Maps

This was a really fun assignment!  The 5th graders in our school take a field trip to Washington D.C every year.  There are so many great places for kids to visit in Washington D.C, so it was fun to plan and imagine.

It was easy to do.  You start here with google maps.  

It's easy to search for places and add them to your map.  The feature that I really liked was that there was often a website linked in the site information box that you are able to click on.  If I shared this map with students they would be able to access information about the site they are visiting very easily.

I also created an interactive itinerary document.  Students can work on this throughout the field trip or begin to explore the sites and access information before they leave on the field trip.  I used google docs to create this document.  Again, it was pretty easy as many of the features are very similar to Word documents.  I was able to insert pictures of the places they are visiting as well as links to all the places they are visiting.  If you use google classroom you could just share this document with students for them to begin working on it.

Here's a link to my itinerary document.

It would be interesting to have students create their own map of the places they visit in the order they visit each site and share it with the teacher.  It would also be a convenient way to keep track of everybody ;-).

As far as the SAMR model.  Creating a document in google is so similar to creating a Word document it would just be considered a substitution.  You might be able to consider it augmentation because sharing the document with students and giving them an assignment is easier.

Creating maps and sharing them students before a field trip would be considered redefinition.  Paper maps were not able interactive or provide facts and information.  Google maps provides links to websites so that you can access information on the site before you visit.

Presume

So I've heard of prezi and used to in place of a powerpoint presentation, but I've never used it to make a resume.  This was a lot fun and a lot easier than I thought it was going to be.  If I had a video of me teaching I would embed it within the presentation.  I could also add examples of student work and my lesson plans.  If I really wanted to I could also insert a copy of my teaching licence.

So without further ado here's my presume!

As far as the SAMR model.  I think this would fall in the modification level.  We've always had to write resumes, but they consisted of only text. This applications allows to you embed videos and photos to greatly modify our current resumes.

Numbers 1.4

When doing research and analyzing descriptive statistics one of the most important questions to ask is "Is it statistically significant?"  How do you figure that out?  Using previous data on 8th grade reading test scores I will show you.

Null Hypothesis 1: There is no statistically significant difference between Black and White test averages.

Alternative Hypothesis 1: There is a difference in the 8th grade reading performance of Black and White students.

I made this hypothesis because the average score for white students was 274 while the average score for black students was 256.  After doing the t-test I got a p-value of  0.0 which is less than .05 which means we can reject the null hypothesis. 

Null Hypothesis 2: There is no statistically significant difference between White and Hispanic test averages.

Alternative Hypothesis 2: There is a difference in the 8th grade reading performance of White and Hispanic students.

I made this hypothesis because the average score for white students is 274 and the average score for Hispanic students was 249.  After doing the t-test I got a p-value of 0.0 which is more than .05 which means we can reject the null hypothesis.

Null Hypothesis 3: There is no statistically significant difference between Black and Hispanic test averages.

Alternative Hypothesis 3: There is a difference in the 8th grade reading performance of Black and Hispanic students.

I made this hypothesis because the average score for black students was 256, and the average score for Hispanic students was 249.  After doing the t-test I got a p-value of 0.0 which is more than .05 which means we can reject the null hypothesis.

So, in all three cases we could reject the null hypothesis which means that ethnicity does play a statistically significant role in how students score on reading tests.

I found this assignment particularly difficult and I think I ultimately ended doing it like 3 times...;-/.  I have Excel on my computer, however could not find the data analysis button.  When I put the formula in manually I got the p-value of 0.  But I wanted to double check myself (like any good researcher) and so I used the website Dr. Pierce provided for people who don't have Excel, and I got completely different p-values like 4.2, 8.4, and 4.1.  So naturally I was confused.  Finally I uploaded it to google sheets and performed the t-test again and got p-values of 0.0.  So I went with the answers I repeated as the correct answers (I hope!). 

SAMR

SAMR is model for technology integration.

The first step in this model is substitution.  In this case the technology is only a substitute for previously used technology.  For example teachers used to use overhead projectors to project notes and images.  Now we have SMART boards, and I find that I most often use it for writing notes or showing pictures which is exactly what I used to use my overhead projector for.

The second step in this model is augmentation. In this stage the technology is still a substitution for previously used technology, but provides functional improvement.  For example, teachers used to use overhead projectors to project text and images.  However this was limited because you could only manipulate the text so much.  Now teachers have document cameras that allow you to project worksheets, books, images etc. and model in a more direct way in this way enhancing what was previously done by the overhead projector.

The third step is modification. In this stage we see more student growth.  Previously teachers might have had students type of an essay or create a powerpoint in microsoft word.  However now with Google Docs students are able to collaborate and share ideas while still creating a powerpoint or writing an essay.

The final step is redefinition. This is where the most student growth occurs.  In this stage the student's technology usage completely modifies how the students respond to the material they are presented.  So instead of typing up an essay in Word, students may use movie maker to create a visual response to information.