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anonymous

Critical Issue: Using Technology to Improve Student Achievement - 0 views

www.ncrel.org/...te800.htm

shared by anonymous on 23 Feb 10 - Cached
  • Technologies available in classrooms today range from simple tool-based applications (such as word processors) to online repositories of scientific data and primary historical documents, to handheld computers, closed-circuit television channels, and two-way distance learning classrooms. Even the cell phones that many students now carry with them can be used to learn (Prensky, 2005).
  • Bruce and Levin (1997), for example, look at ways in which the tools, techniques, and applications of technology can support integrated, inquiry-based learning to "engage children in exploring, thinking, reading, writing, researching, inventing, problem-solving, and experiencing the world." They developed the idea of technology as media with four different focuses: media for inquiry (such as data modeling, spreadsheets, access to online databases, access to online observatories and microscopes, and hypertext), media for communication (such as word processing, e-mail, synchronous conferencing, graphics software, simulations, and tutorials), media for construction (such as robotics, computer-aided design, and control systems), and media for expression (such as interactive video, animation software, and music composition). In a review of existing evidence of technology's impact on learning, Marshall (2002) found strong evidence that educational technology "complements what a great teacher does naturally," extending their reach and broadening their students' experience beyond the classroom. "With ever-expanding content and technology choices, from video to multimedia to the Internet," Marshall suggests "there's an unprecedented need to understand the recipe for success, which involves the learner, the teacher, the content, and the environment in which technology is used."
  • In examining large-scale state and national studies, as well as some innovative smaller studies on newer educational technologies, Schacter (1999) found that students with access to any of a number of technologies (such as computer assisted instruction, integrated learning systems, simulations and software that teaches higher order thinking, collaborative networked technologies, or design and programming technologies) show positive gains in achievement on researcher constructed tests, standardized tests, and national tests.
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  • Boster, Meyer, Roberto, & Inge (2002) examined the integration of standards-based video clips into lessons developed by classroom teachers and found increases student achievement. The study of more than 1,400 elementary and middle school students in three Virginia school districts showed an average increase in learning for students exposed to the video clip application compared to students who received traditional instruction alone.
  • Wenglinsky (1998) noted that for fourth- and eighth-graders technology has "positive benefits" on achievement as measured in NAEP's mathematics test. Interestingly, Wenglinsky found that using computers to teach low order thinking skills, such as drill and practice, had a negative impact on academic achievement, while using computers to solve simulations saw their students' math scores increase significantly. Hiebert (1999) raised a similar point. When students over-practice procedures before they understand them, they have more difficulty making sense of them later; however, they can learn new concepts and skills while they are solving problems. In a study that examined relationship between computer use and students' science achievement based on data from a standardized assessment, Papanastasiou, Zemblyas, & Vrasidas (2003) found it is not the computer use itself that has a positive or negative effect on achievement of students, but the way in which computers are used.
  • Another factor influencing the impact of technology on student achievement is that changes in classroom technologies correlate to changes in other educational factors as well. Originally the determination of student achievement was based on traditional methods of social scientific investigation: it asked whether there was a specific, causal relationship between one thing—technology—and another—student achievement. Because schools are complex social environments, however, it is impossible to change just one thing at a time (Glennan & Melmed, 1996; Hawkins, Panush, & Spielvogel, 1996; Newman, 1990). If a new technology is introduced into a classroom, other things also change. For example, teachers' perceptions of their students' capabilities can shift dramatically when technology is integrated into the classroom (Honey, Chang, Light, Moeller, in press). Also, teachers frequently find themselves acting more as coaches and less as lecturers (Henriquez & Riconscente, 1998). Another example is that use of technology tends to foster collaboration among students, which in turn may have a positive effect on student achievement (Tinzmann, 1998). Because the technology becomes part of a complex network of changes, its impact cannot be reduced to a simple cause-and-effect model that would provide a definitive answer to how it has improved student achievement.
  • When new technologies are adopted, learning how to use the technology may take precedence over learning through the technology. "The technology learning curve tends to eclipse content learning temporarily; both kids and teachers seem to orient to technology until they become comfortable," note Goldman, Cole, and Syer (1999). Effective content integration takes time, and new technologies may have glitches. As a result, "teachers' first technology projects generate excitement but often little content learning. Often it takes a few years until teachers can use technology effectively in core subject areas" (Goldman, Cole, & Syer, 1999). Educators may find impediments to evaluating the impact of technology. Such impediments include lack of measures to assess higher-order thinking skills, difficulty in separating technology from the entire instructional process, and the outdating of technologies used by the school. To address these impediments, educators may need to develop new strategies for student assessment, ensure that all aspects of the instructional process—including technology, instructional design, content, teaching strategies, and classroom environment—are conducive to student learning, and conduct ongoing evaluation studies to determine the effectiveness of learning with technology (Kosakowski, 1998).
jodi tompkins

Glossopedia Home - 0 views

www.globio.org/...Default.aspx

encyclopedia science glossopedia search research

shared by jodi tompkins on 24 Mar 10 - Cached
  • jodi tompkins on 24 Mar 10
     
    This site is designed especially with the young learner in mind with its age-appropriate content and emphasis on visual and auditory learning. Glossopedia is the kind of site that you can leave open for students to explore and find a fast fact of the day, find their favorite image, or video Glossopedia Categories Geography and Places Nature and the Environment Technology Animals Earth and Space People and Cultures Human Body Chemistry Natural Forces This site is simple and visually pleasing. The font size is great for young learners. Words are hyperlinked to an audio pronunciation that is a real person, speaking really slowly at first then more quickly, and finally the written meaning of the word. Images and photos have a print button prominently displayed.
Sheri Edwards

Education Week: Backers of '21st-Century Skills' Take Flak - 0 views

www.edweek.org/...23pushback_ep.h28.html

21stCentury debate

shared by Sheri Edwards on 05 Mar 09 - Cached
  • Unless states that sign on to the movement ensure that all students are also taught a body of explicit, well-sequenced content, a focus on skills will not help students develop higher-order critical-thinking abilities, they said at a panel discussion here in the nation’s capital last week.
  • Array of Skills In the Partnership for 21st Century Skills’ vision for K-12 education, the arches of the rainbow depict outcomes, while the pools represent the resources needed to support those outcomes. But critics contend that states implementing this vision might focus too heavily on discrete skills instruction, at the expense of core content. SOURCE: Partnership for 21st Century Skills
  • Ten states have agreed to work with P21 to incorporate a focus on technology, analytical and communication skills into their content standards, teacher training, and assessments.
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  • “We’ve been having this curriculum war for years.”
  • Mr. Kay, in contrast, painted the P21 vision as one that transcends this debate. The partnership tries to encourage states to be more deliberative about how they help students learn the skills,
  • “[But] the liberal arts movement, which we embrace, has not been as purposeful and intentional about the skill outcomes as we need to be.”
  • Mr. Willingham argued not only that the teaching of skills is inseparable from that of core content, but also that it is the content itself that allows individuals to recognize problems and to determine which critical-thinking skills to apply to solve them.
  • Students become proficient critical thinkers only by gleaning a broad body of knowledge in multiple content domains, he said.
  • Those techniques include student-directed methods such as project-based learning, which requires students to work in groups to solve a specified problem, relying on teachers for guidance rather than for explicit instruction.
  • “Teachers will rise to the challenge given the kind of supports they need.”
  • “If [curriculum] is just picking up a manual, or a series of nonconnected or nonsequenced experiments in science or literary works with no connection and no background knowledge, it’s not going to help our kids think any better,” she said in an interview.
  • Academics like Ms. Darling-Hammond said that setting forth a clear understanding once and for all about what students should know, and which teaching methods best help students engage that content in depth, will be crucial to putting such debates to rest.
  • The highest-scoring countries on international exams, she said, undertook efforts to outline such goals specifically 20 to 30 years ago. “When you really think about delivering a rich curriculum, it takes a very skillful type of teaching,” Ms. Darling-Hammond said. “It can be done badly; we have to acknowledge that. But we don’t really have a choice, if we want to join other nations.”
  • Meanwhile the critics go about squawking while promoting their own panaceas
  • he majority of kids just go right on tuning out, dropping out, or just getting by
  • I challenge what I read by looking at source material. These are timeless skills. It's the technology that is 21st century.
  • As for the topics we are unfamiliar with, the poster just before me rightly points out that the Internet is out there for just that purpose. Real teachers are also learners, and should be constantly seeking to know more.
  • Many recent studies have concluded that the current system is broken beyond repair and that point solutions like those being advocates above cannot fix it. We know that people learn best when they teach others so small groups that encourage peer-to-peer mentoring should be encouraged. Those same small groups require the students to learn and use the high-performance skills advocated by P21. At the same time, there is a body of knowledge that has been determined to be important to a student's future - represented by the state academic content standards. Robust, in-depth discussions of academic content help achieve the mastery of academic content. To ensure the content has meaning, it is best learned in a multi-disciplinary environment. By embedding a selected set of content standards from a variety of disciplines into a realistic setting/project the students get the opportunity to use the knowledge and go beyond the standards as their interest leads them.
  • The fact is, while "experts" pore over the fabric of pedagogical delivery methods, online teaching and learning is quietly replacing classroom environments globally. Educators better make some quick adjustments or the very definition of what an "education" means nowadays will make many of these folks irrelevant.
  • Sheri Edwards on 05 Mar 09
     
    What do you think? How do we envision the future and teach for it?
Susan Oxnevad

Cool Tools for 21st Century Learners: TeachEm: Create Guided YouTube Lessons - 0 views

d97cooltools.blogspot.com/...te-guided-youtube-lessons.html

resources teaching collaboration video connections knowledge ideas cool education web2.0 technology tools learning science

shared by Susan Oxnevad on 28 Oct 12 - No Cached
  • Susan Oxnevad on 28 Oct 12
     
    TeachEm is a free and user friendly digital tool that allows users to capture YouTube content, organize it, and add time stamped flashcards to guide the learning.
Nigel Coutts

Delivering on the promise of STEAM - The Learner's Way - 3 views

thelearnersway.net/...vering-on-the-promise-of-steam

STEAM learner education collaboration science technology

shared by Nigel Coutts on 28 Aug 16 - No Cached
  • Nigel Coutts on 28 Aug 16
     
    The challenge is to ensure that students within a STEAM programme are better prepared than they might be if they studied the disciplines in isolation and that in seeking to integrate diverse fields we do not weaken the efficacy of one for the inclusion of another.
Roland Gesthuizen

Paula Smith: Education 2020 -- An Emerging Consensus About Learning - 0 views

www.huffingtonpost.com/...-2020-an-emergin_b_824342.html

education learning Huffingtonpost curriculum engagement motivation student learningspaces learningstyles

shared by Roland Gesthuizen on 26 Feb 11 - No Cached
  • we need to add a truly human dimension to our educational benchmarks
  • First, an increasing number of people have concluded that we need to add a truly human dimension to our educational benchmarks.
  • if a lower school subject area like hands-on science is taught in a way that students understand, they go on to high school and college and explore biology, chemistry and physics with greater enthusiasm
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  • the new key metrics must be whether students find school interesting; whether the material challenges them; and whether they actually like school enough to continue their studies.
  • there are no limitations on what children can learn
  • children are preparing themselves to become lifelong learners when they question, analyze, compare, collaborate and listen in the classroom
  • teaching must be individualized and responsive to each student's talents, way of thinking and level of understanding
  • teachers act as coaches who model thinking, planning, risk-taking and reflection for children
  • Technology is transforming how we think about education today.
  • practice over time, plus motivation and mentoring, yields excellence and mastery
  • Roland Gesthuizen on 26 Feb 11
     
    "as we contemplate 2020, I'm certain that there won't be one model, one benchmark, one standard, one curriculum, or one teacher training program that ultimately helps us reach our educational goals. But I strongly believe that a decade from now we'll be able to look back and know that we made learning more interesting for each and every child in our country"
  • Roland Gesthuizen on 26 Feb 11
     
    How to make learning interesting for everybody.
Nigel Coutts

Striving to preserve Truth - The Learner's Way - 5 views

thelearnersway.net/...striving-to-preserve-truth

preserve truth learner collaboration science technology education learning

shared by Nigel Coutts on 12 Feb 17 - No Cached
  • Nigel Coutts on 12 Feb 17
     
    What purposes does education serve? What needs of humanity does education serve? What might the product of our labours be like and how might our efforts contribute to the greater good? These are questions we have long struggled with but with but it seems that in the current times we might need to rethink how we answer these questions.
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