Module 6 - The wonder of Web 2.0

I'm loving this subject!!  Mum studying is supposed to be sacred in our house    and the boys get into trouble if they barge in on me (which they still do but one can only hope for uninterrupted peace 😊).  So, when my 13 year old came in last night and Dad yelled at him, he was full of glee as he said "it's OK, she's only watching YouTube".  And there goes the mystique of my teaching degree!!

I had some trouble getting my head around 'Web 2.0' at first, it's not a term I've ever encountered before.  But I'm certainly familiar with what it can do outside of the classroom.  There are, of course, lots of ways in which the 'read/write-web' can be used in the classroom and after much 'watching You Tube', here are three that I think could be very useful, particularly in the science classroom.

1.  Easel.ly  https://www.easel.ly/   



This is a fun and easy to use infographic creator.  Infographics or data visualisations are a way of organising, visualising and communicating data and ideas and are increasingly used to communicate science to the general public (Gebre and Polman, 2015).  According to Palinscar (1998), infographics are "learning tools that facilitate construction of knowledge and mediate students' learning".  In the NSW Syllabus, there is a specific Working Scientifically outcome that requires increasingly sophisticated levels of science communication in a range of styles and representations (NESA), so it is important that students experience a variety of different mediums for communication.With simple operation, many thousands of free images and infographic templates and a wealth of instructional information and tutorials, this is a product that has many affordances for developing scientific literacy.

2. Citizen Science Apps.

There are many, many 'citizen science' projects and apps available. It is unclear when the term “citizen science” first entered our vocabulary but citizen science contributions to legitimate scientific investigations are becoming increasingly important (Citizen Science Central, n.d., para 1).

Dictionary.com defines citizen science as "scientific research, data collection etc that involves the participation of non-scientists I(often used attributively" and the advent of a smart phone in everybody's pocket has meant that apps can be developed that enable widespread, simple and fun data collection by the wider community (Shah & Martinez, 2016). The affordances of mobile technology with regards to information capture (images, audio and transcripts) have meant that students engage with what they are observing and studies have shown that the introduction of these interactive, research based activities can greatly improve classroom performance and retention and can instil 'critical thinking, problems solving and a practical experience in students' (Shah and Martinez, 2016).
A great resource for finding Citizen Science projects is the Australian Citizen Science Association (https://www.citizenscience.org.au/ala-project-finder/) where you will find hundreds of projects across all disciplines of science. One of my favourites is FrogID, recently developed by the Australian Museum. Check it out at: www.frogid.net.au




3.   Voice Thread (www.voicethread.com)

VoiceThread has been described as a 'group audio blog'. It is a web-based application where users can create a collaborative presentation that includes any form of digital media images, audio,video, text). Comments can be made by text, voice or video and the completed VoiceThread can be shared or embedded into web pages or blogs.

VoiceThread is widely used in education (Berman et al, n.d.) and has applications for students to develop the Four Cs of critical thinking, communication, collaboration and creativity. In science classrooms one example of VoiceThread use is employing it to create multimedia logs of practical work which is then open to peer evaluation and discussion.

References

Davidson, R. (2014). Using infographics in the classroom. The Science Teacher, 81(3), 34-39. Retrieved from https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/docview/1506147996?accountid=10344

Gebre, E. H., & Polman, J. L. (2016). Developing young adults' representational competence through infographic-based science news reporting. International Journal of Science Education, 38(18), 2667-2687. Retrieved from https://www-tandfonline-com.exproxy.csu.edu.au/doi/full//10.1080/09500693.2016.1258129?scroll=top&needAccess=true

Palincsar, A. (1998). Social constructivist perspectives on teaching and learning. Annual Review of Psychology, 49, 345–375.

Shah, H. R., & Martinez, L. R. (2016). Current approaches in implementing citizen science in the classroom. Journal of microbiology & biology education, 17(1), 17.

Citizen Science Central. (n.d.). Atlas of Living Australia. Retrieved from https://www.ala.org.au/citizen-science-central/

Berman,D., Holsing, C., Meyer, M., Stubbs, C. and Winck, K.,(n.d.) 7 Things You Need to Know about VoiceThread. Penn State University. Personal.Psu.Edu. Retrieved from http://www.personal.psu.edu/mnm14/blogs/meyerviews/VoiceThread_whitepaper.pdf




Comments

  1. SurvivormummaMay 1, 2018 at 10:20 AM

    Hi Mel,

    I really loved checking out easel.ly, I'd never heard of it before. I think it would be a great resource for students to understand and present complex information. Students may also be able to interpret and retain visual ideas more easily than text alone (Lindblom, Galante, Grabow and Wilson (2016) p. 37).

    Lindblom, K., Galante, N., Grabow, S. and Wilson, B. (2016).Composing Infographics
    to Synthesize Informational and Literary Texts. National Council of Teachers of English, English Journal. Volume 105, Issue 6. Pages 37-45.

    Krystina

    ReplyDelete
  2. James QuinnMay 9, 2018 at 10:14 AM

    Hi Mel, similar to Krystina I found your Web 2.0 resources to be really interesting, particularly easel.ly, which I also had never heard of. I stuck with the more regular examples of blogs, Google Docs and Skype in my own analysis, so it was great to find out more about the less known options. I also like the idea of an audio blog, which creates greater oral challenge for students and an opportunity to practice their speaking skills in a collaborative environment. Cheers!

    ReplyDelete
  3. NsaidMay 22, 2018 at 8:17 PM

    Hi Mel
    You are not the only one, the term web 2.0 was new to me as well and after hours of research I finally got my head around it! Your resources are really interesting actually, I played it safe and spoke about easy ones such as youtube and wikispace but I had a quick look and found them really interesting and great resources for teaching as well.

    ReplyDelete

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