This
chapter covers a lot of technologies that allow us to improve learning in the
classroom. Some of the key components that a lot of the technologies seem to
focus on are:
·
the understanding of what the student knows
before the interactions,
·
what erroneous preconceived notions he has (conceptual
barriers),
· and implementing methods that experimentally
have shown to tackle these conceptual barriers and achieve basic learning.
These technologies have different
uses and applications in learning, which is generally not attributed to the
development of new learning theories, but rather to the core benefits of technology
in general. Firstly, communication is one of those huge benefits new technology
has brought along. One of the benefits of that in education is in the
possibility for communication of students with experts, and with other students
around the world. This aspect of communication has tremendous benefits as it
gives a sense of the world community, collection / visualization of data from
all over the world (as seen in Project GLOBE), and access to massive amounts of
new information that previously took years to get published into libraries, and
even more time to make it to the classroom. The chapter focuses on a variety of
technologies which I will highlight, and also demonstrate their benefits and
their disadvantages.
Technology
|
Description
|
Advantages
|
Disadvantages
|
Jasper Video Adventures (the Little Planet Literacy Series has a very
similar method, but for writing)
|
Allows children to help architects solve problems in the community,
by challenging them to design them.
Main focus is:
Mathematics
|
Brings real world problems to the classroom. Tackles issues of
mathematics that architects encounter. Creates unforgettable experiences in
the students.
|
Video lectures would seem difficult to do for some topics. They
require a real world example (like the playground for children) to engage the
students, and this isn’t always available for topics like history.
|
Project GLOBE
|
Allows students to gather data with the incentive of communicating
with other students and experts in the field about their environment. Data
can be visualized, to understand concepts that are usually very complicated
to explain.
Main focus is:
Science
|
Provides a global context for the students. Uses visualizations to
explain data, which allows the human brain to retain information better.
|
Seems difficult to recruit enough scientists to help students. Does
not really seem to tackle specifics of the interactions students have with
these scientists, or how language barriers are dealt with.
|
CoVis Project
|
Allows students to collaborate on data collection, but also lays the
groundwork that allows for understanding of concepts. Students are introduced
to basic concepts and followed with more complex visualizations.
Main focus is:
Science
|
Uses concepts of learning to teach students (by presenting general
background information, and using visualizations for learning). Allows for
collaborative projects. Working with scientists seems to be a phenomenal
motivator.
|
Same disadvantage as GLOBE, can you really get that many scientists
(they named meteorologists, geologists, astronomers, teachers, and computer
scientists). Seems like they use the fact that real world interactions incentivize
children, but don’t ask themselves what the minimum amount of real world
interaction required is to get most students incentivized. Do you require one
scientist per class, or per student?
|
Belvedere System
|
Allows students to understand issues better by providing scaffolding.
Main focus is:
Science / Public Policy
|
Uses visuals to help the students understand concepts better. Focuses
on providing feedback and scaffolding for the betterment of learning.
|
Not sure if this can be extracted to any topic. Also not sure if by
an online adviser they mean a person or a virtual adviser (a machine). If it’s
a person, it seems they are getting their good results from the basic
knowledge that one-to-one tutoring is the best way of learning, and not from
the use of technology per say.
|
STELLA Modeling Environment
|
Uses modeling to improve teaching.
Main focus is:
Wide variety of fields.
|
Visualizations are a brilliant learning tool.
|
Seems very specific and not malleable to every subject, however they
do claim teaching things
‘as diverse as population ecology and history’.
|
GenScope Project
|
Uses simulations to teach biology.
|
Allows access to real world data, can be a big motivator.
|
Not enough information to analyze the tool for disadvantages.
|
I covered a few of the tools in
the chapter (didn’t cover because of length of the assignment: SMART,
DIAGNOSER, Classtalk, CSILE, SpeakEasy, Sherlock Project, Geometry Tutor, PUMP
Algebra Tutor, and KGS).
Overall, it
becomes evident that some tools seek to increase the ‘teacher-power’ to improve
teaching, by making the software act as the teacher. Further, other tools focus
more directly on visualizations to increase understanding by presenting
information in ways that the brain can better comprehend. Further, other tools
use communication as their main purpose, which can excite and motivate students
to collaborate and talk to experts. Lastly, some tools focus on being there as
a resource/tool that students use to learn with ease, as they provide the
adequate scaffolding to aid you in your path to understanding.
Comments