I read an article about virtual field trips. This article mentioned how easy it is for teachers to share science themes with students through the internet. A lot of national places are creating websites that have virtual field trips that share infomration with students. It allows for students to explore these places with out paying money to go visit them. What teacher would not be up for that, especially with all of the budget cuts we all face. They get to see photos, videos, interactive parts, listen to people talk, etc. Everything they would get if they actually visited the place.
By using this new type of technology students are able to just explore places and learn more then they would get out just reading a textbook. Teachers are also now having to always update their notes and information that they take from the textbook, because these virtual field trips are easy to update compared the the textbooks that always get out dated.
I think that this is a great new way to teacher students by using technology.
check out the link to the article and it also explains how teachers can modify these field trips for all ages.
http://www.readingrockets.org/article/42383/
Monday, October 31, 2011
Monday, October 24, 2011
Why Integrate Technology into the Curriculum?: The Reasons Are Many
I got this article from Edutopia. The article was written by Edutopia Staff. The website is http://www.edutopia.org/technology-integration-introduction
I related to this article so much because it seemed to speak about my school. The article states that technology needs to be more than just teaching computer skills and software applications in a computer class. The article states that technology needs to be taught across the curriculum using projects. The projects keep the students more engaged and allow for students to collaborate on ideas, much the same as an active office. The integration of technology connects the students to real world learning as they meet the curriculum goals. As the students collaborate on these projects, they are using higher level problem solving skills.
In addition, the article states that the integration of technology across the curriculum helps teachers reach a diverse group of students. Teachers can use technology to meet the demands of a variety of learners. The teacher becomes more of a coach to the students as they are learning new meaningful information rapidly.
I relate to this article because my elementary is very blessed with some nice technology. The upside is that we have interactive whiteboards, the downside is that very few teachers know how useful they can be. The boards were installed, but the training has been pretty much on your own. The same goes with the computer labs. Now I am lucky that I teach fifth graders, and we do many projects using both. My students are not afraid to experiment, and I let them. The reciprocal learning is tremendous. I learn a great deal from them as we complete the projects. I design the projects based on my standards and benchmarks, but my students are always adding new things to the projects that I had not anticipated. I know some other teachers have more fear when doing projects. I think this fear stems from lack of knowledge and younger students. They seem to be overwhelmed just getting the students logged in. So the frustration takes over, and teachers go back to their old comfortable ways of teaching. I am often told that there is no way their students could do what my students do. That baffles me. Who knows what our students can do with technology unless we give them a chance. I know that integrating the technology into my curriculum with projects has decreased my behavior problems and increased engagement. That is a win, win situation!!!
I related to this article so much because it seemed to speak about my school. The article states that technology needs to be more than just teaching computer skills and software applications in a computer class. The article states that technology needs to be taught across the curriculum using projects. The projects keep the students more engaged and allow for students to collaborate on ideas, much the same as an active office. The integration of technology connects the students to real world learning as they meet the curriculum goals. As the students collaborate on these projects, they are using higher level problem solving skills.
In addition, the article states that the integration of technology across the curriculum helps teachers reach a diverse group of students. Teachers can use technology to meet the demands of a variety of learners. The teacher becomes more of a coach to the students as they are learning new meaningful information rapidly.
I relate to this article because my elementary is very blessed with some nice technology. The upside is that we have interactive whiteboards, the downside is that very few teachers know how useful they can be. The boards were installed, but the training has been pretty much on your own. The same goes with the computer labs. Now I am lucky that I teach fifth graders, and we do many projects using both. My students are not afraid to experiment, and I let them. The reciprocal learning is tremendous. I learn a great deal from them as we complete the projects. I design the projects based on my standards and benchmarks, but my students are always adding new things to the projects that I had not anticipated. I know some other teachers have more fear when doing projects. I think this fear stems from lack of knowledge and younger students. They seem to be overwhelmed just getting the students logged in. So the frustration takes over, and teachers go back to their old comfortable ways of teaching. I am often told that there is no way their students could do what my students do. That baffles me. Who knows what our students can do with technology unless we give them a chance. I know that integrating the technology into my curriculum with projects has decreased my behavior problems and increased engagement. That is a win, win situation!!!
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