My topic is reforms-based teaching in the science classroom. I read an article on how blogging can help teachers meet the goals of reform-based teaching. The authors studied 9 classroom blogs, looking at the role of the teacher, the role of the student, and how it met with reforms-based goals.
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Blogging is considered positive because students always have access to their work, they can reflect and revise. Student can extend knowledge and have access to a wide variety of resources on the internet. Students read each others blogs and comment on their work. The effectiveness of blogging is more how the teachers uses the blog, rather than the blog itself. I like the table at the bottom of page 277 that shows how reforms-based science goals align with the potential learning that takes place with blogs. I think this could be a good tool to defend your use of blogging if co-workers or administrators question your actions. Also, as a teacher everything we do should have a purpose. How the blog is presented, and how the teacher chooses to use it, plays a big role in determining the effectiveness of the tool. Goal and purpose of blogging should be clear to the students. The effectiveness of blogs can be limited by the teacher, and their guidelines.
This article was a little dry and took me a while to read. Research is hard for me to read and keep my attention focused on the article. Basically what I got from the article is that blogs can be a good tool to use in your classroom if you are using it for the right reasons and in the right way. Blogs should be more open ended and allow students to construct their own learning instead of being driven and influenced by the teacher. Blogs can also line up with the goals of reforms-based science teaching. I like the idea of using blogs as more of a reflection/social learning tool to extend learning instead of using them for research or other assignments they can do in the classroom. I paid more attention to the right ways to use a blog than the 9 classroom blogs the authors chose. Students need to be made aware of the expectations the teacher has for them. What is appropriate, and internet safety. As the article points out, this tool would be most effective in middle school or high school. Not that elementary students couldn't blog, I just think it would be more meaningful when the students were a little older.
I feel that blogging can be useful in the classroom when teaching science. For one of my literature classes, each lit. circle had to create a blog to discuss important information, questions that arise, pictures, etc. I think that this type of format could also be used in a science class, especially with science inquiry. Students would be able to ask questions they have along with being able to research and post information to any question they would like.
ReplyDeleteThe only thing that you would need to be aware of is whether or not your students have access to the internent outside of school. I'm in a fifth grade classroom right now where about half of my students are economically disadvantaged and do not have these resources at home. In cases like these, the teacher would need to set aside classtime so that all of the students would be able to participate.
I think it's always important to remember your goal and purpose, whatever the task. Blogs can be used effectively inside and outside of the classroom, or they can be used ineffectively. It is the teacher's job to make sure there is a purpose behind the task. I think Blogging in the classroom can be a great way for students to express their ideas and reflect on their ideas. It also allows them to read and reflect on their peer's ideas. I agree, this article was a little dry, but it did have some really great information.
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