Student Driven Education Blog

• How does (or does this) video apply to our teaching and learning?

It applies to our teaching and learning because he used a lot of technology in the video, and we use technology in class to show our work and what we have learned as well as in our learning. For those of us becoming teachers, we will probably be using much technology as more technology comes available in the coming years.

• One aspect of the video I found interesting was the "granny cloud".  This uses the broader community as a part of education.  Was their any community involvement in your K-12 education? Do you think the broader community should be involved?  How can/should this happen?

I don't really remember much community involvement throughout my school years. We basically went to school to learn what we did, and went home to our own families, and did not really have any involvement in the community, and the same follows with my fellow peers. I think the community should be involved because it gives kids more perspective of their surroundings, aware of more cultures and beliefs, and gives them a chance to form more friendships. Schools should have more career days, because as I said in the above answer, community wasn't involved in my education, and I never had a career day at my school. A career day will give children a new perspective on the types of jobs they can pursue once they become older. I also think college aged kids should come in and talk to kids about the importance of going to college starting in elementary school.
 

• Comment on his use of technology and how technology features in your learning and potential future teaching.

He used technology very well in his presentation. Technology plays a big part in my learning. The majority of my professors and instructors have used technology to guide us through learning with use of the internet to do research, computer programs to show powerpoints, iclickers in psychology to answer questions, and various other methods. Technology is a useful resource and makes learning easier and faster to accomplish. I will definitely use technology in my future teaching to help my students learn and thrive and become successful students.

Creativty blog

What is your "definition" of creativity?

 My definition of creativity is taking your thoughts, hopes, dreams, ambitions, and more and making them into reality. Walt Disney said "If you can dream it, you can do it", and you see what amazing innovations he created. Creativity comes in all shapes and forms, and I believe everyone has some form of creativity, some more than others, but everyone is creative with some aspect whether it be writing, dancing, inventing, constructing, and much more

Why do you think creativity is important?
Creativity is important because it allows ones mind to go above beyond and initiates deeper thinking. Creativity allows people to see with a whole new light and a different perspective, and allows them to create and produce something others have never imagined.

Can you think of a time when you were most creative?
I tend to be creative when organizing and decorating. I like to color code my schoolwork, notes, etc, and organize in a way in which I find most helpful for myself, that may seem odd to other people.

How does creativity mesh with the Harwood Activity Model for Inquiry?
Creativity begins with the Harwood Activity Model for Inquiry because creativity often begins with a question, which can lead to more questions, and communicating with others whether your idea is good or not good, so creative in many aspects can relate to the Harwood Model

What can we do to foster creativity in ourselves and others (like our classmates or future students)?
We can challenge them to broaden their horizons. We can ask questions that really make them think outside the box. We can allow them to express themselves without no limits and see what they can come up with. We can set up activities in which they work together and blend their creative thoughts together.

Do you know any really creative people - what are they like?
I know many creative people, they are extremely intelligent, talented and open minded. They have few boundaries and have no hesitation when it comes to expressing themselves, and take criticism as a motivation to do better.

Motion Blog/ Jonathan Ragsdale Samantha Pearson Angelica Vasquez NTSC 261L

Experiment Number 1 and 2 Sand Bag Experiment and Motion Man

 

Through the activities of the Sand Bag trials and "The Moving Man" model, our group has learned to understand the following concepts:

-The relationship between the distance an object moves and the time it takes to move there is equal to its velocity. This was evident in the sand bags activity, in which each sand bag was dropped from a moving object (a person) at a different time. The distances between the dropped bags varied, depending on the velocity at which the person was walking.

-Acceleration pertains to the rate at which this velocity changes. (Hmmm...the speed at which speed changes?) This came up when graphing data for the sand bag activity. The trials in which the person dropping the bags began to walk slowly and then increase the speed of their steps produced an exponential upward curve on the graph. (See graph #3.) And the trial in which they began quickly and slowed down over time created a curve that had a steeper slope near 0,0 and then became shallower, while still never flattening out to a slope of 0. (See graph #4.)

-The instantaneous or momentary velocity of an object is not equal to it's average velocity over time IF the object is undergoing a change in acceleration, be that positive OR negative. This became apparent when collecting and calculating data with "The Moving Man" model. This is because when the moving man was given an acceleration value, it was constantly changing in velocity at every moment. once a trial had been completed, the average velocity can be calculated by dividing the distance it traveled by the time it took. The instantaneous velocity was always greater than the average velocity in our trials.

-It is possible to calculate the acceleration of an object by dividing it's velocity by the time it took to travel the previously recorded distance. This showed up in the Moving Man activity, and is represented on our data table. The calculated acceleration is very close, if not equal to the acceleration setting typed into the Moving Man simulator. (In this case; 2, 3, and 4.)

Overall, we reached a greater understanding of the concepts of Velocity and Acceleration, their relationship to distance and time, and to one another.


Jonathan Ragsdale
Samantha Pearson
Angelica Vasquez

NTSC 261L




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Ramp Activity

For this experiment, we tested a toy car's velocity on a ramp with different angles. We first tested the car going down a ramp with 10 degree angle, next a 20 degree angle, and lastly a 90 degree angle. We set a distance of 52 centimeters for each trial so the results would so precise and accurate. Our results for the velocity at a 10 degree angle had an average of .89 m/s, at 20 degrees had 1.25 m/s and at 90 degrees had an average of 1.56 m/s.


Freefall:

During the freefall experiment, we tested a dropping a tennis ball and a golf ball at various different heights. We collected data of the time in took each ball to fall from each height.  We then calculated the data of the times it took each ball to fall. We put the data in separate data tables and graphs. We did this experiment to test the velocity and acceleration of falling objects??(not too sure..) The results were accurate.


Newton's Law of Motion:

Newton's Law of Motion relate to our every day life because we are constantly in motion, physically and mentally. We move by a force, whether its walking, standing up, running, etc. Sometimes mentally we need a "push" to be motivated and this push can come from a friend giving you advice, or a pat on the back and your whole attitude can change with that simple force. Every action has an opposite reaction in every day life, when you call someone a crude name, you react by calling them on back or being offended.


Energy

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