Hans Rosling and the Gapminder

This week we watched a video of Hans Rosling giving a presentation about databases. He gave a great presentation with data collected about health, longevity of life and family size. The correlation of how this data is correlated with economy was interesting especially as he made the data into charts and movable graphics that were easily traced. It was amazing to see how poorer countries have changed over time. From the graphics it was clear that health care is a priority and wealth will follow. Strangely family size has decreased in the poorer countries helping the economy.

Using statistics hidden in databases can be helpful for further understanding of our world at large. The Gapminder project is a brain child of Hans Rosling to link information and search function into search able databases with Internet users and graphic statistics for education. This Internet use can level the fields in information on so many levels for all countries. The database tool can have many educational aspects for tracking different data. It was interesting to note that most people have a preconceived notion regarding the Internet and its uses. the sharing of information must continue for all to benefit.

Making and Posting my Rubric to my WebQuest

This week I have been busy trying to come up with my rubric for my lesson plan and WebQuest for mysteries. I went to the web site http://rubistar.4teachers.org
to make my rubric. This is a great site that help walk you through the rubric making process. This site has templates that can be modified to suit your needs. It was not that hard to post my rubric to my Weebly site. I converted the rubric to HTML and posted my page. It was actually that simple. I even managed to post the rubric from my home computer with dial-up connections.

Here is the chart ideas on my lesson plan using the Bloom's Taxonomy comparison:

• Knowledge in mystery genre (Knowledge)
• Comprehend story line and sequence (Comprehension)
• Apply knowledge and creativity to new story writing (Application)
• Compare themes (Analysis)
• Investigate options (Analysis)
• Design their own story (Synthesis)
• Compose possible solutions (Synthesis)
• Determine elements needed for a mystery story (Evaluation)
• Illustrate main ideas of the storyline (Application)
• Predict characters movements (Comprehension)
• Attempt to solve mysterious cases in creative ways (Application)
• Identify characters (Evaluation)
• Discuss knowledge with others and present work (Evaluation)
• Di scribe story, characters, setting, theme & possible solutions (Comprehension)

Here is the link to my rubric page- http://suesmystery.weebly.com/evaluation.html I'd love it if you left me comments about the WebQuest and rubric. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Bernie Dodge and the Pitfalls of WebQuests

First I must mention that I didn't have access to any high speed computers this week. So the seven and a half minute video that was posted for us to watch took me nearly a half hour to sit through! With the sketchy off and on speaking this is what I got out of it.

There are over three million WebQuests out there now and not all of them are good. Just finding a WebQuest that is worthy is now a challenge. Finding an appropriate subject with real world application is another challenge. When will the student ever use this? I thought about my subject of mystery novel genre and feel that deductive reasoning learned from reading mysteries is certainly a useful tool in real life. You may never become a detective but the skills can come in handy when deciding if someone is truthful or not. I also realise that my subject is probably not a new one. I am sure that there have been several WebQuests made with the same lesson plan in mind.

The next piece Dr. Dodge spoke about that was of interest to me was creating, predicting, and deciding. These three ideas come to the forefront of making a good usable WebQuest. I am reflecting on the questions I have posted on my quest and if they attain the highest standards for learning. Using the Bloom's taxonomy pyramid to be sure that the students can take away a higher form of learning from what I have posted and intend for them to do creatively and collectively.

Editing My WebQuest

This week I have been working on tweeking my webquest. It was nice to get some feedback from my classmates and teacher to help me see the quest form another perspective. Hopefully I have made adjustments that make the quest flow better and make more sense.

It was also beneficial to see a webquest that a classmate is working on. It makes me appreciate all the hard work we are all doing to come up with intelligent questions and clear instructions for the students to follow.

I think organizing the quests into sequential steps and areas of thought are some of the biggest parts in making the webquest coherent. It is not easy to keep your focus on each part and tying everything together. Remembering steps for the students to follow I found is the hardest part. Though I am happy with what I have so far. This is definitely a work that can be changed and enhanced as I learn more. I can see the webquest changing over time as I come up with new ideas or classes change. Not to mention if websites I have posted change.

My Mystery WebQuest

Well that was frustrating. I had just written a post trying to add the weblinks that I had posted on my webquest and the program shut down. I was saying that I had used a template form the Brain Dodge WebQuest site to make my mystery lesson. I was glad that I had done this as it kept me organized and was realatively easy to add the infomation I wanted in my lesson. Although I don't know how to make the template live. So I have been copying and pasting the information from the template to the Weebly site. Here is the link for the WebQuest I designed: http://suesmystery.weebly.com I would appreciate any feedback and suggestions.

I won't bother trying to post the sites I had listed on the WebQuest as they clearly shut the program down. Though the site that takes you to the authors biographys is: http://www.mysterynet.com/learn/teaching/mystery-genre.shtml
I enjoyed reading about the authors and learning things I didn't know about them.

Starting a WebQuest

I have been searching the Internet for ideas and information on teaching middle school age students about mysteries and the genre. I have found some useful information and other WebQuests. Though some of the WebQuests have been rather boring or overdone with background pictures. I am starting to feel a little lost in the process. I like a few of the links I have found very much. Someone else has already done quite a bit of work finding information and links to authors that I am interested in teaching. Like Edgar Allan Poe, Agatha Christy, & Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. One site has links to biographies on each that I think is useful. I also found the idea of the elements needed to write a good mystery as well as a link to two minute mysteries that other students have written. I like this site because the stories leave you hanging for the answer. There is a click button for you to check and see if you correctly solved the mystery or not and why. I like that feature and can see that being a useful thing for the students final projects.

I am feeling frustrated in keeping my subject organized and trying to picture what this finished WebQuest will look like. I guess I shouldn't worry about it now and just concentrate on finding further information that is useful for the lesson plan. I am sure it will all come together in the end.

WebQuest Continued

I continue to look for information on the Internet regarding Webquests. I have found a few informative sites. Here is a link to one: http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/Teachers/webquest.html

I also found this great webquest about Edgar Allan Poe. He wrote such amazing stories and poetry. I thought this site was very informative and great fun in learning.
http://www.geocities.com/educationplace/poe/wqpoe.htm