Darin+Prince

Hello! My name is Darin Prince and I am an 8th Grade Science Teacher at [|Blanchester Middle School]. My bachelors degree is in Middle Childhood Math and Science Education, which I recieved from Miami University.The purpose of this page is for me to get more familiar with a wiki and hopefully, one day, use it in the classroom. If you have any ideas, please feel free to post them!

== When we were going over wikis in class I was most intrigued by the videos that were posted in the wiki page. I decided to come home and try and figure out how to do it. It was really easy! Here are some short instuctions if you would like to figure it out. == == -Click on edit on a page you would like to insert a video == == -Choose Widget (the button with the TV beside it) in the edit tool bar == == -It will then prompt you to choose the source (I chose YouTube) == == -You can then go to YouTube, find the video, and click the embed button below the video. It will generate a link to the video. Then copy and past that text into the box specified by Wiki. Click the save button... and you are ready to roll! == == Below I have posted a rap I used to help my students learn the phases of the moon this year. I figured since we talked about it in class is would be appropriate. Enjoy! ~ Darin == media type="youtube" key="sXK63GpwUqs" height="385" width="480"


 * This is one of my favorite videos about teaching! If you are a teacher and you need a pick me up, check this out.**

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 * Here is a slide show of some student responses on tests that you might find interesting...**

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 * PHOTO ESSAYS**

Here is a great idea for assessment using the cornel note taking system. This portion is for the question writing portion of the note taking system. After you are done with a unit, you ask the students to make a photo essay. A photo essay is when a student takes photos, from the internet or personal photos, and relates them to the unit by posing questions that are relaed to the unit. You can use a student's photo essay for review for an upcoming assessment or have the student make the photo essay and answer their own questions. You could also use this project for inquiry based learning. Let the students pick a topic and make a photo essay. Below is an example of a photo essay that I helped create. If you want to know how they are made... let me know!

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Misconceptions in Science Found on Movies and TV

media type="youtube" key="Nh5Lh-tTSZQ" height="385" width="640" There are several misconceptions in this video of Austin Powers.

First of all, sharks don't have lazer beams on their heads. Of course, as adults, we have come to the realization that most things in movies are fake. However, tell that to a 6th grader who has never seen a shark in person. As far as they know, seeeing is believing. And by golly, those sharks have lazers on their heads.

Secondly, the lazers are shot from the top of the sharks heads. An actual lazer beam can not be seen because it is not in the visible light range of the electromagnetic spectrum.

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The Simpsons always have a creative beginning to every show. No opening is the same as any other. In this one, Homer goes from a single celled organism to a couch potato through evolution.

The main misconception here is that organisms evolve from one organism to just one other organism. In reality, you have an species that will adapt and turn into two seperate species.

Another misconception, which almost all of my students believe, is that humans evolved from chimps. However, what actually happened is that the old ancestors of the human and the chimp have the same common ancestor. This is why we share over 98% of our DNA with chimps.

Probe #13, Vol. 4 deals with the topic of evolution and would be great to elicit prior knowledge of the subject.