ED 527 Module 4 Blog Posting

URLs:  What do URLs tell you/students about web sites?
URLs can tell you some basic information about a web site.  Perhaps the most telling portion of an internet address is the last three letters or the “domain designator” (Robyler & Doering, 2013, p.216). This can help both students and teachers to determine the type of content found at a website.  For example, .edu is for higher education institutions and .com is for commercial sites (Robyler & Doering, 2013).   

Search Engines:  How can learning to use search engines help you/students find better information?

Search engines can be extremely useful in finding information on the internet. General search engines such as Google can aide students and teachers in researching a particular topic/subject. By simply entering a word or phrase, these search engines provide a list of related resources. Search engines can also be used to locate a specific website or item on the internet.

Internet Tool: How might you use an internet tool in a classroom?

I look forward to incorporating wikis in my classroom.  I hope that by the conclusion of this course, I will feel confident in integrating this internet tool into my normal instruction. I would like to use the wiki as a source for course content and eventually as a more interactive tool for my students.

Web-Based Lesson:  Discuss a web site where students could access or you could create a web-based lesson.

The Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History website provides an assortment of web-based lessons that could be utilized in almost any science course.  The activities span a wide range of age levels and could be incorporated into classroom lessons or units. The website offers the best of the Smithsonian museums without actually having to visit Washington, D.C.
http://www.mnh.si.edu/education/studentactivities.html

 

Favorite Web Sites: Post two web sites and talk about why they will be beneficial to teachers and/or students.

http://sciencenetlinks.com/
Science NetLinks is a K-12 science education resource produced by the American Association for the Advancement of Science. This is one of my favorite websites because it provides teaching tools, lessons, podcasts, and hands-on activities. Science NetLinks’ online content is effective because it “purposefully and strategically engages the learner” (Robyler & Doering, 2013, p.226).  The website also exhibits “good structure and organization” by categorizing each resource by subject, type, and age level (Robyler & Doering, 2013, p.255). 

http://www.eric.ed.gov/

ERIC, the Education Resources Information Center, is an excellent website for educators.  It is an online database of educational research and information. This website is effective because it provides “easy navigation” even with such a large database of resources (Robyler & Doering, 2013, p.255).  ERIC is an invaluable tool for educators in locating not only scholarly articles but reliable links for certain topics.  In essence, this website serves as an educational “search engine” (Robyler & Doering, 2013, p.219).

 

Roblyer, M. D., & Doering, A. H. (2013).  Integrating educational technology into teaching (6^th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education.