Web Inquiry

I really enjoyed the inquiry based activity. Every time I keep using Wiki it gets easier and easier. Through the mineral activity we did in class with our partner, I learned to transfer documents from word easily onto the Wiki pages. This activity was much less teacher-director and I think young students would really enjoy this in the classroom. Not only was it an interesting activity for us, it is another learning tool to utilize in the classroom that is enjoyable and beneficial for students. Because they are not simply reading from text books like almost all their classes, they are using higher order thinking to navigate and find the necessary information from the website. 

I actually learned a lot from this activity. When I was in grade school, there was not much chance do do web-based learning activities. We were rarely on the internet browsing useful websites to find information. The website I used for "String Instruments of the Orchestra" (grade 4) was visually appealing and fairly easy to navigate. The students would read about instrument families and answer the corresponding questions. The website also included sound samples so that they could listen to each instrument to have an idea of how each one was different from the other.

The web based inquiry could easily be utilized in the classroom, especially these days with iPads and such being provided in classrooms. It would be be a fun individual or group activity that familiarizes students with web technology. I could see myself doing a "composer of the month", or "musical eras" with the wiki pages. I would ask members of the class to come up and present on the Smart Board so they each would have a turn. I think this activity is ideal for grades 3 through 8 for music students. Sometimes I had issues re-sizing some objects in my word document so that it would look proportioned on the Wiki page, but that is only because I had shapes added to a part of my last question. For the most part, I think students would feel comfortable, and they could always ask for my help. I am not sure yet what types of subjects I would use for high school music students, but I will keep brainstorming!