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How Would You Like To Integrate Technology Into Your

Classroom?

Or have you thought about it?

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Menu

• Instructional Technology: A Tool or a Panacea?

• Making Sense of the Future

• Her Math, Their Math: An In-Service Teacher’s Growing Understanding of Mathematics and Technology and Her Secondary Students’ Algebra Experience

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Instructional Technology: A Tool Or a Panacea?

• This is a question that has made many wonder about technology’s place and role in a classroom. – Is it a good idea? What sort of technology is

appropriate in the class room? When should it be used?

– Is it a bad idea? What sort of technology should be restricted from student use? Why?

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Pros and Cons

• Good idea:– Introduce new technologies to students.– Teach students how to use the technology

properly.

• Bad idea:– Students become dependent on technology.– The wrong technology is used in the areas of

study.

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Reflection

I believe technology should be used in the classroom, but used responsibly. I plan to teach middle school math. I won’t allow graphing calculators in the classroom but I will allow scientific ones. This will allow me to teach the students how to use current technology in deciphering their problems but not too much where they won’t learn to graph points, lines, and functions on their own. When I grew up in school, we weren’t allowed to use a calculator of any kind, and I have always felt hindered, especially now as an older college student, because I wasn’t taught how to use the available technology.

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Making Sense of the Future

• What advantages could technology provide in a classroom?

• What would the technological advances be used to teach and in what way?

• Who would benefit from utilizing technology in the classrooms? Who would be the learner?

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• Technology is engaging, something students are familiar with.

• Technology could be used to calculate intricate math problems from calculators to Maple TA software.

So Why Use Technology?

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Reflection

Technology is an avenue students are often more comfortable with than teachers. As the cliché mentions teaching old dogs new tricks, so is it true for adults. I believe as Ms. Beth Wilson does in most teachers today would have to be re-taught or trained to teach with a student led environment, following the students’ leads, and exploring new avenues in our ever-changing classrooms. Even in the most basic math classes, teachers are exposed to new ways of thinking. Technology is wave after wave of new thinking, and teachers must be prepared to adapt to those new ways of thinking. After all, I believe it’s better to guide a child’s mind to focus on their future rather than cram it with out-dated thinking. Teach the basics and let them discover the rest.

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Her Math, Their Math: An In-Service teacher’s Growing understanding of Mathematics and Technology and her

Secondary Students’ Algebra Experience

• How many ways to learn exist?

• What can be learned from a student’s perspective?

• Why would it be better to use Computer Intensive Algebra vs. conventional pencil and paper?

• Is it OK to have students discover their math is the teacher’s math on their own?

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Her Math, Their Math: An In-Service teacher’s Growing understanding of Mathematics and Technology and her

Secondary Students’ Algebra Experience

In this article, the students wanted to do math “their way” instead of doing it as the instructor suggested, which is deemed “her way.” Instead of using her own words and actions, the teacher allowed the students to experiment and discover for themselves what was happening in the math. They used Computer Intensive Algebra (CIA) to do this. The students were able to manipulate numbers within the program however they wished and discover who was right and wrong.

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Reflection

This article is probably the best example of the three when it comes to supporting a student-led classroom. Although the teacher was in charge, she let the students take charge of their learning and discovery. I believe a person learns more when he/she discovers new knowledge, and this teacher facilitated the opportunity for her students to do just that. It certainly seems to be more productive than arguing who is and isn’t right, especially since both parties weren’t wrong.

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Conclusion

I would say my “aha” moments consist of:

1. Others sharing my opinion in implementing technology. Throughout school I wished we could use technology and it is refreshing to find so many people who see this point.

2. I never thought of the teacher as being the learner. I thought it would be best for a teacher to be the subject-matter-expert and be sure to know all there was to know regarding the resources at hand. I used this as my direct quote below.

3. This article described how the teacher took charge without fully disclosing to the students what she was doing. This allowed the students to learn eagerly rather than defiantly prove the teacher wrong.

“With computers, students are seeing teachers much more as learners, and they see that teachers are learning all kinds of things and kids are often showing teachers those things” (Wilson, p. 20).

These all articles all share a common goal of implementing technology into a subject area most students lose interest in at the middle school level…mathematics. I hope to use the information in these articles to improve myself as an educator.

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References

• Kimmel, H, & Deek, F.P. (1995). Instructional technology: a tool or a panacea?. Journal of Science of Education and Technology, 4(4), 327-332.

• Wilson, B. (1988). Making sense of teh future. Educational Technology Center, 1-32.

• Zbiek, R. (1995). Her Math, their math: an in-service teacher's growing understanding of mathematics and technology and her secondary students' algebra experiment. Presented at North American Chapter of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education, 1-9.