In Response to my Fellow Classmates Proposals

Tammy Barcalow’s “Internet Rock Hunt”

General comments: Only recently have I been introduced to WebQuest, but I think it is one of the more worthwhile Internet activities.Fourth Grade school students are very interested in concrete science and you can’t get much more concrete than rocks.

Addressing your questions and concerns: From my experience I think you should wait until you get a hookup in your classroom to complete the WebQuest in your room.I teach high school and I can’t trust the students to do good research in the library unless I am there to guide them.I would suggest you use the LCD panel to begin with and them let the students use the computer on their own or in groups as they get excited about the idea.You are tackling a big project with your limited hardware so I would make this first WebQuest about a 3 week project.I don’t know how much time you devote to science each day.I assume you give it a 40 minute period.I might be fun to have one class start the project and the next one try to prove read it and revise it.I’m not sure where this would lead, but it might be interesting.At least it would give you real time and constant feedback.As for as frames go, I think it easier for new users to see one page at a time.

My comments and concerns: As a science teacher, my biggest concern is that your project strengthen some of the major goals in science.When students come to High School from various grade schools it doesn’t matter what curriculum they had as long as they learn to “think” science.Too often students believe science is about collecting or memorizing facts.By reading your students roles, it sounds like you already have this in mind, but I just wanted to emphasis it.Cycles of nature and classification themes would fit very nicely into this project.

Margie Adkins “Research Skills using the Internet”

General Comments:I must say that you 4^th and 5^th grade teachers aren’t afraid to tackle some major tasks.Having 12 non-readers in your class is a challenge in itself.I think you have the right idea about making this a yearlong project and rotating them through different stations.I also like the mural idea to begin with since all of the students will be able to contribute and feel ownership early on in the project.Your project is well thought out and seems to have a feasible timeline.

My concerns:Since you didn’t list any questions or concerns that I can specifically address, I will offer some of my own.Do you think the research is too broad?Maybe it needs to be for your age group.I teach high school science, and the having too broad a topic is one of the biggest mistakes students make when doing research.It is easy to find a little about a lot of things, but to really get into depth about one theme and explore it from different aspects is more useful. Science teachers are always being accused of having a curriculum that is a mile wide and an inch deep.Social studies can have this same problem.If civil war is what you are after, begin with some aspect of that in September or October.If you have a number of low achievers I wouldn’t suggest using an LCD panel too much to teach them how to use a search engine.Guided practice at the computer is probably more effective.I have done it both ways and the low achievers benefit the most from jumping right in there and getting their attention.Again I like your idea and think it will be something you students can be very proud of.I know my low-level general science students take a lot of pride when we write up their lab reports on the computer, because it fixes their misspelled errors and sloppy handwriting.When it is completed, it is really something they are proud of.One your biggest problems might be keeping everyone on task and involved.However, if you show them you fire swallowing trick I don’t think they will give you any trouble.