Week 3: Ask a Scientist

My first comment about the 'Ask a Scientist' web site was the difficulty I had in getting an answer in response to my question. I was inquiring about evidence for the endosymbiotic theory. I typed in my question many times, rephrasing it each time. I kept getting "no results" in response. Finally, I changed my original question to just simple typing in the terms "prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells". So I would first like to say that if I really was lacking knowledge and needed to learn more, I may not get results because I would not know how to phrase my question.

Once I finally got a response, I had to go through the information to determine which best answered my original question. Only one response specifically addressed my question. I read the response from a pre-doctoral fellow named Dennis Chang. He described what the endosymbiotic theory was and what cell organelles consisted of. He was very clear and concise when explaining the differences between prokaryotes and eukaryotes. As far as my specific question, which was to determine whether or not any evidence existed of a cell undergoing endosymbiosis, I did not receive my answer. His response stated that the origin of the other organelles (besides the more well-known mitochondria and chloroplast) was still unknown.

I would have to say that my answer just created more curiosity for me since I did not really get the answer I was looking for. It did add clarification as to how the process took place (endosymbiosis) but I did not get the evidence I was looking for.

If I were to use this web site in the classroom, it might be as an inquiry tool that my students can use periodically throughout the school year. I do not think I would use this as a part of any particular lesson. I might have students use the site periodically to ask a question that they might have as we move through the school year. At the end of the year, we could analyze their questions from over the months to see if they have learned necessary information, how they could add to their answers, or what they still want to know.

I like that my students would be getting responses from actual scientists. It would be beneficial for them to see that there are real people out there that have knowledge of science and that their teacher is not the only person they can rely on for information. It involves them in the internet in a manner other than pure socialization, which is what most of my students are doing these days!

Application 1 (Part 2)

The first presentation tool that I evaluated was the Glogster. I had heard about Glogster last year from a media specialist at a nearby middle school. She spoke to myself and fellow teachers about how students were using Glogster in class for presentations. Curious, I checked it out this week. It is very user friendly, although it does not give you a lot of direction or instructions. I learned by experimenting with a "Glog" of my own. I had no trouble selecting backgrounds or pictures. To use any type of audio, it must be uploaded first. I would have to create some type of audio myself or find something appropriate to my presentation to upload. My only negative comment would be the size of the page itself. For a simple or informal presentation, it seems as though it would be great. But for a several-week long project like the one we are conducting, I do not know if I would be able to fit all pertinent information onto the Glog page. Text can be placed anywhere and resized as needed, so I suppose I could make it work. It just provides only one page for presentation in a poster-like format.
The other presentation tool I evaluated was Slideshare. Slideshare had a great slide presentation outlining its uses and benefits. I liked that I was able to see exactly what its purpose was and how it was useful as a presentation tool. Slideshare enables you to take a simple PowerPoint presentation and share it with anyone. I could choose to make it available to the public or just to classmates. I can also add an audio component to the slideshow. I can also search for others on Slideshow with similar presentations or presentations I like and find more that they have created. Uploading a PowerPoint presentation seems fairly easy. Adding audio, like with Glogster, is more difficult and more foreign to me. It would obviously be to my benefit to learn how to do this, as most presentation tools I have looked at have this feature. While it would be easier to simply add music, I would like to be able to add my own voice discussing the presentation.
Both tools offer great options for presentations. Glogster does seem as though it would be better for a quicker, poster-like presentation. Slideshare allows for multiple pages of information to be shared.