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Associate Professor in the Department of Adolescence Education and Director of the Chemical Education Leadership Program, School of Education and Human Services,
2001 Main Street, Canisius College,
Buffalo, NY 14208–1098.1
Greg has been experimenting with increasing student involvement and using more class discussions to increase concept learning. His considerable artistic ability is apparent in his simulations created in Flash.
Abstract
A learning system (here called the Inductive Concept Construction [IC2] learning
system) composed of an electronic textbook (eBook), out of the classroom group
discussion, and an in–class reporting and critiquing was developed and implemented. The
eBook was made entirely using Adobe/Macromedia’s Flash authoring tool and was
comprised of modules that provided guided inquiry in the form of computer animated
presentations and simulations, guided exercises for protocol–driven applied problem–
solving, drilling exercises in the form of randomly generated word problems and arcade
style games. The eBook was then used as the main content source for out of the
classroom student group discussions.
Harry discusses different ways of using new Internet tools for doing research and learning material. He discusses using social networks to find and evaluate the value of different sources, and online information sources like Wikipedia that change content.
Browsers and Burrowers
SUNY Oneonta, Oneonta, NY
When I was in college, I was trained to be a burrower, to find a good information source and then drill down until I had mined as much information from it as possible. If this first source was inadequate for the task at hand, I would find another one and repeat the process. I sometimes did try to synthesize multiple sources into a comprehensive picture but that procedure was usually reserved for major projects, like a dissertation or a review article. Research methods have changed a lot since I was in college.
Harry looks at the possibilities of using more computer like devices in the classroom and the new direction of some browsers toward making it easier to use programs such as word processing, spreadsheets, etc., online.
Readers may be interested in further reading material in the Sept issue of Scientific American.
Web Science: Studying the Internet to Protect Our Future
Studying the Web will reveal better ways to exploit information, prevent identity theft, revolutionize industry and manage our ever growing online lives
By Nigel Shadbolt and Tim Berners-Lee
Searching for a Cloud on the Computing Horizon - 2008
Writing a column about the world of search engines once a year is almost as bad as trying to sum up everything that has happened on a popular soap opera for the past year. In fact, it is becoming more and more difficult to tell the difference between a soap opera and the latest developments in search. For some time I have confidently been predicting that the arena of web search was about to become a battle zone as Google, Yahoo!, and Microsoft fought it out to decide which would control the advertising revenues expected to flow to the most popular search engine. It seemed like a well-matched battle, suggesting a hard fight.
SUNY Oneonta, Oneonta, NY
If you are a Mac user and wondering if there is anything new and useful in Leopard, OS 10.5, that can offset the cost of upgrading, the answer is yes. This book provides an engaging way of exploring the new functions and abilities. A number of these improvements will make your use of a computer to improve your students learning easier and more efficient.
Book Review
Brian
Pankuch
Editor
Newsletter: Using Computers in Chemical Education
http://ched-ccce.org/newsletter/HPNewsCCE.html
pankuch@comcast.net
