Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Session 2 - Question 1

Check out 2 web-sites that when you read about them reminded you of a gifted student(s) that would have enjoyed working with the sites. What did you think of the site and why? Give the page numbers of the sites.

15 comments:

  1. P 59: EngineerGirl Essay Contest: http://www.engineergirl.org Initially, I noticed it because of the word ‘girl’ in the title – but it is for both boys and girls. The website encourages the students to investigate on their own and ask ‘real’ engineers questions. It show different types of jobs and future challenges.

    P 51: Fire Fighting Robot Contest: http://www.trincoll.edu So many of my robotics students want to build destructo bots to do damage to other robots. I want to show them you can do so much more by being cooperative. I think the flames and obstacles would be enough to satisfy their adrenaline rush.

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    1. Stacey L- I would like to check into the Fire Fighting Robot Contest- I have never had my students create a robot and I think they might really like the concept.

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    2. My Robotics kids LOVE it - and they are so attached to the robot, once done. It is like 30 of parent with one child.

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  2. On page 75- International Student Media Festival http://www.imsf.net, was brought to my attention for it's creativity using various multi media. This site seems like a great way to encourage different media in many creative ways. I think this will really allow students to enhance their learning and be self driven using technology.

    On page 130 Sea World/Busch Gardens/Fujifil Environmental Excellence Awards http://www.seaworld.org seems like a very interesting program. This site recongnized students/teachers who work on preserving the environment. This project entails writing along with the enviornment. It would be really neat if the students could take a trip to Sea World or Busch Gardens and study ways that they help keep the enviornment clean.

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    1. I think that is a great idea for a field trip, Stacey! I looked into the website after I read your blog and think it would be something to pursue as everyone is so conscious of environmental issues right now and will continue to be so in the future.

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    2. Stacey- I love the idea of the media festival. kids love to make movies and videos these days and what a better way to get them hooked. It definitely opens the door for students to self driven in their learning.

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  3. Page 74: International Mathematics Olympiad. I had a student this past session of summer school who was extremely gifted in mathmatics, very competitive and an extremely hard worker. This competion would be perfect for him. However, the web site : http://www.imo.math.ca was not about the competition, but rather a math site for Canada. This doesn't make sense at the competition director is at the University of Nebraska. Doing a google search for the International Mathematics Olympiad results in this site, which I think should be the correct one (http://imo-official.org/).


    The second competion, page 75, Invent America, (http://inventamerica.org/) looks like it could be appealing to several of my gifted students. The site is user friendly and interesting, and helpful to the students.

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    1. I thought the Invent America was a really cool competition also. What a neat challenge for the kids to go through by following the steps on how to ivent something.

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    2. In response to KatieK, I've noticed that a few of the websites that I've looked at from this book do not have the correct extensions. Thanks for pointing out the correction on this one!And thank goodness for Google!

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  4. In response to Stacey and Tracey: I agree about the robotics competion being highly motivating and a great experience in cooperation.

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    1. Me four! I think the roboitcs competiton can reach many students, not only the gifted. It expands not only into academics as you mentioned Katie, but cooperation as well and that is such a "necessary skill" for many gifted who are not social.

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  5. The Kids are Authors (p.82) contest hosted by Scholastic reminds me of one GT student who was really interested in writing, and was actually writing her own novel. I like the idea of team work, which goes back to what we read in the first section. Here students will work in groups to create a picture book. It also gives all students a sense of pride and accomplishment.

    The second website that caught my eye was Let's Get Real (p.86). I can think of several GT students I have had throughout the years who would have really enjoyed this competition. Students will be given the opportunity to solve real world business problems. What a wonderful way for students to experience the real world before they get there.

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  6. First website that I really like is The Kids are Authors (p.82) it immediately reminded me of one of gt girls 2 years ago that loved to write!. This would have been perfect for her. Last year as a class we made a book and I really believe that working as a team it reinforced the sense of community and team work.

    The second website has to be International Student Media Festival (p.75) Kids love technology.I can see how the kids would be motivated to create something fun and great using technology.

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    1. RE Mrs. Cruz's
      While kids do seem to enjoy using technology, by the time they reach high school, it has become old news and even boring! Now, I'm not talking about their games or social media, etc. But, anything new that they have to learn for school, it is a struggle to get them to use it correctly.

      That, and once on the internet, they often do not know what online honesty is. I have had kids share passwords, post copyrighted material online - and be truly shocked when I told them they could not do it. They do get the digital citizenship lecture in English, but they don't want to apply it outside of that one class.

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  7. Invent America! On p75-76, reminds me of one of my students who really enjoyed our inventors lesson last school year. Sounds interesting, unfortunately, the domain name given in the book is for sale. ??? By “googling” I found that the extension should be “.org”. Upon exploring the website, the most recent date I could find is 2007. So I don't think this competition is going on anymore, but I plan to check on that. Otherwise, I think the site is well organized with a good faqs page. It is not designed for student use, so much as educators.

    A second one was the Letters About Literature Competition on p87, which made me think of a student who enjoyed a lesson this past year regarding favorite authors. This is the Library of Congress website. I searched for the competition entry form, but could only find announcements of previous year's (including 2012) winners. As a librarian, I'm embarrassed the entry form is difficult to find on this website! However, there is lots of great information here, that students and educators would benefit from.

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