Jasmeet Virk's ETEC 533 journey

Though, like many, I am guilty of using technology to display information in science and encouraging math games and drills on websites, playing Jeopardy, or some labeling activity on the Smartboard, I believe that a more meaningful use of technology in a science and math class would be an interactive setup where students can examine math and science topics actively in a realistic setup.

Though at my grade level [4] I am able to connect all math to real life quite easily, I have heard my own high school children moan about, “how is this ever relevant in real life!” and “when am I ever going to use this in real life?” In our examination of learning theories we know that meaningful learning only happens when students are able to relate to concepts that are relevant to them. (Constructivism, Social Learning Theories)

I believe that if we can create learning scenarios with inquiry based or problem based learning with technology which will allow students to learn and apply the math and science concepts that they are learning to relevant, real life situations, that will be create an immersive learning environment. By using technology in a combination of F2F and online environments, students could actively explore concepts in realistic situations collaboratively. For example at my grade level students could do a webquest about biomes, follow some animal webcams, blog and discuss, and then create a class wiki about different biomes. They could create and decorate a room using software to explore measurements and shapes in math, or plan trips around the city using transit system to delve into mapping, time, and money outcomes. I believe if I could create these interdisciplinary lessons which allow students to interact with different outcomes using different modalities, it would be the ideal application of technology!

Reverting back to my current practices with use of technology in science and math – while these practices do have a place in learning, they lack interactivity and collaborative learning and so should probably just supplement the main activities.

What I envision is doable but challenging. It involves a lot of time on the teacher’s part to plan all topics interactively and with technology – which means teachers need to be tech –savvy. It might be harder to implementing it as well. In a perfect classroom all students will have access to a computer at all times to pull this off. However with 2 computers in the classroom and access to computer lab twice a week for 45 minutes only, it might be hard to use technology interactively all the time for all science and math lessons. Solution? Start small… Taking baby steps… One project at a time… think positive!