Lesson 2 Activity 1: Unpacking Assumptions, “What is a good use of technology in math and science classrooms?”, as a possible prompt. The goal is to begin to identify and frame an issue that stands out for you stemming from your observation of the video case materials. Ask yourselves and each other:
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- What are the underlying issues and why are they issues?
- What further questions does the video raise for you?
- How would you explore this issue further?
I’m definitely late to this party. It feels like whenever I think I’ve gotten the hang of this course, I miss a deadline and quite obviously I don’t. 🙁
In Case Study 5, I was taken with how art was integrated into science. I feel there needs to be more STEAM than STEM classes, especially with globalization, children from different backgrounds are forming the classrooms and sometimes art is the best way for some of them to express their learning. By adding art, children can learn without even realizing it. Just as the teacher in Case Study 8 mentioned, technology should not be a stand alone subject, and art shouldn’t be either. Art should be functional and appealing, and isn’t that what technology is striving for too? Functional and appealing?
Personally I ran a stop-motion-animation afterschool club at my school this year, so I was keen to look into Case Study 8’s slowmation. I have mixed opinions about that case study. While I appreciate the dedication of the pre-service teachers in making a slowmation to show their classes, I think it would have been more practical to use a powerpoint to present their clipart or to find an existing life cycle video online even if the life cycle is not a complete match for the one in the textbook. Maybe if I try making a slowmation for my classes I would reach the same level of appreciation of slowmations in the classroom, but for my situation I feel it would be creating unnecessary work for myself to ignore the media already available on the topic. Especially since those pre-service teachers working on Science Probe 4 did not mention having their classes create their own slowmation. If classes are going to create a slowmation, then the teacher should create one to show as an example and to have enough working knowledge to assist the students. I thought the most beneficial way for me to use slowmations would be to have my students research and present a life cycle as a slowmation, as the first video showed.
I like the idea of slowmation, but I feel there needs to be more flexibility in the lesson so student involvement remains high no matter the grade-level. Having children research and present a life cycle is probably most suitable for Grades 3 and up. I thought the slowmation of the salmon life cycle was beneficial to the students because it showed them the importance of teamwork, but how to connect the process to science better? If I were to introduce lower primary students to slowmation, I think it would be through a year-long project on seasons. They could take nature walks, be tasked with photographing certain elements such as leaves and insects and at the end of the school year they would go through the photos and organize them on a storyboard so they show the progression of change or life cycle of different elements in nature. Then these photos could be used to create a slowmation. I think this idea could work because it builds on the students’ previous knowledge. Perhaps a rule of thumb could be to introduce new things gradually. So if students use a different mode to present their learning, they’ll present the learning of a concept that is already somewhat familiar to them so they can turn more attention to the new mode.
How could I further investigate this issue of technology use in the lower primary classes? I think I could observe some lower primary students during their ICT time. I could also have my class visit one of the kindergarten or Grade 1 classes to teach them how to use the iPad to do something simple, but there’s not a lot of time left in the school year. If I want to find something before the school year ends, it’d have to be through the experiments and observations of others, so journal articles.
An issue that could be explored in the 5th case study would be how art is regularly integrated into EAL and science classrooms. For example, my own classes use pictures sometimes to take notes, but what else can be done? And does it work with everyone? Not everyone likes to art. I’d like to see what research has been done on art in the EAL learners’ science classroom.