Zach Roberts
Kent State University
OH

Rocks

Tue, Oct 30, 2018 5:06 PM
Good Oppurtunity for Great Sources

This sciguide is perfect jumping point for anyone trying to teach about rocks, in any aspect. Whether you want to teach about the rock cycle, geologic history, or erosion and deposition this sciguide should have something for you. The "Formation of Rocks" module provides some fun and engaging interactive activities for students to go through. These interactives would be a great addition to any web-quest. The "History of Rocks" module offers a pretty cool lesson plan that lets students look at the geology of Mars to give them a different perspectives of what we can learn form rocks. The modules, though full of good links and resources, seem to be a little repetitve in nature. A lot of the resources can be found in all three modules and their is a lot of over lapping content. Now, over lapping content is good in the aspect that it lets you relate material to better a students understanding, However, in this sciguide a lot of resource links do not work, so when stacking with repetitive links, the resource pool becomes just a bit shallower than i would like. This sciguide is great tool for any teacher looking to do any type of Rock related unit or activity. The teacher resource have a lot of things to sift through but there are plenty of hidden gems. The resource bank can become a bit repetitive, but with good resources that's not a huge issue.

Living in the Weather

Tue, Oct 30, 2018 4:24 PM
Content Worth Digging For

This SciGuide is great starting point for teachers when trying to plan for a unit on weather. With three different weather topics covered within the guide there is just something for every teaching/learning type. The lesson plan titled "Keep Your Eye on the Sky" is a good lesson for cloud types and allows the students to gather their own weather data based off cloud observations. This lesson also gives a good technology insert offering a mini web-quest for students to complete before becoming mini-meteorologists. As part of the "Weather and Climate basics" module there is a lesson that outlines the hydrologic cycle and allows students to emulate the cycle with an activity utilizing an aquarium. Personally, the activity seems like enough fun that I would do without a class watching. The entire sciguide has lots of useful links that would make it super easy for a tecaher to develop a web-quest that meats their own instructional needs. However, there is a downfall with this sciguide. In all three modules there are a lot of non-working links. A few links do work in each and may be enough to help develop a unit but, some extra effort may be needed to find o few important resources. Overall, I feel this sciguide is a good starting point for any educator to gather some quick ideas for a weather unit.

Commentary: “When You Walk Into This Room, You’re Scientists!”

Mon, Oct 15, 2018 5:30 PM
Good Point of View

I feel this article does a great job bringing a usually unidentified issue into the light. The idea that students could succeed better in the classroom knowing that their backgrounds are not going to be an anchor is awesome. This article does a great job highlighting the areas in the classroom where a teacher can insert the idea to students that no matter what their background is, they can successfully practice and learn science. The use of real life examples of what one teacher did in her class show that these techniques can be applied across many class settings. The table provided in the middle of this article allows you to see the main ideas of the four promotion strategies the author lays out and shows how to implement them. I believe this article would be good for any new teacher taking a job in a diverse school, or any veteran teacher who feels they are no longer connecting with their students.