Research repository...

After Tutorial 6 I headed of to Murdoch Library and searched on the Library Website using Findit. Findit is a fast search that searches all related items in the Library Catalogue, online journal articles and newspapers. You are able to search by title, author, subject or call number and can refine your search by altering certain criteria, e.g., only search Rockingham Library.

I typed in, "How science teachers are using technology in the classroom," and refined my search to Rockingham Library.

From this search I obtained a list of suggestions and chose the book below because by reading the summary it sounded like it was what I was searching for.

I located the book easily by matching up the first set of digits of the call Call Number with the relevant shelf, then checking the following three letters, (which relate to the author's name), and lastly the year of publication, which is at the end of the call number. Unfortunately the book was not appropriate because it focused only on a general use of technology with no specific examples, however, I had been directed to the appropriate section of the library, (through Findit), and after a few minutes of browsing the shelf I located an alternative book that was more suitable.

 Hamil, A. (2006). Learning ICT with science. London, England: David Fulton Publishers.

This book is a great resource because it contains various science projects that incorporate the use of various technologies. The projects contain detailed descriptions on what age they are for, what the children will do and what they should already know, what the children will learn, what the teacher needs to know, what resources are needed, how to challenge the more able and support the less able and the purpose of teaching the project. I like the idea that this book demonstrates how activities work in "real" classrooms and it also highlights the fact that technologies that one incorporates into the learning environment do not have to be complicated and hard to use. This is demonstrated when Hamil refers to the use of Concept Cartoons, (which are used to apply a scientific concept to an everyday situation), to challenge ideas and promote scientific discussions in order to gain a better understanding. Concept cartoons can be created by using a Word document and inserting images and speech captions or by using a more sophisticated application such as Comic Life.

As a future teacher I would have this resource in my classroom to refer to because the projects suggested are great ways of starting to incorporate technology into the classroom. Once the teacher becomes familiar with the technology they can then design their own projects using the same concepts.

An example of a Concept Cartoon.

Click on the image to go to the Website that the image was taken from.

Findit is a fantastic research repository because it is easy to use, fast and effective.

Now that I have located my resource I am going to focus on creating another page for Task 2 to add to my existing website.