melissa

In response to Julia’s post I would like to say thankyou to her for providing science teachers with such an extensive range of web links to education sites. I will definately be attemting to work my way through these.

There are some fantastic web sites and programs available to simulate experiments and cocepts in science education. These fall into the construction stage of learning as the studenst can play around and build on concepts which they have either learned or that already exist in a pre existing framework. One such site is phet or the Physics Education Technology website. This site allows the students to simulate a wide range of physics concepts in a safe environment. These programs are not nly fun for the students, but also provide a basis for meaninful learning.

When reading an article in the New York Times, How to bring our schools out of the 20th century, I particularly loved this quote which Julia cited in her blog Out of Interest: Rip Van Winkle.

Rip Van Winkle awakens in the 21st century after a hundred-year snooze and is, of course, utterly bewildered by what he sees. Men and women dash about, talking to small metal devices pinned to their ears. Young people sit at home on sofas, moving miniature athletes around on electronic screens. Older folk defy death and disability with metronomes in their chests and with hips made of metal and plastic. Airports, hospitals, shopping malls–every place Rip goes just baffles him. But when he finally walks into a schoolroom, the old man knows exactly where he is. “This is a school,” he declares. “We used to have these back in 1906. Only now the blackboards are green.”

So when the rest of our lives, particularly the lives of our students who have grown up with computers, mobile phones, email and all forms of gaming consoles, include technology, why don’t our schools. Those schools that are past the days of the Flinstones use technology very effectively. As Ronie noted in her post Interactive White Boards; Just an Expensive Toy, the use of technologies can assist in student motivation, hence they will want to learn.

As teachers however, we still need to make sure that the use of technology in the classroom has a specific use in the curriculum. There is no point in motivating students to learn if we are not teaching them anything.

Technology is a fantastic tool to be used in todays classrooms as it motivates the studenst in a way in which they are comfortable and interested. However, to be used effectively it must be used appropriately, with a specific learning goal in mind, not just for the sake of it.

When reading Ronie’s post, I was particularly stunned by a quote she cited in an article by Prensky. He stated that When you lose your mobile, you lose part of your brain. Have we gone mad? It was only a couple of weeks ago and my husband took my mobile phone with him to Melbourne and I had to make arrangements to meet my dad, who was babysitting for me while at Uni. I didn’t know what to do when I said to him you can’t ring me because I don’t have my mobile. I almost thought I would have to not go to Uni just because my dad couldn’t contact me. Are we now that reliant on technology? Where are the days of making plans and sticking to them? I must admit I felt very silly when my dad reminded me what we did before we had mobile phones, this coming from a man who has a Blackberry. In this instance when I had lost my mobile, I did lose part of my brain, not because I wasn’t up to date with everything, but because I had forgotten how to use all other methods of communication, prior to the mobile phone.

I stumbled across Kearney’s Learning Designs and discovered a fantastic use of Predict Observe Explain in Physics education, also using computer technologies. As we have already established todays “Digital Natives” need to be constantly excited to motivate then to learn, and what better way than using traditional science teaching methods combined with the computer. The science based POE’s allow the students to work in groups, they allow discussion between the groups, and then a formal collaberation of ideas. They allow the students to do the thinking for themselves, and they get to visualise the result. They can also repeat as many times as they need. What a fantastic science teaching tool!

In reply to Chris’s blog, Chris makes a statement based on the quote

“If a teacher today is not technologically literate – and is unwilling to make the effort to learn more – it’s equivalent to a teacher 30 years ago who didn’t know how to read and write.”

He then gives reasons for which he does not agree with this statement. I agree with his reasons as there is no way one can equate not being able to read and write with not being able to use a computer. Not being able to read or write limits all methods of communication apart from talking. Not being able to use a computer does not do this, not does it limit your ability to learn.

In response to Maree’s post Who’s Teaching Who?, Maree points out that the first web browser was created 18 years ago, the same time this group of year 12 students were born. How technology has emerged in 18 years! The only problem being, we as teachers were born many more than 18 years ago, and therfore did not learn to use a computer at the same time as we learned to talk. My husband still can’t get his head around the idea that our 8 and 5 year old sons are getting laptops from “Santa” for Christmas this year. This is because computers are part of their everyday experiences and there is continual fighting over who gets to use the computer first. But, where will technology go in the next 18 years? This leads me to the point that teachers need to be continually updated to keep up with the digital natives and provide them with an education that is relavant in their world.

The answer to this question is absolutely not! For technology to have the desired impact on improved teaching and learning, several conditions must be in place

1. Shared vision for technology integration

2. Sandards and curriculum support

3. Required policies

4. Access to hardware, software and other resources

5. Trained personnal

This is adapted from Integrating educational technology into Teaching by M.Roblyer, 2006.

In response to the article in The Age “Survey shows digital woes for teachers” I was not at all surprised to hear that Teachers want more training, better technology and more support to take full advantage of the digital revolution sweeping through the education sector. We are now living in a digital age, where children live their lives according to everything technological. What I was surprised about was the fact that although 80% of teachers feel that computers are an integral part of their job, only 36% feel they are confident in using them. This also suprised Julia in her blog Digital Woes, where she states ”Unfortunetly for the students and teaching staff, it seems as if this is one of the greater problems being faced with the incoming digital revolution. So much digital media and resources and programs are available, but if teachers can’t use them with confidence than there isnt much point.”

I put it to you, would you go into a surgery where the surgeon was untrained in the new equipment he was about to use? So, why is it that teachers are not trained in the equipment that is available for them to use?

Reading the articles All the World’s a stage and Educational Blogging, I came to realise that this new form of learning through blog entries can infact help to reduce the large amounts of wasted paper in schools. Gone are the days of copious numbers of handouts, all of this information can be provided on a teachers blog page. The students can read information, homework, assignments etc and then respond online. This also gives them the opportunity to respond to each others questions and answers, thus providing a new learning environment. A principal at one school Mario Asselin describes blogging as a virtual extension of the classroom. Stephen Downes, the author of the article Educational Blogging provides many positive reasons to use blogging in the classroom. These are that web blogs support learning, they provide the students with a new set of skills and attitudes and they are open to a wider audience, hence more constructive critism and ideas are exchanged.