Excel 2

Using the same data as the previous Excel blog, we were asked to look at a research question.

Used NCES site and looked at the state comparisons to assess where we are in terms of the national educational landscape. 

Research Question: What factor, if any, does gender play in 8th grade math performance?
Hypothesis: There is a difference between the male and female scores.
Hypothesis: There is no difference. (null hypothesis)

For this particular question we will be looking at the following information:

categorical independent variable is gender male/female.

continuous dependent variable is NAEP 2011 8th Grade state math averages.

We know the averages and standard deviations from our descriptive statistics. Now we need to know whether to accept or reject the null hypothesis.  We can use a  t-test & then Look at the 2 tail p value and make a decision.  The picture below is a Jing image of the t-test I carried out for the given data.
 

As you can see by the t-chart, which gives you an average as well as p values (which we needed), there isn’t a difference between male and female scores.  To break that down I highlighted the p values.  On the right side, NSD stands for no significant difference because our p value is greater than 0.05.  Either test gives the same result, even the two tail is greater than 0.05, so there is no significant difference and thus we must accept the null hypothesis.  There is no difference between the male or female scores. 

 ISTE NETS T - Standard 1 & 2- During this activity, students are expected to complete an assignment using digital tools (Jing), technology system (Excel) and media. Students are expected to be active in their own learning and understanding of the content. Digital communication aides in the advancement of resources and support. This activity is a great summative assessment due to the nature of the outcomes. The scatter plot offers some sort of data that should be relevant to the assignment.

Excel 1

Used NCES site and looked at the state comparisons to assess where we are in terms of the national educational landscape.

Sort the scores Ascending / Total Score.

Compute the descriptive statistics for the total score column.

West Virginia is fairly low when it comes to comparing National Center for Education Statistics National Assessment of Educational Progress 8^th grade math scale scores to other states.  There are merely 5 states below West Virginia, leaving the remaining 57 states included in this study above West Virginia.  By looking at the scatterplot above, you can see that West Virginia isn’t close to average; we are actually below it by quite a bit. 


 

 ISTE NETS T - Standard 1 & 2- During this activity, students are expected to complete an assignment using digital tools (Jing), technology system (Excel) and media. Students are expected to be active in their own learning and understanding of the content. Digital communication aides in the advancement of resources and support. This activity is a great summative assessment due to the nature of the outcomes. The scatter plot offers some sort of data that should be relevant to the assignment.

Jeopardy

For this assignment we were to create a Jeopardy game to use in our current or future classrooms.  (Hum Jeopardy theme song to yourself, in your head, as you read this.) I made a somewhat, universal one that would help review for tests like the ACT or in an Algebra or Algebra 2 class after going over a unit on solving equations. 

I got my material from the Pearson, Prentice Hall, Algebra book that was used at Morgantown High School (Morgantown West Virginia) last year for their Algebra classes. 

     The game comes from Chapter 2 – Solving Equations.  The sub categories are

1. Solving One-Step Equations,

2. Solving Two-Step Equations,

3. Solving Multi-Step Equations,

4. Solving Equations with Variables on Both Sides, and

5. Solving Word Problems by Setting up and Solving One- Step, Two-Step, Multi-Step,  

    and Variables on Both Sides Equations

Click to PLAY     --- or ---    Click to EDIT  

(I can go back to this website(with password) and edit later if I want to tweak)

My questions and answers aren’t quite in Jeopardy form where the answer is given and you have to give the question, because in math that would be a whole other game.  If I said x=5, what is the question, you could give me all kinds of questions that x=5 would be the solution to.  So, I switched it up. Problem to solve: solution & work given when clicked.  It is still played the same way, with teams, and various point levels.

I included the work written out with the answers.  Also, the categories go from 100 being easier problems of that sort to 500 being the harder problems of that sort.  The categories progressively get a little more difficult also.  I mixed in decimals, fractions, distribution, money, and commutative property.

I used html in the building of this Jeopardy game (take out *’s for the html codes to work),

·         to make certain text italicized <*em >text you want italicized here<*/em >,

·         underlined <*ins >text you want underlined here<*/ins >,

·         and even for <*b  />

line          <*b  />  

breaks,    <*b  />  (got to put those at the end of the line to break that way)

so that it looks neat & tidy.

I enjoyed this assignment.  We have been learning about “The Play Years” in EDUC 6302 – Human Growth & Development, and I believe that play is very important to incorporate into curriculum & what better way to get excited about math then playing a good ol’ game of Jeopardy!!

 ISTE NETS T - Standard 2. Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments
After making this review game based on mathematical practice, students are engaging in a teacher designed learning experience. This review could be based on summative or formative assessments. This type of assessment can be customized for the individual students through a creative digital tool.

Jing Video

I used "Jing" to capture a video of How to Set up a Second Blog Attached to an Already Existing Blogspot Blog Account.   I choose to do something fairly simple for anyone who already has a blogspot account, but it shows that I know how to use "Jing" to create a "Jing video."  I had to have two blogs – one for this class and one for observing as a FSU Teacher Candidate.  So, I figured why not teach others in case they, too, have to have two blogs.

With "Jing" video you can create a digital movie without a digital camera.  By clicking on the first prong of the sun you can determine what part of your screen you would like to capture and you can choose the video option instead of the picture option.  (The other two prongs on the sun are for your "Jing" history and “More”-which is where you can find out more about "Jing" and your settings. Once you have captured the video that you were trying to capture you can either save it to your computer or you can share it to screencast.com and it will become a URL.  It can also be found later in your "Jing" history where you can save or share it again later.  The address to your screen capture, if saved, on your computer where be where ever you saved it and whatever you titled it with a “.swf” (shockwave flash object) as its file type.

 ISTE NETS T - Standard 1.  Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity.  By using the "Jing" video feature to teach students, colleges, and/or parents how to complete a task, we are using knowledge of a subject matter to enhance and use technology. We are offering support by implementing and step-by-step process that could be used in a real world setting.

Personality – Blog Post #2

I took the personality test  and it turns out that I must be an ENTJ just as I predicted myself to be, because this test gave me that result as well.

I was correct when guessing my personality type.  It seems as though I am slightly intuitive where I would have guessed that it would have been a bit stronger of a trait.  But, alas, ENTJ through and through.  The various descriptions said that, being an ENTJ, I am a leader and like to gain and share knowledge.  I am also a strong organizer and planner.  I could work on my introvertedness a touch in order to understand myself more and thus be more emotionally connected to others. 

I feel as though the description of an ENTJ is very closely related to what most would describe a teacher as. In a situation where I am working with a group of students, teachers, or principles, I should jump at the opportunity to communicate visions and goals of others to them.  I should also be the one to organize and coordinate when working in a group setting, as my natural instincts are ordering priorities, systematizing, generalizing, summarizing, and marshalling.

Different roles are important in different circumstances. Teams should be analyzed both in terms of what team skills are most needed, and also in relation to what team roles members can play.  The interaction between the different personalities of individuals can be a frequent source of friction, despite having well defined roles within a team. However, this can largely be avoided by understanding and valuing people’s differences. The Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is a powerful aid to both team and personal development by providing a well-researched framework for understanding these differences.

 ISTE NETS T - Standard 2c.  Design & Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences & Assessments.  Customize and personalize learning activities to address students' diverse learning styles, working strategies, and abilities using digital tools and resources.

Personality – Blog Post #1

I started this assignment by Reading this.  By deciding on my preference in each of the four categories I proclaim to be an ENTJ which means:

ENTJ – Extraversion, Intuition, Thinking, Judging Frank, decisive, assume leadership readily. Quickly see illogical and inefficient procedures and policies, develop and implement comprehensive systems to solve organizational problems. Enjoy long-term planning and goal setting. Usually well informed, well read. Enjoy expanding their knowledge and passing it on to others. Forceful in presenting their ideas.

I am definitely an ENTJ.  I am very decisive and frank, however, I don’t tend to assume leadership among peers – rather among students I am teaching.  I do feel that I see illogical and inefficient procedures and policies quickly and find myself developing plans and organization to correct those problems.  I love helping people organize themselves and can’t stand an unorganized office, desk, room, etc.  I am 110% a long-term planner and goal setter.  With my past running experiences and my future teaching experiences, planning and goal setting were and are very necessary.   I consider myself to be well read and informed and I do enjoy sharing what I know with others.  I love learning, whether it be me or someone else learning from me – hence the desire to be a teacher.  The description of an ENTJ basically fits me perfectly.

The other website, Keirsey.com, labeled me as a Field Marshal:

Hardly more than two percent of the total population, Fieldmarshals are bound to lead others, and from an early age they can be observed taking command of groups. In some cases, they simply find themselves in charge of groups, and are mystified as to how this happened. But the reason is that they have a strong natural urge to give structure and direction wherever they are - to harness people in the field and to direct them to achieve distant goals. They resemble Supervisors in their tendency to establish plans for a task, enterprise, or organization, but Fieldmarshals search more for policy and goals than for regulations and procedures.

They cannot not build organizations, and cannot not push to implement their goals. When in charge of an organization, whether in the military, business, education, or government, Fieldmarshals more than any other type desire (and generally have the ability) to visualize where the organization is going, and they seem able to communicate that vision to others. Their organizational and coordinating skills tends to be highly developed, which means that they are likely to be good at systematizing, ordering priorities, generalizing, summarizing, marshaling evidence, and at demonstrating their ideas. Their ability to organize, however, may be more highly developed than their ability to analyze.

Again, I feel that this label is describing me to a T.  Thus, I deem myself an ENTJ - Field Marshal, wonder what taking a personality test would tell me?

ISTE NETS T – Standard: see Personality Blog Post #2.

Jing Image

I began this assignment by downloading and installing Jing & then watching a video explaining how Jing works.

I then created a graphic that I believe I could use in my teaching:

This graphic could be used when teaching synthetic division to Algebra 2 students in high school.  It shows two ways to find the same thing.  It could be introduced, discusses, then left up on a “smart board” as an example as students work on similar problems.

Jing is a pretty neat program that can do a lot of things.  Using Jing I can create visual instructional materials that combine text, graphics, and images.  Jing outputs “.png” type files that you can save to any folder on your computer by clicking the save button after you have completed working on your capture.  You can access your Jing history by clicking the history button on the sun, right next to the capture button.  If you screen cast an item in your history, then it shows up as a new item in your history and will create a screen cast link.   To import Jing objects into a blogger post, you simply have to paste the link that Jing automatically put on your clipboard or you can import an image and select it from a saved file on your computer.  You publish your artifact by clicking share and a link is created on screencast.com.  You can share your artifact by creating that link by clicking share and then pasting it wherever you need.

 ISTE NETS T - Standard 3c. Model Digital-Age Work & Learning. Communicate relevant information and ideas effectively to students, parents, and peers using a variety of digital-age media and formats. 

Word Clouds

I used  Wordle to create my word clouds on the NETS-T standards evolution.

 How have NETS-T standards evolved from 2000 to 2008? Well, here are the word clouds:

 WORD CLOUD – NETS T 2000

WORD CLOUD – NETS T 2008

By visually examining the word clouds I made, I can summarize my take on the direction that the NETS-T have taken in their most recent refresh without even reading a word of either set of standards text.  It appears that in 2000 a lot of focus was put on technology where as in the 2008 cloud I see words that expand on technology, such as digital.  As technology is advancing the standards must also advance, so instead of being vague and simply saying technology, the standards must expand.  In 2008 the focus seems to be on learning, and some of the other main words are tools, resources, model, and professional.  Some of these words aren’t even in the 2000 cloud. 

ISTE NETS T - Standard 1a, 1c, 2c 3c, 3d, 5a, 5c, and 5d. Promoted and modeled creative and innovative thinking, learned about a technology that promotes student reflection, learned how to customize and personalize learning activities, communicated relevant information in a digital format, modeled information using digital-age media and formats, participated in a learning community, evaluated and reflected on current professional practice to make effective use of existing digital tools, as well as engage in professional growth.

Millennials

Millennials are the American teens and twenty-somethings who are making the passage into adulthood at the start of a new millennium.

Here is a millennial survey that I took to determine my millennial score.  According to the survey - my millennial score is 98.

Having such a high millennial score is good for my future students, as many of my students will most likely also have high millennial scores.  Computer, communication, and information technology are just getting more and more useful and valued.  Being able to teach my students how to use these things to their best ability will be helpful to their future.

Frand gives ten attributes of the “information-age mindset.” The first four relate to broad observations of change, three address how people do things, and the last three are subliminal needs conditioned by the cyber age.

1.    Computers Aren’t Technology - Technology, to the information-age generation, is everything that surrounds computers and is made possible by computers but only incidentally the computers themselves. Young people naturally gravitate to these kinds of interactive, input/output devices. They make the devices work without a manual, without the instruction set, as if the device is hardwired into their psyche.

·          Seeing as how I completed this entire assignment on my brand new IPAD2, that I just had to have as soon as I could afford it, I would say that computers aren't technology to me.  I have had a computer all of my life, as far back as I can remember.  I have always been a whiz at computers and the Internet - as if my mind was programmed to be able to do technological things.

2.    Internet Better Than TV - During 1998, for the first time since television was introduced fifty years ago, the number of hours young people spent watching TV decreased. This time was transferred to the computer, with its Internet connectivity. 

·         I do spend lots of time on the Internet.  I even watch TV shows and movies on the Internet instead of a TV most of the time.  When I do watch TV it is "TiVo" TV so that I can watch what I want when it is convenient.

3.    Reality No Longer Real - We have entered a period of such advanced data-manipulation capability that photography can no longer be trusted.

·          I understand that not all things you see and hear a real.  That's not to say I haven't fallen for an "unreal" email a time or two, it happens.  It is extremely easy for people to create fake identities and such with the various social networks or email.

4.    Doing Rather Than Knowing - Today we live in a world in which digital technologies have altered time and space so that events occur in real time, effects are immediate, and reaction times are cut short. In many disciplines, the half-life of information is measured in months and years.  From this perspective, what a person can do is more important than what degree they obtained.  The ability to deal with complex and often ambiguous information will be more important than simply knowing a lot of facts or having an accumulation of knowledge.

·          I feel as though I know a good bit of information.  I have a hi school diploma, a bachelor’s degree, and am working on a master’s degree, however, what is more important to my future is knowing how and where to find various knowledge.  I agree with the fact that It is more important to do than it is to know.

5.    Nintendo over Logic - The key to winning in Nintendo is constant, persistent trial-and-error to discover the hidden doors. The fastest way to winning is through losing, since each loss is a learning experience.  It’s no wonder manuals or instruction sets aren’t used by today’s students—they aren’t needed. When handed a digital gadget, these students turn it on, push the buttons, and try the knobs.  A balance is needed between didactic and discovery approaches. 

·         I believe that I have a bit of a balance between the two even though I typically lean more towards discovery and trial and error first.  I work with trial and error until it doesn't work, then I go to the manual or instructions.

6.    Multitasking Way of Life - Many young people today are accustomed to watching TV, talking on the phone, doing homework, eating, and interacting with their parents all at the same time. They don’t concentrate on one activity at a time. 

·         I am 125% guilty of multitasking to the extent that I am not paying enough attention to one activity in particular.  I can do homework, laundry, text, Skype, eat, and wash the dishes all at the same time, well maybe not, but I can definitely do many things at once and definitely do all the time.

7.    Typing Rather Than Handwriting - The hundreds of hours previous generations spent practicing penmanship were spent by my generation as well as those younger than me, at the keyboard. And maybe even more important, typed prose is always easy to read, even weeks after being typed; it can be checked for spelling errors, searched for key words, retrieved after filing, and easily manipulated for reuse. 

·         I love writing handwritten things, like lecture notes, homework, and personal letters and cards, but it seems, in this day in age that typing is the way to go.  With all of its benefits like spell check and being able to manipulate it for reuse.  I type pretty much everything now, especially since all of my education classes are online.

8.    Staying Connected - Advanced telecommunication connectivity is a natural part of living for information-age students. Beepers, cell phones, and PDAs are standard operating equipment. The idea of not being in touch anyplace, anytime—even in the middle of a classroom or a movie theater—is unthinkable. 

·          I am constantly attached to my cell phone and now my ipad2.  I text 24 hours a day and make cell phone calls as well as Skype & Face Time calls.  I am always connected and feel lost when I am not.

9.    Zero Tolerance for Delays - It is human nature to want the immediate gratification of our desires, not just physical but informational as well.  Having grown up with automatic teller machines, information-age students expect banking services 24/7.  Voice mail and e-mail are more efficient and less formal, which implies “I want a quick response.” On the other hand, they create time-expansion capabilities. We can store and retrieve messages until we’re ready to reply, which also implies “at your convenience.” 

·         I am definitely impatient when it comes to most things.  With emails, texting, and messaging systems like AIM and Skype, I have learned that if I want a quick response, which type of messaging I can use.  Delays just aggravate me.  If I have to wait for information I usually try my hardest to try to work around whatever I am waiting on and find another source for it. 

10.  Consumer/Creator Blurring - In today’s parlance, there is no distinction between the owner, the creator, and the user of information. 

·         We are asked to use others work to complete various assignments for college.  We, however, must cite where they came from so that we are not stealing someone's knowledge and works.  I understand the blur.  Both as a student and as a teacher, it is something we must watch out for so to ensure that plagiarism isn't occurring.

I am a Millennial of the information-age.  I believe it is important to be up-to-date when it comes to technology and information.  I think that seems to be what people are striving for, to be more tech savvy.  The lack of an information age mind set could spell doom for us.  If teachers continue to teach in the same way that they have always taught, there will be little value added from classroom and campus networks.  Until the nature of the educational relationships change in the classroom and at the institutional level, we will not realize the full value of the computer, communication, and information technology investments that we are making today. We need to think in terms of transforming the educational experience so that it is meaningful to the information-age learner.

I had my mom take the test to see how her scores vary.  Birthdate speaking, I am a "Millennial" and she is a "Baby Boomer."  Before quizzing though, I would rank her more as a "Generation X.". Once she took the quiz she got - a 47, which is exactly what I thought. 

Although she is age-wise grouped into “Baby Boomer” the quiz deemed her “Generation X.”  I think this is because she has two kids who are Millennial and is trying to keep up.

While I was quizzing my mother, a cow-worker of hers came in and we quizzed him to, for fun.  His name is Randy and he is 51. 

Age wise, he should be considered a “Baby-Boomer,” however, he scored a 5!  That puts him way down around “Silent.”  He never has had any desire to become tech savvy – he doesn’t even own a cell phone.  How interesting?!

ISTE Nets T Standard 3a, 3b, 3c. Demonstrated fluency in technology systems and the transfer of current knowledge to new technologies and situations, addressed the diverse needs of all learners by using learner-centered strategies and providing equitable access to appropriate digital tools and resources. and promoted and modeled digital etiquette and responsible social interactions related to the use of technology and information.