Using technology in a science classroom

After reading this blog on www.nms.org about using technology with students in a math and science classroom, I really liked the arguments they used to justify the means. They started with the fact that students tend to be focused for longer periods of time when using technology.  I also liked the idea that technology helps build engaging lessons but also allows students to go at his/her own pace.
At the bottom of the article I read a quote that really stuck with me.  It was,"Education is no longer memorizing facts on paper; it's engaging with students through technology." As a science teacher, I remember most of my classes when I was in school I would just try to memorize the information to just get through the test. After the test, I could barely remember anything from the unit. Now as the teacher, I am trying to use my own errors and find ways to get my students to actually understand the unit and not just rely on memorization.  I think finding ways to incorporate technology can be the way to accomplish these goals.
The article was - Technology in the Classroom: The Benefits of Blended Learning

http://www.nms.org/Blog/TabId/58/PostId/188/technology-in-the-classroom-the-benefits-of-b

WebQuest complete! .... I think

Just finished my WebQuest on cells and organelles for a middle school science classroom.  Take a look and let me know what you think.

https://sites.google.com/a/kent.edu/mr-witting-s-science-webquest/

Mobile Application ideas

As I am sitting here trying to think of the next best thing to compete with apps like words with friends and Clash of Clans, but more for the educational setting, I am not gaining much ground.  I would like to create a concept that could be practical and possibly even used myself as a teacher/coach.  Or even maybe something that the students could use themselves in my classroom or somebody else's classroom.  Looking to see if anything out there already could be of some help I found a pretty interesting article on some of the best apps to use in the classroom.

52 Of The Best Apps For Your Classroom In 2015

I found some of the apps in the article interesting and I plan on looking more into them and the possibility of using them next school year.  I was also pretty surprised by some of the apps and the use of them in the classroom.  Overall this article was very informative and I think can be really useful to ones that decide to use these apps, if not just a few of them.  I know I am planning on looking into some of them for my classroom.

Now back to my own mobile proposal, still not quite sure what my idea is going to be but I did stumble across a resource that I think may become valuable in the near future.

Twitter and Remind

Thought I would put it on here as well.  Reading through some of the discussions on the idea of using Twitter in an educational setting, the Remind app was introduced as well.  I have used Twitter for my own personal life along with my coaching life.  I have always contemplated the idea of how I could use it in my classroom and whether it would stay on the professional side.  I have heard of using Remind and know many that use it, both with coaching and in the classroom.  I guess my biggest question is whether either of these is better than the other and if they are clearly beneficial to use apposed to other ways to communicate with my students and players.  I think I am going to spend this summer using Twitter to communicate with my football players when it comes to general concepts.  I think I am going to look into Remind and try to focus specifically on my position players to communicate reminders to these guys.

Will let you guys know the results in the upcoming months.

Instructional Applications of the Internet

Not really sure if this is the correct place that I am supposed to be at for my grad class, but I'm going to give it a try.