So I was able to post a question to the "Ask a Scientist" web site. My question had to do with the genetics of the Eastern Cougar and how they may have helped or hindered them in becoming a dominant species. Unfortunately, I did not receive any type of reply from the site. I am a little disappointed about this, but I can imagine that that sight may receive a massive amount of questions about any number of topics.
Since I posted the question I did some research of my own. I discovered that due to the genetic traits of all cougars, an Eastern Cougar can mate successfully with any other type of cougar. One would think that this would help the Eastern Cougar thrive, however it is still on the endangered species list. The Eastern Cougar also has a few specialized traits that help it be hard to track and successful at hunting. It has extremely large and sharp canines, which make a quick bite to the back of the victims neck fatal. They also have the ability to retract their claws inside of their feet to help them walk through brush silently. This trait also allows them to keep their claws extremely sharp.
I would have like to get some feedback to get a more technical and professional opinion, but as a teacher I have learned long ago to just roll with it. I would like to use this site in my classroom to get kids to become more curious in their thinking. I often do not have an answer that a student may want. This is a great way for me to get them involved in self-motivated inquiry. It is important to me that my students know that I don't have all the answers, but there are strategies that can be used to find those answers.
Is there anyone out their that uses a site like this on a regular basis in their classroom? If so, how do you implement it?
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Monday, February 28, 2011
Walden
Presentation Sites
I have been assigned to look at a couple web presentation sites for my class at Walden University. I must admit that at one time, when I was the young teacher in school, I considered myself someone that had a good grasp on technology. However, as I age a bit, I must tell you that I am the kid in the back of the room that is lost when the "young pups" are sharing stuff in staff meetings. Therefore I think that this assignment is right up my alley. If I can use one of these sights, than almost anyone can.
I first started by doing a quick Internet search on the topic. I made a short list of sites that were mentioned and selected two of those to mess around with.
The first site I tried was prezentit.com. I must tell you that I ma not a fan of this site. I am sure that there are numerous people that use this and are happy with it. I am not one of them. First off there was no help video on the site. I need to have one of these. Sometimes it is a good idea to just jump in and learn as you go, but I didn't even know where to jump in. The help menu was limited and it was a Spanish based site with a few translation issues. In fact, one drop down menu was not even available at the time that I reviewed the site. They did publish an apology, but an apology didn't help me figure out what was going on. When I did get involved and started playing around I thought the options were very basic, and there was not a lot of room to spice things up without having to download stuff onto the site. I must say that this site failed my expectations.
Next I tried the Google Presentation site. This was much better. You can make spreadsheets, documents, and presentations. This is great for the business world because it allows more than one author. So lets say you and your partner are in different cities, you can still work on the same project at the same time. As with most of these sites you can access it from any computer as long as you have an account. The help window brought you to a youtube video that introduces the site. The video is more of a commercial for the site than a how to. It is easy to navigate but I found there to be little creative options. It was fairly black and white. As most educators know, the flashier the presentation, the more of a chance you have that kids will pay attention. Of the tow sites, I would say this was the better.
After looking at these two examples I think that I will be using prezi.com for my presentation. I liked the intro video and it appears to be very easy to understand. The construction of your site tends to be very visual and user friendly, which means that even knuckleheads like me will be able to use it.
I have been assigned to look at a couple web presentation sites for my class at Walden University. I must admit that at one time, when I was the young teacher in school, I considered myself someone that had a good grasp on technology. However, as I age a bit, I must tell you that I am the kid in the back of the room that is lost when the "young pups" are sharing stuff in staff meetings. Therefore I think that this assignment is right up my alley. If I can use one of these sights, than almost anyone can.
I first started by doing a quick Internet search on the topic. I made a short list of sites that were mentioned and selected two of those to mess around with.
The first site I tried was prezentit.com. I must tell you that I ma not a fan of this site. I am sure that there are numerous people that use this and are happy with it. I am not one of them. First off there was no help video on the site. I need to have one of these. Sometimes it is a good idea to just jump in and learn as you go, but I didn't even know where to jump in. The help menu was limited and it was a Spanish based site with a few translation issues. In fact, one drop down menu was not even available at the time that I reviewed the site. They did publish an apology, but an apology didn't help me figure out what was going on. When I did get involved and started playing around I thought the options were very basic, and there was not a lot of room to spice things up without having to download stuff onto the site. I must say that this site failed my expectations.
Next I tried the Google Presentation site. This was much better. You can make spreadsheets, documents, and presentations. This is great for the business world because it allows more than one author. So lets say you and your partner are in different cities, you can still work on the same project at the same time. As with most of these sites you can access it from any computer as long as you have an account. The help window brought you to a youtube video that introduces the site. The video is more of a commercial for the site than a how to. It is easy to navigate but I found there to be little creative options. It was fairly black and white. As most educators know, the flashier the presentation, the more of a chance you have that kids will pay attention. Of the tow sites, I would say this was the better.
After looking at these two examples I think that I will be using prezi.com for my presentation. I liked the intro video and it appears to be very easy to understand. The construction of your site tends to be very visual and user friendly, which means that even knuckleheads like me will be able to use it.
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