UTEP Master Teacher AcademiesIntegrating active learning with open source technologies across the STEM

content areas

March 21, 2011 MSTTPA Statewide Meeting Arlington, Texas

Brian H. Giza, Ph.D. PI, University of Texas at El Paso MSTTPA Cycle 3 “Master Teacher Academies”

(bhgiza@utep.edu)

• Free, Libre, and Open Source Software (FLOSS) software tools are powerful additions to strategies for integrating technology across content areas.

• We prefer to call them FLOSS tools instead the equally common acronym of FOSS (Free and Open Source) tools to avoid any confusion with the Full Option Science System kits.

• The preferred versions are “Portable Apps” versions that can be run from a USB drive (or a folder on the desktop) without installation – no need for administrator rights, and kids can take them home!

• If teachers and students have access to multimedia technology that they can take with them and run from any modern computer, they will be more likely to use multimedia in creative ways .

There is a high quality, powerful and free open source graphics editor, the Gnu Image Manipulation Program (GIMP) that is a respected and easily obtainable cross-platform free alternative to Adobe Photoshop. GIMP is available in "portable" versions that can be run from a USB drive, removing the restrictive requirements for administrator privileges to install and run it. Lose it? You may replace it easily by downloading it again from the Internet.

The FLOSS audio editor Audacity and the VirtualDub FLOSS video editor are two other tools we use regularly. Any student can carry these Portable FLOSS tools on a USB drive in their pocket, use it for a time at school in their classroom or their library, take it home or to a friend's house and continue their multimedia project without being concerned about cost, licensing, or installation issues.

Audacity VirtualDub

January 2010 Workshop on Satellite imagingWith Free andOpen-source tools

Audacity, along with the GIMP, OpenOffice, and other FLOSS tools are key software used in a set of initiatives that are focused on curriculum writing and multimedia skills development among Master Teachers in El Paso.

FLOSS Audio • Audacity is a popular audio editor that is free and

open source and that is available in portable versions for Macintosh and Windows

• At UTEP we use Audacity for STEM activities such as studying Earthquake sounds, but we also use it to empower second language learners to record ‘perfect’ versions of science fair presentations, for podcasts, in recording and analyzing birdsong, even in studying force and motion (“Analyze the sound to tell when the ball hit the floor”, etc. )

Audacity has been used in digital storytelling research in the Himalayan Kingdom of Bhutan by Khendum Gyabak, a graduate students of Dr. Giza’s

This summer we shall be using Audacity to study the sounds of the Mar 11, 2011 earthquake that

caused the great Japanese tsunami

A Related activity is at http://www.educationtechnologies.com/modules/equake/

Useful links and sample activities• Audacity Earthquake sound editing:

http://www.educationtechnologies.com/modules/equake/

• Introducing the GIMP: http://www.educationtechnologies.com/modules/gimp01/

• Using GIMP for animation of satellite images: http://www.educationtechnologies.com/modules/satanim1/

• Quantifying change in Arctic ice using the GIMP and satellite images: http://www.educationtechnologies.com/modules/ice1/

• Free and Open Source Portable Apps for Windows: http://portableapps.com

• Free and Open Source Portable Apps for Macintosh: http://www.freesmug.org/portableapps