ASP Day 2 Visit

I planned the activity for day 2.  On day 1, I had noticed that the students were all doing 1-finger super slow typing.  I decided to try the BBC site for dancemat typing.  I tried it myself and I thought it would be something they would enjoy.  I wasn't sure if it was going to be over their heads or not, so I planned on trying that activity for about 10-15 minutes and then I had another activity. 


For the second activity I planned a scavenger hunt online.  I created a worksheet with various questions such as "what is the weather forecast in Dallas, TX" and then directed them to the National Geographic Kids site and had them search for some various pieces of information there.


The worksheet looked like this:

Tech Club Scavenger Hunt

 By using google.com and visiting other appropriate sites, fill in as many answers as you can!

1.  Weather forecast for Dallas, TX for Saturday, May 19, 2012

 list website where you found this information:

2. How much snow did Mt. Baker Ski Area, in Washington state, receive this year?_______________________________________________

Website__________________________________________________________

**For the next several questions, please visit the National Geographic Kids site.  List website here:____________________________________________________________

3. What is being celebrated this Saturday, May 19^th?

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4. Choose one “What’s Popular” link. List choice here:___________

Describe what you discovered________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

5.Choose one “Cool Clicks” link. List choice here________________

Describe what you discovered________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

6. Go to the “News” heading on the main Nat. Geo Kids page.  Then click on “Science and Space.” Then choose Freaky Forces of Nature.  State which one you chose and what you learned:

I knew that we would have enough Tech Club members to each help the students search so they were not randomly searching around the internet on their own.  I had the students partner up and then on tech club student was with each pair.  Searching for things on the internet was very, very new for these students.  One student was very proficient at searching for information, but the rest really struggled.  For instance, after typing in the weather forecast search terms, the weather forecast would come up on the screen but some students didn't even recognize that as the answer.  

Most students finished the first 2 questions, with only one student moving on to the National Geographic Kids site.  This was with a teacher sitting and helping each group.  Katelin had mentioned that last semester students researched their favorite animal and then did a powerpoint presentation for the group, so I think orienting them to searching for information online with guidance will be helpful, because they definitely struggled with it.  

I did think about the hoax websites that could be out there after our D2L discussion, so made the worksheet questions very straightforward and then most of them consisted of being only on the National Geographic Kids site, which is a great science site for students, younger and older.  There is a lot of great information and activities on there, and even a lot of teacher resources.  Also, I felt comfortable knowing that there was a low enough student:teacher ratio where no student would be randomly browsing the web on their own.  Although after working with the students I'm unsure that they are capable of browsing the web much at all on their own yet.  

The dancemat typing went really well.  The students really got into following along and really wanted to complete Level 1.  It was great, and a website I would definitely recommend to everyone.  Typing skills are so basic and so important to becoming a technologically literate student.  I am so glad I have the typing skills I do or homework and this class would be painfully slow.  Most people take them for granted, but then I see my dad typing up scientific papers using his one-finger method (which actually has become quite fast over the years) and I'm really glad for that knowledge.  I think we could definitely revisit the dancemat typing over the next few visits, even if it's just for a few minutes at the beginning or end of the club.  It would be great to get the students at least familiar with where their fingers should be on the keyboard.