As future science teachers, and an adolescent growing up in a technology savvy world, I really do understand the importance of technology in science education. When I was in high school, I was constantly using microscopes, power points, educational videos, and dissecting computer programs in class to enhance my learning. Never before however, have I ever considered technology in terms of science literacy. The book outlined to major reasons why to use technology in the classroom: 1) To increase student learning and 2) increase teacher productivity. I also liked how they said "Technology can provide a bridge between students' lived experiences and reading, writing, and inquiry" (pg 85). This is exactly what we talk about in class. Before this class, I never realized how important it is to evaluate each class as a teacher before teaching a lesson. What I mean by this is, in order to improve students' reading and writing literacy it is essential to get a sense of what knowledge students already bring into class, that way, the teachers can model constructivist learning by allowing students to share their skills with technology. The book suggested a lot of different ideas to incorporate technology such as hypermedia programs, internet use, geocaching (which I did in pre-calc),web quests, and more. I think the web quest task would be most appropriate in the Biology classroom and thought the example on pg. 92 was really interesting. This would certainly help with inquiry. I personally think that computer dissections and lesson programs are extremely helpful. I remember in 10th grade I dissected a frog and in my senior year I did a dissection on a frog on a computer program (for AP Bio) and learned soo much more from the process. I continue to use programs like this for my Physiology class here at Pace University. Databases can provide sources of information for writing and students can develop reading literacy much more easily with the help of animation and graphics. I am surprised I have rarely ever seen students working with technology in my CPD placement this year, yet I use it every day here at Pace! I saw it used once in a Chemistry class. The class had to pair up and present a power point presentation on an assigned topic. The power point had to have visuals, animation, vocabulary words, and real-life examples. This a very practical and obtainable project to assign to a class. The teacher told me that all the students had access to the school library during activity period and his main goal for the project was to help get his seniors more familiar with power point, in order to get ready for college next year. When I watched the students’ presentations, I noticed that easy explanations accompanied by visuals and animation went a long way to help the students learn about each topic presented. The presentations were interesting and much more creative than anything they could read out of the textbook. Above I mentioned how technology can benefit both students and teachers… it is much easier to describe molecular and cellular biology ( cells, mitosis, meiosis, proteins, fats) visually and with animation. Short clips that show how these processes work are a great advantage and tool for establishing literacy. I know it is unrealistic to think that each student is going to be able to have access at a computer at home or every day in class, but a few hands on lessons using technology could really help promote understanding, especially in the beginning of a unit. Although technology in the classroom can be very time-consuming and can unexpectedly create challenges in the classroom it is extremely helpful for promoting literacy.
It is true that technology is the way of the future. Just in the recent years since we have grown up, technology has been seen in abundance. In my own high school experience technology was something that we used every day. Many people probably believe that technology is really only seen in English when using computers and what not but the truth is, technology is everywhere. We see technology in math rooms when we use calculators and we now even see it in science rooms when using microscopes and even SMARTboards for those schools that are lucky enough. When I was in high school SMARTboards were just coming out and therefore only a select few classrooms had them available. But microscopes and computer software that allowed for a closer analysis of specimens were available. There were two major ideas outlined in the book that identified why we use technology in the classroom. One of these ideas was that it increases students learning and the second idea was that it could increase the productivity of the teacher. To me this means that by providing technology to students, you as the teacher could provide more ways for students to learn. Learning was no longer just a simple textbook, but it was now an interactive SMARTboard and interactive microscopes that paired up with computer programs. You said it perfectly Ashley that quote on page 85 "Technology can provide a bridge between students' lived experiences and reading, writing, and inquiry" really does sum it all up. Technology is the way of the future and there is no way around it. By providing students with technology we can create a way for students to relate what they are learning to real experiences. The book provides some great examples of ways to ‘bridge’ the technology gap. It provides way to incorporate technology into everyday learning and these are practices that I hope to use in my own classroom. While reading this chapter though I could not help but to keep thinking back to my CPD. In my CPD technology is not abundant and it is shocking to me. One reason I think this may be shocking to me is because I have been in a district where students have had their own laptops and the school provided every form of technology that they needed. This is not the case in my CPD. The classroom has a SMARTboard and the teacher uses it a lot but mainly to show a handout. He does not utilize all of its potentials so students do not get to view a range of technologies. I have never seen students use microscopes while at my CPD or have I seen them use an interactive computer. Although students complete labs and do lab write-ups I have never seen them use a technological device to determine boiling points or graphs. There is an apparatus available that allows students to put a small sample on a hot plate and through computer technology the boiling point is determined based on averages. There is also other programs that allow students to input their data into a computer and a graph is assembled based on their numbers. Technology is the way of the future and just like the book outlined it is important to incorporate technology into the classroom. Although it is hard to require computer use from every student since you do not know what the resources are outside of the classroom, it would be nice to have enough resources in the classroom for every student to take part in the technological future!
After reading this chapter and designing our writing mdemo, I am starting to develop a deep understanding of what makes science writing and the use of technology a unique endeavor. Other than computers, internet, and the SMARTboard, there has to be other technology resources out there. Science museums and exhibits have a lot of student learning activities that also can be very useful for science literacy.
I like what you had to say here...especially Ashley at the end. There HAS to be more than the Smartboard. The Smartboard replicates a very traditional model of teaching. How can technology truly be leveraged so it adds value? I'm curious more about what you think. It's incredible that you see so little technology used in science, especially since Ashley is in PLV!
As future science teachers, and an adolescent growing up in a technology savvy world, I really do understand the importance of technology in science education. When I was in high school, I was constantly using microscopes, power points, educational videos, and dissecting computer programs in class to enhance my learning. Never before however, have I ever considered technology in terms of science literacy. The book outlined to major reasons why to use technology in the classroom: 1) To increase student learning and 2) increase teacher productivity. I also liked how they said "Technology can provide a bridge between students' lived experiences and reading, writing, and inquiry" (pg 85). This is exactly what we talk about in class. Before this class, I never realized how important it is to evaluate each class as a teacher before teaching a lesson. What I mean by this is, in order to improve students' reading and writing literacy it is essential to get a sense of what knowledge students already bring into class, that way, the teachers can model constructivist learning by allowing students to share their skills with technology.
ReplyDeleteThe book suggested a lot of different ideas to incorporate technology such as hypermedia programs, internet use, geocaching (which I did in pre-calc),web quests, and more. I think the web quest task would be most appropriate in the Biology classroom and thought the example on pg. 92 was really interesting. This would certainly help with inquiry. I personally think that computer dissections and lesson programs are extremely helpful. I remember in 10th grade I dissected a frog and in my senior year I did a dissection on a frog on a computer program (for AP Bio) and learned soo much more from the process. I continue to use programs like this for my Physiology class here at Pace University. Databases can provide sources of information for writing and students can develop reading literacy much more easily with the help of animation and graphics. I am surprised I have rarely ever seen students working with technology in my CPD placement this year, yet I use it every day here at Pace! I saw it used once in a Chemistry class. The class had to pair up and present a power point presentation on an assigned topic. The power point had to have visuals, animation, vocabulary words, and real-life examples. This a very practical and obtainable project to assign to a class. The teacher told me that all the students had access to the school library during activity period and his main goal for the project was to help get his seniors more familiar with power point, in order to get ready for college next year. When I watched the students’ presentations, I noticed that easy explanations accompanied by visuals and animation went a long way to help the students learn about each topic presented. The presentations were interesting and much more creative than anything they could read out of the textbook. Above I mentioned how technology can benefit both students and teachers… it is much easier to describe molecular and cellular biology ( cells, mitosis, meiosis, proteins, fats) visually and with animation. Short clips that show how these processes work are a great advantage and tool for establishing literacy.
I know it is unrealistic to think that each student is going to be able to have access at a computer at home or every day in class, but a few hands on lessons using technology could really help promote understanding, especially in the beginning of a unit. Although technology in the classroom can be very time-consuming and can unexpectedly create challenges in the classroom it is extremely helpful for promoting literacy.
It is true that technology is the way of the future. Just in the recent years since we have grown up, technology has been seen in abundance. In my own high school experience technology was something that we used every day. Many people probably believe that technology is really only seen in English when using computers and what not but the truth is, technology is everywhere. We see technology in math rooms when we use calculators and we now even see it in science rooms when using microscopes and even SMARTboards for those schools that are lucky enough. When I was in high school SMARTboards were just coming out and therefore only a select few classrooms had them available. But microscopes and computer software that allowed for a closer analysis of specimens were available. There were two major ideas outlined in the book that identified why we use technology in the classroom. One of these ideas was that it increases students learning and the second idea was that it could increase the productivity of the teacher. To me this means that by providing technology to students, you as the teacher could provide more ways for students to learn. Learning was no longer just a simple textbook, but it was now an interactive SMARTboard and interactive microscopes that paired up with computer programs.
ReplyDeleteYou said it perfectly Ashley that quote on page 85 "Technology can provide a bridge between students' lived experiences and reading, writing, and inquiry" really does sum it all up. Technology is the way of the future and there is no way around it. By providing students with technology we can create a way for students to relate what they are learning to real experiences.
The book provides some great examples of ways to ‘bridge’ the technology gap. It provides way to incorporate technology into everyday learning and these are practices that I hope to use in my own classroom. While reading this chapter though I could not help but to keep thinking back to my CPD. In my CPD technology is not abundant and it is shocking to me. One reason I think this may be shocking to me is because I have been in a district where students have had their own laptops and the school provided every form of technology that they needed. This is not the case in my CPD. The classroom has a SMARTboard and the teacher uses it a lot but mainly to show a handout. He does not utilize all of its potentials so students do not get to view a range of technologies. I have never seen students use microscopes while at my CPD or have I seen them use an interactive computer. Although students complete labs and do lab write-ups I have never seen them use a technological device to determine boiling points or graphs. There is an apparatus available that allows students to put a small sample on a hot plate and through computer technology the boiling point is determined based on averages. There is also other programs that allow students to input their data into a computer and a graph is assembled based on their numbers.
Technology is the way of the future and just like the book outlined it is important to incorporate technology into the classroom. Although it is hard to require computer use from every student since you do not know what the resources are outside of the classroom, it would be nice to have enough resources in the classroom for every student to take part in the technological future!
After reading this chapter and designing our writing mdemo, I am starting to develop a deep understanding of what makes science writing and the use of technology a unique endeavor. Other than computers, internet, and the SMARTboard, there has to be other technology resources out there. Science museums and exhibits have a lot of student learning activities that also can be very useful for science literacy.
ReplyDeleteI like what you had to say here...especially Ashley at the end. There HAS to be more than the Smartboard. The Smartboard replicates a very traditional model of teaching. How can technology truly be leveraged so it adds value? I'm curious more about what you think. It's incredible that you see so little technology used in science, especially since Ashley is in PLV!
ReplyDelete