Thing17

       I looked at a lot of drawing tools since I have to make a lot of diagrams for physics.  I found one called Sketchfu that is fun because it makes a movie out of the drawing showing it as it progresses.  I  made a  sample which I have included here.  I could use this for demonstrating problems and I could include the progression of the equations as the problem is worked out.  This was fun to do and I will probably use it in class.




Learn how to draw cartoons, comics, and anime at Sketchfu!


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itunes and podcasting

I have used itunes on my ipod for a while now so it  was not a problem.  The itunes store had a lot of podcasts that I would like to listen to.  I subscribed to some NPR podcasts and to one from the Onion.  I could see using podcasts in class when there is a science in the news event.  I probably would not use ipadio or my own podcasts because it would be easier to make instructions or hints using other webtools because I could include images.  I made a short podcast about my vacation in England.

SlideShare

I was excited to find a SlideShare by Chad Orzel who wrote "How to Teach Physics to Your Dog".  I bought this book in June at University of Washington while visiting my daughter and it is a very interesting book.  I also found a lot of astronomy SlideShares that are pretty good.  This seems a lot like a power point presentation so I will have to see what the differences are.  I guess that it is just "shared".

What Every Dog Should Know About Quantum Physics

View more presentations from Chad Orzel

Screenr

I chose to make a screencast describing an APOD (astronomy picture of the day) picture of the Helix Nebula. This technique would work well for lots of astronomy terms.  It would help to have visual input when describing specific phenomena.  I could also use it to work out a physics problem step by step with explanations along the way.  Here is my first venture:

Wikispaces and Voicethreads

     Wikispaces might be useful in several ways.  I could post topics about physics or astronomy in the news and have students comment on them.  I could ask students to post articles or links to articles that they have found about science in the news.  I could post a picture or video from NASA's APOD and have students comment.
I could post a problem and have students post about how to solve it. I could post review questions or practice quizzes.
     Voicethreads could also be used for posting problems or science in the news articles.  There are more ways of commenting than in Wikispaces.  It might be good for students who have a hard time writing their thoughts to be able to just speak their comments.  It would be a type of differentiation for these students. Many of the websites and webtools that we have been exploring can be used for the same purposes,  It is just a question of which one would be most convenient for the specific purpose at hand.    

Animoto

      I made a little video of our vacation in Great Britain.  We first went to Northern Wales, then spent a week in the Cotswolds and then a couple of days in London. The weather was wonderful - sunny and cool.
      For classroom use, I could post little mini-lessons or problem-solving hints on Animoto.  I could make a demo video of a lab for students who are absent on lab day,  They would then be able to see what the experiment entailed and get data.  I could also use it to publicize the musical by taping a section of a song in rehearsal and putting it up on the website.

CreativeCommons.com

I was surprised to find that my son Conor was already using this site to publish some of his music.  It allows him to share  his music while still retaining ownership of his intellectual property without having to go to a lawyer.  I was interested in the educational and science sites ( MITOPENCOURSEWARE,  Connexions, Curriki, CK-12 Foundation, Public Library of Science, Science 3.0, PLoS Blogs, etc.)  I can use these as research sites for myself and my students.  I also was thinking about taking textbook modules and modifying them for my own particular use.  This would be helpful when I want to put a unit together that isn't in my text.  It also would be good for creating a module of appropriate reading level for students that have difficulty reading the regular text (differentiated learning).