Teaching with the Web
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Teaching Techniques
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Science Junction
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Curriculum and Standards
www.teach.science
Surf and Master the Web
Teaching with the Web
Teaching
in the Science Classroom with
the World Wide Web
Lisa
L. Grable
updated
by Beth Snoke
There are many possible ways to incorporate the use of the Web into the science classroom. This is true whether the instructor has an active connection in the classroom or not. Of course, it can be more of an adventure and more fun if the instructor has the capability of allowing all the students to actively work on the Web. The World Wide Web can be thought of as a huge library of science resources that can be used for research or interaction. Users of the Web will need to learn to discriminate between what is useful and accurate and what is not. We present here a few ideas for what can be done with the Web in the science classroom.
Space
Trak game from Science Junction
Modeling and Simulation tools from Shodor
Culturally Situated Design Tools
Students may use an online simulation to experiment or experience. These can be created with programming languages such as Java or Shockwave.
Citation
Machine from Landmark Project
Female
Nobel Prize Laureates
Students may write two-page papers to be included in a portfolio. Research can be done on the Web for papers and students should be encouraged to make proper citations in their references (see http://www.apa.org/journals/webref.html). Students may write about the life of a historical figure or find activities to try at home.
Ligon History Project, Ligon Middle School, Raleigh, NC
Plate Tectonics from students in Bellingham, WA
§Class
web-zine
The students are divided into teams to work on different aspects of a
topic. As the students write about the information they find, take pictures
and video, and make drawings, they add this to a class magazine located
on the Web. As each week of the unit passes, the table of contents grows
as the class adds more information. The class could invite other classes
to visit the "web-zine" and correspond about it.
Quia! Where learning takes
you helps you
create your own quizzes
§Problem
sets
Questions can be posted on a web page as homework assignments or practice
tests. With the use of a special script and cgi-bin directory, students
can send their answers to the instructor by filling out an on-line form.
SciTeach
Forum, used to promote communication in a senior class,
Electronic
School primer on listservs
Various forum formats exist which can be set up for on-line discussion of class topics. The instructor may assign using the forum similarly to journal writing. In this mode, everyone in the class will see each others' reflections. Each student may be required to post messages a certain number of times during the semester or a single student may be assigned each week to stimulate and lead discussion. See http://courses.forum.ncsu.edu/cgi-bin/netforum/sciteach/a/1 for an example.
Water
What-ifs, Science Junction, data submission
Sample submitted data
Solar Eclipse 1998 data from Science Junction, example of use of database
Students at different locations can do a laboratory at the same time and compare the results through the use of web pages. See Water What-ifs at Science Junction for an example (http://www.ncsu.edu/sciencejunction/depot/experiments/water/)
Ask an Expert from Pitsco
Ask a Scientist from HHMI
§Talk
to a scientist
Several sites provide a practicing scientist for students to talk to or
ask questions. The following are examples: Smithsonian, VIMS, GLOBE Project,
Scientific American.
Cool Science Images from University of Wisconsin has photography from
government science projects
The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory has lesson plans that use print
outs from its site.
Ditto a visual search engine
With the use of a color printer, the instructor can bring web pages into the classroom as overheads or bulletin board items. Data sets or graphic images are examples. This can help students with limited access to get a feeling for what is on the web. In addition, programs such as Web Buddy or Web Whacker enable the harvesting of websites to display on a computer without a live Internet hookup.
Monu-Mental from MidLink magazine.
§Compare
your region to another region
Students can collect gravitational field strength or sun shadow data and
periodically check their results against results posted on the Web for
other locations.
§Worksheet
The instructor writes a web page which gives the web sites to visit for
the lesson. The students are given a worksheet with questions to answer.
The students' job is to visit the given websites to read and find answers
to the worksheet questions. This activity is timed.
Searching for Treasure on the Internet from Education World
§Scavenger
hunt
The instructor writes a question sheet for the students. This could contain
review questions for a unit already finished or questions to begin a unit.
It could contain questions from several units to use as an advanced organizer
at the beginning of a quarter or semester. The students may use any search
engines they wish to find the answers to the questions. They must give
the answer in complete sentences and provide the URL of the page on which
they found the answer. The instructor may wish to provide the students
with keywords to use in their searching. This activity can be used to
find science facts but could also be used to bring in biography, history,
and culture for a multidisciplinary experience.
Which
Way is North? from Science Junction
Virtual Tours from Innovative Teaching
Many sites on the web contain photographs, quicktime movies, and quicktime virtual reality movies. Students can visit a research lab, a museum, a national science center, or a remote location (such as the surface of Mars) to have a virtual experience.
WebQuest Page from Bernie Dodge
Inquiry based activities where students use the internet and othe tools to solve a problem.
GEM, The Gateway to Educational Materials
The Web can be a great source of lesson plans and other resources created by teachers and others concerned with education.
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