TechyTeach660

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Mosa Mack

I had never heard of this program before beginning my research on STEM technology tools for an elementary classroom. I wanted to find a resource to complete experiments or labs virtually incase a school/classroom needed to be conducted virtually or for if a student was absent during a lesson, this could provide resources for them to catch up on the work they missed. 

The program is a paid program, but does offer a trial version with one unit, and the teacher gets to pick which unit they would like for their trial. It provides the whole unit with the trial; to get any additional units, the paid version is required and would be between $5.50-$11.00 per student. The paid version comes with a multitude of features such as songs, graphic organizers, hands-on activities and much, much more. The free version includes animated mysteries and that is it. The animated mysteries could serve as an introduction activity to begin a lesson. 

This would be a great resource to have in schools that do not have a textbook aligned with their science curriculum. During my student teaching semester, the school I was placed in did not use a textbook with their science curriculum, so the students did not have much to refer back to without searching back through Google Classroom to find the Nearpod links and codes for each individual lesson. With Mosa Mack, the students can look back at previous assignments that they had completed simply by logging in to their account which would allow them to study for a quiz or do research for an assignment. The lessons also provide teachers with common misconception on the subject which can help newer teachers, such as myself, when preparing for a lesson. We all have a few misconceptions about science material that we may not even be aware of, so this is a great addition to this website!

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Khan Academy

I had used Khan Academy in the past for help with my own homework when I was in high school, but I never knew about all the options and features available on the free website such as being able to create a class and assign work to students through it. 

The only hang ups that I could identify with this resource was that the lessons are pre-created and cannot be altered to differentiate learning anymore than assigning different lessons to each student based on their level. All of the lessons are also created based on Common Core standards, so if i school is not utilizing those standards for their math curriculum, then the teacher would need to check through each lesson in order to be sure the students are ready for all of the concepts discussed within the lesson.  

I think this is a great resource for teacher to utilize for enrichment activities. If a student needs additional practice with a certain concept, then the lessons could be assigned through Khan Academy to provide further practice and understanding. This could also be used for students who have already completed the daily work assignments and need more to stimulate them, such as gifted students. The program provides detailed reports for each students enrolled in the class about how quickly and reliably they were able to work through lessons so the teacher would be able to see where students may be struggling or could use teacher intervention. There are also quizzes available at the end of each lesson, that could be used in place of a paper quiz/test if a teacher preferred to have them electronically. If students all have access to technology at home, then these lessons/quizzes could be assigned for homework as well. 

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Hero Elementary: Family Game

I had never heard of this app prior to my research. I wanted to find a science based tool/game that could be used on a mobile device and came upon this animal trait multiplayer game. 

The app is slightly confusing at first because there are no directions as to how to use the app. Each game begins by introducing “Fur Blur” which is the main character, and the students need to use traits given to find a friend for Fur Blur. The traits are listed in the introduction, but when the game begins, there are just icons for each trait which can be confusing. The help with this, a teacher could create signs/posters with each of the icons and what they mean (sleeps at night, has fur, eats meat, etc.) for students to refer to when beginning to use the app. 

When using this app, it would be a good idea for students to have a sheet of paper to record each trait that they are looking for in the animal sidekick so that they can refer back to it during the game. After an animal has been identified as Fur Blur’s sidekick by matching the given traits, then the animal is added to the collection section on the app where students can refer back to the traits of each animal. There are 60 different animals that can appear in the game. There is also a “Create” section where students can take a photo of a real animal or one in a book, and input the known traits of that animal into the app. This could be useful in a lesson where students need to create their own unique animal!

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XtraMath - Math Fact Fluency

I have seen this XtraMath program in use during my student teaching semester, but my cooperating teacher had the log in so I did not have the opportunity to explore all of the various features that this program has to offer. After exploring the website on my own, I believe  that my cooperating teacher had the paid version due to the customization she used with the math facts. 

The program offers a free version, as well as various paid options that provide more features than the free version. Both versions allow for students to continuously practice their math facts, but with the free version, students need to work their way up from addition, to subtraction, then multiplication, and finally division. The teacher portal allows for teachers to track the progress of their students and to see how long it took each student to reach mastery of each operation with start dates and finish dates, but it does not show how often each student utilizes the program each day. The free version also does not come with the option to use the printable additional practice sheets or various coloring sheets that the paid versions come with.

I am very happy that I found the free version of this program because I think it was very useful when I was student teaching because it allowed for students to practice their facts, but also gave students a little nudge in the right direction when they were taking longer to answer the operation. The results page also shows a breakdown of the results such as: answering reliably and quickly, answering reliably but not quickly, and not yet reliably answered. This can help any teachers using this program to know which facts or group of facts that students may need additional help/practice with.

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This was another brand new tool that I discovered in my research. Many math game websites that I have found have games that are very loosely related to the concepts being targeted in the games. This website offers targeted  math learning games that are correlated to a grade level and some can be modified to increase difficulty. 

Some of the games featured on this website are only links to iOS apps or Google Play apps so they can only be accessed by using a device with the ability to download the app. The options for games are also somewhat limited with only four to eight games available for each grade level ranging from kindergarten to fifth grade. The games are also all links to other websites, which could lead to distractions if students were to travel to other parts of the linked websites. 

I like this website because it narrows down the games from various other websites into more specific grade levels and subject matter. All of these games can be found on other educational websites but those websites also contain many games that are very loosely educational and that can be tedious for a teacher to look through to find an effective math practice game. The website also has other sections that include hands-on grade-level activities that can be used in addition to the games that are highlighted.

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The Concord Consortium: STEM Resource Finder

I only discovered this program when researching for this artifact. During my research, I thought about virtual experiments for when materials are not readily available or would be unsafe to use in a classroom. Many of the websites I found required a subscription or teacher account, except for this one. Due to it being free to use, I was expecting very minimal features but there were loads of different lessons and activities that could be filtered by subjects within science and grade level. 

Although the lessons are sorted into grade levels, many of the lessons would be offered for kindergarten to sixth grade and seventh to eighth, without an option to modify the assignments for the desired grade level. The teacher account does have the option to preview each activity, so teachers can pick and choose which to assign that would be appropriate for the class. When I was further exploring the lessons, many of them were very long and would take up the entirety of a science lesson block in elementary school which would not always be developmentally appropriate, but could be useful during virtual learning if other technology (Google Meet, Zoom, etc.) malfunction and cause student-teacher interaction to not be possible.

The lessons in this program could serve as enrichment activities or homework assignments. The lessons within this program could also help teachers come up with ideas for planning in-person lessons if they are not familiar with a topic and need a starting point. Some of the activities include printable versions that could be used in class and then finished online for homework if a student does not finish during the allotted class time. This program allows teachers to create a class, add students, assign work, and provide feedback all entirely through the free website. The NGSS Pathfinder feature on the website will be helpful for a new teacher like myself to ensure that my lessons align with the required standards.

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‎Animal 4D+

‎Updates: - Multi languages: English, Spanish, Turkish, Japanese, Bahasa, Mandarin, Korean, French, Ukrainian, Russian - Holographic Mode -

When I was in classes for my undergraduate degree, one of my professors briefly introduced this to us. We had to download an app called Animal 4D and then he gave each of us a flashcard with a photo of an animal on it. We then had to use the camera within the Animal 4D app to look at the flashcard through. All of a sudden, the whale on my card came to life on my phone! It was at the end of class, so we did not have very much time to explore but I have kept the app on my phone since then because I knew I wanted to use it in my future classroom. 

The app is free to download but the flashcards need to be bought separately. These cards can also only be used on mobile devices and not computers/laptops and not all schools have a class set of tablets for students for each class. When I was researching this app and program more, I discovered that there are several more of the 4D+ apps available with different topics such as the ocean, space, history of aircraft, and more. Unfortunately, the company that creates the flashcards does not distribute in the United States but some of the sets are available on Amazon. 

Although it may be difficult, I would like to try to get as many of the versions of these flashcards as possible because I think there are amazing learning opportunities that can result from these apps. Being able to see dinosaurs pop up and move around when learning about fossils can really show the students that what they see as bones in a museum, were real creatures in the past. When having multiple cards shown at the same time, it can help students to see the differences in size between animals or create an engaging group work activity comparing and contrasting the planets with the space cards. After finding out that this company does not distribute in the United States, it leaves me wondering if myself or a school district could reach out to the company directly to inquire about purchasing the sets that are not available here.

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Toy Theater: Digital Math Manipulatives

I have never heard of this website prior to starting my research into technology within elementary math classrooms. Manipulatives are an integral part of early mathematics education, but not every class will have the resources available, or have enough for every student in the room. This led me to looking into a digital resource that could be accessed for free online.  I have seen many forms of manipulatives, but I was shocked at all the different manipulatives offered on this site such as fraction strips, an abacus, different forms of counters, international money, and many, many more. 

This website also offers various educational games and multiple different subjects with digital tools; this may lead to distractions for the students. One way to combat this potential problem is the “Full Screen” option when opening each digital manipulative. While this site offers money manipulatives from multiple countries, it does not show what the actual coin/bill looks like aside form the color of it. This is okay when using the manipulatives to figure out total amounts, but it does not help students become familiar with the actual appearance of the money. Not all of the manipulatives offered on the site have directions for students as to how to use them so teachers will need to demonstrate and explain how to use these ones as they introduce them. 

I plan to work at an inner-city public school when I finish my education, so this website would be a great asset if we do not have enough of the proper manipulatives for all the students in the class. This website can also be used as a demonstration for how to use a manipulative if a classroom does not have a document camera to project a video using the manipulative. This can also be used by students at home (when tech. is accessible) when competing homework if they do not have a real set to use at home. After viewing all the manipulatives on this website, it opened my eyes to all the different manipulatives out there, real and digital, and this site gives me the opportunity to use some of them before investing in class sets.

Teacher Tools » Toy Theater | Learn • Create • Play

A collection of interactive manipulatives and assessment tools to illustrate and assess basic math concepts: addition, subtraction, multipli

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Professional Development Artifact Overview

My name is Ashley Mahon, and I am in the process of completing a professional development artifact about technology in science and math classrooms. I am completing a digital learning journey highlighting these tools through this tumblr account for my own use and anyone else who may be interested!

I am currently employed at a childcare center through Slippery Rock University, so it is difficult for me to gain access to some technology resources that require a teacher’s email or district code because I use my SRU email for work. I am the lead teacher of the school-age program and we have nine Chromebooks that kids can use during center time. I have struggled to find activities for them to do on the Chromebooks because I want them to be doing something educational to an extent because they have enough free screen time on their personal devices. I think many people may overlook the educational value of technology used by children and only see them as gaming/entertainment devices but there are so many more uses for technology, and I am hoping to find out as much as I can.

I plan to use this professional development to find math and science technology tools that can be accessed without a subscription or teacher account. I want to do this so that I can use these tools with the kids at the childcare center or in future schools that I may work in, and the students can all use them at home as well if they are free and accessible to them. I feel that if I learn more about available technology to use in classrooms, then I will be more likely to implement these tools in my own classroom in the future. I could also share this artifact with other educators so they can see my journey through these technological devices, and hopefully begin to use the tools in their classrooms as well, if they are not already.

My main decision on the tools that I am including within my artifact is the cost and availability to the public. There are many, many free resources that could be shared with students as practice work or further enrichment. These tools can also be used to differentiate students’ learning by utilizing specific games or websites that are geared to their level of learning. This can also help to involve parents more in their child’s educational experience. I had a student during student teaching that would ask his mom to play against him in a math game online that he used in class, and I thought it was awesome that he wanted to continue with the game, even though it was primarily educational!