POST #5

A website that I found to be very beneficial to elementary aged students is a website called Starfall. This website is very interactive and met the majority of the rules listed in Chapter Six with the exception of a few. This website made great use of organization to keep students on track and excited to learn. It also used many images and pretty colors to hold the audience’s attention. The website has a very organized method of teaching students in its ability to display headings and titles the students can click to take them forward. The one rule Starfall defied was Rule 16: Do Not Flash. The website uses a ton of flashing text, but I believe it is still okay because I think it uses the flashing text to its advantage. Elementary aged students enjoy the flashing text displayed by Starfall. Starfall is a great tool to use when teaching students to read. C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Documents\Learn To Read.mht
I think using presentation software in the classroom is an effective way to teach students the material they need to be taught. Students love being in control, and giving them the opportunity to take your role as the “teacher” and make their own presentations will really help keep them engaged in the material. I also truly believe the best way to learn is to learn as if you are going to teach the material to somebody else. Giving students the opportunity to this will force them to master the material so that they may feel comfortable enough to make a presentation and teach others the material they’ve learned.
You could use PowerPoint to support student learning at each knowledge dimension by creating a slide show of steps to solving a problem. Each slide can display one step and provide further details of each step. I think PowerPoint is a great teaching tool. It keeps material simple and easy to understand instead of displaying a big jumble of steps it makes it simple and slow so the students may keep up.