Avoiding work with...more work.

Needing a break from my ETL504 assignment, I've started working on my second ETL501 assignment. Yes, I am a bit weird!

For ETL501 I have to create an electronic pathfinder - "a tool used by teacher librarians to create an annotated list of relevant, mediated resources for a specified group of students on a curriculum related topic". I also need to write a critical reflection of the process of creating the pathfinder. So prepare to hear a lot about how I'm going with my pathfinder!

What have I done so far? My first step was to choose a curriculum related topic. My background is as a mathematics teacher, so for my earlier assignment I evaluated mathematics websites related to graphing. For the record, I believe that maths teachers rely far to heavily on the old "chalk and talk" and the good old textbook. Far fewer people would say "I'm no good at maths" or "I hate maths" if we broadened the range of resources and teaching and learning activities for maths. But for this assignment I'd like to try working with a different subject area.

I've been looking at the Science syllabus for Stages 4 and 5 (Years 7 - 10). I'd like to try something related to either 4.9.3 the structure of the Earth, 4.9.4 the atmosphere, 4.9.5 the hydrosphere, or 4.9.6 the lithosphere. It sounds interesting to me, and I can see the potential for relating the content to current environmental issues. I did a quick search using the keyword "earth science" on the NSW State Library online catalogue, and there seem to be plenty of print resources with potential. I've also found Geology.com , which seems like a good place to start in terms of electronic resources. So I'm on my way!

Secondly, I had to decide on a platform to use to create my pathfinder. I've started something on pbworks, but don't get too excited. So far all it has is a heading. My pathfinder will be a wiki - perfect for a teacher librarian wanting to work collaboratively with teachers.

So that's as far as I've gotten so far, and if you know of any fabulous resources relating to earth sciences, then let me know!