Today we slept in and went to the get breakfast in the hotel again. Food was amazing as usual. We all wanted to get some souvenirs for people back home and for ourselves so we decided to go shopping! Our hotel was connected to a mall called "MBK" which is a lot like an indoor market. After a while all of the shops in MBK start to look the same. They have the same bags, the same shoes, the same souvenirs, and etc. Nearby (across the skywalk) was a string of three more malls though, and one of them was known for being high fashion. Two of the malls were just like malls in the US and we quickly bypassed those. They had all the same stores and all the same prices. The high fashion mall was the most interesting, with each designer having their own small shop, with their own store shell design, and their own fixture design. Unfortunately I was too distracted by all of the interesting fashion to realize that I should take pictures for this blog!
Next we wanted to go to Sukhumvit. This was an area where I had stayed one night while I was traveling on my own (before the group arrived) so I was familiar with the area. We took the sky train to get there. It was interesting for the crowd I was with. If you have ever been to Sukhumvit Soi 4 you know why.
After visiting Sukhumvit, we made our way back to the hotel. In my hotel room I found a little personal sized birthday cake for me!! That was incredibly nice! It was amazing to have a birthday that was a free day in Thailand, and by free, I mean free time, free place to stay, free food, and free transportation! Finally, to top off the day we relaxed for a couple hours at the pool. The pool was on the roof of the 8th floor of the hotel, so the view was amazing and there was a breeze whisking away the heat of the city! What a lucky gal I was on my 29th birthday!
Friday, May 31, 2013
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
Second Day of the Workshop
Today we went to the Bistro again for another tasty breakfast, and then we went on to learn how to use another modeling tool. This modeling tool can be used to model a wide variety of phenomena. We used the example of a sickness spreading through a population. The modeling tool is "Agent Sheets." http://www.agentsheets.com/ This tool is not free, but Dr. Panoff stated that it is available at a reasonable price. Over the course of a couple hours, each person in our workshop, without any programming experience was able to build a model of a population of people spreading a sickness, then adding complexity of the time it takes to recover from the sickness. We were able to do this just by writing "If-Then" statements, and then implimenting them into the model. Building this model was very easy! It was actually very intuitive. I will consider having NOYCE pay for a class copy of this software at the very least.
Finally, Dr. Panoff was able to showcase to the Thai educational professionals in the workshop that Shodor has developed their models so that they are mobile device acceptable! This is their first step towards teaming with Thailand to possibly develop their applications in Thai!
The workshop today was interesting.
Tomorrow we have the day to explore on our own, and Friday we are touring as a group!
Thanks for reading!
Finally, Dr. Panoff was able to showcase to the Thai educational professionals in the workshop that Shodor has developed their models so that they are mobile device acceptable! This is their first step towards teaming with Thailand to possibly develop their applications in Thai!
The workshop today was interesting.
Tomorrow we have the day to explore on our own, and Friday we are touring as a group!
Thanks for reading!
First Day of the Workshop!
The workshop is hosted by Chalulanghorn University Education Department. Here is the website for the University: http://www.chula.ac.th/cuen/
It is intersting that since I have been here I have learned that here in Thailand students must compete to get into the best schools. To get into each school (even kindergarten) they must take an entrance exam! They get into schools based strictly on their entrance exam scores! The students with the best scores get into the best schools, and the next best get into the next best schools and so on. There are no geographic constraints on the schools that the students participate in. Someone from 4 hours away in north Thailand may take the entrance exam for the high school here next to the university (the best high school in Thailand), and if the student gets in and the family has the means they will move here to Bangkok for the student to be educated in that school. That is a whole different way of thinking about school isn't it? The sad thing about this is there isn't enough capacities in the Universities here, so not everyone who wants to go to the University gets to go.
On Tuesday morning we all met at the Bistro in the Hotel to get breakfast then we needed to be ready at the van at 8:30. The bistro had all kinds of food-thai food, chinese food, breakfast food, noodle soup, and etc! It was tasty!
We then took the van to the university, which is actually located across the street from the hotel! The university grounds are very nice, well groomed, and clean. I say this because there are many parts of the city that are not (sadly) and it is a whole different scene within the university grounds.
The workshop was from 9-530.
We were greeted with a warm Welcome here at the university! There are four of us NOYCE Teaching Fellows here at the Workshop. Here is the sign we were greeted with when we arrived.
When we arrived and this is how we were greeted. There were many Thai Teachers and Teacher Trainers here at the workshop as well. There were roughly a total of 20 participants of all different backgrounds but all somehow in the education field.
The workshop is led by Dr. Panoff, the founder of Shodor. http://www.shodor.org/
Shodor has been established for alomost 20 years. The following is the website to the talk that he gave on Tuesday: http://shodor.org/talks/ncsi/
The morning portions of the workshop covered some interesting ideas. One of the ideas that I found to be the most interesting the assertion that education and how students approach learning is changing due to the technology they have available to them. One example of this from my classroom, that I have seen is that my students often are less focused in class because they know that later when they get the homework, they can look up how to do it online. The bottom line is that students now think "why should I learn this when I can just look this up?"
Dr. Panoff started off by using a simple example of how students still need to keep "thinking" even if they use their resources. The example was "3+2*6. We first discussed what the answer would be. It would be 15. We all knew this because we all understood the same concvention for order of operations. We then entered the equation into the calculator on the computer. The computer gave us "30." We then tried entering it into the scientific calculator on the computer and it gave us "15." We then tried entering this into google and it came up with 50 and presented the parentheses around the 2*6. The point is that the students may just look this up using one of these methods but they need to be reminded that they must constantly evaluate what they get when they use their technological resources because they are not all operating under the same assumptions and they will not always give the correct answer. This is a great example!! Another few examples that you could use in your classroom are "mass of earth" or "boiling point of radium." Which of the imformation presented is correct? Students need to be aware that not everything that they find on the internet is true. The information they find may be using different conventions or parameters.
The next intersting and useful tool that Dr. Panoff covered was an introduction to some of the teaching tools that his team at Shodor has developed. One very useful example is: http://www.shodor.org/interactivate/activities/GraphSketcher/ Dr. Panoff made the point that a traditional graphing calculator that the students use only spits out what the student puts in. This interactive tool allows them to identify what the variables in an equation signify. This is a much more powerful and visual tool to train the students to think scientifically about the meaning of each component of an equation. A math inquiry lesson using this tool could ask the students to determine in "y=mx+b" what each of the variables represents for example. Students can use the sliders and look at the graph to determine what is the significance or what changes as you change one of the variables. There are many more examples of models that have been build by Shodor that can be used by anyone. They are free! Look here for more information: http://www.shodor.org/interactivate/
The next and for me the most intersting part of the day was when Dr. Panoff presented a tool for building models. This tool is also free. It is called Vensim. http://vensim.com/ Vensim is a tool so people, scientists, and students can build models without knowing how to code!! It is very useful. Dr. Panoff walked us through the four components of a model in this software using the example of compound interest. Thats right, there are only four main components! It was a very intuitive way to build a model and the models could be used for many different applications. I very much suggest you think about playing with this and incorporating it into some lessons with your students. Having your students develop even a simple model will allow them to "apply system thinking." System thinking is when they develop a big picture understanding of what is going on and then create a model of it. I will definitely use Vensim in my classroom.
After the workshop, we were given some money and we went to the 5th floor of the MBK mall. This mall is attached to our hotel. The food was tasty and very affordable. Kristin and I also had time to separate from the group to have a beer, and then we checked out the hotel pool! It was perfect. Ahhh.
It is intersting that since I have been here I have learned that here in Thailand students must compete to get into the best schools. To get into each school (even kindergarten) they must take an entrance exam! They get into schools based strictly on their entrance exam scores! The students with the best scores get into the best schools, and the next best get into the next best schools and so on. There are no geographic constraints on the schools that the students participate in. Someone from 4 hours away in north Thailand may take the entrance exam for the high school here next to the university (the best high school in Thailand), and if the student gets in and the family has the means they will move here to Bangkok for the student to be educated in that school. That is a whole different way of thinking about school isn't it? The sad thing about this is there isn't enough capacities in the Universities here, so not everyone who wants to go to the University gets to go.
On Tuesday morning we all met at the Bistro in the Hotel to get breakfast then we needed to be ready at the van at 8:30. The bistro had all kinds of food-thai food, chinese food, breakfast food, noodle soup, and etc! It was tasty!
We then took the van to the university, which is actually located across the street from the hotel! The university grounds are very nice, well groomed, and clean. I say this because there are many parts of the city that are not (sadly) and it is a whole different scene within the university grounds.
The workshop was from 9-530.
We were greeted with a warm Welcome here at the university! There are four of us NOYCE Teaching Fellows here at the Workshop. Here is the sign we were greeted with when we arrived.
When we arrived and this is how we were greeted. There were many Thai Teachers and Teacher Trainers here at the workshop as well. There were roughly a total of 20 participants of all different backgrounds but all somehow in the education field.
The workshop is led by Dr. Panoff, the founder of Shodor. http://www.shodor.org/
Shodor has been established for alomost 20 years. The following is the website to the talk that he gave on Tuesday: http://shodor.org/talks/ncsi/
The morning portions of the workshop covered some interesting ideas. One of the ideas that I found to be the most interesting the assertion that education and how students approach learning is changing due to the technology they have available to them. One example of this from my classroom, that I have seen is that my students often are less focused in class because they know that later when they get the homework, they can look up how to do it online. The bottom line is that students now think "why should I learn this when I can just look this up?"
Dr. Panoff started off by using a simple example of how students still need to keep "thinking" even if they use their resources. The example was "3+2*6. We first discussed what the answer would be. It would be 15. We all knew this because we all understood the same concvention for order of operations. We then entered the equation into the calculator on the computer. The computer gave us "30." We then tried entering it into the scientific calculator on the computer and it gave us "15." We then tried entering this into google and it came up with 50 and presented the parentheses around the 2*6. The point is that the students may just look this up using one of these methods but they need to be reminded that they must constantly evaluate what they get when they use their technological resources because they are not all operating under the same assumptions and they will not always give the correct answer. This is a great example!! Another few examples that you could use in your classroom are "mass of earth" or "boiling point of radium." Which of the imformation presented is correct? Students need to be aware that not everything that they find on the internet is true. The information they find may be using different conventions or parameters.
The next intersting and useful tool that Dr. Panoff covered was an introduction to some of the teaching tools that his team at Shodor has developed. One very useful example is: http://www.shodor.org/interactivate/activities/GraphSketcher/ Dr. Panoff made the point that a traditional graphing calculator that the students use only spits out what the student puts in. This interactive tool allows them to identify what the variables in an equation signify. This is a much more powerful and visual tool to train the students to think scientifically about the meaning of each component of an equation. A math inquiry lesson using this tool could ask the students to determine in "y=mx+b" what each of the variables represents for example. Students can use the sliders and look at the graph to determine what is the significance or what changes as you change one of the variables. There are many more examples of models that have been build by Shodor that can be used by anyone. They are free! Look here for more information: http://www.shodor.org/interactivate/
The next and for me the most intersting part of the day was when Dr. Panoff presented a tool for building models. This tool is also free. It is called Vensim. http://vensim.com/ Vensim is a tool so people, scientists, and students can build models without knowing how to code!! It is very useful. Dr. Panoff walked us through the four components of a model in this software using the example of compound interest. Thats right, there are only four main components! It was a very intuitive way to build a model and the models could be used for many different applications. I very much suggest you think about playing with this and incorporating it into some lessons with your students. Having your students develop even a simple model will allow them to "apply system thinking." System thinking is when they develop a big picture understanding of what is going on and then create a model of it. I will definitely use Vensim in my classroom.
After the workshop, we were given some money and we went to the 5th floor of the MBK mall. This mall is attached to our hotel. The food was tasty and very affordable. Kristin and I also had time to separate from the group to have a beer, and then we checked out the hotel pool! It was perfect. Ahhh.
Guided Trip to Ayutthaya Province
This is a picture of our hotel room! Pretty sweet digs for the week. Chloe and I are sharing this room.
This is a temple in the middle of a lagoon on the grounds of the summer palace of the king. It was originally constructed by King Rama V and over time has been added to and improved by all of the King's since then. The palace is located in the Ayatthuya Province. This was our first stop of the day. We took a van about an hour out of Bangkok to get here.
This is the carriage used by the King's before they used cars to visit the palace.
This is the Chinese summer Palace. We were not allowed to take pictures inside, but we were able to see the sleeping quarters of the Kinjg (a wooden bed without a mattress!!). The King of China still comes to visit this home once a year after the Chinese new year. Another interesting thing that we got to see was the sleeping quarters for the king when he has a mistress for the night!! Very intersting. After sleeping with a mistress for the night he puts a ring in a drawer above his bed. I didn't fully understand this tradition, but found it very interesting. Finally, we saw a carving made out a camel bone that was made for the Chinese Royalty. We could not take photos of it, but if you could have seen it you would not believe what you saw. The carving was probably about three feet deep, 10 feet wide, and 4 feet tall three dimensional carving including all things important to the chinese culture. The detail was impeccable. I wish I could show you.
This is another very detailed and interesting carving from the 17th centruy.
This is a better view of the Chinese King's Palace. Wow! Very ornate!
This is where all of the children and the women stay on the palace grounds. Boys become men at age 13 and girls become women at age 11. At this time their top knot is removed and the boys no longer remain on this side of the palace isolated from the King.
Plant life here is different! Gorgeous.
This is the old King's Temple. It was originally constructed by King Rama II. It has been reconstructed because in 1762 the Bermese (now Myanmar) burned all of the Ayutthaya Province. Over 100,000 people lost their lives over 7 day period.
This Buddha was in the fire. Many years later the Buddha yead was found and was moved under the tree for protection. The roots have now grown over it and are protecting it. :)
Here is Chloe and Anthony riding on Elephants. :)
This is a very old Buhhda. All of the Buddha statues are covered with gold leafs. Actual Gold!! This is a more obvious picture of the gold flakes.
This is a horrible picture of me...but we took this can of sticks, and shook it until one of the sticks flew out. My stick said 5. We then went to a counter where we could get our fortune that corresponded to the number of the stick taht flew out. My fortune read "You will have good luck but those in love will have to wait and you will meet a suitable partner finally." I'm not sure if something may be lost in translation. Not sure what that really means.
After the King's Palace we went to visit the largest temple in the Ayatthuya Province. This was also reconstructed after the fire. Interestingly, during the fire the temple collapsed on this Buddha's shoulder and broke it off. When the Thai people went to reconstruct Buddha they found many thousands of little Buddhas build into the body of the big Buddha!!! The ancient Thai people did this when they originally constructed the Buddha.
Here is another Buddha at the King's Palace. Notice that Thai Buhhda is skinny!! It is Chinese Buddha that has the big Buddha belly.
They have been restored now for visitors.
This is the assembly hall. We were all very impressed by their masonry. Their masonry was also made in a wave so that it looks like the neighboring river.
Today was a very full day! Two palaces, (one that is currently being used and one that was ancient ruins), and two amazing temples. We were also blessed by a monk, although I didn't take a picture of this.
I learned that when the Thai people come to see Buddha they make offerings to Buddha and to the monks. Monks are only allowed to eat twice a day (6 am and 11 am). They cannot touch women. I also learned that every boy in Thai is supposed to study to be a monk in their life (preferably before they get married). Our tour guide Anang studied for a month. Also when Thai people pray to Buddha they pray to reach nirvana (to not be reborn).
It was a full and interesting day! I'm thankful for these experiences. :)
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
Meeting the Shodor Team
One Sunday the 12th, I met Kristin, Dr. Panoff, and Angard at 1 pm at the hotel. We are staying here: http://pprincess.com/
Today Kristin, Angard and Dr. Panoff were fairly tired from their trip so we went for a quick lunch at the food court that is attached to the mall then they went and rested until dinner. Here are a couple pics of what we ate for dinner: Fried whole fish, and Huge Frsh Water Prawn. I didn't take a pucture of everything we had but the food was tasty!! After that we were off to bed for an early morning.
Today Kristin, Angard and Dr. Panoff were fairly tired from their trip so we went for a quick lunch at the food court that is attached to the mall then they went and rested until dinner. Here are a couple pics of what we ate for dinner: Fried whole fish, and Huge Frsh Water Prawn. I didn't take a pucture of everything we had but the food was tasty!! After that we were off to bed for an early morning.
Thanks to Angart for knowing the tasty food to order here!!
Traveling Thailand on my own (5/3-5/12)
I traveled in Thailand for 9 days on my own (thanks to the Shodor team booking my flight for an extra week). Here are some photos of my trip thus far.
I'm not going to go into too much detail about this part of my trip, I just wanted to show you some of the sights I saw.
I'm not going to go into too much detail about this part of my trip, I just wanted to show you some of the sights I saw.
I have spent three nights in Thailand, and 6 nights in Krabi Town. I explored the Ao Nang, Ao Thulane, Railey Beach, Chicken Islan, and Krabi Town. My next post will be about meeting the group and getting down to business!
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