Final Analysis
Framing Issues
My journey through ETEC 533, Technology in the Mathematics and Science Classroom, has been guided by one particular question, “what is good use of technology in science and mathematics education [?]”. This question has not only framed and encouraged my learning throughout this course, but has inspired me to think about my current use of technology in the classroom.
Initially, I felt that good use of technology in the classroom should lead students through a meaningful learning experience where their knowledge is acquired, built upon and used throughout life. Following interviews with colleagues, class discourse, and reflection on my own practice, I came to realize that good use of technology not only provides deep and meaningful learning, but engages, motivates, and opens the learning floor to as many participants as possible. Utilizing lessons that are relevant to my students’ lives can greatly increase their motivation to engage in the learning activity (Shostak, 2006).
With this framework in mind, the next phase was for me to enhance my own teaching practice through an investigation and acquisition of meaningful technology enhanced learning experiences.
Design
From this desire to learn about specific technological applications to inform my practice, I delved into a plethora of options that are available to create a meaningful learning environment for and with my students. I also began to work on a technology enhanced learning environment (TELE) with a design group, and began to adjust my current use of technology.
Our collaborative process within our class discourse, and within my design group, introduced many applications to me, but the Web-based Inquiry Science Environment (WISE) stood out as a promising platform. We decided as a group to implement WISE within our TELE design. The design itself promotes student ownership of learning and is congruent with my current use of assessment for learning (AFL) instructional practice. WISE utilizes the potential of the internet to engage students in a web-based inquiry approach to learning where learning becomes “visible” to peers, teacher, and self (Gobert, Snyder, & Houghton, 2002).
Emerging Issues
The final “Emergin Issues” phase of our learning path in ETEC 533 has led me through challenges and personal assumptions regarding actual social and cognitive affordances of technology use in science and mathematics education. Within my design group and through class discourse, I have come to realize that good TELE designs should encourage social construction of knowledge whereby students’ epistemic understandings are challenged and built upon through reflection on their own and each others’ learning.
Of particular relevance for me during this learning module was our “resource sharing” forum where we provided each other with internet based technological tools that can be utilized in instruction. I am overwhelmed by what has been supplied to me in this course from the instructor, the students, and in particular from my growing understanding of what is good use of technology in science and math.
Now, based on my refined idea of what is good use of technology, I feel empowered to choose those TELE designs that will best meet the social and cognitive needs of my students.
References
Gobert, J., Snyder, J., & Houghton, C. (2002, April). The influence of students’ understanding of models on model-based reasoning. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association (AERA), New Orleans, Louisiana. Retrieved February 23, 2009, from http://mtv.concord.org/publications/epistimology_paper.pdf 48
Shostak, R. (2006). Involving students in learning. In J. Cooper (Ed.), Classroom teaching skills (8th ed., pp. 79-103). Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.
Tags: Design
FRAMING ISSUES:
A REVIEW OF TECHNOLOGICAL APPLICATIONS TO INCREASE STUDENT MOTIVATION IN SCIENCE AND MATH
Good use of technology in a science and math classroom is any use of technology that can help a learner acquire, manage, and utilize information. We use technology to solve problems and ultimately manipulate nature to suit our needs. Children today are immersed in a technological world where the internet and digital environments are commonplace. This highly contextualized reality is something educators should be using to engage students’ motivation in learning. Utilizing lessons that are relevant to our students’ lives can greatly increase their motivation to engage in the learning activity (Shostak, 2006). This notion of relevancy is widely accepted in motivational instructional theory and digital technology is relevant to most of our students’ lives. The processes of science and math can be conceptually challenging for some students to adapt within their schema, and without proper motivation students may lose out on the many benefits science and math education can provide.
My pursuits leading to my claim that technology can motivate students to better learn science and math is based on my own experience as a learner in the classroom, my reflections as a science and math educator, and discourse with colleagues.
As a student in the 80’s my engagement with digital technology in the science and math classroom consisted of dated videos and notes delivered over an overhead projector. This technology had some utility in delivering information but did little to motivate me to learn. The hands-on activities such as dissections and chemistry experiments were the activities that I found engaging, but due to my lack of interest in class discourse, I was equipped with little prior knowledge to adequately reap the benefits from these activities. My interests were in music, music videos, video games, and socializing with my friends. Sitting behind a desk listening to a teacher lecture did little to inspire me to learn and perhaps instruction that bore more relevance to my life would have garnered greater significance.
I am a new teacher guided by the philosophy of open, discursive, inclusive, and holistic education. I believe that education should occur in an environment where all participants feel empowered to contribute. These types of environments are learner focused, safe and encouraging, and contain elements that are relevant to a student’s life. I utilize technology within my own practice as it provides me with a common language to converse with my students. The language is often contextualized to my students’ reality, therefore ensuring greater engagement. Various forms of using technology provide me with significant student engagement and these include: interactive Power Points, weblogs, digital video, graphics, animations, simulations and online games. As soon as one of these technologies becomes an aspect of the lesson my students attend more to the task. When my students become users of the technology our classroom environment becomes a community of learners where the learners are in control of their learning resulting in increased intrinsic motivation to learn. Technology has not replaced all traditional forms of teaching within my practice, but provides me with an engaging instructional tool that my students readily understand and enjoy.
I recently interviewed a grade six teacher, Mathew Summerskill, to gain further insight into my perceptions of good use of technology in the science and math classroom. Mathew’s experience using technology for science and math include: online surveys (e.g., ecological footprints), online math games, webquests, Power Points (student and teacher made), and computer generated illustrations and figures (student and teacher made). I asked Mathew how he measures the effectiveness of his use of technology in teaching and he replied, “[a]ny chance they have to use the computer they cheer” (personal communication, January 27, 2009). While a lot of his assessments and measurements regarding the effectiveness of technology are anecdotal, student motivation and engagement are evident. His experience reflects my own with technology where students are intrinsically motivated to learn.
My personal assumption that technology intrinsically motivates students to learn is grounded in my own learning experiences, experience within the classroom and mirrored reflections from a colleague. The purpose of the following review is to understand, exemplify, and critique current technological practices that claim to increase students’ motivation to learn, with a focus on science and math. My methodology is based on promising practices. It is not an attempt to review a comprehensive list of technologies that are used in science and math education. This review will compare an example of computer use that may adversely affect student achievement with the assumption that technology will enhance student achievement. This critique follows with a review of promising practices of technological use to increase student motivation and achievement in science and math.
Negative vs. Positive Effects of Technological Use
It is difficult to find studies that highlight a negative correlation of technological use in science and math education with student motivation; however there are studies that address the question of whether technology can adversely effect student achievement. Elena Papanastasiou, et al (2003), were surprised at the finding of the TIMSS (Third International Mathematics and Science Study) which published findings indicating a correlation of computer use in the classroom and poor student achievement in scientific literacy. For comparison, Papanastasiou and her colleagues compared 15 year old USA students’ scientific assessment results from the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA). Their findings indicate comparative results to TIMSS where computer use in the classroom to support learning in science is negatively correlated to achievement in scientific literacy. Despite their comparative result to TIMSS, Papanastasiou et al’s analysis of PISA’s data indicates that students who are conversant with computers (i.e., home use), have greater scientific literacy assessment scores.
Papanastasiou et al’s analysis and conclusion is based on statistical analysis used on PISA’s data and are not the result of experimental design, so there is no direct evidence of causation where computer use in the classroom adversely affects student achievement in scientific literacy. Papanastasiou et al also suggest that both TIMSS’s results and their own might be an outcome of teachers utilizing computer technology with lower achieving students more often. Many computer and internet based technologies are used in the classroom with the intention of supporting learners who may require significant adaptations and modifications. These technologies often provide immediate feedback for students when teachers are not readily available (Papanastasiou, Zembylas, & Vrasidas, 2003).
Papanastasiou et al’s suggestion that lower achieving students may be utilizing computers more often than higher achieving students is a sound assumption considering the vast amount of educational technologies that are available to support learners with exceptional needs. I have assisted people with exceptional needs as a support worker, teaching assistant, life skills couch, and now as a teacher. I understand and have witnessed the utility in using computers to support special needs and often utilize computers in the classroom to address student’s exceptionalities. This negative correlation that Papanastasiou et al have highlighted regarding classroom computer use and scientific literacy achievement may have little significance in light of the substantial evidence that supports student motivation and achievement from the direct use of technology in science and math education.
Promising Applications of Technology to Increase Student Motivation
My experience as a student in the science and math classroom comprises a learning environment inundated with direct instruction and educational technologies including overhead projectors and dated videos. While digital technologies did not occupy as much of my time as it does for students of today, I was keenly tuned into music videos and arcade games. The institutionalized pedagogical instruction that was popular during this time bore little relevance to my life, and offered little to motivate me to learn. Today our students know and understand a digital world where cell phones, I Pods, video games, computer applications, satellite technologies, etc., are standard artefacts in their lives. These interests are being used by educators and are resulting in greater intrinsic student motivation to learn.
Many children and youth pass their time playing video games on various mediums of computer hardware (i.e., X-Box, Wii, Playstation, etc.). Video game technology is a multi-billion dollar industry and has garnered great interest from educational researchers. Michele Dickey (2007) provides a review of how the design of MMORPGs (massively multiple online role-playing games) can be used to encourage students’ intrinsic motivation to learn. Dickey showcases how aspects of role-playing game design can be utilized and related to educational technologies designed to foster student motivation. While Dickey’s study is based on conjectural analysis, she adequately relates the motivational aspects of games design to prospects for educational purpose. When immersed in role-playing games, youth are motivated by the aspects of choice, control, collaboration, challenge, instant feedback and achievement; characters that have shown the ability to increase student motivation to learn (Dickey, 2007).
Alaa Sadik (2008) conducted a qualitative case study analysing how digital storytelling may assist Egyptian teachers to engage and create meaningful lessons through digital technology. Sadik’s study analyzes students’ use of MS Photo Story for the creation of their own digital stories that are applicable to Egyptian curriculum learning outcomes. MS Photo Story is a computer application that allows a user to create photo slideshows showcasing personal stories with added effects including sound, narration, titles, and captions. Sadik concludes that students are engaged in critical thinking and empowered to create their own interpretations of factual events (Sadik, 2008). While Sadik’s study is of Egyptian students, parallels can easily be drawn to North American learners. Storytelling is a way for societies to pass on knowledge and ways of being. Aboriginal nations have utilized this practice since time immemorial for the dissemination of traditional knowledge. Coupling the use of technology and storytelling through MS Photo Story is an excellent relational method to engage student interest.
Both of these examples showcase how technology use can engage and motivate students to learn. The examples highlight how inherent motivational qualities of people including choice, control, and expression are incorporated within educational technologies. These examples highlight role-playing games and MS Photo Story; digital technologies that have great promise in math and science education.
Promising Practices in Math and Science Education
Considering the wide-spread use of video games by children and youth, instructional research has put great focus on how technological games can be incorporated into the classroom. Based on relevance, games might encourage students to use the technology, but the question remains: does this engagement warrant their use in education?
Fengfeng Ke (Ke, 2008) conducted a study in Pennsylvania, USA to determine how gameplay will affect 4th and 5th grade students’ cognitive achievement, metacognitive awareness, and attitudes related to mathematics education. While Ke’s study is essentially a qualitative case study analysis, mixed methodology was utilized incorporating a quantitative focus. The choice of games ranged from drill and practice to role play, and focussed on the following math skills: measurement, analyzing whole numbers, equations, and line coordinates. Ke’s resulting analysis states that there is no significant increase in cognitive achievement or metacognitive awareness from the five week trial, but that students demonstrate increase in positive attitude towards mathematics learning from all aspects of gameplay including drill and practice (Ke, 2008). While Ke’s analysis of gameplay technology in mathematics education does not demonstrate achievement and metacognitive awareness, it does affirm the notion that technology will increase students’ motivation to learn. Considering that the unmotivated learner may not engage in classroom learning at all, Ke’s case study provides solid evidence that those apprehensive learners may be included in a learning environment through the use of gameplay technologies.
During my interview with Mathew Summerskill, a grade six teacher in British Columbia, Mathew discussed how he felt the use of technological gameplay in math greatly increases student motivation to learn (personal communication, January 27, 2009). He uses an online application entitled Fraction Hunt where students not only utilize gameplay to learn fractions, but present their learning to each other. His students must utilize the laptop and attached projector to play the Fraction Hunt game while their peers act as an audience and evaluator of the game. His students enjoy using the program and emanate pride when presenting their achievements to their peers. This example of technological exemplifies how good use of technology can not only motivate students to learn, but empower them to control aspects of the learning environment.
Digital game-based learning has also been analysed for its utility in computer science education. Marina Papastergiou (2009) analysed the impact of game-based technology on learning and motivation in high school computer science education. Papastergiou’s study of 88 16-17 year old students in Greece compares the use of two computer based learning technologies effect on student learning and motivation. Both technologies utilized identical learning outcomes and materials, but only one focussed on gameplay. Papastergiou perused Computer Memory Knowledge Tests (CBKT) and feedback questionnaires to determine the effectiveness of the two computer based learning technologies. The analysis and resulting conclusion both affirm that the game-based computer application has the greatest effect on student knowledge acquisition and motivation (Papastergiou, 2009).
Papastergiou’s analysis compares two different approaches of computer applications to support computer science education. While this comparison does not relate technology use in teaching to traditional means, it highlights how important relevancy is in students lives. Game-play technology speaks to youth and can be utilized successfully to increase motivation, learning and engagement in science and technology.
Conclusion
My belief is that good use of technology in the science and math classroom engages, entices, and includes most learners. My experience as an educator exemplifies how good use of technology encourages learning discourse within the classroom. Following conversation with colleagues and subsequent review of literature, the positive impact digital technology can have on student learning and motivation is apparent. My purpose now is to peruse technological applications for their merit in fostering a meaningful learning experience.
Dickey, M. (2007). Game design and learning: A conjectural analysis of how massively multiple online role-playing games (MMORPGs) foster intrinsic motivation [Electronic version]. Education Tech Research Dev, 55. 253-273.
32
Ke, F. (2008). A case study of computer gaming for math: Engaged learning from gameplay? [Electronic version]. Computers & Education, 51. 1609-1620.
32
Papanastasiou, E., Zembylas, M., & Vrasidas, C. (2003). Can computer use hurt science achievement? The USA results from PISA [Electronic version]. Journal of Science Education and Technology, 12(3), 325-332.
27
Papastergiou, M. (2009). Digital game-based learning in high school computer science education: Impact on educational effectiveness and student motivation [Electronic version]. Computers & Educaton, 55. 1-12.
32
Sadik, A. (2008). Digital Storytelling: a meaningful technology-integrated approach for engaged student learning [Electronic version]. Education Tech Research Dev, 56. 487-506.
32
Shostak, R. (2006). Involving students in learning. In J. Cooper (Ed.), Classroom teaching skills (8th ed., pp. 79-103). Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company. 15
Tags: Framing Issues
How could you use what is developed in these studies to design learning experiences for younger learners that incorporates perception/motion activity and digital technologies?
Our group’s TELE design is a WISE based project that analyzes student data in relation to CO2 emissions and waste. Our project is based on social constructivist learning theory where the students create models of their data and critically evaluate each other’s work in order to make further adaptations to the learning path. Students will generate carbon footprints based on their own emissions that they will share with peers for critical evaluation. These data models will be furthered refined based on ideas to reduce the emissions. I believe that our project could be enhanced by incorporating perception/motion activities such as used in the SENSE project.
The SENSE project is based in environmental science where students become co-creators of their learning experience by designing and using pollution sensors that are used to collect their own data. Students become “field” scientists by collecting various data (e.g., carbon monoxide) to analyze through models. This analysis is shared with other students in a collaboratory method. The project has aspects of our own TELE design where students are manipulating data and socially working with peers to construct new meaning.
We haven’t fully developed the “waste” aspect of our design yet, and I could see how such a SENSE project would blend quite well with, and complement our technology enhanced learning environment (TELE). Whether it’s a CO detector or some other pollution sensor, students would be invited to contextualize their learning experience by actually participating in field work. Students could easily create digital models of various pollutant measures for peer critique and further refinement.
As described by Winn (2003), learning is a process of “external embodied” experiences and “internal cerebral” processes. They both should be attended to in a TELE similar to how all aspects of our being are both an integral product of nature and environment. Our students will adapt to their environmental learning experiences whether they are natural or virtual worlds that can be created and controlled.
The digital experiences we provide for our students are controlled and dictated by pedagogical design to assist students to expand their schemata regarding various phenomena. We are meeting this well in our TELE design, and by including a field based SENSE activity to the learning experience, we allow our students to adapt their learning to both the natural and digital world. It is argued that technology has allowed people to control our environment to the point where we do not need to genetically adapt to it anymore. It’s refreshing to see digital designs where students venture back into the environment for real, authentic, contextualized learning.
Question: Do you think that that technology enhanced learning experiences might be even more enhanced by incorporating more “natural” based field learning experiences? Explain.
Fraser, D., Smith, H., Tallyn, E., Kirk, D., Benford, S., Rowland, D., Paxton, M., Price, S., & Fitzpatrick, G. The SENSE project: A context-inclusive approach to studying environmental science within and across schools. Retrieved April 1, 2009, from www.cogs.susx.ac.uk/users/hilarys/papers/cscl05.pdf.
Winn, W. (2003). Learning in artificial environments: Embodiment, embeddedness, and dynamic adaptation. Technology, Instruction, Cognition and Learning, 1(1), 87-114. Full-text document retrieved on January 17, 2004, from http://www.hitl.washington.edu/people/tfurness/courses/inde543/READINGS-03/WINN/winnpaper2.pdf
Tags: Emerging Issues
Networked communities offer a means of delivering quality science and math education for students in rural locations. I teach in a remote area of British Columbia in a school that is cut off from many of the amenities that are offered in an urban centre. Our population is quite small and as such our students benefit from close interactive teaching where their needs are recognized through extensive differentiated instruction. However, the remoteness and small population of our school limits our ability to offer a breadth of curriculum options (especially for grades 8-10) that would occur in a city centre school.
During my investigation of networked communities I discovered that there are many options for my students that offer meaningful science based learning experiences that they would otherwise not be able to participate in. Virtual field trips and web-based science expeditions, San Francisco’s Exploratorium museum (online), and the Intra-Laboratory Network (ILN) all provide opportunities to increase the quality of science education in rural and remote communities.
While perhaps not a replacement for real field trips, virtual field trips and web-based science expeditions could bring my students to real investigations around the world where they can view real photographs, chat with explorers, and analyze real data. I have many opportunities to take my students on field based trips in our own back yard, but the reality of taking them to the ocean, or to an active volcano site is beyond our most valiant fundraising efforts.
Similar to web-based expeditions, San Francisco’s Exploratorium museum offers an online tour of many of the exhibits they showcase in the actual museum. I perused a link to Climate Change: Global Warming, and was pleased to find an interactive site that thoroughly examines climate change, and how researchers conduct their investigations. A teacher could easily use this platform to design engaging learning experiences for students.
An emerging technology called the Integrated Laboratory Network allows students to access and use specialized laboratory equipment through the internet. I am fortunate to have tried this technology through Western Washington University (WWU) where I ran chemical samples through a gas chromatography and mass spectrometry (GC/MS) machine. Without ILN technology I may have never been able to use such a machine unless physically present where the equipment is located. As ILN technology becomes more accessible, students in rural locations could participate in scientific investigations that they would otherwise not be able to.
I believe one of the paramount aspects of good use of technology in the science and math classroom is accessibility. These examples of networked communities exemplify this quality and have outstanding potential for providing learning experiences for students regardless of their location.
Stephen
Tags: Emerging Issues
Information Visualization Technology
Technology has enabled educators to draw upon a plethora of digital tools designed for information visualization where conceptual ideas in science and math (or any subject) are represented visually for students. This seems to provide a visual authenticity to concepts that might otherwise be left up to student imagination to provide a visual context. Many students may not be able to visualize particular concepts and are left with little to formulate an understanding of the concepts they are studying.
The Jasper series addresses this idea as it takes mathematical problem solving and creates actual video footage of the “real-life” problem. Students receive visual context for the problem and are able to “see” what is being described in the problem. TELE’s like Jasper that capitalize on visual techniques to provide authenticity to learning are similar to information visualization technologies that are available for knowledge representation of concepts in science and math.
I presented David Whizzy’s periodic table applet to our class as an example of an information visualization technology that can significantly assist students’ understanding of atomic structure and electron configurations (orbitals). Students are able to view both the nucleus or shell view of a select number of elements where the subatomic particles are visually animated. Considering the difficulty students can have with understanding atomic structure and electron configuration, this tool provides a great visual conceptual model.
In addition to cognitive affordances provided by information visualization technology, many of these technologies foster social discourse of conceptual ideas. Students can provide reflective feedback for student created visualization models, or evaluate the applicability of an existing design.
I have used David Whizzy’s periodic table to invite social conversation of the concepts and found it to be a great launch into meaningful conversation (e.g., comparison of elemental groups). In conjunction with a discussion of atomic structure and electron configuration, the periodic table applet can be viewed and manipulated by a group with the use of a projector. Students can request different elements to be analyzed and can also manipulate the interactive software themselves.
As with many digital technologies, information visualization tools can motivate and engage a learner by providing a visual authenticity to concepts, and can provide a relevant platform for inviting social discourse.
David Whizzy’s Periodic Table: http://www.colorado.edu/physics/2000/applets/a2.html
Tags: Emerging Issues
Mini-Assignment 2: Bryan Funk, Glenn Goslin, & Stephen Hawkins
March 4, 2009
We have identified that summative assessment can hinder the learning process for students. Black and Wiliam (1998) clearly state that these types of assessments promote rote and superficial learning, harm the learning process, and provide little reflective feedback for the student or teacher. Our technology enhanced learning environment will address this problem by incorporating assessment for learning strategies within the design. The design will ensure that the learning becomes visible with descriptive feedback so both student and teacher can proceed in a feed-forward progression of learning.
Our design is geared for junior secondary (grades 8-10) mathematics and science curriculum. We will utilize WISE (Web-based Inquiry Science Environment) to develop a learning project involving data analysis and the environmental impact of climate change. Our goal is to develop a unit of study where students will analyze their own effects on climate change through an exploration of their consumption, waste, and contributions to carbon emissions. This cross-curricular project is relevant to students’ lives as it will enable students to analyze data and reflect throughout upon their personal environmental impact.
WISE’s pedagogical principles will enable us to address our problem, that of summative assessment. The four basic principles that guide WISE project design are “make science accessible for all students, make thinking visible, provide social support so that students can learn from each other, and promote autonomy and lifelong learning” (Gobert, Snyder, & Houghton, 2002, p. 2-3). Accessibility relates to relevant curriculum design that we can differentiate to suit individual levels of ability. Making thinking visible, by utilizing metacognitive strategies, allows both the student and teacher to understand the progression of learning. Providing social support, which is supported by constructivist and social constructivist theory, will enable students to learn from each other’s visible thought process (Gobert, Snyder, & Houghton, 2002). Our project design and topic will undoubtedly promote lifelong learning whereby students can continuously reflect on their environmental impacts, and will be equipped to manage various forms of data.
The WISE principles fit very strongly with assessment for learning (formative assessment) strategies. It is important that students are involved in the creation of, and have a clear understanding of, the learning intentions, expected outcomes and criteria for success of the work they are being asked to do. Assessment for learning will make the student’s learning visible and will enable both the teacher and learner to reflect and adjust the learning process. The learners play an active role in understanding and monitoring the scaffolding of knowledge and skills as they approach the outcomes. Students partner with their teacher to continuously monitor their learning and set goals for what to learn next. Students communicate evidence of learning to one another, to their teacher, and to their families at every stage along the learning journey, not only at the end. These strategies will ensure that students are inside the assessment process, watching themselves grow, feeling in control of their success, and believing that continued success is within reach if they keep trying.
Assessment for learning not only provides descriptive and reflective feedback to guide the learning process, but also empowers students to control and dictate the direction of their learning. This also meshes well with how WISE is implemented, giving students the opportunity to follow their own path in developing their understanding. Purposeful use of AFL will enable students to experience metacognition whereby they engage and reflect on their learning experience. “Intelligent thought involves ‘metacognition’ or self monitoring of learning and thinking” (Shepard, 2000. p. 8). Black and Wiliam (1998) clearly state that formative assessment, in this case through a WISE unit, will enable greater student achievement and a higher standard of learning. We will incorporate computer adaptive assessment within the design so that regardless of instructional preference, students will receive regular assessment and monitoring of their learning.
The learning theory that we are utilizing in our design is social constructivism. In order to construct new knowledge and understandings learners have to interact socially through conversation and in activities with other learners that may possess more or less knowledge and skills. Vygotsky (1978) believed that social interaction plays a fundamental role in the development of cognition and he argued that the full potential for cognitive development in individuals depends upon the “zone of proximal development “. This means that the necessary prerequisites for learning new knowledge and skills have been fulfilled. It is the zone where students are “ready” to learn. Ensuring that new knowledge and skills is within each learner’s zone of proximal development depends upon full social interaction. Through this social interaction, in the form of peer collaboration or teacher/adult guidance, the range of knowledge and skill that can be developed exceeds what can be attained alone.
The role of ongoing and descriptive feedback in social constructivism, when the goal is to assist learners to construct their knowledge, cannot be overstated. Our design will utilize the power of computer adaptive assessment (CAA) as a form of AFL. Depending on the level of mastery of the outcomes by the student, they will receive specific feedback as to what outcomes they have mastered, and specific outcomes they will need to spend further time on in order to move forward. By dividing the course material into manageable units or outcomes we are also able to incorporate scaffolding or assisted development. The student will receive feedback and will self-assess on four key questions:
1. What am I capable of on my own right now?
2. What am I capable of with guidance and help right now?
3. What will I be capable of on my own later?
4. What will I be capable of with guidance and help later?
Framing these learning goals with “I” statements empowers students with the sense of control over their own progression. Our design, with the assistance of computer adaptive assessment will make our students learning visible so that teachers, peers and self can engage in critical discourse to determine the individual’s mastery of the outcomes and help to scaffold the construction of knowledge (feed-forward learning). The scaffolding of “what I can do” with “what I am not yet able to do yet”, within a social learning environment, is critical to social construction of knowledge (Pear & Crone-Todd, 2002).
References
Black, P., & Wiliam, D. (1998). Inside the black box: Raising standards through classroom assessment [Electronic version]. Phi Delta Kappan, 80(2). 139-44. 32
Cognition and Technology Group at Vanderbilt. (1992). The Jasper series as an example of anchored instruction: Theory, program, description, and assessment data. Educational Psychologist, 27(3), 291-315. 27
Driver, R., Asoko, H., Leach, J., Scott, P., & Mortimer, E. (1994). Constructing scientific knowledge in the classroom [Electronic version]. Educational Researcher, 23. 5-12. 32
Gobert, J., Snyder, J., & Houghton, C. (2002, April). The influence of students’ understanding of models on model-based reasoning. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association (AERA), New Orleans, Louisiana. Retrieved February 23, 2009, from http://mtv.concord.org/publications/epistimology_paper.pdf 48
Koehn. (2008). Together is better (BCTF Teacher Inquirer). Retrieved February 18, 2009, Web site:http://bctf.ca/uploadedFiles/Publications/TeacherInquirer/archive/2008-09/2008-10/Koehn.pdf 53
Pear, J. J., & Crone-Todd, D. E. (2002). A social constructivist approach to computer-mediated instruction [Electronic version]. Computers & Education, 38(1-3). 221-231. 32
Shepard, L. A. (2000). The role of assessment in a learning culture [Electronic version]. Educational Researcher, 29(7). 4-14. 32
Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Tags: Design
WISE (Web-based Inquiry Science Environment)
WISE is an online learning environment where students can engage in critical inquiry into various phenomena. It was initiated in 1996 at the University of California, Berkeley with a focus of capitalizing on the potential of the internet to create a novel learning experience within science (Linn, Clark, & Slotta, 2003). WISE utilizes the potential of the internet to engage students in a web-based inquiry approach to learning where learning becomes “visible” to peers, teacher, and self (Gobert, Snyder, & Houghton, 2002). This enables a feed-forward progression of learning where students and teachers can easily adjust the learning process as necessary.
The interface provides the students with a flow chart indicating what step of the inquiry process they are engaging in. Students work together and provide each with critical insight into their learning. Prompts are provided for students to reflect on their learning, and the process includes utilizing scientific models, simulations, and other computer generated tools. There are many projects available from WISE that teachers can use in their classroom, or a teacher may wish to use the WISE platform to create their own.
Our design group (E) is considering using WISE to create a project that focuses on mathematics (data analysis), and environmental impacts on climate change. The target group will be junior secondary students (grade 8-10) and the project will involve direct examination of individual student’s waste and contribution to carbon emissions. We are utilizing formative assessment strategies within our design that is based on the learning theory of constructivism.
I am really excited to be working with our group and look forward to seeing what our final product will look like. We aim to create a project that we can actually utilize within the classroom.
Linn, M., Clark, D., & Slotta, J. (2003). Wise design for knowledge integration. Science Education, 87(4), 517-538. UBC library: full-text available online
Gobert, J., Snyder, J., & Houghton, C. (2002, April). The influence of students’ understanding of models on model-based reasoning. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association (AERA), New Orleans, Louisiana. Retrieved February 23, 2009, from http://mtv.concord.org/publications/epistimology_paper.pdf 48
Williams, M. Linn, M.C. Ammon, P. & Gearhart, M. (2004). Learning to teach inquiry science in a technology-based environment: A case study. Journal of Science Education and Technology, 13(2), 189-206. Full text available online at UBC Library.
Tags: Design
We are nearly half-way through the semester and I have really grounded my perception as to what constitutes “good use” of technology in the classroom. I utilize digital technology a lot within my own practice, but I still feel as though I am very much on the periphery of what is actually available. I utilize blogs, Power Points, digital video, computer animations and graphics, and my computer is always hooked up to the projector for those unplanned moments of use.
My kids like using it all and feel quite comfortable and empowered by it. I especially like it when the role of teaching is reversed and my kids are able to teach me a few things. I believe good use of technology is any use that engages, empower, and invites as many users as possible. I am also quickly developing a practice of letting the students have the power and control over the technology. I began our blogsite by posting what I felt were worthy local, national, and global current events to invite critical student reflection. This has gone well and the students seem to reaping many benefits from considering each other’s perspectives. Our next step is to have the students post what they feel is worth consideration and discussion. I am excited to see how this goes.
Stephen
Our blog site can be visited at the following URL: http://dogcreek.edublogs.org/
Our posts are currently password protected, but we may be lifting this protection so we can gain perspectives from around the world.
Tags: General
The Jasper Series: Video-disc (Mathematical Problem-Solving)
The Jasper series featuring the adventures of Jasper Woodbury are laser video discs that showcase real-life mathematical problems. Twelve video-disc adventures were created in the 1980’s by a team from the Learning Technology Center of Vanderbilt University. The videos contain actual footage of real-life problems and provide all the necessary information to solve the mathematical challenges. The technology of the laser discs allows students to locate their information easily and pause over sections where images are clear. The mathematical challenge associated with the adventure requires a solution approach that is multi-step, and contains alternative problem foci for investigation.
My immediate impression of the videos was how dated they are and that my students would consider the program old and awkward. Of course this program was created in the 1980’s so students of this generation would consider the characters and settings to be quite normal. This program is a great idea to contextualize mathematical problem solving with actual video footage that contains all of the information necessary. Word problems that students encounter within text books are not contextualized at all and students are required to visualize the scenario to create any type of authenticity. This adds but another conceptually difficult step to an already challenging mathematical problem.
The Jasper Series enables a collaborative problem solving approach where a small class or group can work together to find solutions. Students don’t have to visualize what the scenario looks like as it is provided for them on the video. I work in a multi-grade school where the Jasper Series could provide great potential for this type of collaborative work. Grouping kids of differing abilities and grades would promote not only collaborative work, but provide great opportunity for peer teaching and coaching.
I am about to begin project based mathematical problem solving with my grade 8-10 class and I feel empowered to begin this adventure with my students in light of what I have reviewed in the Jasper series. I would like to know if there are any updated or current versions of the Jasper series available for purchase? A question I will be exploring.
Stephen
Tags: Design
Ideal TELE Design for Math and Science:
An ideal design of a technology-enhanced learning experience for math and science would be an interactive technology that is actually used by the students to enhance their learning, but is used collectively to encourage co-operative learning. The technology would invite as many learners as possible regardless of supposed constraints posed by various exceptionalities. Students’ use of the technology would be a fun engagement, where the learning outcomes for science or math are being met, and can be measured.
Stephen
Tags: Design
