Every year in our third grade plant unit, the students observe the stages of a Wisconsin Fast Plant. During our inquiry based lesson, students design a planter from the following materials: wick, plant food, soil, seeds, styrofoam planter. They decide where they want to place the plant in the room. Some choose to place the planter near the window while others feel the florescent light is the best environment. Some students place their plant on a direct water source, while others decide to control the amount of water their plant receives by watering it themselves.
In the past, students have journaled about their observations by including a written description and a diagram each day. This year I could have the students record their observations directly onto our classroom blog. After receiving permission from each child's guardian, I would create a blog page for each student to record his or her observations. Students would not be required to blog each day on their plant growth. They would have designated days in which to record their observations and designated days to comment on other students observations. Since students are using the classroom website, I will have them "save their posts as drafts" (Richardson, 2010, p. 51) until they have been proofread and ready to publish.
I would start by providing examples of other classrooms that blogged about their plant growth observations ( example 1, example 2). We will use these examples to discuss the safety tips in creating and commenting on a blog. When starting their own blog, students will take a digital picture of their plant and post it with their written description. Since the planter and environment of the plant is experimental, students can comment on their peers' observations and provide recommendations to improve the growth rate of the plant. This is an effective tool because the students may notice patterns from their peers' plants which encourages critical thinking and discussion. They will also explore the various elements that contribute to the growth of the fast plant through each other's experiments. By incorporating this blog, students will be able to share and discuss their observations at home through each stage of the experiment.
I would invite a botanist to look over our plant observations and recommend suggestions by commenting on the students' blogs. He or she could come into the classroom or Skype with the students once the lesson has ended to answer questions and share professional knowledge. I would also attempt at locating another classroom that is also growing fast plants. Our classrooms would benefit from observing each other's plant growth and formulating discussions through our blogs.
The blog would benefit my students by allowing them to share their work with others while collaborating with professionals, peers, guardians, and teachers using a 21st century tool. This unit would demonstrate the power and effectiveness of communicating with others through the Internet in order to discover knowledge and achieve similar goals.
References
Bud. (2005, March 28). Bud's Blogging Parent Letter. Retrieved September 13, 2010 from http://www.budtheteacher.com/wiki/index.php?title=Bud%27s_Blogging_Parent_Letter
Hill, S. (2008, December 12). Plant Growth and Development. Mrs. Hill's Class Blog!! Lincoln Elementary School 3rd Grade. Retrieved September 13, 2010 from http://sites.epals.com/hill3rd/node/137
Jenkins, S. (2010, April 26). Observing plant growth while integrating math and science. The perfect connection! I teach inquiry network. Retrieved September 13, 2010 from http://iteachinquiryblog.com/?p=366
Richardson, W. (2010). Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.
Internet safety tips for kids. Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection. Retrieved September 13, 2010 from http://ww2.wisconsin.gov/san/agency/upload/doa/consumer/inetkd255.pdf
“Once a new technology rolls over you, if you're not part of the steamroller, you're part of the road.” -Stewart Brand
4 comments:
Keri,
I did a similar activity with our 7th grade science class. The science teacher was thrilled upon completing the activity. The students were dissecting Star fish in science. The students took the camera and video camera from our technology class to document through pictures and film the process of dissection.
Upon completing the dissection the students documented their finds in our technology classroom. The science teacher gave them certain criteria they had to report on and the students blogged their dissection entry and posted photos and video of the dissection process.
I read each of the students blogs and helped them with sentence structure and the technical side, then the science teacher was able to log on to each of the students blogs to grade them for the set of criteria that she set before them. This activity was really fun, interactive, and allowed me to see what was happening in the other classrooms. The students were very proud to show me their work from science, I learned some great facts, and they had fun telling me about all the gross details.
Something that I would definitely suggest is taking pictures and video if you can. The students love that part the most. Good luck with your activity!
Emily,
Thank you for your suggestion of implementing the camera into my activity. I was also looking for a website that would allow the students to not only take a picture of their plant growth, but label the different parts of the plant throughout each stage. If you know of any good programs or websites that would allow the students to upload a digital picture, label the parts, and save as a picture file, please let me know.
Thanks!
Keri, your students will truly enjoy blogging about this fantastic project, and I hope you post lots of pictures and video to further bring it alive! Have your students every blogged before? I have found the excitement of using the computer for these types of task always makes it much more “fun” in the eyes of the students.
As I read through your post, I noticed you demonstrated great concern for parental approval for blog interaction. It reminded me of reading this week about blog safety concerns for students. How have your parents responded regarding their child’s safety on the internet. I know I have two students who are currently in foster care, and by law, their name and picture cannot be put on the internet. They both enjoyed creating their own pseudonyms! Does your school allow students to use their fist name or do you create a name for each student?
You’ve developed an excellent way to involve collaborative blogging between community, home, and school, and I wish your class the best of luck as you begin this adventure!
Richardson, W. (2010). Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms (Third Edition ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
Kitty,
Thank you for your encouraging words! In the past I have used the students first names although I have been very hesitant about posting pictures to a public site. At times I have used first names and picture representations in place of photographs. Our school has the guardians sign a press release form when they enter school. This informs the school on whether or not the names and pictures can be displayed on the Internet for educational purposes.
My students are very active on the Internet at home and the parents have not displayed any anxiety about child safety on the Internet. Our school blocks anything and everything that could be a potential threat. At times this inhibits implementation in the classroom, however I can understand the reasoning behind strict regulations.
I will be sure to share the blog when I get it up and running. Thank you for your suggestions and supportive words!
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