I am at the end of my long weekend of recovery. Yes, recovery! This past week was my first experience teaching middle school. It was a wonderful week of meeting new faces and initiating positive designs on the remainder of the year - at least I think they are positive. Nonetheless, adjusting to fifty new and different personalities is taxing to say the least, hence the "recovery."
In reflecting on the chapter one reading in, Integrating Computer Technology in the Classroom, I have some first-hand accounts on having implemented some of the "open-ended learning environments" espoused by Gary Morrison and Deborah Lowther. The reflection questions for this post are as follows:
1- Must I use an inquiry-based learning approach in my classroom to use computers as a tool?
2- Can I still use tutorials and drill-and-practice software?
3- Won't I have to spend a great deal of time to develop these units of instruction?
4- Won't every student need a computer to use it as a tool?
I suppose the quick answers from my perspective would be in order, no, yes, no, and no. However, there is more to my reflections than this. For question 2, "yes" is most appropriate because in just one week I have witnessed a few of my advanced math students working on an online Algebra 1 course. I am supplementing their course with a end of the week study hall, but for all intents and purposes, their course is based solely in online tutorials and quizzes. Additionally, all students are able to use the online tool, Study Island to work through a vast array of subject- related practice questions in order to bolster their common core standards knowledge base.
Questions 1, 3, and 4 can all be addressed with my science students' first project. I work at a non-traditional charter school, but will keep the name anonymous to protect all those involved (I know that was cheesy, but I have always wanted to say something like that so ...). Anyway, the first assignment was for the students to research potential animals for a class pet. I used a hybrid, Problem-Based/Project-Based Learning approach as described in the text (pages 12-14). I suppose there was a little bit of Inquiry-Based learning as well, but only tangentially as I tried to provide as little information as possible. So the students began by brainstorming on potential animals, and then the list was narrowed down to five-six candidates. I have two science classes, so each class is working on five-six animals. There are several overlaps between the classes. Once the five-six animals were chosen, the students were broken into the appropriate number of groups to research their respective animal. The parameters were somewhat loose, but the goal was for each group to understand all facets of the animal e.g. scientific name, natural environment, required domestic environment, diet, diseases, potential hazards to humans, potential hazards from humans, lifespan, lifecycle, veterinary care potentials, potential county/city code limitations, etc. etc. The students were to work in their groups to gather and collate this information into a 10 -12 minute persuasive but honest powerpoint presentation - "honest" in that they need to provide realistic pros and cons of having their specific animal as a pet. The presentations are set for tomorrow.
So with this project, I was able to set the parameters without too much development (question 3). Of course, I am not naive on the potential for more preparatory work for future projects, but I am certain that preparation can be minimized with this approach. Additionally, students worked together in a mostly project-based/problem-based manner with me mostly coaching and acting in the role of facilitator (question 1). Throughout the project, students shared computers and used available texts, encyclopedias etc. as there are not enough computers for each student (question 4).
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