HMS Science: Beyond the Classroom

This is an experiment in the use of blogs for science instruction.

On the precipice

January 6th, 2007 by · 1 Comment · General Information, Science Projects

Well! As is my normal modus operandi I am jumping into the bloggosphere with my students—-Monday January 8. I am sort of OK with what I have done, but I have my reservations or perhaps I should say frustrations. They really stem from me not knowing enough about blogs and blogging. This is especially true with regards to the structure of the blog. I did not realize that the pages could not be categorized. Ooooh! Wait a minute! Instead of using pages, could I have the content of my pages become posts and then have the posts categorized with kids commenting within the category? Is that more like what I really want to have happen? Let’s try that out here and see what it looks like.

Well at least I am learning.  I would really like the kids to have more control over their own space.  I guess that I am frustrated by the fact that I can’t figure out a way for them to have their own blog, but still have me be the keeper of the gate.I have wasted a lot of time today trying to figure out a way around it. I took a look and opened up a blog on Blogmeister-David Warlick style.  He has some good features especially with regards to safety, but I need to explore it a lot more and I don’t have the time right now.  I guess that I really like the look and feel of this blog hosting set up.   I would love for kids to have their own blog.  I really liked the website that I found and which is linked to my edlife blog page.

The edlife blog is maybe just an assignment blog. Question?  Am I doing anything more than just shifting where the kids do their writing?  I think I am by virtue of including the requirement for a link and comments on others’ work.  Maybe I am just frustrated by its lack of real blogging authenticity.  It doesn’t allow the kids as much self expression as having their own actual blog would do.  Oh, well for now my first attempt will have to do.

Hello world!

December 2nd, 2006 by · 2 Comments · General Information

Hi! As a brand new user of blogging this page will probably go through a wide range of changes.

I am an 8th grade science teacher who is always on the lookout for new ways to engage students. After attending a recent conference given by MassCUE, I became intrigued with the idea of incorporating blogs and wikis into my teaching. After doing a little research and running across two fantastic K12Online Conference 2006 presentations by Mark Wagner of Educational Technologies and Life, I decided to bite the bullet and jump into the blog-o-sphere with both feet. I will start with baby steps, but as I gain more confidence and experience I hope this will grow into a vital tool for both me and my students. So here goes!

this is my attempt at loading podcasts this was loaded saying link to page.. EKL  

this one is linked to file.  EKL