Assignment 6

Evaluation of Educational Resources

     The IXL Learning site provides students from Kindergarten through the 8th grade with the proper tools to help master their mathematics skills for their respective grade.  This site has a comprehensive listing of main math categories which is further broken down into subcategories.  As the students work through the problems, the site provides an explanation to every problem to help the student understand their errors.  As I worked through some of the problems at the 8th grade level the accuracy of the solutions were 100% correct.  Another good thing that was noticed was how simple the developers made it for students to easily navigate through each section of the website.  Once a student has worked through several math problems the parents can check their child's progress in a detailed report outlining the number of correct and incorrect problems as well as how much time was spent on a particular section.  This tells the parents whether or not their child has master a subcategory or needs more practice.  And most importantly the site definitely meets instructional objectives.  The IXL Learning site has included each states learning standards for math.  IXL Learning should definitely be used in the classroom to help students improve their math skills.

     Next, I conducted an evaluation of the Social Psychology Network's website credibility of the content.  Social Psychology Network is an educational organization founded by Dr. Scott Plous with over 9,500 members worldwide. The purpose of this website is to raise awareness of issues relating to psychology around the world and also as a research tool providing foundational and current information in the study of psychology.  All links seem to be reputable and creditable sources of information and all links are non-profit organizational websites supported by the National Science Foundation.  An excellent feature of the website is it's ability to function almost like a search engine comprised of reputable sources of information.  The Social Psychology Network provided unbiased, well organized, and sufficient information for my purpose of researching the Stanford Prison Experiment.  This website is highly recommended for all Psychology majors, educators, and professionals to remain aware and knowledgeable in the field of psychology.

Assignment 5

Lincoln High School Grant Proposal

Lincoln High School in Tallahassee, FL is seeking a grant to improve the science department with the objective of helping all of our students, specifically those at risk, enhance their foundational knowledge of natural science, anatomy, biology, Astronomy and chemistry as well as challenge the students with a curriculum commensurate with their grade level.  The students have struggled with science subjects at all levels due to outdated and obsolete learning tools and equipment.  Our college attendance rate has continued to drop and currently only 28% of our students continue on to seek higher education after high school.  In comparison to other subjects, students’ grades are the lowest in science related subjects.  Lincoln High School has 892 students, of which only 464 have attained a grade of C or higher.  Our goal by the end of the year is that students will have at least obtained a grade of C or higher with this new and challenging curriculum.  Funding in the amount of $49,793.96  is requested to purchase the necessary equipment to prepare the teaching staff to reach this goal and also revive the students desire to learn science.

              The Science Department is requesting funds to acquire 2 complete Apple Macbook Learning Labs.  Each lab includes twenty 11” Macbook Air computers and wireless networking, all housed in a secure cart, which also acts a charging station.   The total cost of each Macbook Learning Lab is $23,899.00.  All computers come with a 2 year protection plan for technical support and also account for damage to the computers.  The configuration for the Macbook Air computers includes a 1.3 GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor, Intel HD Graphics 5000 card, 4GB memory, and 128 GB of flash storage, 720p HD camera, two USB 3 ports, 802.11ac Wi-Fi wireless networking, Bluetooth 4.0 wireless technology, stereo speakers, dual microphones, and headphone port.  The screen size is an 11.6 inch LED display.  Also, four Apple TVs will be used for visual instruction by showing the iPad display through the use of the projector, which is an additional $99.00 each.  The Science Department will also need 16 GB iPads that will be assigned to four different classrooms for teachers to use as an instructional aid to interface with Apple TV and our classroom projectors for an additional cost of $1,596.00.

            The Macbook Learning Labs will provide the teachers in the Science Department with the means to introduce a more rigorous curriculum focused on interactive, project-based learning.  Rather than listening to lectures, recording notes, and taking multiple-choice tests, students will learn by participating in interactive group science projects.  After the lesson is taught, students groups will select a topic and use their Macbook computers to create and present reports in a number of different formats, such as movies, podcasts, wikis, and blogs.  Students are captivated and interested in learning through the use of computer apps, which Apple has done an outstanding job in creating an online app store with over 40,000 educational apps as well as useful utility tools that can be installed on the computer.  Apps such as Chem Pro, Visual Anatomy, iCell, and Solar Walk will be installed onto every computer to give students access to tools to guide and enhance the understanding of essential learning objectives.  The Apple TV will be connected to a projector to provide a means of displaying visual instruction from the iPad via wireless access.  Each science teacher will use his or her assigned iPad to wirelessly interface with the Apple TV to use apps as tools for teaching the new curriculum.  Please give thorough consideration to this proposal as this will be the beginning to a better future for our students and provide our teachers with the tools to aid in this objective.

Item	Price	Quantity
Macbook Learning Lab Cart	$1,800.00	2
11” Macbook Air Computer	$921.95	40
Apple Care Protection	$183.00	40
iPad	399.99	4
Apple TV	$99.00	4

Total Cost = $49,793.96