Ask a Scientist

When a person has a science related question, they can submit their question through the following website: http://www.askascientist.org/. Here is what I decided to “ask a scientist”: how does a zygote eventually become a multi-cellular organism with tissues, organs, and other specialized cells and structures? I know cell division definitely plays a part but I cannot even begin to comprehend how this single cell continues to divide until it forms all the tissues, organs, systems and other structures that make up a multi-cellular organism.

Unfortunately, it has been almost two weeks since I submitted my question and I am still waiting for a reply. At first I thought this would be a great resource to use with my students but after hearing about the number of people who experience delays in receiving their answers and that others never even receive a reply, I do not think I would use this resource in my classroom.

If I do eventually receive a reply, I will keep all of my readers posted.

Evaluating Web 2.0 Presentation Tools

Animoto

Animoto allows web users to create their own photo presentations, set to music. Once photos have been uploaded, you can choose a preloaded music track or upload your own mp3.

Pros:

- Basic access for creating slideshows is free.

- Everything is automated making it easy to use.

- You have the option to upload your own music.

- Completed videos can easily be uploaded to services such as YouTube.

Cons:

- Free access will only create up to a 30-second video.

- To create a longer video costs $3 per video, or an all access pass can be purchased for $30 per year.

- You do not have control over how many of your photos will be displayed, how quickly they will displayed, how quickly they will be mixed and which methods will be used. This is all automatically done by the Animoto mixing algorithms.

Glogster

Glogster is a tool used to create online posters. These posters can combine audio, video, text, and graphics to create interactive posters.

Pros:

- Features are very user-friendly.

- Can benefit both students and teachers.

- “Glogs” can be easily posted onto webpages or plogs.

- Users can log on from any computer with internet access to continue their work.

- It is easy to embed content from other places.

Cons:

- If your network is slow, Glogster will be tough to run.

- Many glogs require fast processors for all of the links and embedded videos to work.

- As with all technology, possible glitches can cause “lost” projects.