My Blog and Wiki Quest of '09

Here are some things that I came across in my searching --

Blogs first. In looking around I found a lot of the same blogs that other classmates had posted about. I also found a lot of info on incorporating blogs in the science classroom. I included a little bit of both in this post.

1. NSTA article about incorporating blogs into science teaching. It's from the Journal of College Science Teaching but it has really good information particularly rules for an effective blog in a science classroom. This is helpful because (for me) one of my main objectives is exploring effectivesness and ensuring that I'm incorpating technology effectively. It also has a table to addresses the modalities that a blog can address
2. I also found a site that has several science blogs that you can search through (I know - more searching). Not sure how useful it would be but I found a couple interesting science news sites that would be helpful when I have my students do current events.
3. As previously mentioned on other blogs, I liked Miss Baker's blog. It was a classroom blog in the true sense in that both the teacher and the students seemed to have an ownership and partnership of it. I'm still struggling with the upkeep of something like that. I think it would start off well but I don't know if it would be properly maintained throughout the year. Miss Baker also has a personal blog where she writes about Using Blogs in Science which I looked around on and had some cool and interesting tips, ideas, etc.
   
4. When thinking about using blogs in my room, I really like the idea of using them for discussion forums. I found a blog that is used for that same purpose. It's described as a place for high school biology students to discuss current topics, post articles, etc. I like the structure of it. It appears that clear guidelines were outlined (which I think is really important). Also, on the comments (some were in the 150 range which could get overwhelming) there were broken down by which paragraph the student was commenting on. This one was done on Edublog (which I haven't yet looked into) and that must be one of their features. I like the idea that you can comment on a particular part of an article and then maybe only read comments that people have made regarding that particular part. Then you don't have to read all 150 comments (unless you want to!)

Ok...on to the wikis. Here was my issue when searching for wikis - you are unable to actually see the process that played out in the creation of the wiki. When you search for them you are often seeing a finished product. While some of the final products look nice and have given me some ideas about possible uses in my class, I'm not able to see the evolution of the wiki. How did it get to where it was? What kind of facilitation went into its evolution? That being said, I found a couple things.

1. While I'm not a Chemistry teacher, I found this wiki useful. It involves a periodic table project where students were required to research an element and then update the wiki with their information. On the left sidebar directions, possible research sites, a rubric, and other things were provided. It seemed to be very organized and while I was not able to see how it all came together, the final product was interesting. Using it for a class project I think might be an interesting application.
2. The other helpful site I came across was on the TeachersFirst page. It has Wiki Ideas for the Classroom. What I like is that it provides ideas by subject of ways to incorporate a wiki. While I'm not sold on the wiki yet as something that I could use, it provides some interesting ideas. I like the idea of a student made glossary with definitions and illustrations created by the students. I have a lot of hassle with vocabulary and this would be an interesting, interactive way to compile all the terms that are so important in Biology.

Many ideas are playing out in my head right now and I will continue to post as thoughts and possible applications come to me. I like that so far there have been good discussion and helpful suggestions. The only big problem I'm having now is keeping up with my blog, the blogs I've posted on, the class wiki forums that I've posted on, as well as the class material. Lots of things to check. This then made me think of my students. If I try to incorporate all these things - is it just going to be a bunch of things for them to check and follow and get confused by. Hmmm...what's that about all things in moderation?