Saturday, March 03, 2007

Thank You Best Buy

Inquiry-based science + 8 digital cameras + Web 2.0 = Online Science Fair

Thank you to Best Buy for deeming the above project idea worthy of a $2,500 Best Buy Teach Award.

Online Science Fair is an effort on my part to integrate digital media and inquiry-based science. As a fifth grade science teacher, the goal of my program is to ensure that my students are able to think and communicate scientifically. However, I want to make my teaching relevant to the students in my classroom. One way I do this is by bringing digital media into the classroom. The current generation of students I have in my classroom has grown up surrounded by digital media. I want to design a program that enhances inquiry-based science investigations by incorporating photographic images taken with digital cameras. This is nothing new for my classroom--I have had my students upload images to their blogs for projects before to explain the experimental process.

Online Science Fair will allow these projects to become even more in depth. With eight digital cameras, my students will be able to take photos of every step of the scientific process and document their experiments more effectively. Photographic images will enable all my students to remember the steps taken in the scientific process and communicate them effectively.

Interested in taking part? We'd love to do this project with another class. Comment on this entry to express your interest.


Digital Cameras in the Classroom | Spreadsheets in the Classroom | Alphabet Geometry

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2 comments:

KLG said...

This sounds very interesting - maybe we can discuss this over the summer and I can hook you up with a science teacher on my campus to try your idea of a Web Science Fair. - Kathy

Jen said...

My 5th grade class is doing something very similar with our Science Fair. Our projects will be completed by the end of May. Right now they're posting research on our wiki. I had planned to upload video of their presentations. Have you already had your online fair? (I just now happened to read this particular post.) :)

Jennifer