This paper was presented at the 2012 NSTA STEM & Expo in Atlantic City. Our teachers worked with Drs. Hui-Yin Hsu and Shiang-Kwei Wang to present the paper. Teacher presenters are: Mr. Stephen Green (IS 109 Jean Nuzzi Intermediate), Ms. Mayen Davis (The Young Women's Leadership School of Queens), and Ms Vivian Alforque (The Middle Village School).

1. NYIT
2012 NSTA STEM Forum & Expo
(Atlantic City)
Use a Social Networking Tool to Facilitate
Scientific Skills and New Literacies
Vivian Alforque
(The Middle Village School)
Mayen Davis
(The Young Women's Leadership School of Queens)
Steve Green
(IS 109 Jean Nuzzi Intermediate)
Hui-Yin Hsu, Ph.D.
Shiang-Kwei Wang, Ph.D.
Grant # 1020091
New York Institute of Technology

2. NYIT
 Collaborative Research—Cyber-enabled
Learning: Digital Natives in Integrated
Scientific Inquiry Classrooms (
Discovery Research K-12)
 NYIT and Utah State University
 Prepare 45 NYC middle school science
teachers to integrate ICTs in the
classrooms

3. NYIT New literacies components
 Use digital technologies to “identify
questions, locate information, evaluate the
information, synthesize information to
answer questions, and communicate the
answers to others”
 We adopted the term “new literacies”
because it implies the fluency in literacy
skills precedent to master technology
tools.
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4. NYIT ICTs: Social networking tool
 Social networking tool facilitates scientific
inquiry
 Facilitate scientific discourse
 Share research projects
 Share digital resources
 Share projects in multimodal formats
4/32

5. NYIT Edmodo
 Introduction of Edmodo
 Features of Edmodo
 Social networking guideline (NY)
 Cyber Safety
 Compatibility with other tools (e.g.
pictures, video, Google doc…)
5/32

6. NYIT Edmodo:
 Implementation strategies
 Students’ reaction of using Edmodo
 Parents involvement Use Edmodo to facilitate group work
 Enhance students’ learning motivation
 Facilitate communication (between or among
teachers/students)
 Facilitate the process to critique students’ projects
Collaborate with other teachers Form a learning
community
 The use of Library/backpack
 Examples of using Edmodo to facilitate the scientific
inquiry process
6/32

7. NYIT Implementation examples
 Mr. Stephen Green
IS 109 Jean Nuzzi Intermediate School
7/32

8. NYIT Edmodo: Student Reaction
 Schools in America as they exist today, have evolved, developed, and
transformed dramatically from the way that schools were conducted
long ago. Teachers must compete with the likes of the seemingly
ubiquitous presence of iPads, cell phones, hand held text messages, and,
of course, SOCIAL MEDIA.
Naturally, as a child grows and becomes more knowledgeable, so to does
his/her inclination for using these gadgets.
 Thus, if today’s middle and high school teachers are going to be
successful at reaching these students, these technological distractions
need to be addressed with, not only the appropriate attitude and
enthusiasm, but having the proper instructional tools and resources is
absolutely essential.
8/32

9. NYIT Edmodo: Student Reaction
Growing Up Digital,
Wired for Distraction
Students have always faced distractions and time-wasters.
But computers and cellphones, and the constant stream of
stimuli they offer, pose a profound new challenge to focusing
and learning.
Social Media sites like Edmodo piques the student’s
interest because it offers a learning environment that
is familiar but MOST IMPORTANT, enjoyable.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/21/technology/21brain.html?pagewanted=all
9/32

10. NYIT Edmodo: Science Inquiry
Students offer feedback
Students begin to show interest in the work of
others
Students get ideas from others
Students more apt to include all parts of the
scientific method
10/32

11. NYIT Edmodo: One Stop Shop
Integration with other tools
Easily links with Google Docs
Very convenient to share files and links (ie
Dropbox, Google Earth, etc.)
Structured so that common files can be opened
AND graded from within the site.
 Documents can be modified and make
certain notations and comments
11/32

12. NYIT Edmodo: Communication
It’s real time !
Professional access outside the classroom
Alerts and notifications are customizable
Students share all types of information
Parent involvement can play a big role
12/32

13. NYIT Edmodo: File Systems
Folders and Backpacks
Allows students to be neater and more organized
Reduces physical loss of important data and files
Is more convenient than a physical back pack or
even a flash drive.
13/32

14. NYIT Edmodo: Know Your Student
A closer look at Student’s
Performance
Allows normally reticent students to express
themselves
Students class performance is often mirrored in
the cyber class so the parents can have real time
access to their children’s work habits
Teachers have the ability to see how the student
is thought process works while they are working a
given assignment – and respond accordingly
14/32

15. NYIT Implementation examples
 Ms. Mayen Davis
Young Women's Leadership School
15/32

16. NYIT Mayen Davis 6th / 7th Grade Science

17. NYIT
Cloud Types
We use Edmodo to share science in our
everyday lives

18. NYIT We also used these as our
online cloud journals

19. NYIT Share study materials

20. NYIT Share our accomplishments
https://sites.google.com/site/tywlsmdavis29/weather
http://www.youblisher.com/p/249954-Station-Models-2012/

21. NYIT Share
http://www.youblisher.com/p/262416-Plant-Animal-Cells-2011-2012/
http://www.youblisher.com/p/226494-Ph-Testing/
http://www.youblisher.com/p/226495-Surface-Boards/

22. NYIT Sharing Information
The girls ask and answer each other’s questions. I post homework
assignments

23. NYIT Videos of Their Labs
The girls wrote and executed their lab on how sound
travels. One person from each group was able to video
their experiments using an iPhone, iPad, or camera
phone. They then uploaded the results to the class via
Edmodo.

24. NYIT The Student Becomes the Teacher
Students pose questions to their classmates for them
to answer in a reply. This serves as a review and an
informal assessment.

25. NYIT Most importantly,
students are
engaged

26. NYIT Implementation examples
 Ms. Vivian Alforque
P.S. 087 Middle Village
26/32

27. NYIT Introducing “Edmodo” as our class
“facebook”

28. NYIT Posting assignments, notices ,resources
pictures and videos

29. NYIT Detailed task, rubric , lay-out and
template are posted on Edmodo
instead of giving printed copies.

30. NYIT Uploading Edmodo app on
mobiles phones and Ipads

31. NYIT STUDENTS’ REACTION TO EDMODO
 I think edmodo is helpful for students and me. It keeps me
organized by remembering what I have not done. Also it
makes it easier for me to hand in homework. It helps me
because I am a forgetful person, so some days I forget to
bring my homework to school. But Edmodo keeps track of
what is due on certain days. Also Edmodo helps me interact
with teachers after school by asking them the homework also
with my fellow classmates. Edmodo helps me save paper.
Another reason Edmodo is helpful is because parents can log
in and see how their child is doing in school. That is why i
think Edmodo is helpful to me, my classmates, teachers, and
parents.

32. NYIT PARENTS’ INVOLVEMENT
 Parents can also sign up using
corresponding codes for their child. They
can access their children’s page where
they can see the work submitted, the
grade and comments. Parents
 Can also access what is posted by the
teacher.

33. NYIT ENHANCE STUDENTS’
LEARNING MOTIVATION
 Students today are digital natives, thus
work on the web is most relevant to them.
 It’s always available, anywhere and
anytime
 Rich in resources

34. NYIT FACILITATE
COMMUNICATION
 Available 24/7
 Members can always ask question,
answer questions, share information

35. NYIT FACILITATE THE PROCESS TO
CRITIQUE STUDENTS’ PROJECTS
• Students work that are handed in through
Edmodo can be critique and corrected using
“Annotate” feature of Edmodo for turned in
work.
• There is also a comment section that teachers
can write feedback to students’ work
• Students can revise work as many times up to
the level of mastery
• The gradebook feature provide immediate rating
to students’ turned in work.

36. NYIT Giving comments to student’s projects

37. NYIT

38. NYIT COLLABORATE WITH OTHER
TEACHERS
• Teachers in same school can create their
own community. For example, teachers
having same classes can be in one
community so they can monitor students’
progress across all classes.

39. NYIT FORM A LEARNING
COMMUNITY
• Teacher community per area, ex. Science,
can communicate with other science
teachers across the globe – asking
question, sharing resources, updating
information.

40. NYIT Edmodo teacher communities

41. NYIT
This project is funded by the National Science
Foundation, grant # 1020091. Any opinions,
findings, and conclusions or recommendations
expressed in these materials are those of the
author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the
views of the National Science Foundation.
http://www.nyit.edu/cyberlearning