Article Assessment 3 - Tools for the Mind

This article talked about different ways that technology is being used in classrooms around America. The article offered critiques about the way that technology is being used and also gave several remedies to the problem as the author sees it. The article points out a few problems such as the fact that many schools have a narrow view of technology, not a lot of training for teachers and accommodations are not made to ensure that classroom technology is being used. Many districts spend a lot of time on professional development that trains teachers in "skills" but they should be teaching them how computers can enhance student learning.

The article points out that programs such as power point and word have little educational value and that they only promote a "copy and paste culture". The author states that applications such as spread sheets and databases allow students to work on their critical thinking and analysis skills instead of just copying information and taking it at face value. The author urges teachers to look at technology used and decide if there is a better way and to make sure the technology they are using is actually improving students learning.

Interesting Tid-Bits

• In 2005 schools spent an average of $103 per pupil on technology
• Ask myself "does the current technology I use support the curriculum and deepen the content?"
• Only once teachers have a solid base in their core areas can they begin to incorporate technology.
• GIS can stimulate students' intellectual development and enable learners to create, revise and reconstruct what they know to create new frameworks of knowledge.
• Higher order tools are not as user friendly or visually appealing but benefit the students more.

As with most of the articles we are reading for this class; this one opened my eyes to some of the things that I may be doing wrong. I realize that my host teachers rely heavily on PowerPoint and pre-made lectures that came with the book. Though we do engage the students in activities we are constantly discussing the downfalls of the CD power point but neither of them want to make their own. I had not even thought about some of the applications the article brought out for GIS software like Google Earth.

Last quarter we did a stream project involving multiple measurement and calculations. The students could have taken the data into a lab and created spreadsheets and equations. Instead we gave them the equations to calculate stream flow. It may have benefited them more to come up with the equations themselves.

One of the many problems with computers in schools is that there aren't enough. Computers are not like textbooks. You cannot buy one for each student and then have them last 20 years. Computers are an ever changing technology and older versions become obsolete too quickly for school districts to keep up.

After reading this article I do think that I will try to incorporate some of the "higher order" software programs into my lessons though it will take some work in the beginning, I still think it will be beneficial.