Week+4+Reflection

=Week 4 Reflection=

I did not get much from reading others submissions. They either did not use technology that week or their submissions included pictures that could not be viewed.

This was the most frustrating experience of the class. First, I lost a week on the assignment because I thought I would be able to find the temperature probe at school and use it. The probe did not show up for 6 weeks. So I returned to the Tec Lab the next week so that I could check out the temp. probe. I did so and proceeded to install the software on my computer. For the next week I tried several times to get the software to work. Finally I realized that Temperature Probe #4 has a broken wire, so that occasionally one can get the software to show the presence of the probe, but the moment the probe is moved to the place of experimentation, the screen of the Logger Pro software returns to the X / Y graph with no temparature readings.

By this time, I had to move on. I checked out a new probe, but had to focus on my other assignments so as to not fall behind in class. I was so-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o frustrated to say the least. I had difficulty finding time at work to do the experiment when the sun was hot enough to show the effect of the sun on the temperature of the car. I finally just did it during class time at BYU which meant that it was early evening and the temperature change was not as dramatic as I hoped.

However, this would be and extremely effective way to demonstrate the danger of staying in the car, or playing in a car, without an adult who can open the doors, trunk and windows and regulate the temperature of the car. Because it would be done by a teacher who is actually working during the day time with her students and would have access to a car. I did not have access to a car during some of my efforts because my son wrecked by car on a snowy day. . ..

I am so glad to have this assignment done!!!!!!!!! It was a good and hard lesson to learn. I would advise that any teacher who is going to use the Vernier Equipment be given a week to become familiar with it and run several experiments before actually teaching the class. It is very exciting and rewarding equipment to work with. This class is not suppose to have to teach technology to the student teachers, however, the use of the equipment requires some time to become familiar with. It could be a floating assignment. If one group of students each week was instructed to check out the equipment and use it, then by the end of the semester, there would be the opportunity to use it in practicum or some other way. That is a very rough idea. . ..

Well, part of the frustration could totally be avoided if the tec assistants were instructed on how to find and what to do with the broken equipment because I was given probe #4 again when I checked out equipment for my practicum and did not realize it until after the children started to use it. It had taken several efforts to get the computer to recognize it and then it was a while more before I realized that every time they moved the probe, they lost the reading. I finally looked at the number on the probe and realized that I had been given the broken probe that I had been given for my week 4 assignment!