Chapter 5: Word Searches, Online Grades, and More!

Chemistry Elements Search!

T G U R D J U M S M F Y E O W M V M A L O V A J D E Z B E A 
W U S F J P U Y X K U N A C S E F P U S A M L K I P H P N U 
S S G Z U T X T U C I I R J N K K P N N T L W S W P L N I R 
I X M I N E S E I E W P D A U W T I N G I A K G K S R N M U 
Q F Y E C H L O R I N E D O U S M X V Y W M T R F G C Z O M 
I W G N Z S W K X M J I R D H E J P Q T Q H U I N T Y R R T 
Z R C U P R U M M M U K F P X R V C U X H P V L N L W J B G 
A H K Q Z U Z C M M A I F M U I N I E T S N I E A E U F T X 
Y L H A V K V N B O X V E T I B A L L E R B J P D S N U R Y 
P P G C M D I J S Q N W Z W F B X O Q K I G V D K H K Q G Y 
M U I R O H T Z O X D J Q D D M O C L D A R G K E I X Z K H 
N V X U F H C S G E X I N E K L M S U R Z T I E O E X F C Y 
T L K D B F J R I A E P S O V N R M U K V B H I B P H W A E 
F L T Y M C K G V K Q J I T R V F A K S M O A L Y K T N D A 
Y H Y G K Q Y H E T P Q L I I W F V Y Z E R V O H X L Z J X 
Z X F U N D G S T Q J T W T Y S Q S J L Y M H G G W O M P U 
E S S C K U L J G G I M D A F F M X B G B W A H Y N K L A H 
O W E R A X C A V F J U W N S K H O Z Q P J Z L D E L I Z O 
T N K P X M W T K L K N N I Y O R E H B Z P U K U A F J M N 
H O T G U T R F R D W I V U I O D V T N T N D E L Q O Y K G 
O O S I D S B M B K W T X M N M D I V T G G R X S J Y I C S 
R C R A E T A K W F Z A M A F C B T U T R I O X Q J T J G P 
E A D Y S I J M P M S L H Y I R E L S M H E Z P G S K K X Z 
B F K U P Q S L K B Z P E U N A I Y N Z U N D K S M L B H K 
Y G F Q K H X F B L I M V S Z J Y H Y V T W O H U P W U D C 
U Y B O G K P K N L Y Z D Z Q P R M A V Z Q H Y U U M V E X 
S U R R W Y K A L U P O N U H Q D P E K X E W G W J M H K Q 
B O U D U W P X C H Q L C U W L F H Z T K L U W Z J B B L C 
T N W P C D C U K Y T Y T L V M E L I Q V E G V T K T U O C 
R M P A C U F X M S J Q S V O U S W Q I Z O J U Q W A J O I 

ALUMINUM
ARGENTUM
ASTATINE
AURUM
BARIUM
BORON
BROMINE
CHLORINE
CUPRUM
EINSTEINIUM
PLATINUM
RHODIUM
SODIUM
THORIUM
TITANIUM
VENADIUM

Oh Boy, a Word Search!

What student in their right mind doesn't like a word search!? It's a wonderful way to help students practice and expand on their vocabulary without feeling like they are. It often feels more like a relaxing, game-like activity than it is, and this helps to get students into doing it. This particular freeware program that was linked from here, is a great word search generator, that allows the user to control most aspects of the word search (dimensions, whether or not words cross, etc.), whilst still randomly generating the letter structure to allow for a certain, fun,"random" aspect.

Letting students know that Wikipedia isn't EVIL is also important. Students have it drilled into their heads that Wikipedia is not a reference, but what they really need to also be taught is that although it is not directly a reference, it is a wonderful tool to find references. It would behoove us as educators to teach students about how to determine a reliable source, and to show them about how such sources can often be found at the bottom of a Wikipedia page in the references section!

Chapter five was less about programs for student use than previous chapters were, and more about the most useful programs that a teacher can implement for certain tasks to aid themselves, parents, and students.

From electronic gradebooks, to publishing software, all the way to graphic illustration programs and surveys, there were many ideas in this chapter to take away for future use in the classroom. Personally, I find the electronic gradebook (such as engrade -- I can not stress how useful this site is!) to potentially be a particularly useful tool, as it allows students to track their grades and progress without asking their teacher in class, and in the case of some sites (ENGRADE!), allows their parents/guardians to make parental accounts to track their children's progress in much the same way.


References:
Roblyer, M. D. (2016). Integrating educational technology into teaching (7th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.