Week 9 - Technology in Schools

Since I am currently visiting local schools to complete assignments for other classes (EDIS 488, EDIS 531), I figured I would mention some examples of technology in those "real" classroom environments.

In one 4th grade classroom, the teacher showed students a DVD of the Mars Rover space launch and landing as part of a Space unit for Science. The teacher also used a laptop cart (not always present in the classroom) for a Geography lesson on US states and capitals. He had the website bookmarked and passed out the computers with the page already loaded. The students were required to place "puzzle pieces" of states in the correct location on a blank map. Later they needed to place the label (state name) on top of the corresponding state. Finally, the students were asked to click on the correct state when supplied with the name of the capital city.

In a different 4th grade classroom, I observed students typing a 5 paragraph essay as part of the writing/editing process for Language Arts. Students had organized their essay on 5 note cards (introductory paragraph, 3 supporting paragraphs, concluding paragraph) in preparation. The final draft was typed on a Macintosh laptop by copying the 5 note cards in order.

In the case of the DVD, it was a short but quick way for students to experience and understand the concept of a space launch and the innovations that are required for a successful mission (different phases, landing, etc.). The students were attentive throughout and genuinely enjoyed watching.

The students also seemed to enjoy the geography games, though some progressed faster than others (student A might have completed game 1 and game 2, student B might have completed games 1-6).

The difficulties of the geography lesson were not related to student/technology interaction, instead they were technology/technology interaction. Sometimes the links or buttons associated with the geography website would fail to work. Other times the internet connection seemed to fail for select computers (problem solved with a reboot).

The word processing lesson was straightforward for the majority of the students (many were computer-savvy). However, a few students had trouble typing their essays and required additional support. Spelling mistakes and grammar mistakes were still apparent and instead of learning to correct the errors on their own, some students relied on the spell checker.