Assignments

Assignment #1 Instructional power point

To learn the 4 step method scientific problem solving technique try this. You will want to read the notes pane to get a full explanation of the slides.

Assignment #2 Inquiry open questioning: qualitative and quantitative observations of an insect.

I have created an audio recording of a lesson observing an insect. The objective of this exercise is to encourage qualitative and quantitative observations with open ended questioning. I choose to use my three children as the students because they helped me catch the insect, they are interested in them, and they were readily available. As I worked with the audio I noticed the voices of three simultaneous eager students is hard to capture using the internal microphone of my pc. The levels are low and more than one student talking makes what is being said hard to make out at some points. I worked with the amplify tool to increase some of the comments with some success. The voices are more audible but the background noise, I believe of the mic hum, is also increased. I really enjoyed the experience of allowing the exploration with open ended questions. In my daily practice I tend to guide students to specific “answers”. The students made so many observations and discovered things about the insect I had not expected. If I were to redo this lesson I would probably work with only one student or each student individually because I find too much is happening to follow with audio only. I have edited out some dead sections, one section where I was doing the observing, and one comment when Abby asked me “what do you see dad”. The students had a giggle moment about “poop” and when I was wrapping up the “butterfly” suddenly flew away and opened a whole new set of questions. I decided to leave this in to keep the continuity and the mood of working with children. I choose to record my own bookend music. I recorded Abby Wright, my daughter, singing a song called De Colores. I thought the song was appropriate for my subject matter and it gave me another chance to work with Audacity. I choose to record in a sound proof room. I am disappointed with the quality; I feel that an external microphone would have been beneficial. There were some external noises, setting down the iPod that played the accompaniment, that I tried to edit out but found it was hard to edit only the sound without altering the voice. I ended up splicing the noise out and joining the clear parts to the interview. My unedited raw material is over 8:00 minutes and my final project is just over 6:00. Enjoy and let me know what you think.

Through the Eyes of a Child: All the Colors Open Ended Inquiry RAW media type="file" key="Eyes of a child RAW.mp3" width="240" height="20"

Through the Eyes of a Child: All the Colors Open Ended Inquiry Edited and Amplified media type="file" key="Through the eys of a child all the colors open questioning amplified.mp3" width="240" height="20"

I envision this audio being used with an introduction to science and scientific observation or even embeded into this power point:


 * Assignment #3 Final exam study guide. **

Instead of doing a lot of picture editing I spent more time in setting up my pictures before I took them. I used a black backdrop to give contrast and define the objects in the photos. I decided to use headless shots when one of my “models” pointed out that this was going to be on the internet and they could be embarrassed. I also took several pictures from different angles and set ups so I could choose the best one to fit in with the text. I started off with a basic list of instructions to study for a science final exam. I had shared it with a colleague and he mentioned that it was a bit too wordy and students may get lost in the detail. I realized that this picture assignment might be a great way to JAZZ it up and make it more accessible. I found as I worked through the photo shoot that I had redundancy and unclear statements in the written version. I really appreciated having this list to work from to take the photos it made the shoot very efficient and there were only two photos I had to retake to make my final version. You may notice the change if you look at both side by side. I plan to edit the written version to coincide with the updated PowerPoint. I tried downloading the trial version of Photoshop but I got part way through the download when my connection died. Now I don’t have the program and this computer is registered as having it. I downloaded and used GIMP as an alternative for editing my first pictures, then imported them into Power Point. I chose Power Point for this assignment because I had difficulties placing the pictures where I wanted in a word document. I discovered that the cropping, brightness, contrast, file size, and image size editing I was doing in GIMP could be managed in Power Point so I worked with the rest of the photos in Power Point directly. Each picture was over two megabytes with basic compression I was able to get the power point file down to just over 11 megabytes. I then compressed the pictures to web and projector standard and the total size is just over two megabytes. I realize the amazing options of the photo editing software that I explored with the first pictures but I am pleased with the results that power point allowed. In my opinion the speed of working in one program was worth the trade off for this assignment. Here is the Power Point version with compressed pictures to reduce file size: 

Here is the PDF version: 

Here is the initial Exam Preparation Guide in Word format: 

Here is the initial Exam Preparation Guide in PDF format:

Assignment #4: Motivational Video: Tree Challenge

I decided to make an inspirational video to encourage science students to take on challenges no matter how large they may seem. I am using climbing a tree as a symbol of the size of a challenge that can be overcome one small step at a time. I used my Cannon video camera to record the video. I had Tina Rioux, a colleague, video for me. I probably should have used a tripod but I did not own one. I could not get the files from the camera (a 3 year old technology) directly into Magix Movie Edit Pro 17 my video editing software. I ended up playing the video and doing a screen capture. I had over twenty minutes of footage, mainly because climbing the tree took about eighteen minutes. I had to place a lot of the climbing footage on the cutting room floor so to speak. I imported the video in web quality to limit the space required to hold so much video. Now that I see the grainy final project I wished I would have worked in the HD it was recorded in to have a high quality copy for myself. It took me two days of trial and error to learn enough of the basic commands of the software just to begin editing. I expected it to be easier than it was, but with so many menus and different symbols everything was slow going. Now I enjoy working in the software and look forward to expanding my knowledge with future projects. I did find that the software would freeze and I would lose my work but I guess that is what you get for using a PC for video and not saving constantly J. I also found that when I exported there were glitches in the video that were not visible while in the software. I think it has something to do with the warning I received that Magix was using over 90% of the processing power while exporting. I exported different versions and different quality to see if I could avoid some of the problems. I think I have eliminated most of them, there is still one stumble in the third title screen but let me know what you notice. I searched for motivational audio on the Freeplay website and found quite a variety of genre. I used Duplicitous by Tilman Sillescu as an intro, parts of Monster Truck Rally by Jody Aaron Friedman, Sudden Frost by Michelangelo Sosnowitz, Lets Party by Michele Vann, Rock The House by unknown author, and finally all of Grieg Holberg Suite (Prelude). I feel the changing sound track helps keep the video flowing and hopefully keeps the audience interested. I have the video in black and white because I like the mood it sets. I feel like I am watching an old superman movie at the start and when the orchestra piece is playing at the end I start to feel like I am watching a Charlie Chaplin movie. It also helps because I was dressed in work clothes that do not show well in colour. I hope you enjoy my little project, I hope it inspires you to try new challenges. I look forward to your comments.

Here is my "story board" I made it in power point:

Here is the link to my Youtube video: Challenge Motivation

Here is the direct Youtube widget so you can watch it here on the site: media type="youtube" key="GcKAKndmG2U" height="315" width="420"

Assignment #4: Wiki Virtual Tour I have created a virtual tour of one of my physics wikis. I am planning on placing this tour on an open access wiki page so that all of my students can receive this tutorial to be able to gain access to one of the restricted access class wikis. I create all of my school wikis with membership access only. I do this for three reasons. My school board recommends the use of virtual classroom which give the students membership based on their school accounts. Since I am not using the recommended web access I feel I should at least follow the protocol. Inside the wiki I allow students to send messages to me and post messages. Since the students account name is always displayed with the message this limits cyber bullying and abuse of the site. I also use the project section for group and individual work. With clear student account names it makes creating and managing these projects possible when I am dealing with 120 or more students in a semester. The tour is designed to help students gain access and learn basic navigation of class wikis. I have included more instructions in the notes pane. You may access this by just opening and using page down. I am including a PDF and Power Point file because the in notes are not available in the PDF version. Does anyone know how to include them in a PDF?

Let me know what you think. Power Point including presentation notes: Virtual Tour PDF no presentation notes: