Before the advent of technology and the internet, a science project might have looked something like this:
 |
| Photo Source: iStock |
Or this:
 |
| Photo Source: iStock |
But in 2013 in 9th grade biology class at Ursuline, a science project means learning to build your own website.
During their unit on ecosystems, the 9th graders created "glogs" (also known as electronic posters) through the GlogsterEDU website.
Each student worked with a partner to gather information about a specific biome from various sources, after a lesson in academic research from UA librarian Amity Johnson. The goal of the assignment was to use Glogster to build a website containing informative and visually-appealing multimedia objects to share what they learned about their ecosystem and to educate others. Each group chose an ecosystem and researched five specific features of that ecosystem:
- abiotic factors
- biotic factors
- interactions in the ecosystem
- special features of the ecosystem
- the future of the ecosystem
At the end of the project, students presented their glogs, each of which included both original creations and borrowed resources of text, sounds, images, videos and links to informative websites. You can view the student glogs by logging into Edline and selecting "9th Grade Ecosystems Glogs" in the right-hand column on the homepage.
"The girls worked in teams to create creative and interactive glogs incorporating pictures, videos, sounds and written text," said biology teacher Taryn Powers Surabian '03. "They did an outstanding job researching the material and learning how to use Glogster. I was extremely impressed and am proud to show off their work to the Ursuline community."
Mary Lesa Brady, Ursuline's Curriculum Integration Specialist, presented awards to the most outstanding students for this project, as recognition for creating the most visually-appealing, aesthetically-pleasing and technically-usable glogs. Congratulations to Brianna DiNicola, Elizabeth Coughlin, Noella D'Souza, Carolyn Recupero, Nneka Oyigbo, Maria Ferzoco and Monica Dunphy!