I’ve had a unique experience being in Wake’s education department for the past two years. Last year I got see the MTFs go from ideas to research proposals to published documents. So I’ve had the great fortune to think about topics that interest me. Additionally, student teaching has really helped me see the difference between the theories we learn in method class and “real life” teaching. For instance, the picture to the left shows how you can bring real life to the class room. Thats a human brain I brought in from the medical school during my student teaching. But what do you do to motivate students when you don't have a spare human brain laying around the house? The answer is not to give notes everyday on the white board. You have to keep the students active. What better way to bring the world to their fingertips, but technology.
I am especially interested in the connection between student performance and technology and motivation. Dr. Cunningham’s class on Educational Technology has shown me the value of technology in the classroom, and I have been able to experience its results in the classroom.
I have seen through the use of SMART board technology encouragement and interest from students who are usually “just a body” in class. Many public high school teachers are scared or rather intimated by technology. The fact of the matter is that black boards don’t intrigue nor excite today’s learners. We as educators must reach out to our ever diversifying population of learners. One way is to appeal to current and popular media and software.
So in my research I would like to see how technology motivates students and encourages active learning. I would also like to look at how test scores compare between students who are taught using technology and those taught with more traditional “old school” ways (white board, group work). I am assuming this investigation will be a mix of qualitative and quantitative research. One part will involve surveys and possibly interviews. And the second part will look at test scores as a direct relation to the use of technology.
On a side note, I am sure that ERIC will become a dear friend soon (which as an undergraduate I would have never said). It was very nice to finally get a lesson on ERIC. In my biology courses we were just thrown into the system. We would often research topics like animal behavior, chemical analysis and such. I can now finally have an appreciation for my research. Because for once it is research I’m really interested in, and something I want to investigate. So thank goodness, I can finally enjoy reading academic research.
5 comments:
Andrew, I am interested in how you define active learning (I.e. hands-on/minds-on, inquiry, etc.)? From what you have described, it appears you might have two different studies (one qualitative and one quantitative) as opposed to a mixed method study. As I understand a mixed method study, you would use both qualitative and quantitative methods to answer the same question.
A few years ago I taught students a japanese teaching strategy called HEI (hypothesis-experiment-instruction). One of my students developed HEI lessons using SMART boards. I think you have lots of possibilities with this research topic. John
Andy, I can't believe you put a gross picture on here. I can almost smell it!! I think you have a couple of good topic ideas. Either active learning or technology use would be interesting. Your ideas to use survey and interview methods is reasonable. I don't know how you could distinguish a class that did and did not use technology, unless you were talking about one topic/lesson and that would be a very short treatment.... Good work. Keep thinking.
It sounds like your class was very lucky to have you as a student teacher! I wish that I had been so creative in presenting my students with authentic activities. Unfortunately, during my student teaching, I struggled to find interesting ways to present the material. Sometimes I felt like I was trying to be more of an entertainer than a teacher. I had so many fresh ideas coming out of my methods class, but I experienced a disconnect in bringing those ideas to the classroom. Maybe I did not utilize the technology that was available to me, and perhaps that would have made for more engagement between the students and the curriculum. For this reason, I like your idea of investigating the use of technology in education. At our orientation, when Dr. Milner asked us to identify our strengths and weaknesses in the Guiding Principles of the Dept. of Education, I considered technology to be my weakness. I would be very interested to see the results of a study on this topic.
hey1 I wonder if you'll be able to study classrooms that are either solely "old school" or solely "new school." With the interesting continuum of technology purchase/training/integration in public high schools, you probably will see everything. (Ex: An EC math teacher across the catwalk from me uses the old, lined chalkboard, I use whiteboard and data projectors, my mentor teacher just received a grant for her Teacher Cadets for a cool interactive tablet/ActivBoard/document camera combo)
Have you thought about looking at the use of real animals for dissection vs. the use of computer model dissection????
I think technology is a necessity in the classroom, and I think all of us would agree it is much more interesting to sit through a class that implements different technology, than those that don't. But, one point brought up today by some teachers at Atkins was the excessive pressure to meet test score quotas, and not being able to utilize all the different kinds of technology at the school for their lessons. They talked about a federal grant they received where 25 smart boards were purchased, all classrooms became equipped with electronic projectors (i'm not sure of their technical name), and 28 interactive/electronic testing devices were also purchased. The teachers said it was great to have these resources, but they aren't doing much good if the kids are unable to pass the EOC tests. It seemed there was a gap between the technology, and how to effectivey implement it in the classroom. So, if you could find a way to use the technology, still incorporate the necessary lesson, and have the students succeed on the EOCs, I think you'd have a lot of teachers interested in your reasearch.
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