After reading and listening to this week’s resources I found myself drawn to a lot of the information because it really related to my content area, Science. When I see the word “hypotheses” I automatically think of it as a Science term. However, students are making hypotheses daily, no matter what content area they are in and they are drawing conclusions based on their ideas/opinions. Regardless of the subject matter, “when students generate and test hypotheses, they are engaged in complex mental processes, applying content knowledge like facts and vocabulary, and enhancing their overall understanding of the concept,” (Pitler et al., 2007, p. 202). The goal is that students are actively involved in their learning and what better way to do that then to get them thinking and hypothesizing! Data collection goes along hand in hand with the idea of hypothesizing because they need to be able to draw conclusions and to do that they have to have evidence. Data collection tools and spreadsheet software mentioned in this week’s resources are great tools to help students get involved in the learning process. I use data collections frequently in my classroom and as we continue to get more and more technology available to us the more I can have the students use it. We have several computers for student use and I can begin to incorporate the digital spreadsheets like Excel into my class. A lot of my students use the Excel program when they are working on their science fair projects. Those projects are student centered and they are in charge of what they are actually learning from the project. If they do not gather the data, make a hypothesis, record their data, draw and analyze what they discovered then the entire science fair project is a failure. They are responsible for being an active learner.
Students are very capable of using technology in their every day life so incorporating it into the classroom will get students engaged in what they are learning about. Since the main focus of the constructionist learning theory is getting the students involved in their learning and “constructing things”. In “Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works” the use of data collection tools seem to be very resourceful for students and teachers. “Using data collection tools enables students to see the bigger picture and recognize patterns,” (p. 210.) Again, since I teach science I use data collection often and I can really see students making connections when we are working on an activity and then they can compare the data they collected with other students. They can see that things do not just happen for a reason, that there is logic behind it, and they do see the “bigger picture”.
Another program that is mentioned in the text is, Smog City. This website is a great tool for students when teaching about the effects of pollution and how it effects our environment. Students actually “construct” the “parameters” for the city and can see what the results of their actions are. It is a quick and simple tool for them to play around with all while learning. They are getting involved in what they learning about because they get to decide what happens with this fun and creative website.
If I want to continue to promote a positive and fun learning environment for my students I have to make sure that I am keeping them engaged. I can do this by bringing technology into the classroom like the data processing programs and website mentioned in our resources this week. When students can see the importance of what they are learning and they can get more involved then they will want to succeed!
Resources:
Orey, M.(Ed.). (2001). Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology.Retrieved July 19, 2010 from http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/.
Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
It is important to keep students engaged and it sounds as if you are accomplishing that. Students of today need to be having fun and be interested in what they are doing in class in order to make them productive. You are correct when stating that students are exposed to technology and make use of it in their life every day, there is technology all around them and it is advancing at an alarming rate. It appears that you have the resources available to allow your students to utilize technology in your class. Your students are collecting data, processing information, and sharing that information with each other. Nice work. I hope the students appreciate the work you are putting into the lessons that you are providing them with.
ReplyDelete(posted by John Ardito)
I feel I can relate to this post because I also think about science when I hear about hypotheses. But you're right-- students can make hypotheses in any subject area. In fact, forming predictions and drawing conclusions is exactly what we want them to do all day, in every subject. This is so important to remember because no matter what we teach, we can inspire this higher-level thinking and engage the students in constructing their own knowledge. Thanks for the great post!
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