Bill Z's Blog

Software Review, 2 of 2

Bill Zawacki
Ed 436 Technology Across the Curriculum
November 26, 2004

Software Title: Patty Paper GeometryAcquisition Information: Visit http://www.keypress.com/catalog/products/supplementals/Prod_PattyPpr.html for information. It can be ordered at Amazon.com.

Requirements: $21.95.

Weaknesses: Okay, this is a book and pieces of paper, not exactly software. But, I did find it using the Internet.

Strengths: It works. Discovering Geometry author Michael Serra brings discovery through paper-folding activities to the classroom with his exciting book Patty Paper Geometry.

Uses: Patty Paper Geometry includes dozens of activities that foster cooperative learning, increase students' geometric vocabulary, and motivate kids to read, write, and talk about geometry. Constructions are performed more accurately and geometric discoveries are made faster with patty papers. At the end of their investigations, students have discovered most of the properties of geometric figures studied in high school geometry courses.

Software Review, 1 of 2

Bill Zawacki
Ed 436 Technology Across the Curriculum
November 26, 2004

Software Title: Kseg and Geometer’s SketchpadAcquisition Information: Kseg can be downloaded free of charge from http://www.mit.edu/~ibaran/kseg.html. Visit http://www.keypress.com/sketchpad/evaluation to download theEvaluation Edition of Sketchpad.

Requirements: Kseg was developed, and supposedly runs under Unix. There is a windows version available but it is not practical to use for the average non-technical person.

Weaknesses: Kseg. A person of moderate technical experience can’t get the Windows version to execute in a reasonable amount of time. Geometer’s Sketch Pad. The demo version has too many pieces missing to be of much use.

Strengths: Kseg. It’s free. Geometer’s Sketchpad. The purchased version probably does work, otherwise they probably couldn’t afford to keep marketing it.

Uses: You can spend a lot of time trying to get this software to work. You need to do this up front, in order to avoid wasting valuable classroom time. I’m not sure it is an effective use teachers’ time to individually and repeatedly trip over the difficulties in getting this stuff ready for classroom use. It would probably be worthwhile to see if you could interest a group of teachers in finding and developing for classroom use, tools like these. Then all teachers could use the lesson plans developed for the group. Teachers and students should spend their time doing geometry during the time allocated for math, not playing around trying to figure out how to get the software to load, open, unzip, or work in any kind of limited way. Several books on the use of and uses for Geometer’s Sketchpad are available at Amazon.com.

Website Review, #5 of 5

Bill Zawacki
Ed 436 Technology Across the Curriculum
November 30, 2004

Site Name: Google

Site URL: http://www.google.com

Author Information: Originally some Stanford grad students. Now a commercial interprise.

Requirements: Just Internet access with a browser, I used Internet Explorer running under Windows XP

Weaknesses: Information overload. Searches return information based on a mysterious priority that has a lot to do with who is paying to have their sites promoted. Just try Googleing your own name.

Strengths: Google is probably the most commonly used search engine on the Internet. It is able to search an enormous amount of website information in sub-second time. In most cases, I don’t bother to find a URL for even common sites like the IRS. I just Google “tax forms” and the site is easily found. The URLs for most of my previous website reviews were found this way.

Uses: The use and misuse of search engines should probably be taught and practiced starting in elementary school. It is just a part of technical literacy, possibly becoming as important as traditional literacy.

Website Review, #4 of 5

Bill Zawacki
Ed 436 Technology Across the Curriculum
November 30, 2004

Site Name: Census Bureau

Site URL: http://www.census.gov

Author Information: The federal government.

Requirements: Just Internet access with a browser, I used Internet Explorer running under Windows XP. Some of the information requires an Adobe Reader. Microsoft Excel would be useful as some data is provided in Excel format where it can be further analyzed or manipulated using spreadsheet functions.

Weaknesses: Information overload. It’s reminiscent of the old accounting slogan, “figures lie and liars figure”.

Strengths: An incredible amount of data from the 2000 census. This site contains social, economic, racial, ethnic, education level etc., information. The detail levels include state, county, city, zip code, and many others. There is a section specifically designed to be a teacher’s resource. The link, http://www.census.gov/dmd/www/pdf/schoolstate2.pdf, for example has a worksheet for a class research project using census data available at his site.

Uses: I could see this site used as a source of research information for grade school on up. Several academic topics including economics, politics, government, geography, and of course statistics could use information from this site.

Website Review, #3 of 5

Bill Zawacki
Ed 436 Technology Across the Curriculum
November 30, 2004

Site Name: The Fabulous Ruins of Detroit

Site URL: www.detroityes.com

Author Information: As stated on the website: Lowell Boileau is a self-learned fine art painter and computerist. His current major work is "The Fabulous Ruins of Detroit", a 1000+ page site inspired by the transformation of Detroit from industrial to information age city. The Fabulous Ruins of Detroit is hosted at: http://detroityes.com/. Selected as a Yahoo Pick of the Year for 1998 and profiled in the New York Times and Wired Magazine, The Fabulous Ruins of Detroit website attracts over one million visitor sessions and ten million page hits a year.

Requirements: Just Internet access with a browser, I used Internet Explorer running under Windows XP.

Weaknesses: This site may have a narrow appeal. As a native of Detroit, I found it historically interesting, and emotionally powerful. The emotional power may not be present for people without a connection to Detroit, and would then probably be less historically interesting.

Strengths: The strength of this website is that it gives real life examples of the effects of many current social and economic phenomena that may be only vague concepts, with unimagined or poorly understood consequences for many students. These phenomena include:
Urban decay
Middle class (or White) flight
The demise of American manufacturing
The demise of organized labor
Racism in Northern urban America

Uses: I could see this site used as a source of research information for a high school social studies class. In addition to the examples listed above, I think that young people who have not witnessed any of the America’s Rust Belt decay would be intrigued by the magnitude, and surreal beauty of it.

Website Review, #2 of 5

Bill Zawacki
Ed 436 Technology Across the Curriculum
November 27, 2004


Site Name: Science U

Site URL: www.scienceu.com/observatory/articles/eclipses

Author Information: The Science U website is produced by a company named Geometry Technologies. Geometry Technologies was formed in 1996 by three research scientists working at the University of Minnesota's Geometry Center, a National Science Foundation Science and Technology Center. Their goal was to bring the technology developed at Center out of the academic setting and into the commercial world. Science U is an educational site packed full of useful information and fun interactive exhibits covering a variety of topics in science and math, including astronomy, geometry, and nature.

Requirements: Just Internet access with a browser, I used Internet Explorer running under Windows XP. Java applets required by some of the activities were automatically downloaded.

Weaknesses: A weakness could be that Science U tries to cover too broad a range of topics in too little space. It does not seem to have a focus.

Strengths: The strength of this website may be that it does cover its topics more broadly than some of the specific issue websites I visited in my research on lunar eclipses. For example, see my website review #1 of the Hermit.org website with a section devoted to lunar eclipses. Unlike Hermit, Science U gives a clear and comprehensive description of both the differences and similarities between lunar and solar eclipses. It also explains how the orbits of the earth and the moon are on different planes, and the effect this has on when and how often lunar eclipses occur.

Uses: I used this site as a secondary source of information on lunar eclipses to verify accuracy of the information I already had, and to see if I might have missed anything important or particularly interesting to my students. There are several other potential classroom uses for the website. For example, one section gives step-by-step instructions on how to build an icosahedron (a 20-sided geometric solid) of any size as a class or at-home project.

Website Review, #1 of 5

Bill Zawacki
Ed 436 Technology Across the Curriculum
November 26, 2004

Site Name: Hermit.org

Site URL: http://www.hermit.org/Eclipse/http://www.hermit.org/Eclipse/why_lunar.html
Author Information: As stated on the site: Hermit.org is a non-profit organisation, owned and operated by me, Ian Cameron Smith. It's basically a forum for anything that takes my fancy: my own interests, friends' stuff... whatever.
This statement provides no information about the author’s motives and credentials. However, the site provides a clear and comprehensive description of a lunar eclipse, without an overwhelming (for a middle school audience) amount of unnecessary detail. This met my requirements. I am not worried abut the accuracy of the information. I am willing to accept it as accurate, because it agrees with my knowledge of lunar eclipses from other sources, and the information is easily obtained elsewhere if questions arise. I also have no reason to suspect that the information could be tainted by the author’s motives.

Requirements: Just Internet access with a browser, I used Internet Explorer running under Windows XP. No special plug-ins or additional software required.
Weaknesses: A weaknesses could be the limited scope of the information. For example, see my website review #2 of the Science U website. This website contains detail about how the orbits of the earth and the moon are on different planes, and the effect this has on when and how often lunar eclipses occur.

Strengths: The primary strength of this website is that it addresses precisely the information I wanted to deliver to the students about a lunar eclipse. The website went into considerable detail about the shadow zones (penumbra and umbra). The lab assignment involved constructing a model to measure the length of time that the moon would be in the earth’s shadow. It also pointed out that when the moon is in only the penumbral shadow, and no part of it is in the umbral shadow, the moon’s appearance is very little different from the completely unshadowed moon. It might not be detectable to viewers on earth. The information in the Oregonian gave the times of the beginning of the penumbral eclipse. When observing the actual eclipse, one (particularly an impatient middleschooler one) might have concluded that there would be very little to see based on what was visible at the beginning of the penumbral eclipse. The total eclipse was in fact very dramatic and easily visible to the naked eye that rare clear October evening in Oregon.
This information in the website was transposed and delivered to the students in the form of a lab handout. The website’s function or its application to the classroom was not particularly relevant.

Uses: I used this website as the source of information I wanted to deliver to the students about a lunar eclipse.

I would like to do a presentation on the use of Comic Composer, one the Student Materials found in the ReadWriteThink website. Specifically I would like to show how it could be used by students in a middle school science class to produce a lab report.

The benefit would be that for the students whose work is usually so messy that the content is lost, or severly diminished for the reader, Comic Composer could be a useful tool to improve how their work is received. The students who already can produce legible attractive reports, will discover another potential media tool.

I intend to base the lab report on a middle school science lab lesson that I presented for an Ed 538 Science Methods MicroTeaching assignment earlier this term. The lab involved setting up a scale model of the recent lunar eclipse using various sizes of styrofoam balls, a light source, and some solar system distance information. My idea is that students could use Comic Composer to produce the lab report illustrating how they set up their model, and what they learned from the experiment. In my Technology Across the Curriculum presentation, I intend to demonstrate how Comic Composer could be used for this purpose.

The Wikipedia web site is a combination social experiment and information exchange point. Because it is monitored by volunteers, there is some quality control. One of the articles we read recommended Wikipedia as a good secondary source of information for research. At first I was skeptical, but after checking out a few topics that I know something about, I agree!!

A third of the student materials in the Read Write Think arsenal that I could envision using in middle school is the Doodle Dash. This tool is desinged for literacy and consists of a sketch pad, and pre-formatted boxes for describing the plot, characters, and story elements. In middle school math it is important to be able to assess if the students are learning the math concept, not just being able to find the correct answer to assigned problems. The typical directive to students is "show your work". But very few actually show their work in a way that describes the steps and the reasons for the steps involved in solving a particular type of problem. Finding slope for example. Perhaps using the Doodle Dash to illustrate the problem and its solution; then using the pre-formatted boxes to describe the steps taken and why, could guide students toward a more complete understanding of the concepts. It may also provide teachers with a more accurate assessment of the students grasp of the concepts.

I may be taking the solution Doodle Dash, and looking for a problem for it to solve here, just as I accused the authors of Digitital Images in the Mathematics Classroom of doing in my comment on the class website.

Another of the ReadWriteThink Student Materials that could prove useful in the middle school setting is the Alphabet Organizer. This tool appears to be designed for teaching early grade word meaning and reading skills. In middle school, much emphasis is placed on organizing skills. Students have a daily planner which the teacher tries to get them to use to keep track of what their assignments are and when they are due, upcoming quizzes and tests, permission slips due, parent teacher conferences to schedule etc.

Middle school students might try using the Alphabet Organizer to create a file drawer for each category of information that they need to track. For example, a page to track science assignments would be in the S drawer. Things like permission slips and remembering the magazine sales tasks might be entered in a calendar sheet stored in the C drawer. Students could learn that there are various ways to organize their personal information, some more useful than others.

The website www.readwritethink.org is a site devoted to improving literacy, sponsored by the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) among others. All other content areas depend on literacy, and my particular areas of interest are math and science. I can envision using one of these literacy tools to enhance science learning.

ReadWriteThink Student Materials has a Comic Creator tool. This week's lunar eclipse provided an unusually available, accessible, and still dramatic demostration of science in action. Students could be encouraged to use Comic Creator to create a report of their observations of the eclipse. Perhaps they could use one comic panel per observation, using the caption to indicate the time of the observation, and the word bubbles to describe the picture. For example the panel with the caption Wednseday, October 27, 2004 7:00 PM, could be a picture of a partially shadowed moon. The word bubble pointing to the moon might say, "The Moon is entering the umbra, the darkest part of the earth's shadow".

Entertaining and original characterizations of he moon's condition at the observation points, should be encouraged and recognized. This enables students to construct their own understanding of the underlying science, and take advantage of the learning style that is most effective for the individual student.

Today at Whitford Middle School, I mentioned the total eclipse of the moon to the science class I volunteer in. I brought copies of an article about it in Tuesday's Oregonian, and passed them out to the class. Right now, the eclipse is in progress. We are so fortunate that the sky is clear, and the eclipsed moon is clearly visible even where there are sources of light nearby (in my case the street lights in the neighborhood).

I first started watching at about 7:00 PM when the moon had risen enough to be visible above the trees. The moon was about 3/4 of the way into the umbra, the darker part of the earth's shadow. By 7:23 PM, the moon was completely in the umbra, just as the newspaper article had reported. You could set your watch by it. The moon looked as if I was viewing it through dark gray sunglasses. Checking back from time to time, as Boston was finishing off St. Louis, I observed the moon beginning to come out of the umbra at 8:44 PM. It is now 9:20 PM. At 9:53 PM, the moon will be completely out of the umbra, but will still be in the penumbra, the lighter part of the earth's shadow. At 11:02 PM the moon will be out of the penumbra, and the eclipse will be over.

I will prepare a brief write up of my observations, to compare with any observations the Whitford students have tomorrow when I see them.

Today our Ed 538 Science Methods class meeting consisted of a field trip to the Cascade Steel Rolling Mill in McMinnville. This mill makes new steel completely from scrap metal. It uses an electric arc furnace, and processes that have only been in use since the 1970’s, and substantially developed to commercial viability by around 1985. Our host and guide at Cascade Steel pointed out that the United States produces roughly the same amount of steel that it did in the late 1960’s. However, that production represents only about 10% of the world’s production compared to about 50% in the late 1960’s. Also, this same amount of steel production employed over 600,000 workers then, compared to about 150,000 today.

One characteristic of the mill I noticed was the use of large quantities of water, mainly for cooling purposes. The water is cycled (used multiple times) before it is drained away. About 200 – 300 of gallons per minute are released into the wetland adjacent to the plant. The water is first cooled to avoid environmental damage to the wetland. I agreed with our host that this seems like a small amount of water considering that the mill produces about 100 tons of steel per hour.

We observed steel wire and rod being produced. Wire of a diameter of 10mm was being produced at a rate of 18,000 feet per minute. I asked if any sheet steel was produced at this mill. This mill produces billets, huge bars of steel about 8” square. Wire and rods are made from billet steel, where sheet steel is made from steel produced in the form of slabs.

With the current high and rising cost of energy, I asked what techniques the mill was using to capture and use energy that might otherwise be wasted. With an electric bill of over $1,000,000 per month, Cascade Steel employs many devises and process methods designed to minimize energy waste. One example is that whenever possible, the rolling mill will use billet steel that is still hot from the smelter process when making wire and rods. This saves the energy that would otherwise be needed to re-heat the steel prior to processing in the rolling mill.

This field trip benefited me personally in that it broadened my knowledge of the industrial base of Oregon, which is of interest to me. It was particularly interesting to learn about this heavy industry which is not an association I typically make with Oregon. It gives a great example of what would be an exciting, and possibly even educational, experience for my future middle science classes.

On most Thursdays I visit my father at Beaverton Hills, an Assisted Living facility. About five years ago I moved my parents here to Oregon from Detroit when it had become painfully obvious to everyone but them that they were not able to take care of their home and themselves. They first lived at Rosewood Park in Hillsboro which was the only place where I could find an available two bedroom apartment in assisted living. After my mother died in February of this year, I moved my father to a one bedroom apartment at Beaverton Hills.

This facility is within walking distance of my house. In one of those plans that you somehow think will never be realized, I thought that I might make a habit of walking my dog Lizzy, to my father’s place. This has actually turned out to be a pretty good idea. The other residents love to visit with my dog as I walk her through the common areas of the facility on my way to my father’s apartment. The manager’s little mop dog, Jewel is often out and about in the common areas. Lizzy who is a Beagle has a significant size advantage over Jewel. This doesn’t happen very often, and Lizzy seems to enjoy ignoring Jewel.

Today’s visit with my father was uneventful. He went down to lunch while I was there, making it easier to go through his mail and take care of any bills. He seems to be recovering from an unexplained period of extreme weakness a few weeks ago, that had me convinced he was getting ready to make his exit. Maybe my wife is right; she calls him an immortal!?!

Today I signed up for the next three months of work at TriMet. This sign up runs from December 5, 2004 through March 5, 2005. This sign up TriMet is pilot testing 3 day weeks for the part time operators. Depending on what is available when you sign up, you have an option of 5 days at 5 to 6 hours per day or three days at 8:20 to 10:00 hours per day. All 5 day week work is Monday through Friday, and all 3 day week work is Saturday, Sunday, and one week day. This means you have a 40% chance of working Monday or Friday, and getting 4 days off in a row. I was able to get acceptable hours with a Friday, Saturday, Sunday work week. I had to switch from the Center Garage at SE 17th Avenue and Center Street in SE Portland, to the Merlo Garage on Merlo Road in Beaverton. My commuting distance will go down, but the commuting time will go up because Beaverton traffic is usually much worse than Portland. It will be interesting to see how this works out for me.