Gliffy

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Assignment: Idea mapping in Gliffy (linked here)

Uses in Classroom: As always there are lots of ways to use this. I think the most effective way to use it would be to have the kids make their own. The interface wasn't too tricky and a simple timeline would be very easy for even third graders to create.

In Georgia, where I taught previously, each grade level was responsible for learning six to nine individuals who made an impact on Georgia and America in some way, as social studies lessons. Making a Gliffy for some of the people would help them visualize and map out the American Heroes, as they were called, and highlight the important aspects of their lives.

It would be a good finishing project to do following the WebQuests we learned worked on in EDU 590. My WebQuest was about one of the historical figures my third graders had to learn about. They had to take notes about the highlights of the person's life- their notes could be transferred onto a Gliffy so it shows the visual representation of what they learned from the WebQuest. This can be done with partners or alone and even turned into a presentation for the class.

Issues to Consider: Must have a previous lesson or tutorial on how to use Gliffy with the students. Their Gliffys will be mostly text based. The WebQuest will be designed before hand and can have pictures on it that the students can use for their Gliffy so copyright will be easy to monitor.

Copyright:

  • Information for the Gliffy from PBS here and Cesar Chavez Foundation here.
  • Pictures from Cesar Chavez Foundation here and United States Congress bio pages here.

Gliffy linked at top. 

Photoshop

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Assignment: Photo Editing

 Uses in the classroom: I have been using Photoshop for years to the point I take it for granted. I slap on words, labels, captions, enhance and adjust the colors, crop, change the image size and format, and much more. I say this because Photoshop is just useful in general but I use it for almost every picture I own. So in the classroom it's useful for teachers to have access to for ANY picture they are going to use for any media in the class.Teachers can use it to crop photos, make one part of a picture more obvious if needed, put words on the picture to explain exactly why the picture is being used. Instead of using a general image it can be tailored to the teacher's needs easily with Photoshop.

 That being said, I do think that even the kids can do a few simple things that will enhance their learning experience. My mind went immediately to science but I think language arts would also be benefited by doing a similar exercise. For my science lesson, however, I chose these two standards to look at:
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L.OL.E.3 Structures and Functions- Organisms have different structures that serve different functions in growth, survival, and reproduction. 
L.OL.03.31 Describe the function of the following plant parts: flower, stem, root, and leaf. 
L.EV.03.12 Relate characteristics and functions of observable body parts to the ability of animals to live in their environment (sharp teeth, claws, color, body coverings).
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For either one of these standards it would be simple for the students to find a picture of a flower or an animal and then create a labeled picture by adding text and using the paintbrush function to draw arrows if needed. (Examples below)  Then on a separate paper or in Word they could describe the functions of the parts they labeled in their observation of the pictures.

This enhances the lesson and improves the learning experience because they aren't simply looking at a picture and telling what they see. This way they are involved in finding an appropriate picture and finding the observable parts in order to label them; it's the next best things to hands on. It shows that they know the names of the parts and where they are located. It becomes an interactive activity rather than a show and tell by the teacher.

Creating an animated gif would probably be something that older kids could do. It took me a while to get my gif how I wanted and it still isn't perfect but it would a nice activity for kids in the upper grades to create one that shows some sort of property in science, similar to mine, maybe a little more technical with the wording. I like that would engage the artistic part of the mind as well as the logical part, making the students think creatively about something concrete. 

Issues to consider: There would have to be at least one or two lessons previous to this one on how to use the text tool and paintbrush tool in Photoshop.  This would be an activity done near the middle or toward the end of the year when the kids are more proficent with computers in general. Photoshop would have to be available for students to use either in a computer lab for all students or one at a time on a single computer. Pictures need to be approved beforehand to make sure no copyright is infringed. This would be a lesson done after the initial concept of body/plant part functions has already been taught.

Copyright: 
Flower image from here:  Flower
Dogs are mine, animated gif I created


Example of how photo can be used for classroom activity:




Example of animated gif:






Visual infographic

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Assignment: Visual information, creating an infographic.

Uses in the classroom: The concept of an infograph is useful across the curriculum but I think it would be especially helpful in the science and social studies categories. It got me thinking about the first few weeks of science and how the students are taught to think like a scientist and what that means but then as the year goes on we never really get to go back and visit that aspect of science. So my idea was to create this infographic to present at the beginning of the year (I think it would be a fun poster to have in my room as well) and then leave it accessible so we can revisit the concepts periodically and remember the "hows" and "whys," not just the "whats" of science. 

The middle part of the graphic shows the tools used when doing scientific inquiry. That is pretty self explanatory. The very bottom shows the units typically used and reinforces the concept that these need to be written down. As a former premed student with a TON of college science classes under my belt I know that this is a big thing in college and you can get serious points marked off if you don't label your units. I think it will help to drill that concept into their heads starting early on in school so that's why I thought it was important to put on the graphic. 


Michigan benchmarks covered:
S.IP.E.1 Inquiry involves generating questions, conducting investigations, and developing solutions to problems through reasoning and observation.
S.IP.03.11 Make purposeful observation of the natural world using the appropriate senses.
S.IP.03.12 Generate questions based on observations.
S.IP.03.13 Plan and conduct simple and fair investigations.
S.IP.03.14 Manipulate simple tools that aid observation and data collection (for example: hand lens, balance, ruler, meter stick, measuring cup, thermometer, spring scale, stop watch/timer).
S.IP.03.15 Make accurate measurements with appropriate units (centimeters, meters, Celsius, grams, seconds, minutes) for the measurement tool.
S.IP.03.16 Construct simple charts and graphs from data and observations.

In all honesty I took these benchmarks and made them into my graphic. I was originally intending to do something more specific but I thought this just played into the idea of an infographic really well.

**I also have ideas of the kids making these infographics. I used piktochart which was actually pretty difficult to create and didn't give me a lot of options as far as editing and changing things around. I think using one of the programs would be fine but there would need to be lessons on it beforehand. I think the students could make a decent one in Word without much difficulty, after observing a few examples of what the graphic should look like. I think it would be a great culminating project for just about anything they have to learn about- they could create one that summarizes a book they read, somewhat like a book report; they could make one that showed a math concept like fractions; they could make a timeline about the people they have to learn about in history; they could create one for any science topic like weather or magnets. The options are endless, really.

Issues to consider: With the infographic I made some vocabulary would have to be explained and cleared up. Observation is not a word kids instantly know. It would have to be presented and demonstrated. Other vocabulary words like investigations, experiments, and data collection would have to be explicitly taught as well. But they are all concepts that need to be taught regardless and this is a good way to introduce the concepts.

If the kids are making them, again there would need to be a tutorial or two or three on the programs used. Partners might be helpful or parent volunteers to help the students make their graphics. Planning time would be needed- I drew mine out first and wrote down the words I wanted to use- the students would benefit from time spent on planning out what they want their graphic to look like.

Copyright: Used the piktochart.com website to create the graphic; clip art used under creative commons and fair use from two sites http://iconbug.com/  and http://school.discoveryeducation.com/clipart.