Kentucky Academy of Technology Education

Blogging to Facilitate Collaboration in Portfolio Reviews

Instructional Illuminations

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Lyon County seniors, while working on their writing portfolios, post their writing pieces on a blog called Lyon's Lines and the pieces are critiqued by Murray State University writing students. This project, which is in its second year, is the result of collaboration between Debbie A. Bell, MSU English instructor and Debbie J. Bell, Supervisor of Instruction for Lyon County Schools. KATE director, Brenda Nix, set up the initial planning meeting for the two Mrs. Bells and facilitated training for them on the use of blogs. The KATE website hosts the blog, powered by an extremely friendly program called WordPress.

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Simple Machines in Young Students’ Lives

Core Connections

http://pics.tech4learning.com

By:  Jessica Shepherd, Ballard County Elementary

Providing students with hands on activities is a very simple, engaging way of teaching them about simple machines in early childhood years. Simple machines sounds like a difficult subject for Kindergarten or first graders but can be very simple if the right approach is taken by teachers. Primary teachers must not try to make things too difficult for young children to understand and must relate it to their every day lives and interests. Teachers must demonstrate the concept on a daily basis to allow their little minds to connect. A great book for helping incorporate science in an early childhood classroom is titled "First Science Experiments: Mighty Machines" by Shar Levine and Leslie Johnstone. For example: a wheel is great for spinning and to move things it must have an axle. Use a toy car or tinker toys to model examples of wheel and axles. Let the students create and make them on their own.

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Somebody’s Got To Win…

Core Connections

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By:  Leslie Wright, Heath High School 

Somebody's got to win - might as well be you! At one time, this Kentucky Lottery slogan could be heard on televisions across the state. Sure somebody has to eventually win, but what is the chance that it will be you? Probability is the ratio of favorable outcomes to possible outcomes, or in other words the likelihood (or chance) that something will happen. Students may be amazed at how often they are engaged in probability on a daily basis. Probability is found anywhere from weather forecasts, to flipping coins, to batting averages, to playing board games, to guessing on a multiple-choice test, and even to opening a pack of baseball cards searching for that special insert card. Because of these events, the topic of probability becomes more important in the classroom. With today's falling economy, many people are looking for a quick-fix in lotteries and casinos, to only come out further in debt. It is important to make students aware of the likelihood of beating the dealer in blackjack or winning the $5 scratch-off in order to better equip students with the ability for good decision-making.

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