I have been teaching Grade eight for a decade now and I am always looking for ways to incorporate technology into lessons in a meaningful and engaging way. I wanted to apply what I have learned in EDUC 29F2 to the subjects that I am currently teaching. As well, I wanted to link this directly to curriculum expectations within these units.
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Subject: Math
Strand: Data Management
Curriculum Expectation:
- collect data by conducting a survey or an experiment to do with themselves, their environment, issues in their school or community, or content from another subject, and record observations or measurements
- select an appropriate type of graph to represent a set of data, graph the data using technology, and justify the choice of graph (i.e., from types of graphs already studied, including histograms and scatter plots)
To incorporate technology more into these two expectations I would teach students how to make online forms (Wufoo or Google Forms) and have them conduct an online survey of their choice that would gather appropriate data to graph. For instance, if they we were focusing on creating histograms they would need to collect continuous data or if they were going to create a scatter plot they would collect data that they might feel has a correlation. By using technology, they could collect from a wide variety of their friends/family or from teachers (through their board addresses). This would be a quick way for them to conduct a survey in a way that they would find novel, efficient and engaging.
From there, I would have them use Google Spreadsheet to organize their data into the appropriate chart. Using Google Spreadsheet would allow them to share their graphs with other students and/or collaborate together to design graphs and combine findings. Note: Google Spreadsheet does not make it possible to create Histograms, whereas Open Office and Excel allow you to remove the spacing between to bars to represent the continuousness of the data.
To culminate the assignment, I would have them use Adobe Photoshop to organize their data and graphs in an effective manner. Photoshop allows them to add graphics, text and other text features into an effective, professional looking final product.
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Subject: Language
Strand: Writing (1.3 Research)
Technology: Livebinder
Curriculum Expectation:
- Gather information to support ideas for writing, using a variety of strategies and a wide range of print and electronic sources (e.g.,produce a plan and timeline for carrying out research tasks; interview people with knowledge of the topic; identify and use graphic and multimedia resources; record sources used and information gathered in a form that makes it easy to understand and retrieve)
Introducing students to essay writing can be a daunting task to both teach and assess. Students are drawn to using information from the internet, but often fall into the trap of using sites that are not reputable or accurate. Generally, it is important to teach student-=s characteristics of trusted websites, but often difficult to check if they followed these guideline when assessing their final products. This is where Livebinder comes into play. By making Livebinder (or a similar site) a requirement, it becomes much more feasible to check the quality of their sources. As well, this will help with the issue of paraphrasing. Often students struggle to paraphrase and quote effectively. Livebinder will enable teachers to see how well they developed this skill and allow them to check for work that is simply copy and pasted from the internet.
In addition, if this research is done in groups, students can accumulate a variety of sites together to help them prepare their argument. Or, the teacher can create a Livebinder of a variety of sites that students may use to gather their research. Within this Livebinder could be a variety of sites that vary in quality. This would demonstrate to the teacher which students could and could not select the trusted website.
Overall, Livebinder and other bookmarking sites could be a valuable tool to help students collect and organize their online research.
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Subject: Science
Strand: All (Continuum for Scientific Inquiry)
Technology: Evernote
Curriculum Expectation:
- - performing and recording (e.g., following procedures, accessing information, recording observations and findings) (Page 12)
Recently I had the opportunity to work with one of our science teachers to create success criteria for science experiments reports. Our main focus was to give student a better understanding of how they would be assessed. We were specifically looking at their observations, results and conclusions. During our co-construction of our success criteria for observations we decided to split it up into quantitative and qualitative observations. For many of the experiments that they will be completing it would be very interesting for them to use a type of technology such as Evernote to collect their findings.
Evernote would allow them to capture qualitative observations via the camera. But more importantly, they could attach anecdotal information to go along with the pictures. As well, since many of their labs build upon each other, they could use Evernote to look back on previous labs and observations to look for comparisons or to asses their improvement with regards to their ability to capture and record effective observations. This tool would also be useful for students who were absent during the experiment. They could review the images captured and the acedotal notes and get a grasp for what experiment revealed.
Even if only the teacher used Evernote to record these observations, it could be used to share in a blended learning environment or be use to help students learn more in depth about what the observations tell us about scientific concepts.
Overall, here are three different areas of the curriculum that I plan on integrating what I have learned throughout EDUC 9F62. Learning these tools throughout this course makes it easier to integrate technology into lessons effectively. My question is why is this not more of a focus in our educational system. We receive a barrage of Professional Development on everything except technology, why is that? Our learners need this entwined throughout their day and their subjects to keep the current and motivated in our classrooms. Perhaps its time to update our focus to suit our learners.
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