Blog #2

Students use their science knowledge and skills to create a weather blog. One of the teachers discussed, “Although this allowed students to "do" science, we wanted to enhance student interest and create purpose for their learning. We came up with a great idea—allowing students to create their own weather forecasts and present them to their classmates on a blog.” The students were taught how to use the software and the headset to record their forecast. They were also shown how to maximize the quality of their video by maintaining an appropriate position in front of the camera and speaking clearly. Students were then instructed in how to play back their video and rerecord as necessary. Finally, they were shown how to save their file. In their case, the teacher needed to do the file uploading because he had higher-level access to the blog to create/edit posts, whereas the students only had the ability to post comments. I think this is a great way to integrate technology into the classroom at an early age.

Evans, K., & Frazier, W. (2010). Blogging About the Weather. Science and Children, 47(8), 24-28. Retrieved November 21, 2010

Blog #1

I am interested in topics that focus upon technology in education and science/engineering education. The annotated bibliography reviews some research studies in peer-reviewed journal articles that I found interesting.

The purpose of this quantitative research was to determine the factors that influence a student’s decision concerning a CIS major by conducting a survey of students enrolled in freshman level introductory computer courses. The researchers conducted the research by surveying incoming students to determine factors that dissuaded or encouraged them to major in CIS. The questionnaire also examines their awareness of computer careers and the factors that influenced their choice of a computer related major or non-computer related major. Sadly, there has been a lot of research lately showing a declining interest in Computer Information Systems (CIS) as a university major. To take this study to the next level, they could have documented reasons why students are not choosing to major in CIS/MIS. This directly affects me because I was actually debating the CIS major vs. CS major. In the end I choose to do a dual major in Mathematics and Computer Science, but I do feel like CIS has several benefits in the work force.

Lomerson, W.L., & Pollacia, L. (2006). Cis enrollment decline: Examining pre-college factors. Proceedings of the 2006 Southern Association for Information Systems Conference, 93-103.

About Me:

Hi everyone, my name is Amy Shukla. I currently live in Villa Park, CA which is about 10 minutes from Chapman Orange. I have recently completed my Dual Bachelors in Math and Computer Science, and I am currently working on my Masters in Education with an emphasis in Instructional Technology. I plan on teaching either mathematics or computer technology courses. Four years ago I co-founded a Website Development Company, Businesses AtoZ, I tutor math to a couple high school students, as well as work in the IT department at the Corporate Office of Carl’s Jr.