Students in one of my classes are limited to the number of students in the room at that time. However, a blog would allow students in all five of my classes to interact with each other. This would allow for students to be exposed to more ideas than they would in a traditional class discussion.
In addition, students could use a blog to continually reform, reshape, and expand upon their ideas as they would be able to reflect back on their work over the course of the school year. This is a perfect way to illustrate the “nature of science” for students, which is an overarching theme in my science content area!
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I like your idea about five classes interacting with each other. Some items you will need to give thought to would be computer access in school and home, grading rubrics, and time frames for students to participate. I do not feel that a teacher could simply make the grade solely on participation because there are so many levels of ability of student. I would be upset if I give an amazing explanation and somebody else’s was not nearly at the level of writing and they earned the same grade as me. In the area I live in, not all my students have access to a computer at home, so requiring blogging in my classroom would also have to include some class time, or visit with the student about using the library before or after school. This also leads into the time frame for assignments on a blog. How much class time is too much or not enough and what are the stipulations for late work? Once you have these thoughts in order, an 8th grade science blog will be a wonderful learning tool for your students.
ReplyDeleteMax Mills