Tools/Visualisation: Difference between revisions

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(Created page with "== Explain ideas using {{tag|animation}} == It is hard to imagine a really piece of communication that does not benefit from graphics. Numerous tools allow students to draw, p...")
 
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One side point is that you will find the terms ‘{{tag|models}}’ and ‘{{tag|simulations}}’ used with varying amounts of accuracy. Each term refers to a distinct type of experience although the distinction is blurred in practice. A model and a simulation of say, animated solids, liquids and gases can look very much the same on screen. The simulation allows you to explore but the model allows you explore more. To qualify as a model of kinetic theory, it needs to let you inside it to play with assumptions it uses to work.  
One side point is that you will find the terms ‘{{tag|models}}’ and ‘{{tag|simulations}}’ used with varying amounts of accuracy. Each term refers to a distinct type of experience although the distinction is blurred in practice. A model and a simulation of say, animated solids, liquids and gases can look very much the same on screen. The simulation allows you to explore but the model allows you explore more. To qualify as a model of kinetic theory, it needs to let you inside it to play with assumptions it uses to work.  


But how do you imagine that {{tag|animation}} might be used for teaching? Do you imagine that the teacher discusses the animation on the {{tag|whiteboard}}? Would it always be better that students use it for themselves? If so how would you structure that activity? Is there a space for students to makes their own animations? And does it always follow that learning with animation should entail some kind of {{tag|inquiry}} learning?  
But how do you imagine that {{tag|animation}} might be used for teaching? Do you imagine that the teacher discusses the animation on the {{tag|whiteboard}}? Would it always be better that students use it for themselves? If so how would you structure that activity? Is there a space for students to makes their own animations? And does it always follow that learning with animation should entail some kind of {{tag|inquiry}} learning?
 
== Modelling with a spreadsheet ==
An interesting feature of a {{tag|spreadsheet}} is its potential for teaching about ‘{{tag|modelling}}’. If you had information about the gravity force on celestial bodies, you could get the spreadsheet to work out how much you would weigh on each of them. This 'spreadsheet' could then be called a mathematical model: it provides an alternative to actually going to the moon to weigh yourself.
 
You can use a spreadsheet to build models as complicated as you wish. You can model the gas laws, chemical equilibrium and the Hardy-Weinberg distribution law. Nearby [IT in Secondary Science] is a model to show which methods of home insulation are cost effective. One could, for example, adapt this to compare solar panels and other home energy solutions.
 
Modelling offers a way to examine a hypothesis that arises at some point in your workscheme. Here are a few ideas that have been tried
* Use a spreadsheet to examine braking distances of a car under wet and dry conditions. Experiment with a model of the use electricity in the home.
* Experiment with a model showing your daily requirements for energy.
* Use a spreadsheet to model heat loss from the home. Use it to find the most cost-effective methods of home insulation.

Revision as of 22:06, 6 September 2012

Explain ideas using animation(i)

It is hard to imagine a really piece of communication that does not benefit from graphics. Numerous tools allow students to draw, photograph, and make video and animation. (SCRATCH; POWERPOINT). Some, if not many learners, adapt well to working with visuals and thus teachers can exploit this. For example

  • Make a step-by-step visual guide(i) to an experiment
  • Make a puzzle where you must put a series of steps in the right order
  • Animate(i) a story to explain what happens in photosynthesis
  • Animate(i) the orbit of the earth to explain the phases of the moon or the reasons for seasons.
  • Make a timelapse(i) movie of a plant growing towards the light
  • Write a dialogue(i) where animated(i) characters discuss(i) two sides of an environmental issue

Animation(i), models(i) and simulations(i)

Many science ideas are perhaps best experienced and animation(i) offers a way towards providing some experience. An Internet search easily finds free and commercial simulations of popular topics such as the heart cycle or kinetic theory. You may even have skills with animation tools (Adobe Edge; Sketch; PowerPoint; whiteboard(i) software) that allows you to create an animation for a teaching need.

One side point is that you will find the terms ‘models(i)’ and ‘simulations(i)’ used with varying amounts of accuracy. Each term refers to a distinct type of experience although the distinction is blurred in practice. A model and a simulation of say, animated solids, liquids and gases can look very much the same on screen. The simulation allows you to explore but the model allows you explore more. To qualify as a model of kinetic theory, it needs to let you inside it to play with assumptions it uses to work.

But how do you imagine that animation(i) might be used for teaching? Do you imagine that the teacher discusses the animation on the whiteboard(i)? Would it always be better that students use it for themselves? If so how would you structure that activity? Is there a space for students to makes their own animations? And does it always follow that learning with animation should entail some kind of inquiry(i) learning?

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