After talking about our past experiences with technology in class, I wanted to share two of my memories of former teachers using technology in school. These examples embody both my fears about and hopes for using all those gadgets in my classroom.
Case #1: Powerpoint.
There were SO MANY teachers who misused and/or overused powerpoint. I was never given a lesson on how to take notes from a powerpoint presentation, so my notes were chronically unhelpful lists of words that I couldn't make sense of later (something like Congress: committees, bills, laws). Too often a teacher would simply read such lists out loud in class, not even explaining the content or context behind these empty phrases. The animations were over-the-top time-wasters. Frankly, I grew to loathe powerpoint. I do think powerpoint can be useful (especially when including pictures to add to the educational value) but it is not a technology I prefer. I fear that other technologies could be similar: time-wasting 'advances' that take away time from the content and leave students staring emptily at a screen.
Case #2: YouTube.
My physics teacher would show us THE COOLEST VIDEOS EVER in class. Years later, I STILL remember many of them. Who could forget watching that semi driving into the military-grade wall?! And there was this one video with a cat hanging on to a ceiling fan, and going around, around, around, and suddenly being flung off! I love cats but that was hilarious! The best part is that these videos were absolutely relevant to the content being taught and really did enhance our learning. Which direction did the cat go? Well, that tells us something about the instantaneous velocity of the cat and the moment of departure from the circling fan. Why did the truck basically bend and explode? Let's talk about it from the point of view of momentum and inertia. We watched videos of things we might not be able to see in real life. YouTube was an enhancer in the classroom, not a focus and certainly not a distraction from content. This example embodies my hopes for using technology in the classroom. I want to use technology to enhance my teaching, to add to my students' knowledge, and to widen the resources available to them.
I think this goal is possible in all content areas, but I am especially looking forward to investigating ways in which I can use technology in a physics classroom. In many ways, technology and physics go perfectly well together. Physics relies on a great deal of technology, and learning to use technology effectively helps students become better physicists. They are a natural pairing, akin to peanut butter and bananas. A delicious combination.
On a related note, I was pleased to read about John Dewey's progressive (literally and in multiple senses) take on science teaching. I wholeheartedly agree with his opinions that students learn by doing and that communities of learning enhance and are central to education. His thoughts on presenting science as 'objective' similarly resonated with me:
I believe that one of the greatest difficulties in the present teaching of science is that the material is presented in purely objective form, or is treated as a new peculiar kind of experience which the child can add to that which he has already had. - John Dewey, 1897
Teaching science should not be about additive learning. It should be about integrated learning - working with what the student knows and getting them to see and make connections in their own lives. Kudos to Mr. Dewey.
I could not agree with you more about the powerpoints! I hated them. I also had to laugh at Kristin's powerpoint creation during her talk about wikipedia. I am guilty of having done presentations just like that.
ReplyDeleteI also think it's great that your teacher was able to use youtube effectively. My teachers would occasionally show a youtube video, but more often than not, it was completely unrelated to classroom material or there would be no follow-up discussion. Definitely a distraction from content--glad your experience was different!
First off, I love that YouTube video with the cat! I wish my physics class had watched it.
ReplyDeleteI also agree about John Dewey. The way he talks about learning makes me want to go back in time and shake his hand. So many kids fall asleep in science class, when it could be their favorite subject if it were taught, as you said, in an integrated way.
I appreciate your outlook on technology. I agree with your take on Power Point. I also had some teachers that would overuse this new and exciting technology, and it didn't add that much to lessons except aggravate us when the teacher couldn't get it to work.
ReplyDeleteI am glad to hear that you had some good experiences with youtube videos in class, and that they helped you to remember some key ideas and lessons. That gives me hope that, when used correctly, technology can make learning much more fun and memorable.
I would be very curious to see the ways in which you integrate this technology to science teaching. As a student of many science classes, I think that technology could allow for an interesting edge to classes.
I completely agree with the misuse of powerpoint. I have lost count on how many teachers and professors that have misused powerpoint. Nothing frustrates me when a professor or teacher just reads off of their slides. When they do this tells me as a students they don't care enough to put enough effort to add true educational value in their use of powerpoint. Why should I attend class when I get the same amount of educational value by just downloading the slides? It is my goal for this class to move beyond this level and add true pedagogical value to my use of technology.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree about YouTube being a great way to enhance teaching, particularly with science classes in which it is not always possible to do certain experiments in class (like with the cat and the ceiling fan). My high school chemistry teacher once showed a video in which a scientist added each alkali metal to water. It results in an explosion, so it was definitely not something that would have been possible to do in class. However, it was interesting to be able to see the reaction as a supplement to our lesson on alkali metals.
ReplyDeleteInteresting about having confusing power points ! It seems that technology can do more harm than good if use incorrectly. That is cool about the youtube videos, I see it went into your long term memory :)
ReplyDeleteI am glad that my future plans for YouTube videos have already been tested in classrooms across the US.
ReplyDeleteAlso, as someone who did presentations via powerpoint online, I can say that yes, reading the slide is a horrible, horrible idea, but as a way to organize your thoughts and present information in a consistent fashion that your students can become able to recognize, it can be useful. Also for those of us with intelligible handwriting, it can be quite the boon.
My most memorable learning experiences in physics were related to real world experiences, not necessarily the technology part of it. Perhaps imagining which experiences were most memorable in person, you could use technology to mimic. Not the same, but helpful. Applying physics to real life situations gives purpose.
ReplyDeleteExample:
One memorable use of technology was in a motor control class for physical education. The teacher had a program on his computer that was projected for the class to see. It had a traffic light. When it switched from red to green, you had to click a stop button as fast as you could. It would track how much time it took for you to react and press the button. He would take volunteers from the class to try their fastest time. You could do multiple trials and it would show them all in a row. Basically, he was incorporating our reaction time learning curves to safety issues with tailgating while driving. It was also a study on how people handle processing under anxiety and pressure. His overall lesson was that if it takes about .250 seconds to react, compared to the smaller amount of time it takes to recognize an issue driving and pressing the break..... oops, accident! You know what I mean. You didn't have enough time to just click a button, let alone pick up your foot and press the brake. The best part is, we were studying trends in the data, and learning about reaction time, etc, as a byproduct of the bigger lesson. The class was interested, active and engaged while learning with technology.
Super post. One thing YouTube lets us do, too, is teach via visual metaphor. Who can forget the cat and the fan?
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