Response for Interactivity #3

For the inventory that we assembled, I was really impressed with how many different facets are touched upon by the technologies we used, from planning to delivery to activities. Equipment like SmartBoards and computers instinctively come to mind as some of the strongest and most effective examples of classroom technology, but I underestimated how important supportive technologies would be. After completing the spreadsheet, it really struck me that I’d be relying much more on resources to design lessons and communicate with my students than I initially anticipated – particularly in collecting advice from other teachers’ blogs and pulling data in to reshape approaches in delivering my instruction.

We all brought forth some great in-class hands on activities and demos. Some technologies made getting more traditional equipment like microscopes into the classroom easier and more efficient. Some technologies enhanced or completely replaced the way that hands-on labs can be tackled, particularly the PasCo gear like dataloggers and motion capture devices, which empower students to collect more accurate data in a less tedious manner. Other resources like a SmartBoard paired with some of the great online demo libraries we found will really go a long way towards illustrating concepts more effectively during lecture and capture the students’ attention. A lot of these technologies I’m already observing being put to great use in the classroom, and I’m looking forward to asking my teachers what sort of resources they pull from when lesson planning.

Interactivity #2

What we now would call ‘simple’ tools like scales, hotplates, glassware and microscopes were the most influential technological advances for the science classroom. Although such tools weren’t exactly groundbreaking at the time they were introduced, they represented a big leap forward in students' personal ownership of their understanding of science. They not only would receive great hands-on tools to explore concepts with, they'd be individually responsible for knowing how to use and take care of their equipment. The same way that utilizing presentation technology (smartboards, videos, etc.) is empowering for teachers, providing lab equipment to the student alongside support and training was empowering for the students' in self motivated learning.

A theme that kept constantly popping up in both of the readings was the idea that technology has become a medium for corporate meddling. In the late 80’s and early 90’s, donations would be made to get televisions or computers into schools with the only string attached being advertising. From a protectionist viewpoint, Channel One’s advertisements were perceived as inappropriate and almost akin to propaganda, and it’s no surprise that the biggest voices in the educational world like the NEA, national PTA, AFT and others moved to pull it out of the classroom as soon as possible.

One of the biggest reasons I chose to become a Physics teacher is because I believe that learning to see things through a scientific lens is empowering, even to students who think they hate the content. Those who come from more creative fields, like art and literature, often criticize the scientific mind for being too cold or only seeing things one way. But in reality, a mature scientific mind constantly questions the world – we aren’t here to tell students that planets move in the way that they do and that atoms have certain properties, we’re here to cultivate a desire to know how the universe works.
To me, advertisements and propoganda in a student’s life are among the most toxic things that can ruin his or her ability to think creatively and scientifically. It’s worrisome enough that students’ private lives are filled with activities that are saturated with advertisements (television, internet), but to think that that corporations actually tried (and at times succeeded) to get their feet in the door of our schools and program our kids to be consumers… it’s sickening. My job to get a student to think and learn at very high orders of complexity, to get them to a point where they can challenge and modify their own observations and view of the universe, and this all becomes pointless when the student has grown up accustomed to being told what others want him or her to believe. We obviously can't fully control what they're exposed to outside of school that may shift their mindsets, but we need to keep doing our best to make sure they aren't exposed to that influence within the school and perhaps educate them early on how to identify and evaluate propoganda and misinformation that they may be exposed to online and on TV.

                               

Nothing ruins learning the truth like being exposed to an exciting lie.

Interactivity #1

Coming from a teacher’s perspective, Olivia’s relationship to technology strikes me as both a huge opportunity and a huge danger to her learning. With less convenient access to technology, one would expect that Olivia might be lagging behind some of her peers in her ability to handle computers or cell phones with the same level of dexterity, but she clearly demonstrates how quickly and confidently she can type on both. However, the speed and comfort she has doesn’t necessarily translate to aiding her when she’s working on a project – one huge thing I noticed is that in spite of her speed typing, her MySpace page is absolutely LITTERED with spelling mistakes. Now, this isn’t to say that this suggests that she’d have lousy grammar when applying herself – she most likely picks this habit up from all of her friends, and the misspellings are intentional. However, it’s important as a teacher to realize that a lot of her free time (several hours a day usually) is spent in this world that discourages proper academic practices in writing, and it may be crucial to ensure that her written work doesn’t reflect these habits.

Another thing that strikes me as a red flag is something one of the teachers in this video mentioned, that a lot of these kids’ first instinct is to go to their MySpace or Facebook page. Olivia is in the same boat – she has limited access to technology, but because of how she spends her time on the computer she might have a hard time hopping online to begin researching for a project. Again, this is where a teacher or parent would have to keep an eye out to make sure her online study habits are solid in spite of the distractive nature of most of these sites. Even in my own academic career I’ve had to be very cautious with keeping Facebook open in a side tab while trying to search for information and finish projects.

In my life, there were three main areas of technological communication advances that were very significant. First was instant (later text) messaging, which allowed me to multitask conversations alongside other tasks I could do, like homework or even other types of browsing. Second was the growth of online gaming, where I could take a hobby that was already fun to me and compete or cooperate with friends or meet new ones. Third was the evolution of portable internet devices. Even though smartphones are only recently taking off, having the wealth of knowledge of all the internet streamlined and with you everywhere you go has already become an incredibly difficult thing to live without. The last one in particular has really had an impact on my learning in recent years, with being able to serve as a quick information resource or even just for organizing my plans and work.

The students in this video really use the technology in the same way that I do, which I think it something that will be important in my classroom in the future. I may not want to waste huge amounts of class time with a discussion on how great Xbox live is, but I believe that the lack of a gap between students and myself technologically will be a great asset. Being a bit older and having made mistakes with the same technology that they’re using, I will hopefully get plenty of opportunities to steer them away from the more harmful habits that can set them back. I feel that the tendency to overestimate one’s ability to multitask and to be drawn into the more ‘fun’ (ahem, distracting) sites that completely ruin productivity. Quite frankly, it took me way too long in my own life to draw a very distinct line between my online social life and the work I had to get done, and I hope that I can impart the wisdom I’ve eventually gained upon my future students.