The Tech Savvy Science Teacher: June 2013

Thursday, June 27, 2013

Quizdini - online review games

Quizdini is a site that allows your to create matching and multiple-choice games for your student. You can add in explanations and hints (even with links and videos!).

There are two versions of each game: practice and race. Practice just times you and the race gives you a certain amount of lives to try to get the answers right.

It's not a super amazing site, but it's a fun way to have students review material.

What do you normally do for review?

Saturday, June 8, 2013

ChemThink

ChemThink is a website that I can across this year and am eager to try with my students this year. Students can sign up for it individually, but if they register as part of your class you can track their progress.
It's a very simply designed website, but the basic principle is good. You can assign students various sections of the site based on what you are currently teaching. They can go through a tutorial if they need a refresher or some more information about the topic or they can go right to the question set. They have to get 10 questions right before they can more on. If they miss too many in a row, they will have to restart the problem set. The questions also increase in difficult as they move through the set.
There is also a feature that allows you to correlate to your textbook. This make the question sets match up to the chapters in your textbook.

I am looking forward to using it next year as my school doesn't purchase subscriptions to sites like Castle Learning and this looks like is a nice substitute (you know me....anything that is free is great!).

Do you use any online questioning sites with your classes? What are your favorites?

Friday, June 7, 2013

Problem-Attic's new online test and slideshow options

I just received the following e-mail from Problem-Attic and I wanted to make sure to share it with all of you. If you haven't checked out Problem Attic be sure to read my two posts about it (here and here).

We’re happy to announce that online testing and slideshow export are ready to try in Problem-Attic!

Now you can do much more than create PDFs. You can turn any Problem-Attic document into:

an online test that works with all browsers and web-enabled devices, tablets, smartphones, etc.
a beautifully-formatted PowerPoint or HTML (web-based) presentation. Both work with Problem-Attic’s scoring app.
a slideshow for most interactive whiteboards, such as SMART™, Promethean™ and Mimio™. These are native files, fully compatible with student response systems (“clickers”).

Please log in to Problem-Attic, visit the Play Area and give export a try. Or see the links below for examples.

Thanks for checking out the new options. We’re sure you’ll be impressed with how convenient and useful they are for both instruction and assessment.

—The Problem-Attic Team at EducAide Software

Links to examples
downloadable files for interactive whiteboards and “clickers”
Grade 7 Math Online Test
Grade 7 Math Slideshow
U.S. History Online Test
U.S. History Slideshow
Biology Online Test
Biology Slideshow

Instructions
1. Getting to the Play Area...
Log in to Problem-Attic. Click the home icon at the top of the screen. On your documents home page, press Browse, then click the Play Area panel.

2. Creating an online test or slideshow...
Select some problems in the Play Area. Press the Export button and choose Online Test, Slideshow or Downloadable File. Press Continue and choose a format (if you're downloading a file). You can accept other defaults and press Continue again.

3. Downloading and opening a slideshow...
If you choose to download a slideshow, it should open automatically in PowerPoint or whatever interactive whiteboard program you have. If not, open your download folder, double-click the file, and choose the appropriate program.

4. Scoring...
Online tests get scored automatically in Problem-Attic with the built-in scoring app. The scoring app also works with web-hosted slideshows, and it's easy for students to get started with the public link or optional QR code. The downloaded slideshows work with most common student response systems, or you can press the Score button in the Play Area and collect results in Problem-Attic.

Don't forget: all of the features in the Play Area, including the scoring app, work only as long as you stay in the Play Area. When you leave, public links are turned off and class results (submissions) are cleared.