Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Two kinds of 'classroom technology'
In my classroom, I would say there are two types of technology, with overlap between them. The generic 'instructional technology' are going to be those things in your room that require electricity, even if its batteries hence the name of this blog!
In science class we use equipment, tools, and/or devices. With the digital revolution, much scientific equipment has gone digital in the real world, and now that can also be brought into the classroom.
For instance, a common chemistry lab is to take water through the three common phases, solid, liquid and gas. This is accomplished by 'cooking' ice and measuring the temperature on regular intervals, then take the data and plot temperature versus time. My video above shows I've incorporated technology, updating the experiment.
Original : Hot plate set on some number like "7" or high
Digital : Hot plate has digital readout showing you the temperature it is set to
Original : A red alcohol filled thermometer is used to 'estimate' temperature
Digital : A thermal probe is used to measure the temperature to 1/100 of a degree Celsius
Original : stopwatch or wall clock used to check time to take temperature every 30-60 seconds
Digital : data acquisition software reads temperature probe every two seconds and displays time and temperature, simulates thermometer and plots the data
Original : students work with items over the boiling point of water, high chance of injury, broken class, and student error in data collection
Digital : LCD projector projects data on whiteboard for students to record as if it were their own apparatus, in real time, minimal chance of injury or student error
Setup time reduced 8 fold on average, reset time between classes, also greatly reduced
My students are issued laptops, but haven't received theirs yet. Had they possessed them, they most likely would have been required to use the 21st century skill of making the graph using something like a spreadsheet, instead of pencils and graph paper.
Critics might say, they aren't touching the equipment, getting the learning experience. The majority of the hands-on portion of the lab is stirring the contents of the beaker, I don't feel I have cheated them, but instead let them see modern tools in use.
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I really like your upgrades on this basic experiment. When I did this experiment in school, we had the probes to measure the temperature, but had to record the results fast using the wall clock. We weren't issued laptops, but I am so excited that students are now. They will come in handy so much, especially in science, like you said.
ReplyDeleteYou said "Critics might say, they aren't touching the equipment, getting the learning experience." I also don't feel you have cheated them. In an articile I recently read, it stated that students spend, on average, 10 hours a day using the internet or other form of technology (smart phones, iPads, iPods, etc.). It is important for us as teachers to plan our lessons around the interests of our students and right now, technology is one of their main interests.
Great job with the technology additions! :)
It's nice that you work in a district that invests in modern equipment for science labs. It's also nice that the students have laptops. My mom works at Klein Oak (Biology teacher) and she does a lot of experiments where the students research online so they can compare what they're doing in class to what is being done in the world-wide scientific community.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with Lauren in that technology is vitally important to keep students' interest. In addition, that is the way that scientists work today so students learning how to use the proper technology will give them the skills necessary to compete in today's world.
I am excited to see the use of technology developing and being utilized in a high school classroom because many students as they enter the scientific work force will need to be able to use these programs and being exposed to them in a low stress setting gives them a chance to learn it. I wished we would have had this type of technoloy when I went to Klein Oak! It would have made science a lot more fun! I work in Klein now and the technology we have available even for the Kindergarteners I teach is amazing!I agree with Lauren about incorportaing technology into our lessons because the students are craving it!
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