| Webinars | ||||
During the spring semester of 2009, twenty practicing technology teachers from across the U.S. met once-a-month in a virtual meeting using IHETS Interactive, a technology service of Indiana Higher Education Telecommunication System. Mary Annette Rose, the Director of EnviroTech, hosted these 70-80 minute meetings from the Ball State University campus in Muncie, Indiana. During these meetings, Annette and three guest speakers—experts in solid waste, environmental education, and mercury pollution, and technology assessment—examined two essential questions through the lens of technology assessment and inquiry instruction, including:
Each of the five webinars are summarized below. |
||||
Overview of Webinars |
||||
Webinar |
Essential Questions | Synopsis | ||
| Webinar #1 (January 20) |
How are technology and the environment related? What is sustainability? What analytical strategies inform relationships between technology and the environment? What is technology assessment? What strategies and resources enhance a teacher’s ability to help learners examine the impacts of technology on the environment?
|
The introductory Webinar began with a rationale for simultaneously building students' environmental and technological literacy. After a brief example of how technology threatens sustainability, Annette Rose introduced the goals, process, and essential questions of the EnviroTech project. Recording of Webinar #1: http://interactive.ihets.org/p44075033/ |
||
| Webinar #2 (February 17) |
What strategies help students identify and analyze the impacts of technology on the environment? How do CFL's work? How can we measure light intensity and power consumption? How do we determine efficiency? What are the advantages of replacing incandescent lamps with a CFL? How might teachers foster the development of students’ analytical and decision-making skills using life cycle assessment?
|
During Webinar #2, Annette Rose described how life cycle analysis and experimentation could be used to help students assess technology. Also, Susan Eichhorn, Education Coordinator from the East Central Indiana Solid Waste District, highlighted the preferred collection, disposal, and recycling strategies related to mercury-containing lamps and other household hazardous waste. The following instructional materials provide more detailed explanations of how to integrate these activities into a Grade 7-12th Technology Education classroom:
Recording of Webinar #2: http://interactive.ihets.org/p59637521/
|
||
What are the anthropogenic sources of mercury pollution and how do they compare? How does mercury move through the air, land, and water? How are flora and fauna affected? How are humans exposed to mercury? How does mercury impact human health? |
Webinar #3 provides information about how mercury impacts the environment and human health. Dr. John Pichtel, our guest speaker from Ball State University, discussed the biogeochemical cycle of mercury, atmospheric deposition, bioaccumulation, and the impacts upon organisms and human health. Recording of Webinar #3: http://interactive.ihets.org/p70874844/
|
|||
| April 14 (Webinar #4) |
What are some simple forecasting techniques? How might forecasting help us predict the potential impacts of technology? How might we build students decision-making skills using force field analysis? How might we inform and engage our community in this issue? |
During Webinar #4, Dr. Jim Flowers, Professor and Director of Online Education at Ball State University, described strategies for forecasting trends. An overview of Dr. Flowers' presentation is available at http://jcflowers1.iweb.bsu.edu/rlo/trends.htm. The following Excel tutorials demonstrate these forecasting techniques: Forecasting: Naïve Forecasts, Naïve Trends, Moving Averages
Force Field Analysis Also during this Webinar, Annette Rose described Force Field Analysis as a decision-making tool which students can use when encountering complex decisions. Further information is available at:
Recording of Webinar #4: http://interactive.ihets.org/p72201642/
|
||
| Webinar 5 (May 26) |
What resources and instructional techniques helped students examine the impacts of replacing incandescent lamps with compact flourescent lamps?
|
During Webinar #5, the final meeting of the EnviroTech project, teachers provided a summary of the learning activities they orchestrated with their students. Recording of Webinar #5: http://interactive.ihets.org/p18726692/
|
||
Revised:
July 16, 2009
Author: Mary Annette Rose |
||||