Book Discussion

For our book discussion, Lauren, Rebecca, and I read The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, by Rebecca Skloot. Check out our presentation here:

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1PzEzvMBJ4IF65LwyehH1qZeJMvBFenR6W83za0N5MWU/edit?usp=sharing

Wordle- Why Use It?

Wordle- Why Use It?

Wordle is a tool that generates word-clouds from text provided by the user. The user can, for example, copy and paste the text from an online article into Wordle and the tool will automatically create a cloud. The word-cloud uses larger fonts for words that appear more frequently, allowing students to determine the keywords of the text. The user can then adjust the Wordle by changing the fonts, layouts, and/or color schemes. An example of a DNA-based Wordle can be found below (Peayarlal, 2014):

Using Wordle can contribute to the development of many literacy skills. For one, teachers can use Wordle as a way to display the most important vocabulary for a unit. Then, a word wall can be used to provide definitions and examples for the terms. If I were to use this in class, I could copy and paste the texts from my PowerPoint presentations, articles, websites, and assignments into Wordle and provide my students with a printout. This printout could then be used as a study tool to aid students throughout the unit. I would also consider using the keywords in Kahoot quizzes to emphasize their importance and facilitate learning.

Wordle could also be a great research aid. Let’s say students create a Wordle for an article they intend to use for a research project. The student can then use the keywords and phrases generated by Wordle to search for other articles related to the topic. By finding new articles and adding them to the Wordle, students can refine their search as many times as they want. Research is an important part of science, and especially important for literacy development. We want our students to be able to find, read, interpret, and use relevant texts, and Wordle can help students do that. 

I’ve read that Wordle could also be used to facilitate the analysis of affective and informal literacy assessments (Watkins, 2008). For example, if you had students complete an Interest Inventory in which they write about their strengths, weaknesses, or fears with respect to literacy, you could use Wordle to summarize the most frequently used words. Sharing these results with the class could allow both you and your students to find the strategies that will most likely lead to success. The Wordle results could also help you group students who share similar interests or strengths. You could perform a similar analysis with student journals, blog posts, or even essays as a way to help students reflect on writing. Furthermore, if students are required to write long texts like research papers, they could use Wordle to find out which words and phrases they overuse. I know I personally have a tendency to favor the same transition words when I write, so Wordle could benefit my own writing.

    Wordle could also be used to help facilitate students’ understanding of texts (Lucier, 2008). If students are comparing two texts, they can use two Wordles to see which keywords the texts share. If they are summarizing a text, Wordle will similarly help students identify key ideas. Wordle may also be used alongside other graphic organizers that help students make connections between texts and their prior knowledge. As a reading comprehension tool, I think Wordle would best work if used before reading, to preteach and activate background knowledge, or after reading, to summarize and apply understanding. The examples highlighted above show that Wordle has potential applications in vocabulary development, research, assessment, and reading comprehension.

    Differentiation of instruction is crucial for meeting the needs of all learners, and Worlde certainly lends itself to a differentiated classroom. To differentiate content, I could use Wordle to determine the keywords of a unit. I could then use those keywords to search for texts of varying complexities and formats that share those keywords. Alternatively, students using different texts can compare the texts through Wordle, allowing readers of varying abilities to collaborate with one another. To differentiate process, I could use Wordle to help English language learners and other struggling readers. For example, these struggling readers may need to be pre taught certain vocabulary terms and concepts (McLaughlin, 2015). Using Wordle, I could determine what those terms are and provide students with a visual representation of them. More gifted learners could try to predict what a Wordle will look like before creating one, based on what concepts they think were most central to a text. Lastly, to differentiate product, students could use Wordle to help their presentations of material. Let’s say students are required to complete a research project and present their findings to the class. Students could first use Wordle, as described above, to identify keywords to focus their search for texts. After the research is completed, Wordle may be used to frame their presentations, make a poster, and/or summarize their work. I like that Wordle combines text with a cool visual design, appealing to linguistic and visual learning styles.

    After researching Wordle, I can definitely say it is a useful tool that can help teachers develop literacy skills with their students. Wordle is free, doesn’t require an account, is quick and easy to use, and appeals to learners of multiple styles. As detailed above, Wordle also may be helpful as a reading comprehension strategy, vocabulary guide, assessment analysis tool, and writing aid. The tool isn’t without its downsides, however. For one, Wordles found online are not policed for content, so there is always the possibility that students searching for pre-made Wordles find one that is inappropriate. Furthermore, I personally had trouble getting Wordle to work in certain browsers, because it requires Java, so in a place with questionable or limited internet quality might not be able to use Wordle at all. Wordles also can’t be downloaded and saved directly as images, they must be saved online or printed out, which might inconvenience some people. Lastly, as useful as Wordle is, its applications are limited by the creativity of the user, and there might be better tools out there. Regardless, if used appropriately by teachers and students, Wordle has the potentially to be an incredibly useful aid in literacy development.

Biology Wordle from Morales, 2014

References

Lucier, R. (2008). Top 20 Uses for Wordle. Retrieved from http://thecleversheep.blogspot.com/2008/10/top-20-uses-for-wordle.html

McLaughlin, M. (2015). Content Area Reading: Teaching and Learning for College and Career Readiness. Boston, MA: Pearson.

Morales, P. (2014). Biology. Retrieved from http://biologyingamb.blogspot.com/

Peayarlal, T. (2014). Biochemistry. Retrieved from https://biochemistry3rst.wordpress.com/

Watkins, N.R. (2008). Ways to use Wordle. Retrieved from http://soulcradler.edublogs.org/2008/10/12/ways-to-use-wordle/#respond

Maryland Technology Literacy Standards

    We are living in the midst of a technological revolution courtesy of the Internet, and research suggests that embracing new technologies has numerous benefits in terms of education. These benefits include making topics more relevant, promoting collaboration, encouraging inquiry and high-level thinking, and fostering a research-rich environment (McLaughlin, 2015). The Maryland Technology Literacy Standards highlighted by the Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) list the outcomes we expect students to achieve from using technology in school. These standards can be seamlessly be integrated into any STEM classroom if teachers are willing to acknowledge these new technologies and adapt their teaching to better prepare students for the 21st Century workforce.

    Throughout our MAT program, we’ve discussed the use of inquiry-based research projects in STEM classrooms. These projects are not only useful for developing domain-specific content knowledge; projects contribute to the development of important skills such as research, collaboration, presentation, and creative skills (Bellanca & Brandt, 2010). Furthermore, research projects provide an alternative mode of assessment that requires students to use higher-level cognitive processes such as application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation (McMillan, 2008). Crucially, many of the MSDE’s technology standards can also be addressed using a well-constructed research project.

    For example, Teacher Standard 1 requires teachers to help students “access, evaluate, process and apply information efficiently and effectively.” The corresponding Student Standard, number 1, involves using computers to benefit learning. These outcomes can be achieved by having students use the Internet to find relevant information for their research projects, evaluate the sources of information for bias, relevance, and accuracy, and apply what they’ve learned to solve a problem. Research can be done with books of course, but using technology to facilitate the research process is an outcome of Standard 5. Student Standard 3 deals with collaboration, while Standard 4 addresses communication. During a research project, students might use computers to collect, analyze, and share data with others. Additionally, there are many tools that students can use to collaborate with others and communicate their ideas including presentation tools such as PowerPoint, Google Slides, and Prezi. Therefore, a group project that involves a presentation addresses two more standards. Student Standard 2 asks students to practice responsible and ethical technology use. This can be achieved if students cite their sources and follow copyright laws. Finally, Student Standard 6 asks students to use technology to solve problems and make informed decisions. If the research project designed by the teacher is centered around a real-world issue, this standard will surely be addressed.

    As you can see, teachers can easily meet the technological standards without sacrificing time or content-knowledge acquisition. Technology can also be integrated in ways unrelated to inquiry-based research projects. Various assessment technologies exist that help both students and teachers improve the learning process. Quizzing applications such as Kahoot and Quizlet provide an effective means of formative assessment. Blogs and learning logs encourage students to reflect on their understanding. Videos and virtual labs help students access material that is otherwise unavailable in a traditional classroom. Technology needn’t be forced into science curriculum. Rather, technology presents an avenue through which student learning can be maximized.

    As mentioned previously, research projects involving technology address many standards, including content standards, literacy standards, and technology standards. McLaughlin (2015) describes four types of technology projects that help incorporate technology in meaningful ways: Internet Workshop, Internet Project, Internet Inquiry, and WebQuests.

    Internet Workshop is useful for developing background knowledge at the start of a unit (McLaughlin, 2015). These workshops involve teachers bookmarking websites with reliable information relevant to class. Students use the website to complete an activity, answer questions, and/or exchange ideas with other students. Such an activity allows students to take a more active role in their learning and construct their own understanding of the material. Then, the students can engage in one of the other three technology projects (McLaughlin, 2015).

    Internet Project involves collaboration between two or more classrooms (McLaughlin, 2015). Students in your class could use one of these projects to work with students from other schools or even other countries. One cool idea would be to have your students collaborate with students who live in a different region on a project about different ecosystems. Students could take pictures of the types of plants, animals, and other organisms that live in their biome, as well as document the abiotic factors such as temperature, precipitation, wind, sunlight, etc. I think students would enjoy teaching other students about the area in which they live, and learning from other students about their area.

    Internet Inquiry involves students using the internet for research (McLaughlin, 2015). Students could research and write about famous scientists or scientific discoveries, different groups of organisms, or even technologies related to biology. This is the type of project I most commonly used when I was a student, and the possibilities for these projects are seemingly endless. Using the Internet allows students to find websites, journal articles, blog posts, books, and videos related to a topic. This flexibility means that learners with different needs can find information in sources that they find helpful. As long as teachers help students identify and use reliable sources, Internet Inquiry promotes student-centered learning (McLaughlin, 2015).

Lastly, WebQuests are online tools for learning constructed by teachers. They are scaffolded and involve authentic tasks that develop critical thinking skills (McLaughlin, 2015). McLaughlin, for example, provides a link to a WebQuest called Genes: The Building Blocks of Life, in which students learn about content related to genetics (2015). During this WebQuest, students research four different genetic issues and decide how hypothetical funds should be allocated to each. These authentic tasks allow students to research and apply what they’ve learned to a meaningful scenario, which students should enjoy.

    Many of the literacy skills students must use to meet technology standards are the same skills they use to access printed material offline. For example, reading online requires students to access prior knowledge of content and text structure, which are also used in offline reading. However, reading online also requires students to access two additional sources of prior knowledge: knowledge of website structure and knowledge of search engines (Coiro & Dobler, 2007). When conducting research using the Internet, for instance, students must be familiar with choosing keywords for searches, quickly evaluating search results using titles and abstracts, and using various hyperlinks to find information that might be hidden. These skills certainly aren’t used when reading from a book, and students may need practice developing them (Coiro & Dobler, 2007).

    Another literacy skill required when reading online is inferential reasoning. Regardless of the type of text, readers must make predictions, read between the lines, and use context clues to understand the text. When reading online, however, students have to make more predictions about where to find information, because it would be impossible to read all of the information on every available link (Coiro & Dobler, 2007).

    Finally, the use of self-regulated reading strategies are necessary for students to succeed when reading any text. Students must always set goals, monitor comprehension, and reread texts in order to interpret them. When reading online, this process is also associated with physical reading actions such as typing, clicking, and dragging (Coiro & Dobler, 2007). Furthermore, the self-regulating process must occur much more quickly when reading online due to the sheer volume of information available (Coiro & Dobler, 2007). Lastly, the number of distractions present online could pose a problem for some students. If the tasks created by teachers are engaging, however, student motivation should offset most potential distractors.

    The MSDE Technology Literacy Standards can be met without sacrificing content knowledge gains or time in a STEM classroom. In fact, well-constructed research projects and other technology-based activities can be used to simultaneously develop content knowledge, literacy skills, and technology skills. Of course, there are additional challenges associated with using technologies, particularly when students are accessing the Internet. However, I think the benefits of embracing technology ultimately offset the potential complications.

References

Bellanca, J. & Brandt, R. (2010). 21st Century Skills: Rethinking How Students Learn. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree.

Coiro, J., and Dobler, E. (2007). Exploring the online reading comprehension strategies used by sixth-grade skilled readers to search and locate information on the Internet. Reading Research Quarterly, 42 (2), 214-257. doi:10.1598/RRQ.42.2.2

McLaughlin, M. (2015). Content Area Reading: Teaching and Learning for College and Career Readiness. Boston, MA: Pearson.

McMillan, J. H. (2008). Assessment essentials for standards-based education. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.