Category Archives: A. Unpacking assumptions

It seems difficult to be able to list all the good use of digital technology in the math classroom, as I used digital technology in my classroom on a regular basis. Digital technology can help you not only with delivering the content to your class but it could be very useful for the formative and summative assessment. In addition to the above, I have used digital technology as a tool for my students to be able to express their knowledge in a project that uses digital technology. Overall, I think it will be fair to say that a good use of digital technology in the math classroom is to use it as the icing on the top of a cake. The cake is the teacher’s teaching methods and the delivery of the content but what makes this cake even more tempting is the use of digital technology in a classroom. When students tend to get bored with the paper/pen teaching and learning style, a teacher can perk it up with the use of technology with a very little effort on the teacher’s part and it goes a long way. One of the examples that a good use of digital technology might look like is students feeling comfortable to use their personal devices or borrowing pads form the teacher to be a part of the classroom activities. This environment not only perks things up but also creates a social environment where students can interact with each other without having to know each other. For example, the Kahoot game is an online quiz game that requires students to participate via a digital technology device that requires them to log in online. In this game, students compete against each other and the results of the competition are posted after every question of the game. This creates an atmosphere where students are seen interacting with some students that they wouldn’t if it weren’t for the game. They would interact with them just because they are so close to beating each other in the game. Technology can help address the conceptual challenge that I talked about in my previous post of students not being able to “let go”. Students require a repetitive reminder of certain concepts to help them get rid of their conceptions and digital technology is one of the best tools to do that. Because by using digital technology it becomes easier to repeat an activity with students instead of wasting paper and also making changes to the existing Kahoot game will not be so hard.

I have been using digital technology to fill the gaps in my teaching and students learning throughout my teaching career and it has been working great. Students seem to be more interested in listening to you if there is technology involved. I have found that digital technology helps you mask the “boringness” of some of the hard concepts that are taught in a math classroom. This vision of using technology as a tool for assessment and content delivery is very much possible and I have used it throughout my teaching career.

While others have discussed addressing higher level thinking with their students I also think technology can play a solid role in formative assessment and helping students build strong foundations.

Perhaps digital technologies can support higher order thinking by first providing a simple means for students to be able to practice basic skills and address their error and misconceptions in real time. Then being able to weave in more complex and higher order thinking will be easier?

I designed a digital literacy course for a group of ECE instructors in Nigeria. I had a lot of really cool ideas about how to address plagiarism and develop digital media skills by building a digital story, etc. However when I got in front of this class we spent a solid hour opening up Microsoft word and saving a file. Just because the technology is there and CAN be used to meet higher goals doesn’t always mean that this is the first place it should be used.

In my view, “good” use of technology is when educators are able to engage students and provide opportunities for further exploration.  As 21^st century students, the realities of the classroom and workforce have ultimately changed from times of pencil-to-paper.  Students and employees are able to connect to information in seconds, and explore any topic.  These tools provide us with the unique opportunity to allow our students to explore any topic of interest under the umbrella of mathematics and science.  For instance, if we were covering the topic of forces in grade 4, we could have students research and investigate the term forces, create wonder questions, and partake in an inquiry project on a narrow topic within that strand.

Additionally, “good” use of these tools are when we are able to provide questions to students that cannot be “googled”.  If students are able to type in the question and receive an answer, we are not using these tools to their fullest potential.  From the employees of today, nearly all have access to a phone, laptop or another smart device that will answer simple/factual information for them.  It is my goal as an educator to have my students develop problem-solving skills and reasoning skills when faced with a question that does not have a simple answer.  In these cases, questions may be posed to students and they are asked to research any related information, and articulate their own understanding and/or decision.

Furthermore, it is not the tool itself that makes it “good”, but the use of the tool.  There are many educators that are utilizing these tools in fascinating, innovative ways, in which students are able to explore and become engaged in their learning.  We need to mindful that technology is a learning tool, just as any other tool that we utilize in our classroom (whiteboard, pencils, blocks, etc,), it is not just a cool new thing to do because everyone is doing it.  I believe that some educators can become overwhelmed by feeling the pressure to use technology in every unit, in every lesson.  It would be my advice to use the tool where there is a purpose and it is providing an opportunity beyond what is available in the classroom.

Shayla

As some of you have already alluded to, a good use of technology would be any technology that engages students at the higher levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy and SAMR model. Instead of technology that merely digitizes traditional learning, students should be encouraged to develop critical and design thinking skills while solidifying core knowledge. For instance in the science classroom, 3D modeling, 3D printers, and laser cutters, enable students to iterate and solve real-world problems in physics and structural design.

In addition, a good use of technology would also include any technology that enables collaboration and communication. Most jobs in the real-world require people to be effective in group settings. It is quite rare for one person to take on a large scale problem. Many current applications including Slack and Google Apps are already being used effectively in the math and science classroom to facilitate communication and group work. The more connected students are to the teacher and other students, the more likely misconceptions will be eliminated due to the exposure to different minds; student universes can no longer be private in environments that are strongly interconnected.

It is obvious that these ideas require a lot of work from teachers to implement effectively. However, school administrators also need to have a similar mindset and understanding of what makes digital technology “good”. Budgets need to shift quickly to eliminate technologies that have little impact on student learning and shift to technologies that do. For instance, ten years ago SMARTBoards were found in many modern math and science classrooms; teachers and administrators have now realized that the large budget required can be invested in better ways.

Krathwohl, D. R. (2002). A revision of Bloom’s taxonomy: An overview. Theory into practice, 41(4), 212-218.

Puentedura, R. (2010). SAMR and TPCK: Intro to advanced practice. Retrieved February, 12, 2013.

Interestingly, I am writing my cover letter for my resume, in there I have included my teaching and technology philosophy. Here is my “vision” of good use of digital technology in the classroom.

Technology Philosophy– The future teacher should be expected to concentrate on the “facilitation” of factual knowledge that can be easily accessible by most students.  In other words, teachers are focusing on being a facilitator of knowledge, and the technology helps the educator to specialize individual instruction. I believe technology will allow the learner to be involved in student-centred and project-based learning, which contributes to students to apply problem-solving and critical thinking skills.

As a special teacher, I see how technology can differentiate for all learners abilities. For instance, Google Read & Write allows the user to hear words, passages, or whole documents read aloud with easy-to-follow dual color highlighting.  It also supports speech to text.

Ahmad, F. K. (2015) advocates that all learners should have “access to information, awareness, mainstream education curriculum, learning materials, assistive devices and the necessary support services can help students with disabilities in learning at par with their non-disabled peers in the common classroom, breaking down all barriers which prevent them from having equal access to quality education (p. 73). Technology allows for disabled students be engaged and empowered to be more involved in mainstream curriculum.

The challenges I face when implementing personalized technology tools is to find time the time train staff and students on the features of the tool. In saying that, school boards and administrators are beginning to give more time for training. Additionally, a few of the specialized apps or technology required further authorization from school boards to access them. Finally, sometimes I find these “new” tools become a fad or toy rather than a tool to help students access information or to communicate better.

Ahmad, F. K. (2015). Use of assistive technology in inclusive education: making room for diverse learning needs. Transcience, 6(2), 62-77

Some aspects of mathematics and science are abstracts. Also, sometimes concepts taught are all new in terms of the contents elaborated. With this regard technology should aim to make instruction more accessible and interesting. Students learn better when they are interested, so technology is the best way to start as they all like technology based applications.

In general, students stay engaged in their learning when their ability to learn is continuously challenged with activities that contain rich experiences and authentic tasks; which that provide students with opportunities to extend their intellect, helping them to extend their way of thinking and what they know as they develop disciplined ways of thinking and encounter others’ ideas. Digital technology gives us tools to create such learning environment that promotes students’ interest and help them to create things that mattered to them.

In mathematics and science, digital technology can help visualizing, simulating, and facilitating analysis and interpretation of data. This will address many conceptual challenges. There are many technologies that we can use to improve teaching and learning in math and science.  However, there are topics in math such as Complex numbers and Calculus where it is challenging to use technology to shift from algebraic manipulation to conceptualization and interpretation of our results.

Using technology to master a particular skill helps to address conceptual challenge. However, technology is not helpful for all learning skills. For instance, though the graphic calculators (GC) are very important to understand functions and algebraic equations. The data processing stage (algebraic manipulation) while solving a problem should not be neglected. The students should know how to process data before they learned to compute it their calculator. Knowledge over data processing is what helps the students to grasp the underlying patterns and principles which drive the production of graphs or results generate by the GC.

Here are some initial thoughts about the use of technological tools in a math and science classroom.

Technological tools should encourage experimentation to construct understanding and show results in an efficient and effortless way. Changes and modification should be easily made and results should be displayed in a seamless way.

Technological tools should encourage social interactions where students reflect upon ideas and identify lines of thinking about a concept. Students should have options to share, view and annotate the contributions from their peers.

Technological tools should support documentation and assessment of learning. Educators and families should be able to track student learning.

Technological tools should be use in combination with support in regards with digital literacy and critical thinking. Students should be supported with additional skillsets to confidently utilize technological tools.

Technological tools should be used outside of the classroom to further support students’ learning. Learning should continue after initial lesson and there should be tools like videos, social media platforms and social bookmarking sits to help consolidate learning and to further develop deeper understanding.

Although a classroom teacher is a one critical element in initiating the efficient use of learning technology, school wide and national policies should also reflect this priority. Schools should share their values about using technology in the classroom and provide professional development opportunities to its educators. National policies should reflect upon current research and trends to consistently support the development and use of educational technology.

Alice

When I think about using technology in the math and science classroom, my mind shoots back to my own schooling experience where we had to march down to a computer lab to research science topics. This brings me to my starting point: technology use in the classroom todays needs to flow seamlessly within the learning environment. It shouldn’t require an entire class to disrupt their learning to enter a room full of technology. It should be managed in a way where it is available to students in a way that seems natural and not a departure from the ordinary. Good technology use should takes risks. Best practices aren’t magically incubated in some distant laboratory and implemented with great success. Educators must try, fail and improvise in order to find out how to most effectively use the tools at their disposal. Technology must provide opportunity for differentiation. Whether that is a slightly different assignment option or an avenue for further study. Technology should be flexible enough to effectively scaffold instruction for all students. Technology should be taught.  We can’t go on assuming kids have an excellent understanding of technology just because they have grown up around it. Proper implementation of technology requires students to be shown how to use it, to the student’s full potential. Lastly, technology shouldn’t merely be a replacement for the current status quo. Too many times we replace lined paper with Google Docs simply because we can. Making a replacement is fine as long as there are actual educational benefits.

While not exhaustive, that’s my current list of what constitutes good technology use. This is far from being a concrete list, and will undoubtedly grow throughout the coming weeks of this course.

Technology in the math and science classrooms has many similarities to effective overall practice but there are a few nuances that are required to elevate its use in these areas.  Technology use needs to be ethical, responsible, and most importantly, purposeful.  In any context, a specific technology should only be used if it is the best tool for the job.  Technology selection is a critical component.  The technology should fit the problem students are trying to solve and not finding activities and concepts for a specific technology.   

When I imagined a science and math class, I pictured curious, active, excited students.  Students who want to learn about the world around them and collaborate with their peers and the tools available to them.  Asking questions was at the forefront of my mind.  When I imagined technology in a science and/or math class, I envisioned students using technology in the ways scientists and mathematicians do in authentic contexts.  The technology may or may not be specific to the field but student should be developing skills as scientists and mathematicians.  In addition, students should understand why they are using the technology and know how to use it properly.   

Fundamentally, technology use should be student led and help students solve problems.