Science, Technology, Engineering and Math

I have a question for my fellow bloggers and/or followers:

What do you feel the 21st Century students needs to compete in our chaning world?

Please chime in with your answers.

Phil and Amy Mickelson ExxonMobil Academy 6/23/10 to 6/24/10

We are on the last leg of the Academy, and it is still fun and packed with new and old ideas for the classroom. Today, we explored pendulums. It's not a new concept, but the lesson allowed us to use our previous days learning. The scaffolding technique was great because our table said, "We did this yesterday, so let's see if it'll workd today". We created a table to record data, we conducted the experimented, discussed our findings (i.e. were there any outliers, did we control variables, did we follow the procedures).
The class readily used patterns, relationships, asked for clarification, asked "what if?", and respectfully debated different viewpoints. The presenters lent time to discussion/reflection; both verbally and written.
I do recommend this experience for any teacher wanting more content/pedagogy lessons in math and science. If you are interested, discuss it with your administrator and/or department head. Then, visit the website at www.sendmyteacher.com. The deadline for registering is October 2010. It is designed for 3rd-5th grade teachers, but you still ask if you are a PK-2nd grade teacher. The worst thing they can say is "no".
I'm going to add some new weblinks, so please take the time to view them. It'll add to your classroom "toolkit".

Phil and Amy Mickelson ExxonMobil Academy 6/22/10

Today we explored Force and Motion. The Academy incorporated the use of recording data, graphic organizers, writing, defending your claims with evidence in a team atmosphere.
Our focus question was "what are the attributes of tasks that invite student engagement and exploration"? As we went through our lesson, we were to keep this in mind to reflect at the end. The concepts we explored were

*data collection
*use of notebooks in math and science
- their componenets
- effectiveness
*speed
*acceleration
*vectors
*inertia
*variables
*experimental design

My team was great and we worked cooperatively on our tasks. The team and its dynamics greatly increased the enjoyment, discussion and learning for the day.

Scientifically yours

Phil and Amy Mickelson Academy 6/21/10

Today was a busy day at the Academy. We were divided into our PLC's by color and further divided into teams. Today's session was essentially about what a student needs to succeed in the 21st century: Math and Science. We need to build learning problems that are challenging and allow students to use skills that are in math, science and reading. They were very point blank about how ExxonMobil, and other firms, are in need of qualified staff. They need to be able to work in teams, analyze abstract problems, and perhaps speak another language (Dual Language Program).
We also talked about how the world is becoming "flat". Through the Internet, information is easily accessible. In addition, an engineer in France can communicate, and work on projects with its African partners in cyberspace. Distances are being torn down due to technology; the 21st Century student is able to be more innovative.

Scientifically yours,

Phil and Amy Mickelson ExxonMobil Academy

Yesterday was the first day of the Phil and Amy Mickelson ExxonMobil Academy. It is taking place at the beautiful Woodlands Resort and Conference Center. It's a nestled in the "living woods" and next to the great Woodlands Mall.

This academy is dedicated to supporting the teaching of science and math in our classrooms. There are teachers from all over Texas and the United States: Beaumont, Dallas, Anchorage, Australia, Spring and many more. I'm here with a team of teachers from SBISD and it was a great atmosphere.

Today we start our courses, so I will blog about what's learned and post pictures. We've got a busy day, but I'm sure it's going to be fun.

Scientifically yours

Tool #4

I set up my Google Reader account to follow five fellow PLN's from Sherwood. When I went it in it automatically registered the blogs because I'm a "follower" of them. I also added to science websites. It's rather cool because it quickly adds the most updated information.

Google reader can be used to show students, and staff, some real news that affects them. It shows how what they are learning is purposeful to the world as well as to themselves. If we have a class blog we can share information that we find during research in all the content areas.

Are you able to link Google Reader or Docs to your blog page? If so, can anyone tell me how?

Tool #4

I just used Google Docs to share a 2010-2011 proposed lab schedule and a lab schedule template with my 3rd-5th grade teachers at Sherwood. I wanted them to add their names to the calendar as a way to see how Google Docs works. I also sent a proposed schedule I designed and asked for their feedback.
I was not able to send it to all teachers because they do not have google account, but when I see that they have a blog set-up, I'll add them to the share list.
This is an interesting tool. The one concern I have is that the cursor doesn't not respond as in a word document. I have to click below the word to get it to the word above it. This happened in a table I created in Word. The Excel spreadsheet I sent worked fine.
This is different, and will take some getting used to. I wonder if we'll ever have to use paper again.

Tool #2

I was able to comment on three other teacher blogs from my school, but it appears the Net is slow. It stated that it could not open the page after I clicked "Post Comment". I hope it posted.

I have to admit that I enjoy the discussions because of the honesty of using blogs. I've searched the Net, and it's definitely a new medium for communication. Facebook is a prime example of how people are communicating business and personal happenings in their lives.

Tool #3

I used the website wordle.net to create wordle regarding the 5th grade 2010-2011 science TEKS. I wanted to show how wordle can bring out the main points of a piece of literature/text. In wordle, the more time a word appear that larger it will be in the wordle. This is a great way to see what's important, what word a teacher/students likes to use in their writing, or the main focus of an article. Also, it was just fun to play with the different designs and color schemes.

I can see this being used in all content areas and art.