Web 2.0 Tool Review: Compfight!

Name: Compfight
URL: http://www.compfight.com/
Type of tool: Productivity
Description: Compfight is a search engine for finding images on Flickr.  Compared to searching Flickr with its built-in serach engine, Compfight has a number of distinctive differences.  Perhaps the most noticable difference is that, upon performing a search, Compfight loads many more images to one webpage than Flickr's own serach engine.  Flickr loads 21 thumbnails per search results page, while Compfight loads more thumbnails than I was willing to count. 
Here is a screenshot of search results within Flickr for images tagged "squid":

And here is a screenshot of search results for "squid" using Compfight:

The Compfight search result page may take a few moments to fully load if many matches are found.  The image thumbnails are unlabeled, allowing more thumbs to fit on the page.
Compfight has several search options.  The first is searching for tags or searching for any text.  The second option is to search within the Flickr Creative Commons, within commercial images, or both.  A third option allows you to choose to show or not show original images.  I guess "original" means images made originally for Flickr.  I didn't see any explanation for what this means.  There is also a "safe" mode to filter out offensive images that is switched on by default.
What to you need to know to use Compfight?:  Compfight is an image search engine.  If you can use Google you should be able to use Compfight.
What to you need to have to use Compfight?:  Compfight requires a network connection and a webbrowser.
How do you use Compfight?:
1) Navigate to www.compfight com.
2) Choose your search preferences (e.g. Commons, commercial, etc.).
3) Type in your search term, and hit "enter."
4) Scan the photo thumbs found, and click on the one you want to use to enlarge the image.
An educational use of Compfight: For a biology teacher, probably the best use of Compfight would be searching for images of biological specimens, (animals, plants, fungi, etc.).  As with most search engines, I found that I got more biologically relevent results if I used scientific nomenclature.  I found more photos of actual squid specimens if I seached for "Loligo," which is a genus of squid frequently used in college bioogy labs, than when I searched for "squid." 

Here is a screenshot of Compfight search results for "loligo":

As you can see in the screenshot, there are considerably fewer search results for "loligo" than for "squid" (not surprising), but the images are much more frequently photos are real squid specimens,  as opposed to squid artwork which isn't of too much interest in a biology class.
I am in the practice of using Google Image Search when I want to look for images of biological speicmens.  It does appear that Compfight gives more search results to choose from than Google.  For students looking for images to use in a report or presentation (e.g. a presentation on squids), the instructor could point to Compfight as a resource to use. 
What are the advantages of using Compfight in a teaching environment?: Compfight allows you to quickly locate a large number of high quality photographs, including photos of biological specimens.
What are the disadvantages of ising Compfight in a teaching environment?: Compfight only searches Flickr, and Flickr is mainly limited to photos, not graphs and diagrams.  When I am teaching biology, I frequently search for simple diagrams and graphs to illustrate certain points, and this tool is of very limited use in finding images of graphs and diagrams.  

My Personal Learning Network diagram

Using bubbl.us, I have constructed a diagram of my personal learning network:

I included both sources I use for formal education (e.g. university department webpages) and sources for informal education/entertainment (e.g.Netflix and Hulu), since learning occurs in both school and outside of school.

Dichotomous keys of Arthopoda, Echinodermata, and fish and invertebrate chordates

Here are dichotoumous keys my Zoology 1413 class made using bubbl.us.  For purposes of making a quick flowchart during a presentation, I think bubbl.us is a better choice than flowchart.com.  I think flowchart.com is more intended for making a polished flowchart that looks just like the way you want it to look, while bubbl.us is better for a classroom acitvity.

Dichotomous keys are used mainly for identifying specimens.  They do not necessarily have to follow evolutionary history, although they often do.  In this dichotomous key, the chondrosteans and the chondrichthyans are on one branch together, even though they are not closely related among the fishes.  They both happen to share a cartilaginous skeleton, but they did not inherit that cartilaginous skeleton from a common ancestor.

Dichotomous keys for annelids and mollusks using flowchart.com

In my Zoology 1413 class, we constructed these dichotomous keys for identifying the general varieties within the phyla Annelida and Mollusca.  I'm adding them here as a reference for my students studying for the lab quiz.

My groups CUIN 7376 Voicethread presentation on education for the 21st Century can be found at  http://voicethread.com/?#u1728153.

Google SketchUp as a teaching tool.

This week I am looking at Google SketchUp, a free downloadable program that allows the user to create and manipulate 3D models within a three dimensional workspace.  I have been fascinated by this program ever since I first heard about it.  For teaching biology, it has obvious possible uses for creating virtual anatomical models.  It would also be potentially very useful for creating virtual models of complex molecules such as studied in organic chemistry, biochemistry and molecular biology.  In between those two scales, it could also be used for modeling cell structures and organelles.
I'm still figuring out how to master the controls.  I wanted to make a simple box that I could use to illustrate how surface area to volume ratio changes with size.  I found I could not rectangles in the second or third dimensions unless I started using the axes built in to teh work space.  I'm not sure if that part of how the object designer works, or if there a way to flip two dimensional objects into a different plane. 

Anyway, I was able to make a 3D box.  Now if I can figure out how to increase all of the box dimensions equally, I could use the tape measure tool to measure and explain how a bigger boxes has proportionally more volume, relative to surface area!

UPDATE: I have realized since writing this review that I missed the entire point to what makes SketchUp versatile and cool.  I will have to revisit this review once I've had some more time to look at SketchUp.  Note: It is important to read directions :) .

Using Flowchart.com to Create a Dichotomous Key

We're currently in the taxonomic portion of the zoology course I'm teaching at Houston Community College.  I gave my students a test on invertebrates last week, and I attempted to use flowchart.com to do a quick pre-test review by creating a dichotomous key of the invertebrate phyla we studied in class.  Unfortunately, the flowchart.com server was working very slowly, so I improvised by drawing the dichotomous key using Microsoft Paint.  I didn't save that image, which I regret because I could have used it for a comparison.

Anyway, now we are moving on to Phylum Chordata, which includes the vertebrates.  I put together a dichotomous key of the chordates using flowchart.com.  I originally intended to include all of the groups I want the students to learn, but I realized that was a bit much to fit into one dichotomous key.  I will make separate keys for distinguishing subgroups of reptiles, birds, and mammals later.   

I'm thinking in class that I will have the students develop their own dichotomous keys, probably for different groups.  I tried to make this dichotomous key follow actual evolutionary history as best I could, although dichotomous keys don't necessarily have to do so.  We can cmpare the keys the students create in class to actual phylogenetic history.

I subdivided the ray-finned fish into the chondrosteons and the teleosts, because I want to make sure the students understand the difference between chondrichthyeans (e.g. sharks) and chondrosteons (e.g. sturgeons).  They're both cartilagenous fish, but they have different origins.

I do notice some shifting from the flowchart you make and what actually gets saved.  The arrow connecting "cartilagenous skeleton?" to "chondrosteons" is displaced in this image from where I placed it before saving and exporting the file.