To Google or not to Google...

            If history is any indication this will most likely be my final post for a while. My previous attempts at blog writing have shown me that I typically only make entries when it is part of a class that I am taking. Every time I say I’m going to do better, but it never happens. So, maybe if I don’t say it I might actually follow through for a change.

            There were basically 2 topics we discussed this week: WolframAlpha and Google Search. They are both search engines, but they operate in very different ways.

            Nearly everyone is familiar with the phrase “just Google it”. However, I doubt that many are familiar with WolframAlpha. WolframAlpha is a very intuitive search engine. It is self-described as a “computational knowledge engine”. This particular engine returns the most likely answer that you are searching. For example, if you searched “Orlando” then it would only return information about the city in Florida. As opposed to information on Orlando Bloom, the actor. Here is a short video explaining more about WolframAlpha.

            The Google Search omnibox is one of the most powerful, but underestimated tools in all of Google Chrome. Just as an example you can type an algebraic expression into the omnibox and it will solve it for you. Here is a list of just some of the things that you can accomplish with the Google Search omnibox:

1. You can start a timer by typing – timer 5 minutes. You can change the number or the unit to whatever you want.

2. You can type in a mathematical expression. For example, 2(8^3) + 7 and it will give you the answer of 1,031. It is absolutely amazing to me all the math functions that the Google Search omnibox can perform. You can perform unit conversions, you can graph functions,

3. You can check the weather in your area by typing – weather (your zip code).

4. Say you are vacationing somewhere and you are looking for some Mexican Food. All you have to do is search just like you did the weather, just type – Mexican Food (your zip code). This tip works for just about type of business. For example, you can search for an auto mechanic using this same technique.

For techniques 3 and 4 you really don’t even have to type in your zip code. You can just type in the city that you are searching for. So as you can see the Google Search omnibox is a very powerful tool that many people are not aware of its power. Here is a video that shows some more of the amazing things that the Google Search omnibox can do.

            Both of these search engines have their advantages. I am already fairly familiar with Google. I am going to really try using WolframAlpha more often now. I really want to see how much I can really do with it. Here is a video that compares the 2 search engines to each other.

Is social media too social?

This week we tackled the ever controversial topic of social media.  Almost everybody, no matter their profession seems to have an opinion on its use in today’s culture.  Obviously, my main focus will be on how social media affects my ability to teach my students.  Unfortunately, regardless of my opinion I can’t use social media in my classroom.  Many of you may be wondering why.  Well, the answer is because of the clientele that I teach.  All of my students are behaviorally challenged, and a majority of them are adjudicated to a local residential facility.  Due to these situations none of my students are able to carry cell phones.  Even with this policy we still have a few issues with cell phone use in class.  Honestly, I am kind of glad that I don’t have to deal with the cell phone issue a lot.  It just seems to be a whole lot more hassle than it’s worth. Especially, with my students.  I would really like to investigate some of the closed sites like: Schoology, Edmodo, and Google Classroom to see if they would allow me a lot of the same freedoms of social media without many of the outside communication concerns.

Finally, we discussed a couple of resource sharing tools: Pinterest and Symbaloo.  Now, to be honest I was so against Pinterest.  I had the idea that it was just for "artsy craftsy" people.  However, I have since softened my opinion of Pinterest and found it to be a potentially valuable resource.

On the other hand, I am very excited about Symbaloo.  Symbaloo is a website organizer.  There are two different sites for Symbaloo, one is designed for educators.  The links that I have here are to the education version.  At first, I found it a little difficult to set up my first collection of websites, but after I used it a while I got the hang of it.  In Symbaloo these collections are called “webmixes”.  Here is my first attempt at a Symbaloo webmix.
 

If you would like to know more about how to use Symbaloo please check out the following video:

Let's get organized!!!!...

This week we discussed various digital organizational tools. Some of these organizational tools are primarily for educators, but many of them can be used to help you in every-day life. The first tool that we focused on was Google Keep. Admittedly, I went in to Google Keep with a very closed mind, as I already something else that I used. More on that later.

Google Keep is in its simplest terms; digital Post-It notes. However, it is so much more than that. These “notes” are not just stuck to the device in which they were created. Wherever you have the Google Keep web/mobile app, you have access to your notes. You can also share these notes with whomever you choose, and give them access to any note of your choosing. For example, my wife can make me a “honey-do” list and share it with me. After I complete a task, I can check it off, and she can continue to add to it. Here is a video explaining more about Google Keep.

While I did find Google Keep useful, I am still partial to Wunderlist. Here is a video that explains Wunderlist a little better.

Planbook is another organizational tool that we discussed. This tool is primarily only useful to educators as it involves the creating, organizing, and keeping of lesson plans. Planbook is a lesson planning site that only costs $12 a year. You can upload any lesson plan form that you use as a template. You can have multiple classes, easily attach resources, give your administrator viewing access to your plans and add any state/district standards.

A few others that we talked about were Remind, Evernote, and Class Dojo.

We also talked about where to find good quality educational resources. There are a lot of sites out there, but not all of them provide high quality resources. One of my favorite sites is Discovery Education. The main reason that I like this site is because it is from a well-known, and recognized educational organization. This site is not just for science, you can find lessons for any subject and grade level. Along with resources for teachers, there are also resources for parents and students. This includes: homework help, virtual field trips, and a motivation station for parents.

There is another site that provides resources across many disciplines and grade levels, Smithsonian Education. This site is part of the Smithsonian Institution. The Smithsonian Institution is the World’s largest museum. Its main purpose is the distribution of knowledge. This site is a tremendous resource for all educators, regardless of content are or grade level.

Finally, there are a couple of other sites that I would like to mention that supply primarily science related resources. The first of which is NASA, I really don’t feel like I need to say a whole lot more about why this site would be beneficial to science teachers. The final site I would like to mention belongs to the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA). Again, the benefits of this site to science educators should be fairly self-explanatory.