Day 2--Morning

Question: How do you currently use technology in your classroom?

At the present time, I am teaching Biology & Earth Science at Sampson Early College High School. Incorporating technology in this environment can sometimes be a much harder task than it should because of our resources and time lines with the community college computer labs. I do several activities in which my students use laptops to visit an Internet site and view animations, interact with the program by placing items or describing items, as well as answer questions on a worksheet to be turned in to me. I have my students develop a newspaper on a select invertebrate using Microsoft Publisher as a six week project. I have developed several quizzes and tests that the students must take on-line after participating in a tutorial on that particular subject. I am in the process of producing a web-site for the students to access in order to help them study, get missed assignments, or get extra help from other science sources. I also have my students find 2 news articles a week for a six week on the Internet that deal with science and write a summary of each with the correct bibliographical information. In reviewing materials, I have had my students construct concept maps with ICMaps (I think that is correct). The first one is usually hard but the more they work with the program the better they grasp the concepts. I usually start off by doing the first one on poster board and then have them repeat it through the software program. When doing labs, I have my students make tables/charts using excel to record their data. I use Power Point in lecture & class discussions & games.