Assisted Technology-Microsoft Narrator-Tool #3

The third assisted technology tool I chose to experiment with and found helpful was Microsoft Narrator. This is a great tool for those who have a hard time reading or for audio learners. This tool allows one to select the material they need to comprehend and then it is presented in audio form. The person then is presented with the material in audio form and it makes learning, reading, and listening a lot easier for everyone!

Assisted Technology-On-Screen Keyboard-Tool #2

The On-screen keyboard is easy to use and is available for those who may have trouble using a keyboard or when a keyboard is unavailable. Below is a short video I created using screentoaster.com to demonstrate the use of the on-screen keyboard! Also, a screen shot of the on-screen keyboard. Open the video in a larger view to better see the video!

Record your screencast online

AssistedTechnology-Magnifier-Tool #1

Windows Vista has many tools that can aid in the use of technology for those who may need some assistance. Assisted Technology are great tools that come standard on computers that have Windows Vista and above. By clicking on the Start Menu, then going to Control Panel, then click on Ease of Access, next Ease of Access Center, then click on the little link next to the light bulb "get recommendations.." and this will allow one to customize, chose, and recommend the Assisted Technology Tools that best fit the need they are trying to reach. I explored and tested out the Magnifier, it is a great tool for someone who may have difficulty reading the print on the screen or just focusing on the screen in general. Here is a screen shot of some notes that I enlarged using the Magnifier!

Creative Applications of Technology

Creative applications of technology are out there, the amount of opportunities and resources are crazy! As a student in w200, I have been assigned several tasks and assignments that call for not only some information on myself and research, but for a spice of creativity to add to these assignments.

Prior to this class, I did not know much about the creativity tools that were available to me for free to better and enhance my work done online! Free resources are great, and I am able to create and express myself through out my work and presentations in class!

When assigned to create my E-portfolio, I won't lie I was sort of nervous at first after seeing the example shown to the class, I thought to myself, "how will I make mine better than that? That one is soo good, I do not know anything about creating pages, Google docs, e-portfolios, and blogs!" Yet, here I am blogging about the exciting creative tools I learned to use and work with in class!

My personal favorite were Glogster & Wordle, both are demonstrated in my E-portfolio! Click Here to view my e-portfolio and see how I used these exciting internet creative tools to my advantage!

Glogster, is a great way to spice up a homepage or any information that is being present on a webpage. It is self explanatory and easy to use! I really enjoyed playing around on Glogster and making a creative template for my e-porfolio! It is a great free resource that is avaiable for anyone to use and I would recomend it to anyone for personal use!

Wordle, is a fun and very simple tool to use. It adds a little bit of an extra and unique fun to any webpage, blog, presentation, or project! FREE! Yes, it is free, a great thing, but it's also so very simple and easy to use. All you do ism go to create, then copy and paste youre text in the text box and click GO! then your wordle is created and you can then embed it or instert it into a document! Before you insert it, change the text and colors up, make it unique!

These are just two of the tools I have learned and used in class, they are two ways to apply creativity I've learned in class. They are also free online "communities" in which anyone can access and use to make a presentation, blog, document, or anything quite unique and lively!

Go! Motion: Station 7: Position, Velocity and Acceleration

Part I: About the Station

• Station 7: Position, Velocity and Acceleration
• Group members-Megan, Erik, Tony, Abram, Grant, & Brittany
• This station was to collect data (position, velocity, and acceleration) on a car made of legos going down 3 different ramps.
• We collected the position, velocity, and acceleration of the car on all three ramps. We did this by using a technology called Go!Motion. It's a program that has a sensor that connects to the computer. Sensor has a lens that tracks the object as it travels. It then processes the data and shows a graph for each thing.

• Part 2:
• The graphs all relate in a linear fashion as the velocity graph shows the slopes of the position graph and the acceleration shows both the slopes of the velocity graph and the concavity of the position graph. Though each of the graph differs, it is due to the degree and angles of the ramps. (relating to the position) and the derivatives of the following graphs will follow accordingly. The car was a constant. Calculus proves why theses things are related in terms of rates.
• The following pictures show the cars, the differing ramps, and the differing graphs of position, acceleration, and velocity.
  

Here is our car.

Here is our first ramp, one board, two blocks.

Here is the 2nd ramp, one board, two blocks, one bag of rocks.

Here is our 3rd ramp, one board, one block.

Position 1, Ramp 1

Velocity 1, Ramp 1

Acceleration 1, Ramp 1

Position 2, Ramp 2

Velocity 2

Acceleration 2, Ramp 2

Position 3, Ramp 3

Velocity 3, Ramp 3

Acceleration 3, Ramp 3

Part III: What did you think?

• Answer the following questions individually:
  • As a student, this is a fun, hands-on in-class activity that allows one to play with legos while applying math and science. As a teacher its a good activity for students to do to apply and test both Math and science skills learned in the classroom.
  • As a student I did not like how long this activity was as well as using Go-Motion was confusing and caused us problems. As a teacher it could be hard to control the class and monitor who did what.
    
  • Nothing was surprising, but it was interesting how the graphs differed from each other.
• Questions&Answers:
  • The linear relationship in this case is really hard to read due to the extreme variations within the graphs and due to error.
    
  • The aerodynamics of the car and the height and angles of the ramp affected the different outcomes in the graphs.
  • The position affects the velocity and acceleration because as the GOMotion captured and record, and processed the numbers. Note: I am not a science major so I cannot really read the graphs accurately
    
  • Math can be used to show the differences amongst the graphs and if they needed to be read mathematically and record data.
• My Contributions: I took all the pictures, uploaded them online, and created the google doc for everyone to access and share the information!
  

InspireData in Math Content Education

Exploring Mathematics using InspireData

On InspireData, I found a fun tool in which one is able to compare several different aspects and statistcs of the Olympics over the years. The snapshot above demonstrates different variables within this graph. The sun icon represents the Summer Olympics and the snowflake represents the Winter Olympics. Next to each icon is the name of the contry in which they were held. When on InspireData, students are presented with a basic list of information such as host country, host city, year, type(summer or winter), number of total athletes, break down of total male and female athletes, percent of males versus females, number of events, and also number of nations participating. This is a software program that acts as both a reference tool as well as a practice&drill tool. This graph demonstrates the many different ways in which a simple bit of data can be presented in various ways and graphed against different variables. It is an intersting referance tool to use and also very informative, one simple information such as where the Olympics were held to how many male athletes competed. It can be used as practice&drill by assigning students to graph a particular part of the information and then have all the students explain their graphs to the class.

Goal 2 of my professional devlopment plan.

On the professional development plans we submitted online, I said by "February 11th I would be able to define formative and summative assements" also, how I researched these terms and an example of each.

So I used the infamous Google Search to research these terms.
-Formative assements are assesing the formation of a particular student. Teachers study and watch how a certain student interacts with the faculty, other students, how the complete their work, how the ask and answer questions, and over all behavior. Studies the formation a student has for learning.
For example; A teacher observes how Student A and Student B interact within their group project, noting that Student A takes on the role of a leader and Student B questions the other group members and the way the go about solving issues.

-Summative Assements are assesments of the learning and summarizes the development of learners at a particular time. It is an assessment of learning.
For example; A teacher teaches for a week period on a certain subject then tests their students on the material, gaining the summative assessment of what the class has learned.