Child Labor Service Learning

Description-
While studying child labor in the U.S during the industrial revolution, students will research the alleged use of child labor in the production of the goods they buy. They will develop a letter writing campaign in which students will write letters to corporations urging them to monitor and prevent the use of child labor in their overseas plants and work with foreign governments to end the poverty that forces children to work. They will make presentations to other classes in which they will explain the issue and ask for other students to join the letter writing campaign. The letters will be mailed to the heads of the various corporations.

I think that this service learning project would be interesting to also use in an economics classroom as well. As a teacher, I could tie this project into learning about labor economics. Child labor could be discussed and tied in a labor economics section. It also would be interesting to do while teaching American History's unit on the industrial revolution. I think this project is very interesting for the students to do, and I feel like they will be enthusiastic about this project, and see its relevance.

This ties in with inquiry learning because the students can connect this lesson to their daily life. Students are able to do this themselves, and pride themselves on their "achievements." The students are able to write the letters themselves, and are able to go to the other classrooms to generate a response from them as well as the companies. It would be a great way for the students to work on and better develop their public speaking and writing skills in the process. This is also good for the students to really experience a good learning cycle through exploring and researching about child labor, discussing it with the class, presenting it to other classes and writing the letters. I also think this will stem great class discussion if and when the companies write back to the classroom.

As a teacher, it may be possible to mitigate the challenges of finding different companies by providing them with a base of companies to search from. It may be difficult for them to find companies and information on their own, so maybe giving them a few they could initially start researching with, then letting them expand on their own from there. Also, as a teacher, you might have to prepare a discussion if the companies do not respond back from the letters. Other than that, I feel like this is a relevant topic in the economy, and that students will enjoy this project and see its relevance.

http://www.servicelearning.org/slice/index.php?ep_action=view&ep_id=250

GIS... BS?

After reading my article on GIS technology, I became very intrigued. I had previously taken a physical geography lab here at the University of Florida and had to do a lesson using GIS technology. At first I was very overwhelmed with the program, because there were many different buttons and options to do many different things. Soon enough though I became more comfortable with it, and realized how much I could actually do with the program. GIS technology is now being implemented in many schools to teach students about mapping and many other things. GIS technology is being used by more than just people in the environmental field now, it is being used by government agencies and companies. It is possible to find out how many "15-24 year-olds live in a certain radius" to decide whether or not they should build a mall, or how many burglaries took place in a certain area to decide how many cops should be stationed there. GIS technology is becoming standard in decisions in many fields.

I decided to choose the article "Finding their way with GIS" that Nichole summarized. I thought it was interesting how the students used the maps the teacher provided to follow them and learn how to decipher them. I also thought it was great how students created maps using the GIS technology. It was an interactive way to create an inquiry based learning experience.

When I received my practicum placement, I found out that I was in a world geography class. I began thinking how I would go about teaching geography, and how I could make it interesting to a class. I think it would be very interesting for students in a geography class to utilize GIS technology. I would have the students use the program to create a community guide. I would have the students break into groups of about 5. I would have each group have a different section, one for schools, attractions, historical sites, parks and recreation, and a restaurant and shopping guide. I would have the groups use the GIS technology to find different points of interest for each section and create a "guide." The guide would describe where the points of interest are located, and give a little summary of what they will find there. They will have to use the internet and their knowledge of the city to come up with this, further implementing technology into the classroom. Then I would compile the groups into one big "community guide" pamphlet.

I feel like the students would be interested in this assignment because they are using the technology to map out different areas in their community. They would feel like they accomplished a big project. I then would pose questions to them like, "why would companies use this technology to determine where to build businesses", or "in what other ways could cities benefit from using this technology?" I would follow up with having them write a response to some critical thinking questions.

While I agree that GIS technologies can open many doors to useful ways to integrate technology in the classroom, and that it is very beneficial for many companies to use it, at what point does this technology borderline creepy and too much? i.e. geocaching....

Wikis, blogs, and podcasts- Econ style.

After reading the chapters in Web Literacy for Educators, I realized there was a lot more about technology and the internet that I had not previously known. While it still is a bit overwhelming, I believe I am truly learning a vast amount of information which will prove to be helpful in my future endeavors teaching high school economics. I myself found it very helpful to know how to actually validate a website. I had no idea that a tilde before the name meant that the site was a personal posting, even though it may have come from an educational website. It blew my mind, I was under the impression that if information came from a .edu site, that it was valid information. While I would not have truly thought that the concentration camps were used to help fight typhus, that information, if found by younger and more impressionable students would be completely detrimental. More interesting information that I learned through the reading was that .org sites could be purchased by companies. I was under the impression that these sites were purchased by reputable companies, but soon learned that companies with alternative motives could buy a .org site as well.  I think these chapters were extremely helpful in discerning reputable and truthful sites from sites that could be filled with misinformation. 

An interesting wiki site that I found was http://welkerswikinomics.wetpaint.com/. Mr. Welker uses this site, titled Welker's Wikinomics, mostly as a study guide for AP and IB Economics. His students are required to contribute to the site. The site was the winner of the 2007 EduBlog Awards for "Best Educational Wiki" for students and teachers of Economics. This site is a great tool for the teacher and his students to communicate through their discussions on different subjects in Economics. There is a General Discussion forum where anyone can post discussions about Economics, and one specifically for his students to discuss the class. This wiki is filled with a myriad of information on topics in Microeconomics to Macroeconomics to International Economics. The site is a great one for any Economics teacher to get information from, or to direct their students to interact and obtain information from. 

Mr. Welker also has a blog for his students that I fell in love with, http://welkerswikinomics.com/blog/. He posts and comments on different Economics articles, many from The Economist, a great source of information in the subject to keep students updated on the current events of our country and the world. He posts excerpts from the articles, and chimes in his comments as well. Then, the part I love, Mr. Welker posts questions, where the students comment on and discuss. Furthermore, the students also have their own blogs, where they do a "by students, for students" approach to learning. The students in his class post and comment on different subjects for their class, and the students have the chance to comment on their peers work. This is a great tool for teachers to use. When students know that their work is going to be published and read by all, it makes them want to put forth their best efforts in writing their assignments. I believe Mr. Welker is a great teacher, and has completely found a way to integrate this new technology into his classroom. And you know what? It seems to work!

I found it increasingly more difficult to find a good podcast in the Economics field. I found a great deal in college level classes, but finding a podcast for high school was near impossible. I was not able to find a site produced by students, but I was able to find a podcast by Jonathan Evans, a teacher of IB Economics, www.podomatic.com/profile/jonathanevans. He broke his podcasts into short sections, most about 5-7 minutes long. They were on specific topics in Economics, like The Phillips curve, or reasons for trade. This teacher had a bunch of different podcasts available for his students to listen to. He also posted pictures of graphs on his website. The problem I feel like I would find with Economics, is that graphs are integral to learning the subject. It is not just theories, the graphs help to explain the subject. I feel like video podcasts would be more helpful for students to learn more. This might be a good tool for students to post their ideas about Economics via podcast, but to instruct students, perhaps it should integrate video in as well. 

I found these technological tools to be very useful for teachers to instruct their students, and for students to in turn voice their opinions. They are able to talk about the subject and discuss it, in turn truly allowing them to grasp the ideas and concepts in Economics. I feel that Blogs and Wikis are more helpful in the Economics field, because graphs are such a major aspect of the subject. Podcasts could be a useful tool, but they would have to be paired with supplemental handouts. Podcasts could, however, be a good way for students to get excited about the subject and to voice their opinion about the economy. I am excited to be able to integrate these tools in my classroom!

Readings

I found the chapters in Web Literacy for Educators very interesting. Really, I found they taught me a great deal. I did not really know that anyone could edit a wiki. Blogging was a foreign concept to me. Moreover, I did not really know how the Internet worked with the companies buying the search names on Google or other sites. While I knew how to use the Internet, and spent a great deal of time on it, I did not really know exactly "how" it worked. The chapters were very eye opening to me, apparently I was living under a rock. As much as I "knew" about technology, learning how to search, how it worked, and about podcasts and blogging was pretty new to me. I am actually glad I had to read the chapters because I learned alot.
I think that using technology in the classroom is very important, but I was not sure how I could incorporate it. Now I think that blogging is a great tool for students to use, especially in economics. I feel like I could have students talk about current political issues in the economy and post their blogs about it. I also think subscribing to the RSS of sites like the New York Times would be very helpful for the students to see. Very relevant articles are often posted in the Economist as well, and subscribing to these sites would keep students and myself completely updated on the news in the economy.