CTAP Final presentation - Energy in the Earth’s System

By: Brietta Straker

6th Grade Science

Introduction

This lesson is designed for 6th graders to use after completing a unit on renewable energy in Science.

Students will work on computers, follow step by step instructions, and complete tasks in order to prepare themselves for the culminating activity.

http://ctap295.ctaponline.org/~bstraker Brietta Straker 9500 Brooks Rd So Windsor, CA 95492

Expectations of CTAP

I wanted to become familiar enough with web design to effectively design and instruct a lesson related to my teaching field.

I wanted to get personal attention and instruction from my CTAP teachers.

I wanted to learn PowerPoint so I could use it for demonstrations in my classroom.

I wanted to learn Excel because I like to make charts.

What Did I Learn?

I learned how to upload and download programs. I learned how to create a website with lots of links. I learned that there is a great deal of work involved in designing a

website. I learned that if you don’t properly upload, things you work on for

hours, get lost. I learned to use PowerPoint, Excel, Transmit, Fetch, Netscape

Navigator, Netscape Communicator and MicroSoft Word.

Successes

I really enjoyed learning how to set up banners, change font size and style, select clip art from the Internet, set up backgrounds and linking pages to websites.

I enjoyed searching for educational websites related to my topic.

I completed a multi-page website of my very own (with lots of help).

I loved sharing my website with my students and hearing their responses and ah-has during the activity.

Shortcomings

It was difficult to work on my website out of the CTAP class because I don’t have a personal computer and I rarely have spare time.

I found it extremely frustrating to work on the official CTAP website after the mid-year upgrade. And it wasn’t just the Modules that changed, the programs used to access information changed as well! Yikes!

My Science class was ready for the Renewable Energy Unit, but my site wasn’t finished.

Student Data

I selected 4 students out of 90 to report on.

Students were given a pretest and a postest.

The Quiz Show score is the culminating activity.

0 50 100

QuizShowPostest

Pretest

Reflections and Revisions

The actual culminating website “Watt’s That?” could only be used once, then the correct answers were highlighted. This was definitely an obstacle to overcome as I brought 3

Science classes consecutively in to the computer lab. After looking at the culminating activity scores, I noticed

that they were lower than expected. So, I added an additional website link that was less challenging.

ConclusionIf I had to do this all over again, I would have

pushed myself to get it done during the summer. Then I would have added links throughout the

year, revised wording, and checked for accuracy AFTER I had learned how to navigate around the

programs.