling/disabling this layer. With the population layer activity, many of the surface features are obscured. I was able to set it to display only above a certain altitude. Doing so forced it to be hidden when students are viewing the surface features of the volcanoes. Aside from developing a better method to show/hide the population data, the assignment needs more work to better analyze the hazards based on populations near the volcanoes.

In its current state, this assignment is not quite stand alone enough for my purposes. I will continue to enhance it. I think it could benefit from additional placemarks and volcano visits to visualize patterns of location, eruption, and design. However, there is a trademark between including enough volcanoes and requiring so many stops to make the experience tedious for the students. The possibilities are there. I foresee a similar activity becoming a part of the alternative and online versions of my Earth and Sapce Science courses.

Course and Student Information:This is designed for use with 9th-12th grade students in alternative education and cyber school settings. This will accompany instruction on volcanoes, earthquakes, and plate tectonics. It will address the following Pennsylvania academic standards:3.1.12B: Apply concepts of models as a method to predict and understand science and technology.3.5.12A: Analyze and evaluate earth features and processes that change the earth.


Additional References:

• Data Sets: 
• Smithsonian Global Volcanism Program - Holocene Volcanoes(available from: http://www.volcano.si.edu/world/globallists.cfm?listpage=googleearth) 
• NASA Earth Observing System - Population Density(available from: http://neo.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/Search.html?group=64 and http://serc.carleton.edu/eet/aura/part_2.htmlUSGS Earthquakes and Plate Tectonics Data(available from: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/learn/kml.php) 
• Volcanoes in Historical and Popular Culture. USGS Cascades Volcano Observatory (CVO). Retrieved December 10, 2011, from http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/LivingWith/PopCulture/mythology.html 
• Mount St. Helens. (2011, December 7). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 21:51, December 10, 2011, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mount_St._Helens&oldid=464488786
• Ragnarök. (2011, December 10). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 21:52, December 10, 2011, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ragnar%C3%B6k&oldid=465135697
   
• 2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull. (2011, December 10). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 21:52, December 10, 2011, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=2010_eruptions_of_Eyjafjallaj%C3%B6kull&oldid=465114655
  
   
  

EDIM508 Video

EDIM508 Five Minds

Video Blog/Reflect on using the five minds.  The video is still rendering, but here's the transcript while you're waiting:

I am neither Digital Native, nor Digital Immigrant.  Instead, I am a digital colonist focused onusing technology to enhance my quest. Modern achievements in communication, remote sensing, and simulationtechnologies feed my inquisitive and scientific approach to everything aroundme.

This approach is the basis of my instructional style:  to help students learn and engage theirworld, to understand how it works and what individual relationships to it theymay have.  Just as technology aids me inmy personal quest, it plays a prominent and evolving role in my instructionaldelivery.

Howard Gardner highlighted five distinct ways of thinking andlearning.  Each of these ways of thinkingwill prepare students to pursue their long term goals.  But, before I can assist the students, I mustwork on enhancing each of these five minds within myself.

In general, I feel confident with disciplinary andsynthesizing minds.  These are twotraditional views in a scientific approach. I will continue to seek connections and collect knowledge to piecetogether my understanding of more modern phenomena such as string theory or thelarge hadron collider.  I will continueto encourage my students to think beyond isolated facts, adding a holisticappreciation to scientific knowledge.  Toenhance my personal discipline mind, I will remain current on research throughpublished updates through RSS, Blogs, and Youtube.  I intend to incorporate as much currentinformation as possible into my instruction. I will emphasize the fluid nature of science and the revision of basicassumptions about the universe.

I feel next most confident about respectful and ethicalminds.  As Science is based oncollaboration, critique, validation, and feedback, respect and ethics areessential.  To enhance these minds, Iwill seek out alternate viewpoints, domestic, foreign, oppositional, andother.  I will utilize NASA’s DLNservices and online collaborations to reinforce the global nature of scienceand science instruction.  I will enrollmy students in online collaborative efforts, such as Voicethread, Wikis, NASA’sReal World/InWorld, Project Globe, and S’COOL

My creative mind is in need of the most attention.  Creativity is far more than arts, though itis often difficult to express.  Throughthis course, I have explored online tools that tap into creativity withouttechnical skill.  Prezi, Glogster,Xtranormal and others to be discovered offer chances for creativity. I intendto continue exploring these options and looking for similar tools to add justthe creative content without cumbersome productions.  More importantly, I await the opportunity formy students to show me more ways to use these tools and others as they expresstheir creative minds.

This course laid the framework for five minds.  The next step is to thoroughly engage themand guide my students to do the same. Fortunately, there are many resources to assist in this process.

Gardner, Howard. Five minds for the future. Boston, Mass.: Harvard Business School Press, 2007. Print. 

EDIM508 Global Respect and Collaboration

Julene Reed’s article Global Collaboration and Learning remindsus of the evolving nature of knowledge and information.  Reed highlights information from ThomasFriedman and Daniel Pink imparting concerns about globalizing economies andresulting changes in education systems. Reed further suggests that changes in communication technology be usedto enhance the global and collaborative nature of education (Reed, 2007).

Howard Gardner further evokes the need for collaboration andglobal understandings:

In a world composed o f a fewhundred nations, speaking thousands of languages, and more than 6 billionpeople … we can no longer simply draw a curtain or build a wall…  [We] must somehow learn to  inhabit neighboring places – and the sameplanet – without hating one another, without lusting to injure or kill oneanother, without acting on xenophobic inclinations even if our own group mightemerge triumphant in the short run” (Gardner , 2006).

It is without question that international and cultural barriersare quickly transcended in the globalizing world.  In order to best prepare students to functionin the workforce and society of this flat world, we must go beyond contentknowledge, processing, and technology skills. We must include the skills of collaboration and foster  the “respectful mind.”

In terms of Science, I intend to do this through twoapproaches: historical and modern. Science is a collaborative effort; unfortunately, there are manyhistorical examples of criticism, steadfastness, and belligerence in thedevelopment of scientific thought.  A keyexample of this conflict between collaboration and long-held beliefs is seen inGalileo’s conflict with the church over his DialogueConcerning the Two Chief World Systems.  Byexamining the historical development of scientific thought, students willdevelop an understanding of the collaborative (though not always easily so)nature of science.  Defining and applyingthe definitions of laws, theories and hypothesis students will focus on theprocesses of communication and review inherent in modern science. 

Space exploration is another exemplar of the evolution ofscientific collaboration.  Evaluating thetransition between the space race of Sputnik and Explorer through Apollo andSoyuz with collaborative approaches such as Apollo-Soyuz Test Project,Shuttle-Mir, and the International Space Station will encourage students torecognize the value of collaboration and respect for culture and view.

Aside from just examining examples of collaboration, I alsointend students to experience it. Through online interactions with NASA’s Digital Learning network,students can learn directly from Aerospace investigators, participate inwebconferencing, and interact with other classrooms.  Through NOAA’s OceanExplorer program,students will maintain near real-time connectivity with oceanographicresearchers.  Through NASA’s S’COOL andProject Globe students will collaborate with other classrooms to collect andshare data.

Science is as collaborative as ever and the resources toenable interactivity are increasing. Continually exposing students to examples of current research andapplication, as well as participating in collaborative programs will fosterstudent respect, collaboration, and global participation.

References

GLOBE Program. (n.d.). GLOBE Program. Retrieved December 1,2011, from http://globe.gov/

Galilei, G. (1953). Dialogue concerning the two chief worldsystems, Ptolemaic & Copernican;. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Gardner, H. (2007). Five minds for the future. Boston,Mass.: Harvard Business School Press.

Global Collaboration and Learning | EdTech Magazine. (n.d.).EDTECH. Retrieved December 1, 2011, fromhttp://www.edtechmagazine.com/k12/article/2007/09/global-collaboration-and-learning

NASA - NASA DLN - Part of NASA LEARN (Learning Environmentsand Research Network). (n.d.). NASA - Home. Retrieved December 1, 2011, fromhttp://www.nasa.gov/offices/education/programs/national/dln/index.html

Reed, J. (n.d.). Global Collaboration and Learning | EdTechMagazine. EDTECH. Retrieved December 1, 2011, fromhttp://www.edtechmagazine.com/k12/article/2007/09/global-collaboration-and-learning

The CERES S'COOL Project. (n.d.). Education Resources fromthe Science Directorate at NASA Langley Research Center. Retrieved December 1,2011, from http://science-edu.larc.nasa.gov/SCOOL/index.php