We used a website called Wikispaces to create our own wikis. It is free forever for educators! I created a lesson plan on my wiki for an imaginary class of mine (believe me, it was weird referring to nobody). But I'm pretty proud of my lesson plan, so I hope to use it at some point! My lesson plan is on the different types of careers in the sciences. Many people seem to imagine scientists as creepy dudes in lab coats responsible for crazy mutant rats, but I really wanted to expose students to the real world of science research and the vast possibilities of a career in science.
After my "students" take the quiz and find out the result of what science they tend to gravitate towards, I ask them to do some research via the Internet on that particular field. When a runner-up science is very close to the winning science, I ask my students to combine those two sciences and research that field (i.e. geochemistry; chemical physics, bioengineering, etc.). I provided a Google Docs form for the students to fill out that includes a few questions to guide them through research. Finally, I ask the students to post something cool that they learned on the Discussion Board for the rest of the class to see and encourage collaboration there.
So far only me, my family, and a few of my Facebook friends have taken this quiz, but hopefully I will have the opportunity to use this in the future. I never would have thought that I could implement so many cool technologies into a single lesson plan! I had so much fun making this - I had so many ideas flying through my head at once, I could hardly get them down fast enough! I am absolutely amazed at what can be done these days, and how much kids can learn from it!
To view my lesson plan, click on Wiki Sci Jam!
Jamael