Crushing Barriers

Think about the barriers that you listed. As a leader, what can you do to help overcome these barriers? What resources can you tap into that can help you overcome these barriers? Include any websites, blogs, videos, etc. that you find with solutions or suggestions for overcoming or minimizing these barriers.

Even though science is primarily a hands-on subject, there are some great online lab activities, dissections and video tutorials that may not replace the hands-on experience but can reinforce it.  For example, http://www.cellsalive.com/mitosis.htm has animations to demonstrate both mitosis and meiosis as well as other science subjects. I think another great resources that will become available soon is the digital resources we will be receiving from the new textbooks. I have also found that pinterest has great resources for online activities as well as hands-on (http://www.pinterest.com/pin/129830401730347503/).

For overcoming the network crashing barrier, i think having back-up videos downloaded onto my laptop could help with those unforeseen internet glitches. Bozeman science on Youtube has excellent videos (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGVBAHAsjJM). I think also using google sites (https://sites.google.com/site/cisdtechacademy/course-overview/teks-vs-21st-century-skills) will help with internet-student-use glitches like them not typing in the address correct or they are taking 5 minutes to type in an address. I really like how in our tech academy you can add links so it directly takes you to where ever you are expected to go. Plus it opens in a new tab so that you can always refer back to the google site for reference. This will also help with those students who are not technology savvy compared to their counterparts. You can add videos, quizzes, and other web 2.0 apps as needed.

I think this will also aid in overcoming the issue of a student forgetting their netbook or the serving being down at that moment in school. The students can access it from home or even from their smartphone. Another immediate solution to a student forgetting their netbook is they can watch another student do the activites on the netbook and do it at home. This also exposes the student to the material twice, watching someone else do it and having them do it themselves.

Many of these issues with infusing technology can be overcome with some forethought and planning.