Tuesday, November 01, 2005

Today in astronomy

Today (11/1) I had my students setup blog accounts and then comment on their thoughts about the fieldtrip last week. While some students took the time to post thoughtful statements most just worked as quickly as they could. (A product of the educational system in which they find themselves perhaps?) Some of the students were wondering why they could not just "write a response." I was trying to find a good way to answer that question when Anne told them they would be wasting trees. What are some other ways to answer this question that the students have? I wonder if they will become more comfortabe with the blogs? Will I?

1 comment:

Karl Fisch said...

If by "write a response" you mean simply write on paper instead of on the blog, then they would miss one of the primary reasons of using a blog. A blog is a place for public discourse. If they write it on paper, they are just writing it for you - the teacher. In a blog, it's for everyone. I think we really have to work on "retraining" the students to stop thinking of assignments as things they just do for the teacher . . .