Creating a Site

My American History Site

https://sites.google.com/site/americanhistorywithmrisaac/

     Creating the website was quite interesting. It is not as straightforward as the other apps. I had to use the tutorials to figure out the basics. However, after I got a handle on what I was doing and things started to feel more familiar, I was able to find what I needed.
     The only difficulty I had in the pages was moving images around. I decided to create a "history" course so I could put a timeline in and play with the images. It is easy to line the images up, but I could not find a drag and drop feature where I could move the images to any part of the page that I wanted and the text just simply wordwrap. Instead the images all acted like very large text. The only other qualm I had was that there were only three settings for the image sizes and not a bar or percentage drop box to adjust the size to what I wanted. Thankfully the images all shrank to an even size when I selected "small" in the size part of the tool bar for the images. Creating the time line was simple after that, it was just like creating one in Word.
     Another difficulty I had was with the way that I needed to lay out the site. I made a mistake and created the assignments page as being under the "American Presidents" page. The only I found to fix this was to delete the page completely and create a new page. I could not find in the tutorials or on my own a button like Sakai's reorder button where I could just move the page out from under "American Presidents."
     A fun part about playing with the site was that Google Forms links work. So I found that I could integrate Google Sites, Forms, and Sheets in order to give kids content, assessments, and grades. All I would have to do after creating the site would be to link the Forms in the site and then wait for the kids to take the quizzes or tests. The only drawback is that I could not find any way to keep kids from working to far ahead or skipping assignments. They would have access to all of the Forms if I linked them. Well, I just thought about it, I could just link the pages as the course goes on.
     The revision history was very straightforward but kind of scary. I only had two versions because I worked on the site in two long sessions. I was afraid I might click something wrong and revert my site back to the first version so I didn't play with it other than looking at the layout and watching the tutorial. I feel that it is a very good feature for if you make a major mistake and want to fix it or if you want to reformat something. I really want to use this for one of my future classes, it was difficult to come up with something for a whole class because I have not taught a classroom yet; but I did create a layout that I think I will use if I use Google Sites for one of my classes.

Forms and Spreadsheets

     Creating the form was pretty easy thanks to the handout from class on the 13th. The only difficult part about the Forms is that I with that every new response to the Form would automatically use a new row and fill out the information. However, even though that feature does not seem to be available, the Form was fairly easy to create and will be easy to adapt to future lessons to the extremely straightforward layout and tools.
Below is the link to "my" Form and the Gradebook/Spreadsheet.

         Form Link
         Autograding Spreadsheet Link
        Gradebook Spreadsheet Link

     The Gradebook is from the Spreadsheet that was submitted on the 16th. Therefore I did not recreate a new one and instead just used what I had already created. It was only after I had created the Spreadsheet that I had discovered that different sheets on Google Docs can interact with each other's formulas. What I mean is that a cell with formula can moved from that particular sheet into a new sheet while still interacting with the old sheet instead of the new sheet. Thus different sheets can interact. Therefore, gradebooks for whole classes can be easier because one sheet could be responsible for different types of assignments. One sheet could be quizzes and another be attendance and then the final sheet in the workbook can be the sheet where all the grades are converted into a final score. The interaction between Forms and Sheets is extremely helpful.
     The import range trick was a little difficult to grasp but I got it and it works great. I highlighted the area of my Gradebook where I used the import range formula for the Autograding Spreadsheet that is linked to the form.
CONFESSION: I feel so techy now.

AR

I downloaded and used the untargeted augmented reality apps for puppies and butterflies. The butterflies was more real because the butterflies fly and they don't land anywhere thus they are more versatile and lifelike. The bunnies on the other hand were not so successful because the app requires a flat surface. If the flat surface has many objects on it, the app does not recognize the objects and the bunnies run over the objects when in reality they would jump around them. Thus the bunnies app only really works with a very large flat surface without anything on it. Otherwise the butterfly and the bunnies app work well. The animals are obviously computer animated but the are real enough to be fun.
The untargeted apps were a little more fun because of how interactive they were. I used the world map and the bunny images from Quiver with my brother and wife. We also tried using the Toyota racing app. The apps worked much better than the untargeted ones because the augmented reality worked within preprogrammed parameters and didn't have to adjust to the environment a great deal. The AR stayed on the page and even if the iPad was held still and the page was moved the AR would move with the page. The fact that what my wife and brother colored was rendered into a 3D image that interacted slightly with the real world was very engaging.
I believe these apps have quite a few uses in the classroom. For 1st to 3rd graders, these kinds of apps would be helpful in helping students understand how programs, math, and science relate to their lives because they can manifest themselves through an image in a world that is almost in ours. The more educational apps like anatomy 4D and ARs that deal with space and astronaut equipment can be used to give older kids an almost tangible experience with objects they will most likely never see with their own eyes such as space rovers and human internal organs. These apps could be used as support for class lessons on the topics to aid with differentiation in the class.

Google Sheets, creating a gradesheet

     I liked Google Sheets. I have used Excel before and it is quite useful; however, the formulas can be tricky because they abbreviate everything. In Google Sheets, all of the formula's are spelled out so I knew exactly which one I wanted to use. The only other difference between Excel and Google Sheets that I found while formatting the gradesheet was the way that one can create percentages. In Excel, you can move the decimal place anyhow you want. In Google Sheets, I was not allowed to make a whole number a percentage. Therefore, when I put "95" in a cell and clicked the "%" sign, the percentage became "9500.00%" and I could not decrease the percentage using the decimal moving buttons. I discovered this after I had put all of the information in so I had to go back and change the grades from whole numbers to decimal numbers. The problem was fixed after that. Formatting the Final Grade was easy as well because the cell formulas work much like a scientific calculator and you can just separate out numbers and equations within a cell formula using parenthesis.
     Here is a LINK to the gradesheet if you would like to look at it. I didn't create a "Midterm" section because the section with "Final Grade" would be the midterm grade at midterms. Thus, at midterms the grades would be recorded elsewhere and then the grades would continue to change as the year went on.
     I understand how Google Sheets can be used to meet the Mathematical Practice 3 Standard: "Construct viable arguments..."  However, I am struggling to understand how it could be used for the second part: "Critique the reasoning of others." Well, now that I think about it, you could take someone's spoken argument, give the points of the argument mathematical representations on the spreadsheet and then plug those into a formula of some kind. If that were the case, then I see how Google Sheets could be used to enhance critical thinking in students because it gives them a tool for dissecting arguments and thinking through them to see if they are logical or not. Also, I guess another way that it helps with the mathematical standard is that it can be used as a tool to demonstrate one's thinking and not simply as a help for thinking. Students can create graphs and charts to display their reasoning and arguments to other students.

Toontastic

     Toontastic is a great little tool for 6 to 8 year olds that teaches them the parts of story as well as allows for the teacher to teach different aspects of literature. To begin with, the app gives the user an initial walk through on what story is what the different parts are. Then the app walks the user through what sets, characters, and moods/background are.
     After completing the initial introduction to the app, the user is able to do whatever they would like. The app would be useful for teaching more than simply the parts of an overall story. I think it could be used to teach kids figures of speech by having them construct a context where a figure of speech would be used. The app could even be used to teach the kids creative writing. The kids could of go home, write a story, then come back to class and create the story. If everyone in the class has access to app then they whole assignment could be homework. There is lots that you could do with this app to help bring literature and the art of story to life.
     The only negative is that it can be difficult to use the characters while making a video. I had difficulty isolating body parts on characters to make that part move alone and not the others. However, kids have smaller fingers so it might be easier and kids are far more adaptable than we are.
     I feel this is a great app. It is free so kids would all be able to use and there is feedback so that the teacher can see the work of each individual student.

History Maps of the World

     The usefulness of this app is pretty straightforward. The app gives the teacher and students access to a huge library of maps. The maps range from recent to ancient maps of the world. The app can be used as a tool for lecture or activities as it does not have built in activities.
     For example, one could use a map to follow the battle strategies of ancient generals or the expansion of trade. The free version comes with a large number of maps however they are limited in that a number of them are from specific times. One has to pay in order to get more expansive and times and locations for the maps. The detail on the maps make it feel to me as though it would belong in classes above 3rd grade. However, with the way information and skills standards are getting pushed down this judgment could change to preschool in the near future, but I digress.
     One could give the students homework with the maps such as identifying the locations of ancient cities or political lines or commenting on the position of countries in relation to the events taking place at the time for which the map was made.
     The menu is well laid out. The maps are straightforward and there are tools such as zoom so that the students can observe more closely certain aspects of the maps. There is even a setting where one can group the maps based on time or location. Therefore, teachers could work with students through time or with specific locations with ease because the developers built in the two different types of menus.
     The app is useful as a tool for learning geography as well as serving as a tool to provide a little more context for social studies.

NASA app

     The NASA app was absolutely huge. There were over 15,000 images; over 300,000 recorded tweets; over 101 space mission records; links to old and new news on the goings on of NASA; links on a map to the actual NASA centers and websites; and nearly 13,000 videos. This app is huge; however, it saves space by not storing any of the information on your device. Instead, the app merely serves as a link to all of this information. The apps main function appears to be helping individuals understand what is going on at NASA and why their work is important and what impact their work has on modern life.
     This app wouldn't be very useful, in my opinion, for kids in the lower grades (like k-3) because of the way in which the information is presented. The information is not presented a very fun way and the information could also be considered boring though NASA does dumb the language down so that regular people can understand what is going on. However, the possibilities for the upper grades (4 and onwards) are vast, this could even be used for college in my opinion. One could have kids search for a topic in the app to write a paper on. The students could observe the behavior of heavenly bodies. Students could investigate information about space objects that have a controversial significance (like some super novas being used to gauge the expansion of the universe) and then write what they think and why. The NASA app is a huge resource for writing in my opinion.
     Because of the records of the space missions, the app could be used for social studies as well. One could trace the development of technology, the Cold War, the race for space that still continues (sort of), and other historical and social aspects of the space program.
     Overall, the amount of information is huge and the menu's are well laid out and easy to follow.