~Week 11-ADDIE Model~

Finally, we are almost coming to the end. We are now in Week 11. We learnt about ADDIE model.There are five phase instructional design model such as:

-Analysis,
-Design,

-Development,
-Implementation,
-Evaluation

Here are some pictures that taken during the class:

Personally,I also realized that I need to identify the learning problems in order to develop my lesson. For example, I need to consider some aspects such as the goals and the objectives, the audience’s needs whom are my students, the existing knowledge in science which to be focused whether depends on the scientific knowledge, skills acquisition, or scientific attitudes. Other than that, I also need to add any other relevant characteristics such as ‘Which ID to use?’. Moreover,I also need to give importance to the Learning environment such as in Science lab or in computer lab and focuses on any constraints such as the availability of electricity and the delivery options whether online or offline and the timeline for the project.

In brief, today class make me aware to be responsible in knowing all the learning problem that my students might will face in my Science lesson.Until then, see you in 12th Week!

~Week 9-Assignment Presentation(*Blog)

This week's class is mainly about our presentation. After submitting the assignment, we need to present our project which is about the Web 2.0. As a team, we had chosen Blog as a platform that can be use in teaching Science subject.

This is the link for our blog which is http://6adilscienceclass.blogspot.com/

The topic for this blog is ‘Animals Extinction’

Here are some pictures of our group presenting our Blog:

The objectives of this blog are:

1)Students would be able to learn in a collaborative way through interaction and sharing

of knowledge between themselves and with teacher.
2) Blog is going to be used as a platform of discussion as sharing between the students

themselves and between students and teachers.
3) To implement blog as a vital part of the class teaching.

There are several pages in the blogs and each of them has their own purpose.

1)Lesson

In this part, there are lot of notes for all the lessons taught regarding the topic. Besides that, it is also arranged effectively in a weekly basis to ease students finding of notes.

2) Chatbox

This is a space where students can interact with teacher and among themselves on topic regarding to the lessons learnt in class. They can share websites or web-tools URL that serves as an additional knowledge to what they are learning.

3) Video (podcast)

Here teacher will attach a video of extra information that students might need in order to understand the topic better. As a result, the students can also give feedback by commenting.
4) More Readings and Materials

In this section, teacher will attach or embed the URL of all the materials that students might need to improve their learning such as the notes on responsibility of human beings on nature, video on protecting endangered species, facts and statistics of endangered species and tips for the upcoming quizzes or test.

5) Need Help

This is the part whereby there will be some tips or hint given to the students about the examination questions.

Based on the presentation, we found that there are many pros using Blog as a platform in teaching Science subject.

The Pros of Using Blog

In the era of technology and Globalisation, it is applicable and practical to use the blog in the education field. Other than that, it makes learning independent of time and place, from teaching at a certain time and a certain place to teaching at anytime and anywhere. For instance, if the teacher cannot enter the class, he or she can always upload the notes and tasks for the students and the student can still learn without teacher teaching in front of the class. Thus, the learning process can happen without any obstacles. Other than that; it makes the education to become demand oriented and participant-centered. It changes the usual way of learning which is from one way teaching and supply orientation where teacher is the one who control the learning process to participation by everyone. Another point is that, using a blog can motivate the students to learn intrinsically and eventually they will be having fun and at the same time, they also will be learning. For example, the teacher can upload videos and songs to make the educational blog to be more interesting and attractive to the students.

There is some weakness that we need to improve based on our blog. For example, in extra reading materials, we really need to be very careful and alert when selecting the articles so that it suits the language proficiency of the students. For example, we cannot put some articles that have bombastic words which eventually will cause the students to misunderstanding and lead them to confusion.

In brief, we felt very happy because we think that we had done a good job with grace of God. Personally, I really want to use Blog in my Science class in future because it will really motivate them to learn Science better and I am sure they will love the class too.Until then, see you in next entry!

~Week 8-Software Evaluation Rubric~

This week we have been introduced to Software Evaluation Rubric, Researched and Developed by Kristin Miller and Jacqueline Bach, SAS inSchool Interns, Summer, 2001. First and foremost, the rubric covers several aspect which refers to the software or websites. These softwares and websites are evaluated based on the several aspects such as the instructional contents, curriculum connections, graphics and multimedia, lay-outs, technical aspects, adaptability and accessibility, learner engagement and interactivity, teache and learner support material, assessment, age/grade level, and lastly flexibility.

Personally, we as teachers need to be very alert and careful when choosing a source from internet so that it has a high validity and useful to us and the students. We need to make sure that the source we took from internet fulfills certain criteria or aspects such as the reliability, accuracy and the value itself. In addition, we need to bear in mind that the information exists in net can be facts, opinions, stories, interpretations, statistics and it can also be fake too. Therefore, we really need to investigate by surfing all the nets and choose the best one which suits our needs and the criteria such as the accuracy, reliability, and much more.

During the class, I also have found some website evaluation rubrics such as

http://www.vitalknowledge.com/reviews/AcadiaUniversityFall2002/software%20evaluation%20for%20educators_files/software%20evaluation%20for%20educators%20revised.htm

http://www.ncsu.edu/midlink/www.eval.html

In brief, as a teacher it is very crucial for us to select a high validity and correct source from the net,so that it can give benefits to us and our students.

~Week 7-World Wide Web~

In this week class, we learnt about World Wide Web such as Web 1.0 and Web 2.0.

What is Web1.0?

According to Berners-Lee, it could be considered the "read-only web." In other words, the early web allowed us to search for information and read it. There was very little in the way of user interaction or content contribution. However, this is exactly what most website owners wanted: Their goal for a website was to establish an online presence and make their information available to anyone at any time. It also occurs during 1991 to 2003 and a retronym that refers to the state of the World Wide Web, and any website design style used before the advent of the Web 2.0 phenomenon.

Link: http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/464-Basic-Definitions-Web-1-0-Web-2-0-Web-3-0

What is Web2.0?

Web 2.0 gives its users the free choice to ‘interact or collaborate’ with each other in a social media dialogue as creators of user-generated content in a virtual community, in contrast to websites where users are limited to the passive viewing of content that was created for them. Web 2.0 gives the users opportunities to give feedback on the web.
The examples of Web 2.0 include social-networking sites, blogs, wikis, video-sharing sites, hosted services, web applications, mashups and folksonomies.

Blog

It refers to a type of website or part of a website. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in reverse-chronological order. Most blogs are interactive, allowing visitors to leave comments and even message each other via widgets on the blogs and it is this interactivity that distinguishes them from other static websites. Many blogs provide commentary or news on a particular subject; others function as more personal online diaries. A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, Web pages, and other media related to its topic. The ability of readers to leave comments in an interactive format is an important part of many blogs. Most blogs are primarily textual, although some focus on art (Art blog), photographs (photoblog), videos (video blogging), music (MP3 blog), and audio (podcasting). Microblogging is another type of blogging, featuring very short posts.



Wiki

A website that allows the easy creation and editing of any number of interlinked web pages via a web browser using a simplified markup language or a WYSIWYG text editor. Wikis are typically powered by wiki software and are often used to create collaborative wiki websites, to power community websites, for personal note taking, in corporate intranets, and in knowledge management systems. Wikis may exist to serve a specific purpose, and in such cases, users use their editorial rights to remove material that is considered "off topic." Such is the case of the collaborative encyclopedia Wikipedia. In contrast, open purpose wikis accept content without firm rules as to how the content should be organized.

Social Networking

A social structure made up of individuals (or organizations) called "nodes," which are tied (connected) by one or more specific types of interdependency, such as friendship, kinship, common interest, financial exchange, dislike, relationships, or relationships of beliefs, knowledge or prestige.
Media Sharing

It occurs through online social networks and digital communities with a comprehensive platform and diversified interfaces to aggregate, upload, compress, host and distribute images, text, applications, videos, audio, games and new media. It is the interactive process of sending via email, instant message, text message, posting or linking to media on a website or blog and other methods of sharing media to a targeted audience. As media is shared it takes on a variety of different contexts and meanings.

Personally, I realized that Web 1.0 and Web 2.0 are crucial for the both parties whom are the teachers and the students. The teachers can use Web 1.0 and Web 2.0 to get extra information regarding their teaching strategies, approaches, information about the subjects meanwhile the students can use it as a platform to widen their knowledge and eventually they can enhance their learning process.

In brief, I have learnt that we should use technological knowledge such as Web 1.0 and Web 2.0 as much as possible because we are living in the era of Globalisation yet it can create an active learning process to the students in the education context..

~Week 6-Micro Computer Based Laboratory(MBL)

This week, we were taken to a High-tech lab known as Micro -Computer Based Laboratory (MBL). What is MBL? MBL is one of the strategies in the Designing Application Tools. I was almost lost in the lesson because I have never experience it before in my entire life. My group members and I have chosen to do an activity from the topic Electricity. We use the Voltage Current Sensor in order to conduct the experiment.

First of all, as a team we discussed about the steps. I realized that it is good to plan before engaging in the experiments. There are a few steps that we followed while we conducting the experiment. The details are in below:

Voltage Current Sensor
1. The sensor is being plugged in to the computer.
2. EZscreen or DataStudio is selected from the window or programme files.
3. The voltage leads is being connected to one battery. The red lead is connected to the

positive of the battery while the black lead to the negative.
4. Choose “Table” from the list of items in Datastudio.
5. Click “Start”
6. The voltage and ampere of the battery is displayed on the screen.
7. The data is being recorded on a piece of paper.
8. Step 3 to 7 is being repeated with 2 and then 3 batteries.

I realized that it was very user friendly, practical and it gives us a meaningful experience engaging myself with the tools.

‘Is this MBL is suitable to be used in Primary Science classroom’, I thought in my mind. Personally, I think that it is suitable to be used only for Level 2 students and more appropriate to be used in secondary schools due to some pros and cons.There are some pros and cons using this MBL.

Firstly, it is user-friendly and safe to use especially when an experiment requires dangerous substance like acids and bases. The data collected is very fast and accurate. In addition, the data can also be converted into graph and table by clicking. As a result, I believed that this is very convenient for students to see the whole picture and concept of an experiment fast.

However, the teacher needs to be well-trained so that each function of DataStudio can be used to the fullest. Besides that, this strategy also cannot be used for all experiments. Moreover, basic process skills cannot be integrated or acquired as students will not get the chance to learn how to use certain basic apparatus like thermometer and ammeter. As a result, they will be failed to acquire science process skills.

There are a few advantages and disadvantages that my group and I have discovered.

ADVANTAGES

User friendly
Uses computer solely.
Manipulative skills can be acquired.
Data achieve is very precise.
Saves time in collecting and tabulating the data.

DISADVANTAGES

If there is no electricity it cannot be used anymore

Students cannot acquire science process skills. This is because all the data are ready and students do not need to measure.

It can only engage with some lab apparatus such as battery, bulb and beakers.

The cost is also very high. Not all the students can have their own unit of Voltage Current Sensor and use it simultaneously.

In brief, this was a totally new experience for us to use this MBL and we really wish to use in school once a week and not all the time so that it will be a exposure and bring a new experience for the students to learn and they still can acquire science process skills too.

~Week 5-Strategies in Designing Application Tools~

We are now in Week 5. I cannot believed that time passed so fast! This week's lecture is about Strategies in Designing Application Tools. What am I talking about? These strategies can be used to teach Science subject. There are 7 strategies:

1) MBL- Micro Computer based laboratory
2)Drill and practice
3) Tutorials
4) Stimulation
5) Problem-solving
6) Information retreival
7) Education games

Now, we will look into the strategies one by one.

1) MBL-computer-based laboratory – it can utilizes a computer, a data collection interface, electronic probes, and graphing software, allowing students to collect, graph, and analyze data in real-time. This real-time atmosphere allows students to attend to and process important details in each experiment.

2) Drill and Practice - is a structured, repetitive review of previously learned concepts to

a predetermined level of mastery.

3) Tutorials - Interactive class taught by a tutor to students at university or college,

individually or in small groups; Of or pertaining to a tutor; belonging to, or exercised

by a tutor.

4) Simulations - The act of simulating something generally entails representing certain

key characteristics or behaviours of a selected physical or abstract system.

5) Problem-solving - is a mental process and is part of the larger problem process that

includes problem finding and problem shaping.

6) Informational retrieval - is a type of question where students solve the problems and

answering the question by retrieved the information that they have learned.

7) Educational Games - are games that have been specifically designed to teach people

about a certain subject, expand concepts, reinforce development, understand an

historical event or culture, or assist them in learning a skill as they play.

Therefore, all the strategies given can help us to embed and apply them in our lesson plan too. In rural Malaysian schools, we might cannot do the first strategy which is computer based laboratory, however we still can do other strategies such as tutorials, drill and practice, problem solving, simulations and much more.As a result, the students can learn better and it will produce a meaningful learning environment if we use all these strategies.For example, personally I love to have educational games because it will encourage the students to have fun yet learn at the same time.For instance, there are many science educational games available such as arranging the skeletons of a human,puzzles about animals, and much more. Personally, I hope that Malaysian government will take some initiative to arrange all those educational games in school.Other than that, I also believed that drill and practice and simulations can be collaborated together in order to make the students to understand better. For example, the topic is Magnet. The teacher can bring the real magnets and should demonstrate in class so that it will be a good simulation for the students to activate their schemata.Then, the teacher can do drill and practice by teaching the concepts and features of magnet and he or she can asks the students to use the magnets on their own.As a result, the students can practice on what they have learnt previously about the magnets.

In brief, this week make me to realize that there are many strategies can be used to teach Science and definitely it will suits all the learners regardless of their learning styles such as visual, kinesthetic,tactile and much more.Hence, I as a future teacher should try my best to apply all these strategies for the sake of my students.

~Week 4-Learning Theories~

The topic for this week lecture is ' Learning Theories'. There are 2 learning theories such as Behaviourism, and Cognitism/Construtivism.However, these learning theories were not new to us since we already have learnt in our previous semester in Language Development and Child Psychology.

This week, we immersed the learning theories in Science education. Personally,I believe that all these learning theories are vital and crucial in guiding the teacher to educate effectively the students.Each theory has their own significant function which an be used by the teacher in order to teach his or her students effectively.Hence, I believed that this theories help us to make the right approach in tackling our young learners to learn science.Let's look about the theories:

Behaviourism

Behaviorist focus on the changes of behavior and the emphasis is on the product. According to behaviorist, they believe that stimulus should be given to the students because stimulus will produce reaction. The repeated reaction will then create long-term behavior.

Constructivist/ Cognitism

On the other hand, constructivist believes that learning is a process whereby it connects the prior knowledge to the new experience gained from the environment. Besides that,learning is also viewed as an active process whereby the learners are actively constructing mental models and theories of the world around them. The knowledge is constructed through logical organization, interaction among learners or teachers and from the integration of prior and new knowledge. Basically, also can be considered as Piaget's theory of cognitive development proposes that humans cannot be "given" information which they immediately understand and use. Instead, humans must "construct" their own knowledge. They build their knowledge through experience. Experiences enable them to create schemas - mental models in their heads. These schemas are changed, enlarged, and made more sophisticated through two complimentary processes: assimilation and accommodation.

Personally,I believe that all these learning theories are vital and crucial in guiding the teacher to educate effectively the students.Each theory has their own significant function which an be used by the teacher in order to teach his or her students effectively. Hence, I believed that this theories help us to make the right approach in handling our young learners to learn science better.For example, the constructivist approach focus on hands on activity and independent learning. Therefore, a teacher should let the students to think and figure out the answer or the concepts on their own. As a result, it can develop the students critical and creative thinking. However, we would find some cons in using this approach whereby the students may not have the existing schemata that she or he can relate to with the new schemata (concept) that bring into their brain. Therefore,as a future teacher I believe that we should have the knowledge of this learning theories before we can really use it in the teaching and learning process.

Other than that, Professor Dr.Rohaida Mohd.Saat also discuss about constructivist theory by asking a question which makes me to ‘open-up’ my mind. She asked ‘Which food is suitable for the astronauts to bring to the space?

From this discussion, I realized that basically constructivist theory are not about making the correct decisions but it is more to the thinking process that can enhance students learning. For instance,in this case, we need to choose a food based on our own interpretations and nothing to do with the knowledge about the gravity in space.Hence, it shows that critical thinking is crucial in the Constructivist Theory.Personally, I think that Professor had made a good job whereby she able to activate our schemata easily just by asking a simple question that needs deep thinking to answer. Hence, I can also use such strategy in future too in order to impart some knowledge that will help the students to think appropriately before they can construct science concepts or knowledge regarding the subject matter.

Next, in groups, we were required to find any science educational websites that used the learning theories as its approach.In brief, today lesson taught me to learn and apply the learning theories meaningfully in classroom and not just for sake of it.This eventually helps me to be a better teacher in the future.

~Week 3-Artificial Intelligence and Virtual Reality~

Today is the second class handled by Dr. Rohaida. We had a different location class which is the Block A Computer Lab.She started the class by giving some explanation about the brief history of the use of Technology in computers and some terms such as CPU, RAM, Bytes, CD-ROM, FTP. Today, we learnt significantly and prominently about Artificial Intelligence & Virtual Reality in Science Education.Before this, I never ever have been crossed with such terms in my entire life until now! Well, I am glad to hear and learnt such terms whereby it widens my knowledge indirectly..;)

What is Artificial Intelligence (AI)?

AI is usually defined as the science of making computers do things that require intelligence when done by humans. It also the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it.It had some success in limited, or simplified, domains. AI research is highly technical and specialized, deeply divided into subfields that often fail to communicate with each other. In addition,AI is applied in distance learning.

How to use this in education

It can be used as an intelligent tutoring system at schools. It is aneducational software containing an artificial intelligence component. For instance,the software tracks students' work, tailoring feedback and hints along the way. Hence, through collecting information on a particular student's performance, the software can make inferences about strengths and weaknesses, and can suggest additional work too. It is like a synthetic interactive tutor that is tutoring the students. Advantage is when the artificial tutor can give full attention to every student in a class where is quite difficult for teachers to do alike.

What is Virtual Reality?

VR is an artificial environment that is created with software and presented to the user in such a way that the user suspends belief and accepts it as a real environment. Virtual reality is primarily experienced through two of the five senses: sight and sound. The simplest form of virtual reality is a 3-D image.Virtual reality can be divided into:

a)The simulation of a real environment for training and education.

b)

The development of an imagined environment for a game or interactive story.

How to use this in education?

I believe that it is very costly to be used in Malaysian schools.However, I think that it will be a turning point for the students to learn better because it involves three-dimensional graphics and quite interactive to learn Science.For example, a school virtual reality program called 'Touch the Sky-Touch the Universe'. This school uses an interactive 3D model of the solar system. As a result, I believed that it can encourage the students to understand and learn better about the astronomy.Other than that, it can make the students to have intrinsic motivation to learn about astromy.For instance,they can fly a virtual spaceship and they can also watch sun and moon eclipses.Other than that, they can even zoom in on the planets, moons, asteroids, and orbits. Well, sounds cool is it?They can even speed up or slow down the movement of the system and can figure out how the solar system works effectively!

Here are some helpful links regarding this AI and Virtual Reality:

http://library.thinkquest.org/2705/

http://www.vrs.org.uk/

http://www.scienceclarified.com/scitech/Virtual-Reality/The-Virtual-Classroom-Virtual-Reality-in-Training-and-Education.html#ixzz0vVE0bgoh

In brief,this knowledge about AI and Virtual Reality had opened up my perspective into a new teaching era in the future...;)I really hope we can use that in the future in Malaysian schools and I believe definitely it will boost the students' to learn Science effectively!