Week 7 Explorations!

Consider my mind blown!  I had this simple idea to expand my knowledge on Virtual Science Labs, a topic in which I have been slowly and excitedly exploring for the past year.  I have always been intrigued by the concept of incorporating virtual science labs into my practice as a tool to encourage my students to reach that always desired inquiry based learning mode of thinking.  I was initially intrigued by this mode of learning after taking a course that my school district offered that focused on science and culture, this was my very web based course (which I was skeptical about how much I would learn due to the nature of the course).  The course incorporated the creation of a blog, as well as, using online resources, videos etc and I absolutely loved this class!  In turn, my passion for learning about technology and its use in the classroom had begun.  Last year I took a course about action research and  I figured it was  a great opportunity  to learn a bit more about this technology based learning idea, little did I know that I would soon be writing a grant to get I-pads for my classroom so I could begin testing out my idea of virtual science labs.  Here I am one year later with a few I-pads that I received through a grant and a feeling of determination and an uneasiness about how many amazing labs I have found and want to explore.  I am very excited about what my research has turned up but at the same time am feeling like I am not sure where start, so I decided to play with a virtual lab that I was introduced to via Chip at a teacher in-service a few weeks ago!  I have created an introduction video to a very simple lab that allows students to analyze and predict how buoyancy changes depending on the liquid and the material that is being submerged.  Although this lab is very simple in its application I believe it could be very powerful with the right scaffolding and structure.  As described in my video it would be essential for the students be given a table/outline of the expectations and to have them predict what results will occur based on their changes to either the material or the liquid.  Then require them to take it a step further and describe why they have made that predication based on what they have learned in your class.  Allowing the students to just "play" with the lab without crating clear expectations and outcomes would not set the students up to be successful with meeting the learning target (depending on your learning target).  I look forward to playing with the lab and how to set it up to make it a meaningful substitute for an actual buoyancy lab. I am currently not teaching science but hope to be moved into a science position next year so I am just playing with the idea of implementation of these labs but plan on starting next year with a nice tool box of labs I can use!