Reflection on Unit and Lesson Plan

Successes: The unit covers material that the students need to know when studying physical science. The hands-on activities allow for the students to physically touch and see the actions (and reactions) that we discuss in class. This is great for the students and they are energetic about it. Students are learning more and more about the world around them and about things that they use daily that are science.

Area for improvement: The computer program and more importantly set-up of the equipment is difficult and can also take time. When completed, students had a very difficult time setting up the equipment that they needed to the way that they needed to.

Content knowledge: The knowledge that is being taught to the students is knowledge of forces, motion, Newton’s three laws of motion, momentum, and graphing (using the computer). Not every aspect of the unit requires the use of technology. Two different instruments of technology are used for the lesson; vernier software and excel programming to make graphs. Both of these technologies are related to the science material that is being taught at the time. The vernier software is calculating measurements of velocity and acceleration based on the gathered information of distance and time. The program allows the students see what happens whole objects are in motion. The excel program assists the students in making an accurate to scale graph and allows the students to spend their time focusing on the relationships that exist in motion.

Pedagogical knowledge: The knowledge that exists here is not completely reliant on technology. The technology used in this unit is really an add-on for the student to extend from their own book knowledge.

NETS for Teachers and Students

Overall I think that the Standards that are created are a good basis to have as a reference to what would be helpful for the students in technology. I almost think that the most important of these standards is the fifth standard: “Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership.” This is essential to a teacher to have the ability to complete the first four standards. If the teacher doesn’t have the knowledge, background, or accessibility to complete the standards then the standards are essentially useless. The first four standards seem to be great a concept for the ideas of what teachers can work on with students, but in order to do them well standard 5 needs to be completed on a regular basis. I do like that the standards are very general as that allows multiple ways to reach the standards and also allows for the flexibility that we know exists in the future of technology. However, at the same time I am not sure that being as general as they are that they are truly productive and useful as a tool. Personally, being a teacher in a classroom (not specifically technology) causes me to question exactly what I would need to do to complete these goals.

Reviewed from: http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForTeachers/2008Standards/NETS_for_Teachers_2008.htm

http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForStudents/2007Standards/NETS_for_Students_2007.htm

Software in education

We have looked at three very different types of computer software used in education (drill/tutoring; teacher-directed inquiry; and constructivist, student-directed inquiry). How do you see possibly using them in your classroom? Do you gravitate to one type versus another? Why? Or how might you coordinate the different types of software?

Generally speaking all types of software can be used in a classroom. What is, more important is the teacher and the students. This is the concept of what the teacher thinks is important, what the teacher is comfortable with using, what administration approves of, and what is available. The student perspective is as important if we want to use the software to enhance the classroom environment the student must be capable of using it and ideally be engaged while using it. I do think that all of the types of software could be used in the classroom and I think that I have the potential to use them all, but that would all depend on the type of students I have as well as what I am trying to accomplish. Although, I think that I would be more likely to use and more successful with using student directed inquiry. I can say this for a few reasons. The first being, if I am going to use technology I am going to involve and actively engage the students. There are so many positives of technology, but the biggest one is not to have the teacher doing all of the work or presenting. To integrate either option into the classroom well would mean that one would need to do enough online research or lesson preparation to determine if what was available was really what was needed for the students or if what is available could be altered for that purpose. If the students can be involved in the learning process then it should enhance the lesson. There are enough lessons that actively engage the students, if I am going to create something the students will be involved and inquiring on their own.

Reflection on Kaiser Family Foundation Study

Since there are 24 hours in a day and students are at school for 6-7 hours. That leaves 17-18 hours for other things. My students regularly have other outside of school activities that can take up anywhere from 1-4 hours a day, depending on the student, activity, and time of year. This leaves 13-17 hours, according to the study from Kaiser Family Foundation in 2009 students use 7 ½ hours for media use. This leaves 3 ½ - 9 ½ hours, in this amount of time students need to get to the places that they need to be, eat, hopefully check in with a guardian of some sort, complete any homework, and of course sleep. As the study mentioned this did not include talking on the cell phone or texting, which total about another hour and a half. I will say that some of the time used with media could include time spent working on something academic, but there is no categorization in what the media is used accomplish. (This would be a really interesting fact to get accurate data on.) This alone tells me that technology use is increasing by students and that using technology is a route to reach them. From another angle students are finding out more and discovering more on their own. As students are using media sources they are taking in and absorbing what they see, hear, and find. From an educational standpoint the goal seems to me that it should be how can we increase the amount of usefulness of the students use of media. The students are going to use media and we need to find the best way to tap into their use of media for educational purposes. I know that I am not aware of the best solution for this. Reality is also that students access to forms of technology is still not equal, which is what will really need to be addressed in order to monopolize the opportunities of students desire to use technology for educational puposes.

Technology's role in education

Technology in the classroom is not a clear cut positive or negative. Technology is so broad of a topic and classrooms vary so much that the two are not easily defined. Technology can be useful, allow information to be accessible, and engaging. But technology can also be a distraction, a source of frustration, and hard to obtain/use. I think that (generally speaking) technology can be beneficial to the educational system. Technology has so many forms that it can take and allow for a wider variety of types of assessments for students. This would allow for more students to have the potential to both grasp concepts, but also to show/share their knowledge. My biggest problem with technology is that the educators are not (usually) the people on the cutting edge of technology, nor do they have unlimited funds to do so. I think that technology can be a great asset to the classroom when, it is used by people who are trained and people who are able to relate the material to students. If this can be reached then the students would benefit the most. However, technology is always changing and allowing for something new to be developed which limits the ability to stay up to date on the material and for all to have access to the same things.