Hope.

I was working with the astronomy students on a project in the computer lab where we were looking at pictures of the Moon. The students were asked to evaluate each image and decide the identity of each geologic structure. I was trying to figure out if there was a way that the students could post their results on-line for others to see/comment on. One student said, "I wish we could ask an expert how to do this." I was hoping to find a way to connect students with professionals in the field so that they could have "conversations" with each other. Is there a way to do this?

Reform

"The principle goal of education is to create men who are capable of doing new things, not simply of repeating what other generations have done - men who are creative, inventive and discoverers"
Jean Piaget quotes

This quote really shows what the constructivist approach believes. I think that education, as a whole, would change if people started thinking this way.

How do we get students to see it this way?

Overheads?

My current concern is that the LCD projectors in the classrooms will become fancy replacements for the overheads that we currently have. I would like to take the technology to the next level past PowerPoint but I am currently having problems seeing how to do this with the number of students that I have.

Concern

So, I am sitting here wondering how I can use blogs effectively in a chemistry classroom. I was wondering if there was a way to get students to use the blog to voice questions that they have and ways to get other students to offer help. Are there any sites where students are helping students make sense of difficult material? I know that I can have students respond to readings in the science area. I also know that students can work on their writing in the science area but are there other things that the students can do with blogs. I do not want them to "always do the same stuff" only electronically now.

Astronomy seems like a more natural course for the blogs but after trying to set them up, I have given up for the time being. I experienced a "set back" with the blog accounts that my students would be using. The Macs had some unexplained problems and the other computer labs are used by the same teachers when I need them. I do not know if there is an easy fix to this problem.

I think that there is so much going on that I am struggling with doing something else new.