Michigan Science Teacher Association 2010

The following links and information are from the presentation titled, “Web 2.0 in the Classroom: Collaborative Learning Tools for Science.” This session is from the MSTA 2010 Annual Conference. These links and resources are an update to those presented at a session of the same title at the 2009 Regional NSTA conference in Phoenix. The handout and slides are below, and links and comments follow. Please feel free to comment, either to add links or to provide feedback (for those of you who participated in the session).

Presentation Slides and Handout

Here are the slides and handout. I hope to provide an audio recording of the session shortly.
MSTA Web 2.0

Nsta Web20
View more presentations from Michigan Mathematics and Science Teacher Leadership Collaborative.

Links and Commentary

The best place to start with any exploration of online collaborative learning tools (i.e. “Web 2.0″) is at http://www.go2web20.net where you can get a sense of the different kinds of Web 2.0 tools that are available, and considerations for use.

Document/Note Creation Tools:

There are a number of document creation tools available that can be used for creating notes, reports, etc. Many are “shared” tools in that you can share a document so that multiple people can work on it, sometimes in real time, seeing what each other is doing. These include:

There are also specific “note creation” tools that keep notes of many kinds (i.e. text documents, pictures, audio notes, web clipplings, emails, etc.) in a private, online space, and allow you to “tag” the items in various ways for easy searching, and to “share” items with others. My favorite is Evernote.

Brainstorming/Concept Mapping Tools:

There are a number of concept mapping tools that let you create and share (or co-create) various types of conceptual models and other visual organizers for information on topics that can quickly be created and show how you or your students might think about the connections or relationships between several such items. Examples include:

Diagramming and Drawing Tools:

There are a couple variations of these to mention. You can draw and scan diagrams, and use a photograph sharing/commenting tool like Flickr for these, use a notetaking tool like Evernote to keep simple pictures or diagrams, or use a dedicated collaborative drawing and diagramming tool. If your diagrams are like the concept maps mentioned above, use one of those. You could use a presentation tool like Prezi, or you could use one of the following online drawing tools:

  • BambooSpace
  • Creately – online diagramming and design (kind of like the tools above)
  • Google SketchUp – more for drawing 3D diagrams like a computer aided design tool
  • Comeeko – online comic book design tool
  • GoAnimate – makes cartoons or animated images

Data Collection and Analysis Tools:

Spreasheet tools like Google Docs are good here. Otherwise, many are built into site specific tools.

Research and Reading Text:

There are your basic search engines, of course, for research (Google, Bing, Yahoo). There are education search engines, like NetTrekker. And then, there are a new breed or research/search tools, like Wolfram Alpha, which are eventually going to change what we do in education.

As for reading text, there are a number of “document” sharing and viewing tools that you can use, including:

  • Google Reader – collects RSS feeds into a single tool. Great for news or blogs.
  • Scribd – great way to post books or documents online to share
  • DocStoc – a Scribd clone

Viewing Images and Video:

Growing by the minute. Here are a few options:

  • Flickr – king of all photo sites
  • Photobucket – one of many Flickr clones
  • Picasa – Online version of Google’s popular photo management tools
  • Smugmug – more of a photographer’s photo sharing site
  • Photoshop.com – online version of Adobe’s popular photo editing tools
  • Youtube – king of the online video sharing tools
  • Vimeo – another online video sharing site – less garbage right now…
  • TeacherTube – video sharing site for teachers
  • TestToob – video sharing site for science experiments

Presentation Tools:

Quite a few of these too. You have a choice here – either post your PowerPoint/Keynote presentations on a site (Slideshare or SlideRocket), create Powerpoint-like slideshows online (Google Docs, Zoho Show, or 280 Slides), or use some of the new presentation tools (Jing, Prezi, or Empressr).

Other Tools:

Here are a few other things that come to mind right now: