This semester, I decided to explore the true facility of one of my host teacher's pet projects: a delicious list group entitled westscience designed to be frequented and contributed to by anyone who has ever enjoyed the hospitality of the West High Science Department.
As one of those privileged few, I was given the password, meaning that I can contribute to the site as well as view it. This I have done, though my use of the resources outweighed my contributions, I have to admit. I explored almost every bookmark on the list, and used many of them throughout the year. However, I am proud to have contributed Ionic vs Covalent Bonding on 25 Jan, Bonding in Metallic Solids and the Energy Resources Homepage on 05 Feb, and, at Amy's suggestion, NOVA science's RNAi video I'd been using on 19 Feb, all found here and here.
For me as a teacher, the westscience delicious list has and will continue to be important because it helps me organize resources. In science, more than in almost any other discipline, there are multitudes of online animations, self-practice sites, and physical/life/earth systems exploration tools. It is a serious task to keep all of these fantastic resources, which often illustrate processes and relationships better than other mediums ever could, in reach and organized. In addition, it can be a trial to keep organized all the various resources that have been referred to you by other science teachers - an e-mail sent here, a scribbled note there, a mention during a conversation at lunch. . . delicious lets you all put it in the same place, with a tagging system that allows you to customize searches to your needs at the current time. And now, why delicious is particularly important at West High.
The most obvious disadvantage of this social web is that contributing is limited to such a small pool of people, mere dozens in number. However, that is also a strength. The people who contribute to this group are all extremely judicious in their use of
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