Creating a Google Photo Presentation

This was a whirl wind process of gathering images via different technological media and consolidating them into a uniform format for presentation. Google software and media were mainly responsible for the completion of the project. The images were collected via my digital camera, screen captured, scanned image capture, web free image capture, and free clip art capture.

These images were then uploaded into Google Picasa for collection. The images were modified into a 92 dpi format using Photoshop. This was the most annoying portion of our assignment. Photoshop preferred to sleep "CRASH" rather than work. Once the images were altered Google documents was used to create a presentation that was then linked to my blog. Overall Google shareware has been stable and easy to use. Other software is not always guaranteed to have been through finishing school and use its manners.

Technology in the classroom is it just to be Paper Free.

I have been in many classes that praise their technological advanced in education. The main thing they all have in common is the teacher will use shared power point slide shows to keep notes “Paper Free” and students use a Word Processor to submit their assignments. Is this a truly advanced use of technology? I think it is great to be paperless, but that there is more to incorporating technology than making students use digital notebooks. We need to teach students to think and research critically, not just type versus write their notes.

Are Calculators a Handicap?

Technology can be a means to enable people, but it can also hinder people. Today I encountered a pet peeve during my High School field service observation. Students were unwilling or unable to do simple stoichiometric mathematics with out a calculator. The students were appalled that I would expect them to complete simple addition facts and multiplication facts with simple brainpower. I feel it is essential to keep our brains active and alert. In order to do this I feel students should not be totally dependent on their calculators. I was even more appalled to find out that my first grader and his classmates have been given calculators to use on their math assignments. This is an excessive use of calculators when students should be developing their brain muscle not encouraging it to atrophy. At least my son tells me he would rather do his math with his head because it is quicker.

Am I too hard a teacher to expect my students to be able to multiply to twenty in their head, or add atomic masses together quickly? Yes a calculator can do it, but I can do it in my head quicker than I can type it into my calculator. I truly feel that students are becoming too dependent on calculators. I will insist that parts of my students’ exams are completely with out the aide of a calculator.

The Frustrations of Technology

While technology is supposed to make things simpler, it can also severely complicate things. Besides the computer viruses, dreaded blue screens of death, software compatibility conflicts, Internet connection failures, and standard technology hiccups, I find the lack of personal interaction enabled by technology to be the most frustrating. I watch my son increasingly prefer to chat via pictochat on his DS with another player sitting next to him, versus talk out loud. At school, I see students sitting side by side text messaging each other. Kids these days would rather sit and play computer games than play outside with their friends.

Are we losing our ability to communicate with other humans directly? When I ask a student in class to put up their phone, I might as well have asked them to detach their hand and lock it in a box. I appreciate technology, but I feel that it is a cold means to live by. I have never been a fan of phone conversations when I can meet and talk to a person face to face. I feel that we should be enabled by technology, not disabled by it.

Now people say, "Why should they learn this fact or learn to solve a problem when they can google it?" Well I do not think that we should stop personal learning, if we do not use our brains they will atrophy. Is not allowing a student to cease to learn to think for himself and use google instead just another form of enabling? So my greatest frustration is that I feel too much technology will result in the loss of our ability to think and generate original ideas for ourselves. I also feel students resist learning more these days because they would rather take the easy road and GOOGLE it. So next time you think about text messaging, or calling someone versus going for a visit think of this... can your phone make you feel as good as seeing a person smiling and laughing in person?

Web Quests a Tool for Curriculum Reinforcement

This past week in my teaching with technology class we had to explore Web Quests and their application to our future role as K-12 teachers. Technology is more than a new and improved faster or smaller computer. It is the intelligent application of ideas in an improved format. A good Web Quest fills this role. Web Quests can be a tool to aide in the presentation of curriculum material.

I am a chemist and engineer, I wondered about the applicability of Web Quests to my curriculum topics. After exploring various Web Quest sites pertaining to my curriculum, I can see how Web Quests can accent lessons. Web Quests shouldn’t be replace the teacher, but a good Web Quest project can serve to apply INTERESTING redundancy of curriculum material. You are not limited to the Web Quest out there. There are plenty of web sites that help you design your own Web Quests. If you are hesitant at first, use those created by others to provide topic reinforcement and review.

These project based web applications can aide teachers through the provision of interactive sessions that engage and stimulate student learning more effectively than standard lecture formats. In addition to reinforcing the curriculum material in your average student, computerized instruction and projects can greatly aide in those with disabilities learning the material. Web Quest projects and lessons can be viewed at the students own pace and reviewed as many times as necessary. Lectures in class are not as easily repeated and flexible in delivery.

The Web Quests I liked the most were those that applied to more abstract topics in Chemistry, Chemical Reactions and the Gas Laws. The ones that I reviewed and recommended were created by the UCI Science Institute. They have Web Quests for various scientific disciplines spanning multiple years. The Web Quest, http://www.can-do.com/uci/ssi2002/chemicalreactions.html, has links to versions spanning six years that include all the UCI Science Institute Web Quests for the given year. This 2002 Web Quest of note relates to the Chemistry of atoms, matter, and chemical reactions. This is a great review of the scientific method as applied to chemical reactions and tests the general knowledge of atoms, matter, and chemical reactions. This would be an excellent curriculum reinforcement Web Quest to allow students alternate presentation of standard material. The second Web Quest, http://www.can-do.com/uci/ssi2003/gas-laws.html, on the topic of Gas Laws provides an interesting and interactive means to cover a topic that can be boring and difficult for some students to grasp. This is a great Web Quest that can be given to students to explore gas laws and properties before the class lecture and experiment. Having the students independently work through this introductory presentation will allow the teacher to increase overall understanding of the curriculum and reinforce weak conceptual points.

Please look into using Web Quests to accent your curriculum topics. They are good for all ages as long as the student has basic reading skills and the ability to use a computer.

An Elementary School’s Technological Take on Science Class

My son is in first grade. His public school has an extremely high rating according to state standards. The school has had good levels of funding from the state and community grants as well. On paper this school is exceptional, but my son and I are dissatisfied with the level of education he has received thus far. The school has a dedicated special education program for gifted students. But there is only one teacher to serve the needs of sixty students. The homeroom teacher is left to meet the needs of all students: gifted, ESL, learning disabled, or developmentally delayed.

The classrooms have smart boards and access to a computer room. The library is well stocked and the teachers are veterans. The teachers do the best that they can with all their resources, but it comes down to one teacher per 20+ students. The teacher is mainly forced to deal with pulling up those that fall behind.

The state textbook agencies are not helping matters with their expectations student progress through out the year. What bothers my husband and me is that the math text does not show significant progress in skill development from beginning to end. The expectations for the last week are only mildly more advanced than that taught in the first week.

There is not a science text. Now science education is promoted as highly technological for the first grade class. They get to watch episodes of the Magic School Bus on the classroom Smartboard. Now I like a good episode of the Magic School Bus, I think it is a great Sunday morning cartoon show. However I do not think that it is a sufficient substitute for hands on science experience. So do you think that a Sunday morning cartoon is sufficient science education for our children? I don’t. My son and I do home chemistry and physics experiments. We read about animals and biology. We study robotics and programming. School seems to be more like glorified daycare. Is anyone else concerned about the standards of education being brought down to the level of a few students, versus working toward bringing up those that fall behind?

The Impact of Technology Upgrades in the Classroom

A current technological advancement coming to classrooms these days is the Smart Board. I feel this is an important technological advancement for the classroom to aide teachers in their curriculum instruction.

This semester I am performing field experience in conjunction with education certification. My middle school mentor has just received her first Smart Board. She was excited for the addition of this technology into her classroom, but currently resents it. Why? Well it appears that while the state grants will give her the new technology, they do not provide training for the new instrument. So currently she has a wonderful resource that is covering one of two white boards she needs for instruction. Until she has taught herself the ins and outs of her new Smart Board she will be reduced to half her instructional writing space.

Technology is a wonderful tool and means for instruction. However this recent experience reminds me that there is a time requirement for all to learn and maintain our knowledge and skills related to technological devices.