Tornado GIF

Collage

Digital Images

Use in the Classroom or Educational Setting

IDEA- During the students third grade year, we discuss weather and climate. In this unit the students learn about natural disasters. Included in natural disasters are tornadoes. The students learn what they are and how they develop.
I will use the Inforgraphic to educate the students on what a tornado is, how it forms, the Fujita Scale, and all other aspects of a tornado. The students will be able to identify what a tornado, how it is formed and give other key details of a tornado in the United States.
Copyright- Once getting through the unit on Weather and Climate the students will create their own Infographic that covers one of the natural disasters we discussed or anything else covered in the unit. They will be able to search for appropriate images and details that are useable and sharable. Once complete they will share with the rest of the class.
Application
The design principles for multimedia instruction align with my lesson because my students are using information they learned during the unit by using multimedia materials (The Coherence Principle),using graphics (The Redundancy Principle), and using a combination of words and graphics, (The Spatial Contiguity Principle). By using the graphics and information that I have provided for the students they will be able to psychically see what is being presented and listen to what is in the presentation. By using both styles I should be able to cover the majority, if not all, of the learners in my classroom.
When I created my InfograpDhic I intentionally used the Coherence Principle, the Redundancy Principle, and the Spatial Contiguity Principle. These three principles all deal with images and graphics.
Reflection
Before this week some of my lessons weren’t as specific as I could make them. Now using the Infographic I can present a lot of useful information to my students in one graphic. The graphic makes it interesting for the students because it uses pictures, words, graphs and charts. These graphics will be able to catch all of the students attention and make it more interesting for them, which is the most important idea when teaching a lesson to students. I then can also have my students complete their own infographic which allows them to find more information on their own about a specific topic or disaster in this case.
This week, I really enjoyed discovering and making my own Infographic. Like I mentioned earlier it allows for a lot of information to be presented in one setting.
I enjoyed using, making and learning about the different ways to present information to students. I especially plan to use Infographics in my units and lessons. I think Infographics will keep the students’ attention and give enough information that is useful to students. Learning new ways to present information is always nice so it’s not the same every day and every week.

Copyright and Creative Commons

Use in the Classroom or Educational Setting

o   IDEA- During their fourth-grade year the students have an Energy Unit. This unit covers what energy is, the different forms of energy, energy transfer, conservation of energy, and energy and force. I will use this as an introduction to the unit.

o   The students will be able to get the main ideas of the unit before beginning the unit. Once we do get into the unit they will be able to reflect on what they discovered on the Padlet.

o   Copyright- My fourth graders are getting to the point in their education where they are researching and beginning to write papers/reports. By incorporating a mini copyright lesson in with the pre-cursor of the unit, the students will be able to compare the copyrights, and how I found and placed them with the work, with how to cite their findings in their own work. I will explain that what they are looking at on the Padlet is somebody else’s work and they deserve the credit for it. I will also explain that they need to take this into consideration as they begin to write research papers.

Application

o   The design principles for multimedia instruction align with my lesson because I am having my students look and go through many sources before I teach the lesson and unit to the students. They will have some background knowledge and a basic understanding of the vocabulary words and what energy is by the time they compete the Padlet. The principles align with the Padlet technology because it allows the students to see printed words but the students could also watch videos or manipulate and idea online (with how I used PhET). Students will be more successful when they have options and different ways of learning rather than the same way of the information begin presented to them the same way.

o   When my students are using the Padlet they will be applying Segmenting Principle and the Pre-Training Principle. The first, Segmenting, because they can go at their own pace. If they want to re-read something or re-watch something they can without slowing anyone else down. The Pre-Training Principle explains that the student will learn better when they know the key words and materials before discussing it as a class. We could have a more in-depth conversation and lesson when all my students are on the same page.

o   When designing my Padlet I intentionally used the Pre-Training Principle. I wanted to make sure my students knew what energy was and the several types of energy. I wanted the students to explore energy and what changes they would need to make to create a type of energy (PhET).

Reflection

o   Before this week I would pick a video or show something to my students without thinking of copyrights. After this week and attempting to find resources, I have discovered that some of the sources I use during the day at school may have some copyrights on them that are specific. I will make sure that I am paying attention to these copyrights more than what I have in the past.

o   This week, the fact that there are different type of copyrights and they are very specific as to what you can do with them, stood out to me. I thought a copyright is a copyright, you can’t do anything with it but in fact you do have options with certain copyrights such as the share-alike attribution.

o   The one tension that I noticed was how some students learn better when having a conversation, the Personalization Principle. With my Padlet, the students would not be able to accomplish this. If a student learns best from having a conversation, they would have to wait until the lesson/unit is being taught which may put them a little behind those students who can learn by segmenting and pre-training.

o   I enjoyed practicing and creating another resource for my students. This is something that I didn’t know was out there but it is something simple that the students can use and even create on their own.

o   My skill and understanding of copyright laws has grown from knowing very little to knowing the necessary basics. I was able to apply what I discovered to create a Padlet. I am able to now decipher what it means to be a typical copyright that seems to be more to common to a copyright that allows you to make adjustments but not reproduce.

EDU 642

Syntheses and Reflection

Rachel Schwartz

            After reading Research-Based Principles for Designing Multimedia Instruction, I found three that stuck out to me.  Those three are: The Segmenting Principle, The Pre-Training Principle, and The Personalization Principle.  Two of the principles fit into managing the essential processing group while the third fits into the fostering processing.

            The first principle that I chose was the Segmenting Principle.  This principle tells us that learners learn best when they learn parts at a time.  Once they master a certain part of a topic they can then move on to the next step in that topic.  I teach math so this concept works well for my students.  I’ll give the example of multiplication.  My students first need to learn how to multiply with their basic facts (1x1, 1x2, 1x3…). Once they learn those facts they can then move on to multiplying two digit numbers by a single digit number (25x5).  Moving on from there they can eventually solve for a two-digit number by a two-digit number.  I use this principle in my math lessons every day.  If I didn’t use this process, my students would be lost and confused and wouldn’t know how to solve math problems.  By taking a segment of a lesson or concept at a time and teaching it to my students they will become more successful.  My only concern with this principle is that my higher students may seem bored at times because they can grasp concepts quicker than my lower and average students.

            The next principle I chose was the Pre-Training Principle.  The Pre-Training Principle tells us that our students need to know the main concepts of a topic before beginning a lesson.  It also says that once the students know and understand the main concepts and what they mean they will be more successful and not struggle with learning vocabulary, as an example, and how to apply it, when and where.  I think this principle is the building block for any lesson.  They students need to know vocabulary words and the point of the lesson before they can go through and solve problems, answer questions, and understand what is being taught.  If they don’t understand they concepts, then they will struggle throughout the whole lesson.  At the beginning of my math units, I give my students the vocabulary words or key words that will be used.  They jot the words down in their math notebooks with a definition and an example, if necessary.  I also post the words on the word wall in the classroom.  Once we get into the unit they will understand the word(s), if not they can always go back and look at the definition again.  I used to give the vocabulary words as we went through the lesson but I have found that the pre-training process works much better.  I do not have any concerns or confusion with this principle. 

            The last principle I chose was the Personalization Principle.  This principle basically can be defined as having a conversation about a topic rather than just teaching to the students without any input from them.  When I give my students a question whether it’s in math or science, I like to ask how or why they got to the answer.  This way if some of the other students didn’t get the correct answer they have an explanation as to how they should’ve gotten that answer.  By doing this the students can bounce ideas off each other making them more successful.  I’ve used this concept since I started teaching.  It’s a great way to keep the students alert and it’s also a great way for students to cement their ideas in memory rather than just answering a question and moving on.  I think this principle has changed the way I view learning because it really gets the students to think.  My only concern with this principle, and it comes up sometimes with my students, is that they each want to explain how they got their answer especially if it were in a different way.  This isn’t the worst thing in the world but it can be time consuming.

            I believe that all three of these principles work well together especially segmenting and pre-training.  They each require the students to master pieces of information before going into the main lesson.  I also believe the Personalization Principle fits in nicely because the students are able to use the vocabulary words they have mastered with segmenting and pre-training when explaining their ideas. The only tension that I found between the three is that two of the principles allow for the lower students to be successful while the third allows for the higher students to be successful.  If all three of the principles are used together correctly, then everyone should be successful, not just the average or higher students.

           

References

Mayer, R. E. (2014). Research-based principles for designing multimedia instruction. In V. A. Benassi, C. E. Overson, & C. M. Hakala (Eds.), Applying science of learning in education: Infusing psychological science into the curriculum. Retrieved from http://hilt.harvard.edu/files/hilt/files/background_reading.pdf

Hello,

My name is Rachel Schwartz. I am a third/fourth grade teacher in the very small town of Burr Oak, which is located on the Michigan/Indiana border. I teach math and science to both grade levels. The two grades are separate classrooms but with being such a small school we only have one teacher per grade level so therefore we co-teach with a different grade level. This is my third year teaching and third year in this district.

I received my undergrad through Notre Dame College of Ohio which is located in Cleveland, OH. While there, I double majored in Early Childhood Education and MMIS. I also received my Reading Endorsement. I came back to my hometown of Sturgis, MI shortly after graduating from NDC.

When I'm not teaching I enjoy spending time with my family, friends, and my dog!