Internet Dangers!

Kids nowadays have unlimited access to the internet almost anywhere they go, at home and school with the computers and anywhere else with cell phones. At any age, the possibilities of web dangers are present and easy to purposely find, or stumble upon accidentally. There are so many methods for predators, sexual or otherwise, to prey on kids online in chat rooms, instant messaging or emailing. There are multiple concerns here, the fact that some children will go and meet these people face to face, some won’t tell their parents the type of things they do on the internet, and there’s always the risk of unknowingly giving away too much personal information. This brings me to another concern for many children, so often websites will coerce you to give tons of personal information to sign up for a game, or an account, or contest; this can easily lead to invasion of privacy.

Children searching sites for games or chat rooms can also easily become exposed to pornography sites. Younger children may not have the capability to process the information yet, but it will be stored and remembered later. These types of sites can also display violence and skew a person’s future beliefs of intimacy. The internet also provides an excellent ground for bullying anonymously. Online bullying is becoming more and more common which is really unfortunate because of the difficulty in both finding it and discovering who is behind it. On a larger scale, the internet supplies many, many hate sites along with instructional sites providing methods to get revenge on those listed on hate sites (Ex: the bomb recipe sites used by the shooters at Columbine). 

The internet can also be addictive both in terms of overuse, and for online gambling. The content is not always accurate or reliable, there’s constant exposure to online marketing, and users have to be cautious of spam and viruses. While the internet provides many beneficial resources, children need to be taught how to safely use it. I don’t think constant monitoring is necessary because exploration and manipulation can be educational, but they need to know what to avoid for safety purposes.

I decided to take a closer look at “Authenticity of Information on the Web” and examine some concerning and related aspects in this Inspiration chart.

Reflecting on my Smartboard Lesson

Today my partner Jessica and I presented our Mini Lesson using the Smartboard to carry out a Grade 1 Science lesson on the 5 senses. The whole process of having one student come to the board at a time seems a bit tedious and boring for the rest of the students sitting with nothing to do but other than that I think it went pretty well. We focused on sight and had a slow reveal of a picture while everyone guessed what it was, and then proceeded with a listening activity. There were only minor complications with our “erase to reveal” activity, but we sorted it out on the spot. The Smartboard was kind of neat to have for the sound portion, but other than that I really don’t think it provided much of an advantage for this particular lesson. It was fun to explore and see how the whole program works and I’m definitely excited to play around with it some more in my practicum and try it out in an actual elementary classroom. Right now it just seems sort of complicated and not worth the effort for the lesson, but I’m certain once I’ve seen it used in a class and practice with it more it will become a very useful tool!

I’ll have to remember how small the print comes out when I create a chart with words to categorize, I didn’t realize how unreadable they were if not sitting fairly close. I think pictures would be much more effective anyways, especially for the younger aged children. Also, in doing this presentation I came to realize (even more so) the importance of trying out the presentation before the actual class. When we did a dry run on another Smartboard one slide wasn’t showing any pictures that were meant to be there, and another was showing pictures which were supposed to be hidden. We also had to ensure that the sound component was on and loud enough. Overall I felt that we were really prepared for the lesson and it went smoothly!

Rocks and Mineral Poster!

Title:

Creating a Poster of Rocks and Minerals!

Online Resource References:

BBC. (n.d.). Science ages 7-8: science clips. Retrieved Oct. 4, 2010, from

            http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/scienceclips/ages/7_8/rocks_soils.shtml 

BBC. (n.d.). KS2 bite size: rocks and soils quiz. Retrieved Oct. 4, 2010, from

            http://www.bbc.co.uk/apps/ifl/schools/ks2bitesize/science/quizengine?quiz            =rocksandsoils&templateStyle=science

Grade level:

Gr. 3 Science, Topic A: Rocks and Minerals

Activity:

Introduction: Students will complete the online activity individually to learn what various rocks and their properties.

Body: In groups, they will search for pictures of each rock learned to print off for a poster. Using a word document, they will type one property and one common use of at least 3 of the rocks represented on their poster.

Conclusion: After viewing everyone’s posters, they will complete a short online quiz to see how much they’ve learned.

Sponge Activity: Discuss the dangers of using the wrong rock in certain cases (Ex. Using chalk to build sidewalks)

General learner outcomes (GLOs):

Demonstrate knowledge of materials that comprise Earth’s crust, and demonstrate skill in classifying these materials.

Specific learner outcomes (SLOs):

1. Compare samples of various kinds of rock, and identify similarities and differences.

7. Describe some common uses of rocks and minerals; and identify examples of those uses within     the school, home or local community.

ICT outcomes:

C.1 - Students will access, use and communicate information from a variety of technologies.

C.7 1.3 draw conclusions from organized information

Specific Outcomes 1.1 integrate text and graphics to form a meaningful message 1.2 balance text and graphics for visual effect

Rationale for Computer Integration:

The online activity allows for visual learning of the rocks, they can see how the rocks look and react to stimulated situations in a more clear light than an explanation by the teacher could accomplish. They can use the computer to find realistic pictures of rocks and to search for information on common uses of the rocks if they are unsure of where they might have seen it used before. Printing the material off the computer also ensures a more clear and organized poster representation.